Prado 3.4 V6 Exhaust

[Groen]

Prado 3.4 started a leak somewhere around the exhaust manifold.

1. Prado still got his original Toyota branded exhaust after 223 000km! Can it be true?

2. Exhaust shop quotes me R1250 to replace both gaskets. R250 per gasket and the rest is labour. It sounds unreasonable to me.

3. I can fit a stainless steel freeflow exhaust at R2250 and a branch at R3300, but is the increase in performance worth this kind of money?

Advice please?

[Family_Dog]

PraDog has a high mileage (276k) too and as far as I know the exhaust system is standard, nothing in the service book indicates otherwise. Personally, I hate freeflow exhausts for the noise they make. I removed new FF exhausts from both Bulldog & Hound Dog for that reason. The performance claims made in favour of a free flow exhaust can probably be measured on a Dynometer, but in practice I'm quite happy without that annoying drone in my ears all the time.

Of course, if one is hearing-impaired, then I suppose it doesn't matter which one to go for... ;)


-F_D

[Wave]

I have used Viper many times (on road cars) and have been very happy, but as Family_Dog says the noise can be annoying, less so on bakkies. I also hate game viewing and some "4x4 racer" flies onto the scene to see what we are looking at and has a loud free flow, then is amazed when the animal(s) make a duck. SWAMBO's 4x4 is kept stock for these reasons!

R1250 does sound steep for a gasket or 2...

my 2c