I have a friend that's looking at an 01 dodge cummins and he's asking me some questions. Now he says it has a fuel leak on the vp44 behing the inspection cover. I think he means the cover that has the tamper proof screws holding it. Is this a concern or can he just change a gasket or seal and not worry about it? It also has a cracked exhaust manifold so I suppose that means it's been run too hot. Any concerns there?

As for seals you could replace that seal on the cover if you can get one... I would ask TH Racing (one of vendors) he might have an idea on where to get the seals.As for the exhaust manifold rather common on truck that have seen some pretty hot temps. I would consider doing a compression test t verify the cylinder health. If that can't be done you could do a blow by test but that kind of general sum test of all blow by.

Ok thanks. The guy selling the truck has the seal but hasn't been able to change it so that's covered.

A cracked exh manifold doesn't always mean it has been hot it is just the nature of cast iron being a 1 piece and no way for expansion or contraction. Most times they crack from being shut down too fast while it is hot meaning too fast of a temperature fluxtuation. Personally I would not worry about it.

I'll add another thing to check. Have a look see at the block to find out if it's a 53 or not.

i had high enough temps in my engine to crack the head around every exhaust valve & even burnt some chunks out but the exhaust man. never cracked.i'd be leaning towards it being a faulty man. not from high temps.

either that or it was hosed down with water while hot, i usually lightly pressure wash the engine bay but only when the engine has sat and cooled a bit while washing the rest of the truck first.