IVe noticed for a couple of weeks now that I have been hearing a sound like my exhaust is blowing. I did take a look at the exhaust system myself and found no leaks and even took it into a local exhaust centre and they too could find nothing.

 

I noticed that I could mainly hear it under load from the front end (especially when pulling off) so started to think it was either one of the gaskets at the front end of the system or something more sinister.

 

Anyway, decided to get under the car properly this morning to take a look and low and behold a lovely, dirty big crack on the underside of the manifold. So it looks like new manifold time. I read that this is quite common and so my thoughts are what other options are available at reasonable prices and is it worth bothering at all with after market?

 

Pic below:

I have stuck with a standard but ported exhaust manifold as I'm not planning on changing the turbo from the standard K03S. At least that way I knew it would bolt straight on with no fitment issues. It's just trying to find a decent standard exhaust manifold nowadays, as they all seem to crack for fun, especially when people start pushing more boost and heat through them.

did it cause any running issue?

Seemed to have lost some of the low end torque and slightly rough idle at times. Otherwise runs fine.