Hi folks,

Unfortunately, one of the studs on my exhaust manifold broke,
resulting in a light ticking moise when the engine is revved (it
sounds like a valve noise). My Saturn mechanic said it happens all the
time to the 2.2 engines and it's the stud on the passenger side of the
engine. He also said he'd have to fail me on a safety inspection
because it's an exhaust leak.

If he could retrieve the broken stud, the cost would be about $250. If
not, he'd have to send the head to a machine shop and have it taken
out. Unfortunately, he was unable to reach the broken stud. The labour
charge is 9 hours for this job abd the machine shop would charge
around $250 (if the head was unmolested). The total bill would be
around $1200.

I haven't done anything yet, but I'm interested in knowing if anyone
else is in the same boat. My comment to my service manager was that a
common problem that was cause to fail a safety inspection should be a
recall item. Remember when the S series cars were recalled for head
gasket failures? Same sort of idea, but it isn't a safety concern.

What do you think, folks?

Tim Delaney
Stewiacke, NS, Canada
2002 VUE FWD, 5-speed, 146,000 km