Want to fix exhaust leak!!!!Soon!

[murrjck]

Well, I have an exhaust leak! from what I've read here, I'm guessing up-pipes are cracked. You can hear it, sounds like a vacum leak on a gasser. It comes and goes though, probably when the egr valve opens and closes. The firewall and top of tranny are covered in soot. Also have alittle turbo lag. I need to fix this! I'd like to pull the cab but I don't have gauges/ recovery unit/ vaccum pump for the A/C, so looks like the tranny is coming out. My question is... What is the best fix for this? Am I to just replace these cracked up-pipes with new up-pipes that are about to crack? Truck only has 36,263 on the clock.(been leaking for 3 or 4,000 miles) What causes these fail anyway? Is there a better solution?
Also, with the tranny out of the way, will there be enough room to get the stock downpipe out and replace with a 4"? And is there anything else I might consider looking at while I'm in there?

[greasltn]

Why not warranty the truck? If you remove the tranny, you can replace the downpipe with the 4" without any cutting.

[murrjck]

no warranty. truck was origanally sold to a leasing company as fleet service with no warranty. I am second owner.

[Big Angry Hillbilly]

Send me the VIN number, I will verify your warranty coverage. PM me the VIN, I probably will miss this thread later on.

And yes, what John said -- pull trans.

If the only thing holding you up from pulling the cab is reclaiming the A/C charge, take it to an A/C shop and have them pull it down for you, and when you're all ready to rock, take 'er back and have 'er refilled.

If it's not warranty, I'd slam a wastegate and **** on it while it's apart.

FWIW, you can do that pipe WITHOUT removing the trans, and WITHOUT pulling the cab.

[murrjck]

Yeah, I've read that the dp will go w/o removing the trans, but just thought it would be even easier with it out. And since it has to come out for the uppies....And you recommend a wastegate? Would the trani have to come down to install that to? I think I saw a thread that said that a wastegate is needed when remove EGR. I definitely want to lose that chit. Damm, this is becoming waaaayyyyy too expensive.