Dorman Exhaust Manifolds are Garbage--My wasted Sunday

I got around to dealing with my cracked manifold this weekend on my 2.4L. When I got to the installation step, I found that the Dorman manifold I ordered from RockAuto wouldn't fit because the upper right bolt hole tab collided with the coolant hose housing. After dropping some "Fs" and "MFs" and "GDs" and other cathartic words, I went to a couple parts stores where I found that they only carry the same manifold. I took the non-fitting one with me to compare and found one where the bolt hole tab was clearly shaped different and smaller, so I bought it (at twice the cost of the online one) and set about installing. It installs on the head great, so I torque it to the head and the downpipe no problem. Last step is reattaching the EGR pipe and...IT DOESN'T ALIGN...not even close, probably a 1/2" discrepancy from where it should be on the manifold flange. More words...

I'm in disbelief that someone in this day and age is manufacturing such crap for auto parts. Not only are they both defective, but they're defective in different ways.

I said to myself once before after replacing the exhaust system on my old '83 Volvo 240 Turbo with a layer of Minnesota rust that I'd rather put my balls in a vice than do an exhaust job again. Well, I guess I needed a reminder of that perspective. Next time I need exhaust work done (i.e now) I'm taking it to a shop.

Next step is removing the second bad manifold and returning these defective pieces of garbage, and then finding a shop to get my truck towed to.

Moral of the story: stay away from Dorman exhaust manifolds, unless you just really like doing the same unpleasant job 3+ times.

 

Exhaust work is the worst. Want to remove a lot of bolts in really tight places, BUT WAIT since it gets hot then cold so often it rusts almost guaranteeing a stripped bolt or nut. Had to put in some flange gaskets today and stripped the nut so I had to use a chisel to get it out.

Apparently Kobalt makes a good socket because that with my impact stripped it instantly. Kobalt didn't even have any damage at all to it while the nut was completely round.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CESDxCloCoQ

 

just buy a stock oem mini header manifold, its heavy duty steel and isn't cast crap and it will NEVER fail again.

the 01-04 trucks use these mini header manifolds and they will bolt right onto your engine and the lower collector pipe as exact replacement.

don't waste time bringing it to the shop for another cast crap manifold that will just crack again in a few years as they all do.

this is what you want to put on it:


try here if you cant find one local: http://www.car-part.com/cgi-bin/search.cgi?userSearch=int&userPID=1000&userLocation=All+States&userIMS=&userInterchange=BF>@C&userSide=&userDate=2002&userDate2=2002&dbModel=73.26.1.1&userModel=Toyota Tacoma&dbPart=327.1&userPart=Exhaust Manifold&sessionID=200000000000000000865586305&userPreference=price&userZip=70068&userLat=30.1499&userLong=-90.4621&userIntSelect=1622006&userUID=0&userBroker=&userPage=1&iKey=
and I wouldn't pay over $100 for one personally, when I had my 99 with the 2.4 I bought mine for $60 shipped from someone here in the for sale forum. I think they only cost about $150 new from the dealer

if I were you I would put your old one back on to use until you found one of these mini headers to put on it. another note is look for the header from 2.7 engines since I think the 2.4 engines all used the cast ones but the headers are exactly the same and are exact swap outs

 

Yip take keakars advice on this one!! Any of those cast ones would likely just fail again and prolly sooner than the stock one... the oem miniheader is the only way to go and it would have cut down massively on the curse words!

 

sounds like Dorman can't make a good manifold or leaf springs...

hopefully you get it fixed and back on the road.

 

Or valve cover in my experience. Basically, just stay far away from Dorman anything.

(improper clearances inside)

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/sticky-oem-mini-header-and-heat-shield.367929/