many thanks fahad, phoned rash and had a nice chat... i was waiting on honda to get back to me to see if they could honour the warranty / reduce the cost although my 04 was going to be 9 years old in may but only had 117k miles. car has full honda history and after a health check, everything else on the car was in great condition they agreed as a good will gesture to reduce the cost of the manifold from £266.71 to £80 so total cost at honda was 432.35 ..
after factoring in travelling costs there wouldnt of been to much difference in the end so decided to get it done at honda.
just some advice to others in similar situation where warranty has run out.... just be really really polite on the phone to honda, i basically said i wasnt expecting any help at all, but if there was any chance , seeing as the car was in such good condition, and the manifold being a well known problem. if they could help me id very much appreciate it etc etc .
thanks ever so much for your time though, and will be in touch in the future regarding a remap
That really is a great price! I thought mine might be going so i did a quick check. Couldn't smell any fumes behind engine, so it might be alright for the time being. I'll give you a shout if it breaks!