I’ve mentioned before that one of the reasons I think this SUV was available for a decent price was the all too common problem of an exhaust manifold leak. This isn’t a cheap fix if you’re in the drop it off at the dealer crowd. I however decided to start with the “how cheap can we reliably fix this” state of mind. Normally I would order everything associated from Toyota and just replace it all knowing it would be good for years to come. This has been reported as a problem on the Tundra and Sequoia for years now, which means once again the American car is showing through.
I started by removing everything I thought could be in the way. You don’t actually need to. The cat pipes can be removed and pushed back and out of the way enough to get the job done.
Once I got the stock manifold removed I gave it a look and found a spot that looks like it could be a problem. In hindsight it probably wasn’t. I cleaned the scale off and ran a bead across it.
That obviously wasn’t the issue. The flange ripping of the pipe was the issue. Once this was welded up and the new gasket installed we were about 90% quieter. It’s been a long time since I’ve driven a newish stock Sequoia to have a comparison. I’m happy with the results, but I fully expect to be buying a set of headers for this thing if it stays in the family for any length of time past the move.
For now though, we’re ready to start packing.
