Hi, new to the forum and have a question. I am selling a 1997 Mercury Mountaineer for my father in-law. It is the one with the V8 (5.0L?). He is the original owner and purchased the vehicle in July of '96 (although it is a '97 model). We noticed a LOT of exhaust noise coming from the engine compartment on the passenger side. We were advised by a mechanic that the pass side exhaust manifold was cracked (we were hoping it would just be a gasket, but no such luck). The price for the OEM manifold was a wopping $565!!!
I did some research, and found a brand new aftermarket manifold for $200 delivered from this place:
http://www.exhaustmanifoldwarehouse.com/
So, I have two questions:
1) The guy at the manifold place said that there were TWO different manifolds. One for pre 11/96 build date and one for post. Is this true?
2) Is there any big dissadvantage to going with the aftermarket exhaust manifold?
Keep in mind that the vehicle has 128k on it, so they don't want to dump a ton of money into it.
Any help/advice is GREATLY appreciated. Thanks!
Ken