I have an exhaust leak on my 4.9l, where the EFI Manifold mates up to the exhaust pipe (Rear Manifold) and I'm deciding on the best fix for it.

Option 1)Redo the flange in someway, to seal it back off (Roughly $100 to fix if I take it to a shop, as I have no torch, etc)

Option 2)Pull the Manifolds and swap to Headers. That's about $300 for the Headers and shipping. Not sure on how big of a PITA the bolts would be to remove.

Option 3) Use some sort of a high temp epoxy or whatnot to seal the leak that way. But I'd prefer not to.

I'd like some added tq from the little engine, and the Headers WOULD look a ton better than the old rusty pipes.

Here's a pic of how my exhaust is ran now. The cat was cut off (Against my wishes) and the Y pipe was installed by a different shop (Actually listened to me).

The Y pipe in the pic gathers both pipes and then goes to my muffler, then on out to in front of the PS wheel.

 

I'm in sort of the same boat... My passenger side manifold is leaking. One bolt head is missing, the manifold flange bolts are rusted to hell, and I doubt whether I can get the manifold to head bolts out without snapping any off.

I was tempted to go the header route too, but then that means I have to mess with the drivers side too which opens up a whole can of worms. I think I'll wait till I have time where I don't need the truck for a week or two, and then try messing with it...

The ticking annoys me sometimes, but sometimes its not too bad, so I just live with it for the time being

 

Mine's on the same side...

 

What's wrong with the flange?

 

The leak is where the EFI manifold and the pipe/flange meets up.