Hey guys,

Not a happy chappy at the moment...
Had my manifold (manicat) replaced on 29th July 2015 (last year, nearly 7months ago ish)
Mine had corroded near the flange and snapped, had it welded as a temp fix then had a new one fitted as above.
It cost me 190 for parts and labour and the new manicat came with 2years warranty.

Well it's 7months old and has cracked half way round the welds on the downpipe that comes from the bottom of the cat.
It's been blowing a bit lately and thought it was the back box as it had a very tiny leak, had it on the lift today to check her over as got a 600mile round trip on 10th Feb and the back box isn't actually blowing, it's the front downpipe, the manicat is a complete unit (manifold, cat, downpipe that goes under the sump then straight to the mid section that's bolted and has the flexi on)

Why on earth has this buttered up so soon, I have 2years warranty and this part should last at least 6 or so years... Or longer as the original one was on the car since 2003 and had only just cracked (12 or so years later)...

It's peed me right off and I'm glad I've had it checked cos if that crack gets bigger, especially on a 600mile trip then I'm buggered, also explains why my MPG has been at around 22 or 28 driving like a grandad, used to be at 35 to 40.

Feeling pig sick, garage are replacing it again on monday, just so frustrated as to why it's broke so soon!!!!! New manicat has been ordered under warranty.

Fingers crossed eh.

Will post up some pics later

Sounds like this is just one of those sh%t happens sort of things mate! Least you did the right thing and got a part with a warranty, so it's only inconvenience rather than additional cost.


These things happen, I wouldn't beat yourself up so bad on it.

True bud.

I love the stilo, put about 2 grand into maintenance and mechanical repairs so far and dont want to scrap it anytime soon, dreading MOT at end of march, last year it cost me £90 to pass the MOT (needed rear pads and advisory on rear brake flexi so had the flexi done with the rear pads) it passed and had three more advisories, rear discs slightly warped and minor oil leak on inner shaft seal (OSF shaft) and a tyre slightly worn.

Had a new gearbox and clutch fitted, oil leak now fixed, new tyres on front so the worn one has gone, just got the rear discs to do (will overhaul and rebuild the rear brakes and replace anything worn or corroded). Hopefully it should fly through next MOT (dreading the little sqeak im getting from the rear now as this maybe bushes, hopefully it will just be an advisory, last time it was inspected i was told i had a good car underneath and it was solid...) Fingers crossed, will post some pics and a video of the manicat later (when the kids let me get on the computer).

dtimmins1985 said:

so frustrated as to why it's broke so soon!!!!!

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Get the garage to check the engine mountings and lower reaction bar. Also the flexible exhaust mountings.
.

The mountings for the mid section and rear section are mechanically sound.

I have a strange feeling that the bracket that goes round the downpipe (just before the flexi) and bolts to the bottom of the gearbox might be causing this.

When the round bracket is fitted and bolted tight it keeps the downpipe nice and taught right upto the flange that bolts to the flexi (mid section) - you can feel a vibration from biting point revs upto about 2000rpm them it goes away, without the bracket there is no vibration and the downpipe can move ever so slightly under load.

All mounts on engine, gearbox and exhaust are fine and not perished and there is no knocking..

I was told that the round bracket that goes to the bottom of gearbox and round the exhaust is useless and should be fine if removed, was also told it causes more grief been there as its prone to.coming loose ajd rattling (its done this twice too)

Taking the car back to the garage today - they are replacing the manicat under its warranty for another brand new one, im going to see if they will let me help out or hang about as the garage is 12.5 miles away and I no longer work in the same village so its going to be a boring wait around the village this afternoon or hopefully get stuck in and get my hands dirty if they let me help

Finally - here are the pictures of the cracked downpipe on the manicat along with a video on youtube - you can see it spitting gasses out of the crack at certain points in the video (had my son revving the engine whilst i was holding the camera lol).

Will try to take some pictures of the new manicat before its fitted and after.
Also - in 6 months, it looks quite corroded low down for its age, it was shiny and new when first installed, didnt expect it to corrode this quickly (my centre section is twice as old and in twice as good condition).

I had a similar problem with my 2001 Brava 1.2 16V.. the downpipe cracked around where the cat box section merges with the pipe. I got my mechanic to weld it up and refit / remake the missing bottom bracket to the gearbox. I felt that this would keep it more solid and might explain why it had cracked, along with it running for a while with one of the top engine steady mounts being wrong.

So far I think it's OK after 18 months but it is due a new(er) Manicat... it only just passed the MOT emissions after 155,000 miles and 15 odd years of use...

I'll see if it's cracking again before deciding if the bottom bracket is worth keeping...

Good idea, car is in the garage now, the garage was a bit surprised at the crack, the old nice chap said he had never had one returned under warranty and wondered if i had hit it in something, anyhow they checked it out and you can clearly see that i have not hit anything, there is no obvious marks, dents or scrapes and they appeared a bit shocked.

Anyhow, took some pics of the new manicat, the welds look much better than the first one did but clearly not as good as the fiat ones, anyhow they fitting it now and im in MacDonalds, going to the place i bought the stilo from to see what they have in, basically have a nosey lol.

Lets hope the new one lasts, will post some pics later

Well guys, picked up the car at around half 1, quarter to 2 ish...

The new manicat didnt come with the gearbox bracket so they left that off... To remove the old one it would of needed bending to slide it off the downpipes circumfrance and in fareness it maybe not needed for aftermarket manicats.

Engine is now quiet up front and torque vibrations before 2000rpm are minimal (hence no clamp to the gearbox) and ive noticed the backbox is burbbling a bit more when backing off the gas - might need to replace this soon as the backbox clamp and joint is a bit poor and still blowing a tiny bit.

Anyhow, fuel economy is back up to the average, it did feel strange to drive for the first 15miles or so but now feels smooth, hopefully more responsive when the back box is fully sorted, if not then maybe the coils on cyl 1 and 3 are on way out (had similar issues a cpl weeks ago and faults shown cylinder 2 and 4 misfire, replaced them and it was fine) maybe other two may need replacing who knows.

Anyhow, ill take a video in the morning once she's warmed up - the exhaust definatley moves more underneath without that bracket when been revved stationary... Maybe holding it tight was preventing the flexi from doing its job hence the flexi snapping or weld on the cat down pipe... As ive heard removing the clamp causes no issues, if anything it helps... Still to be convinced tho... Thoughts?