Guys newbie here so any help is appreciated. Got an 02 Liberty Limited 3.7. 180,XXXX.
Went in for the state emissions check at the dealer and thought might as well get the oil change special and they came back with an exhaust system leak on the emission test which they tracked to the Y-Pipe. No codes on the OBDII though. I guess that explains the very slight smell of what I would say are exhaust fumes I was getting in the cabin.

However the kicker was the quote of over $2200 which I thought was insane for a car that old. The parts alone was rated at over $1500. Which was the entire Converter #52128736-AD and the additional clamps #4581014-AB. Heck they were even charging me $200 for the core, which I thought was a stretch.

I know I noticed it idling a bit rough on first cold start in the morning, with what I might describe as a ticking, and reading through forums it has been mentioned it might be related to an exhaust manifold leak.

Question is what would be the recommendation here. Is there no way to fix this without replacing the whole thing. All the aftermarkets appear to be in pieces which would good for maintenance.

But I've seen aftermarkets that are under $300 from eastern catalytic (#10155) which appears to be the whole assembly. Mopar parts shows them for $900 OEM thats almost half the dealerprice.

Couldn't I just have any leak welded at the local Midas? Or should I just grab an aftermarket assembly and install it?

I know they said its the Y-Pipe, but could it be the exhaust manifold, I don't want to replace something that aint broken, so any tips would help.

Thanks

just had jeep///dodge dealer replace all three cats,y pipe, and 4 sensers..1475.00 with the original equipment.. that's way over priced..

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2003 liberty renegade
3" lift
8x16 pro comp rims
255/70/16 wild country xtx sport
dee zee bush guard
led flood lights
red top optima
rear light guards
factory trac-lok

I had leaks on both side's of my Y-Pipe.
Where they come down from the manifolds, bend & turn at the bottom of the engine.
These pipes, well, where they bend, have a dip/well/indent right at the top of the pipe.
Funny how it only rusts at the bends where the water & salt sits isn't it.
So, because they don't make individule pipes we have to fork over $1000's for exhaust. Pretty lucrative if you ask me.

Living in the "Rust Belt" as we call it around here I wasn't suprised.
I was however suprised that they dont make this exhaust in replaceable sections as other vehicles do.
What a complete rip off!
I am lucky though, my mechanic has a pipe bender and replaced the rusted area with new pipe.
The rest of the pipe was real solid and took the welding perfectly.
I had already purchased the rest of the exhaust and planned to have it all done at once in the Spring.
Find yourself a good shop to do business with, stay away from the stealerships.

One of my stealeership stories goes like this, I had Libby in for warranity work & free oil change/tire rotation.
I was later told I needed new exhaust spring bolts, and their price was outragious, like $25 for the bolts (each side) and $100 labor, not covered under warranity (rusted).
Are you kidding me, I worked in automotive for over 15yrs, no thank you I'm good. They really pushed selling it to me, telling me how dangerious the fumes are, yeah, I told them I'll drive with the windows down.
The spring bolts cost me like $10 a set (1 set per-side) at the local parts store. I replaced the "1 bolt/spring/nut" that was missing & had both sides replaced in the spring with the new exhaust.

Now the kicker is they didn't tell me about the Y-Pipe exhaust leaks because I still had a warranity on Libby and that would have cost them money, because the CAT would have to be covered. They also didn't torque my wheels correctly causing my new rotors to warp.
So , but lucky the Parts store replaced them under warranity. However, I had to eat the new pads.
My mechanic did a temp fix on the exhaust leaks to get me through the rest of the winter. Never trust anyone with your baby or your ride, ask questions and if you don't get satisfactory answers go somewhere else.
They are never touching my wheels again!