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exhaust manifold bolts

21K views 15 replies 8 participants last post by  Jakesters06 
#1 ·
just bought a 01 sierra C3, I have a couple of studs that are broken. im thinking about replacing them this weekend but should I go aftermarket or OEM studs. what have you used?
 
#3 ·
If your manifolds aren't leaking I wouldn't bother trying to replace them, unless you plan on doing headers in the future kind of thing. Reason being I just tackled this job myself last month on my 00 sierra, I do have high k at over 400,000. I had 3 broken bolts, all on the drivers side. the first one was beside the power steering, I welded a nut to that one and came out easy, the other 2 were both the closest to the firewall, let me tell you what a pain is the a**. I couldn't get a strong enough weld with my cheapo welder to get the bolts to come out.. so ended up buying a angled drill to try and drill them out.. well I had the bit walk on me and I drilled on a bad engle and ended up drilling into the water jacket jus enough for a slow leak.. I wasn't to happy about that.. ran a tap in it and ended up putting a long bolt in there with lotsa silicon, then cut the bolt to use as an exhaust stud instead.. ya well it still leaks a bit. only reason I attemped this is because I am doing headers on my truck. So you might wana think about it if its worth the effort. Good luck.
 
#4 ·
I had the bolts on either side closest to the fire wall broken. I paid my mechanic to fix it as it was too much hassle for me. I did have a small exhaust leak which was evident by the staining on the manifolds.

Carbon monoxide is not something to mess with. If you think you have a leak, fix it. I was putting headers on, but discovered the leak in the process. I would get nauseous on long trips and just chalked it up to motion sickness, now I wonder. Makes me sick to my stomach when I think about my daughter sucking in CO in the back seat.
 
#5 ·
I just picked up a set of OEM bolts. my drivers side is leaking. I just bought the truck like it is. looks like only the heads are broken off on mine so im hoping to pull the manifold and vice grip her out. I have no interest in headers, I like my truck stock

if I break one off flush. im just goanna pull the head off and have it fixed, you can get these heads off pretty quickly, this isn't my daily driver so I have been soaking everything in PB blaster for a few days now, im going to tackle it Saturday

should I use heat on all of the bolts to get them out to be safe?
 
#6 ·
It's not that bad of a fix. To make it easier I would go in from the wheel well and remove the wheel and inner fender (the plastic part). I had a guy that we used to use at the Mazda dealer I worked at come and weld to the old broken bolts and get them out (after I removed the manifold). It cost $75, but was well worth it.
 
#7 ·
I always use my little mig welder and weld a nut on the bolt, even when it's broken off flush or deeper inside. After welding the nut on, let it cool off and soak it with WD 40, never had any trouble getting the bolt out. It may take a few attempts but it works. No need to take the heads off.
 
#8 ·
I agree. I would have done the removal myself, except I was doing the repair on a 4.3 and they have iron heads. I'm not good enough of a welder to make that weld on an iron head. It would be easy on an engine with an aluminum head because the weld will not "stick" to the aluminum.
 
#9 ·
well my drivers side bolt all the way in the back is broken off not flush but it is broken deeper in the threads. there is really no way you can weld a nut on it. I didn't really want to drill it. so I went to my local parts store to get a head gasket kit and it was over 300 bucks so I scratched that for now, the back one is the only one I couldn't get out, so I picked up a set of felpro manifold gaskets , it is a thicker gasket material, (not the oem metal) and threw it back together. the leak has stopped for now.

im goanna wait till I have to pull the manifold for some other repair and then pull the head and do it right. thanks for the help!
 
#10 ·
One of mine was like that too. The bolt was actually broken twice. My mechanic built up weld so that it extended from the head then welded a nut to it.

I should mention it took him roughly 3 hours to remove 2 broken bolts. Definitely not an easy job and worth me paying him to do.
 
#11 ·
davecarrr414 said:
well my drivers side bolt all the way in the back is broken off not flush but it is broken deeper in the threads. there is really no way you can weld a nut on it. I didn't really want to drill it. so I went to my local parts store to get a head gasket kit and it was over 300 bucks so I scratched that for now, the back one is the only one I couldn't get out, so I picked up a set of felpro manifold gaskets , it is a thicker gasket material, (not the oem metal) and threw it back together. the leak has stopped for now.

im goanna wait till I have to pull the manifold for some other repair and then pull the head and do it right. thanks for the help!
If the head is aluminum it sill be easy enough to weld to the broken part with a mig welder. If it's a cast iron head, a good welder can get to it with a tig welder.
 
#12 ·
I have had many exhaust manifold problems with my Fords.I am jumping ship to GM.Seems easier to repair.But anyway I am working on a deal for a new truck and was going to take each manifold bolt out one by one and never sieze once a year and then replace them before its too late.It may sound a bit anal but I have paid too much money in the past for this problem on hard to reach bolts.
 
#14 ·
Hi All,
Has anyone tried the kit to repair the broken off bolts yet? I just saw it advertised on a parts site. It shows what looks like a bracket that goes over the old bolt holes? It's not very descriptive other than to say it will fix the broken off bolt problem for the front or rear bolts on the 99-07 gm truck v-8's that had this problem. I'm not trying to sell for that parts company, but I saw this kit for sale on lmc truck parts site. My GMC sierra has this problem, with the last 2 exhaust bolts broken off flush on the driver's side. I saw your post and wondered if anyone has had any luck with this type of repair "kit" yet? My truck has less than 100k and is immaculate. There is NO reason these bolts should have broken, other than GM using junk bolts?
 
#15 ·
Since always the same bolts brake, i think it's more of an assembly issue from factory. I tighten the bolts from inside to outside multiple times to make sure they have the same torque, similar to torquing head bolts and always use new oem bolts. Never had one coming back.
 
#16 ·
I also have the issue with the last couple exhaust manifold bolt heads broken on my 6.0. I've been letting the truck run for a bit before taking off to allow for the heads/manifolds to expand so I don't have the exhaust leak. Reading the posts on this problem it seems to be a real pain in the #$% to fix or expensive if having a shop repair which is probably what I'd do. My question is I also saw the clamp kits on LMC as "Pickupmangetschicks" posted. At least I think that was his name! Hahaha, I didn't see a response to his question of anyone having used them and if they work. Seems like a good alternative. Anyone have any input?

Jake
 
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