My Wife's 2002 6 cyl is leaking coolant. I couldn't see where it was coming from so I took it to the Ford house. They charged me $100 to check it and said the coolant bypass pipe coming out of the lower manifold was leaking. $785 to fix unless they broke the pipe; then $2,200 to fix.

Soooo, it's at home sitting in my shop. I figured I'd pull the lower intake and take it to them for the pipe replacement. At least save some money. Today, I pull enough stuff off so I can see the pipe, clean the manifold real well, and put a low pressure test on the system.

Turns out it's not the bypass pipe leaking. It's the gasket between the upper and lower manifolds. I've related this whole boring story to get to a couple of questions. Have any of you had the dealership replace the gaskets between the manifolds and if so, what was the cost?

I can buy a Haynes manual and the gaskets at Autozone. But I already have $100 invested in it which they said they would knock off the repair cost if I briing it back in later. Their service dept is closed today (can't get an estimate) so I'm looking for a ballpark figure for those gasket replacements. I'm hoping it's not too much since they don't have to pull the lower intake now. I'd rather pay a reasonable amount and let them do it so I didn't feel like my intial $100 was wasted.

 

Bud,

If you have already ripped off the upper mainfold and know the leak was from that very gasket you pulled, to me simply spending the 30-80 bucks on a GOOD gasket makes more sense than taking back to the den of vipers your messing with.
If your local parts store does not have it try a places like lmc, npd, rock auto and the like.

Good luck Bro!!