2004.5 RAM/Cummins exhaust manifold leak advice needed

[T-Giv]

Impressively low mileage for your truck though. My 02 has 100k on it and runs like a dream. I drove a new 2017 dually today and may be special ordering one as a new tow rig. Keep my old trust as a daily driver!

[brutal]

Impressively low mileage for your truck though. My 02 has 100k on it and runs like a dream. I drove a new 2017 dually today and may be special ordering one as a new tow rig. Keep my old trust as a daily driver!

Thanks.

Tows my fiver/boat a few times a year. Elk hunting each year. HD runs, Gun club runs, etc.

I did drive it to DIA twice a month when my car was down to town driving only for a while (TC clutch).

It's a shame that with such low miles, I'm having to deal with this. It does have a mild tune (Edge Juice) but I really don't ever go past 3 or beat on it and always idle it for a few minutes and let the EGT's drop 400* or below before shutting down.

[fairrpe86]

It sounds as if you are east of Parker with your reference to Tom's shop. I have a friend that works on mainly cummins and 7.3 powerstrokes. He is just the other side of Delbert Road, does fantastic work and tends to be a fair amount cheaper than most other shops. I am more than happy to PM you his information if you would like it. He is a very honest and straight forward guy that will not give you the run around on things.

[brutal]

It sounds as if you are east of Parker with your reference to Tom's shop. I have a friend that works on mainly cummins and 7.3 powerstrokes. He is just the other side of Delbert Road, does fantastic work and tends to be a fair amount cheaper than most other shops. I am more than happy to PM you his information if you would like it. He is a very honest and straight forward guy that will not give you the run around on things.

Sure, send me a PM.

If he has the proper tools and skills, I'm willing to talk to him.

[brutal]

It sounds as if you are east of Parker with your reference to Tom's shop. I have a friend that works on mainly cummins and 7.3 powerstrokes. He is just the other side of Delbert Road, does fantastic work and tends to be a fair amount cheaper than most other shops. I am more than happy to PM you his information if you would like it. He is a very honest and straight forward guy that will not give you the run around on things.

Thanks for the referral.

Looks like your bud will save me some $ and can do the job right.

[brutal]

Just as a followup to the thread.

Thanks again to fairrpe86 for the referral. His guy got me squared away and did a great and very reasonably price job on my truck. Took a while to get into his queue, but it was worth the wait. Some of that was parts availability (turbo housing). I ordered a BD 2-piece manifold to initially attempt the repair myself, but gave up after not making much progress with the bolts and breaking one so easily.

He changed out the manifold for me - three total broken bolts, the one already, the one I broke, and another on the #6 cylinder that let go during repairs. He also changed the (cracked) turbo exhaust housing with a checked out (OEM) reman part for a super reasonable price. He said every bolt was pretty bent and required some extra efforts to remove.

I also had him adjust the bands on my trans which also entails replacing the filter and (some fluid) to adjust the reverse band. Something I was prepared to do myself, but since it was in his capable hands, I had him do it. Jury is still out on the trans as it was acting weird before, while 4x4 elk hunting, but that's not his doing, it's mine for not servicing it sooner.

I'm very pleased with the work and wouldn't hesitate to use him again if he's available.

Had a very cool shop that I unfortunately didn't' get enough time ogling, and a cool rock crawler project I would have liked to eyeball closer and learn more about. My mistake for having the wife come pick me up too soon during the drop off. lol.

[fairrpe86]

Glad to hear things worked out well for you. Nik does good work at a very fair price. I received your PM and tried to reply but it appears you are out of storage room for new messages.

[brutal]

Follow up to post.

Trans problem ended up needing a new governor pressure sensor transducer and solenoid kit. I put in the aftermarket ones everyone on the cummins boards were recommending.

https://www.xtremediesel.com/sun-coa...d-upgrade.aspx
https://www.xtremediesel.com/bd-powe...grade-kit.aspx

Truck has been running great otherwise, but popped a manifold-turbo gasket on the first hard pull back in July. Minor pinhole leak. I couldn't ID where it was from at first (except for the noise) until the soot built up and I'm just getting to the point where I need to fix it. With the 2-piece manf and everything else new, I'm hoping I can just pull the back half w/turbo off and get it on the bench to replace the gasket.