Exhaust Manifold Leak Fixed!
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03-24-2013, 01:24 AM
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Kansas
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Exhaust Manifold Leak Fixed!
Since I have been on spring break this week, I figured that I should have a project to tackle. I have been wanting to do something about the exhaust leak that has been coming between my manifold and the block, so I sat out on Thursday with a wrench and a go get em attitude. Well about Friday I realized it was getting tough (go figure) but I stuck it out and with some help from my father I got it back back together without the leak now!
The leak was happening because two bolts had broken off in the head, so there was not an air tight seal there like there should be. So I will do a little step by step write up and show a link to a youtube video I created with it.
1.) Identify the leak source!!!
You need to know exactly where the leak is coming from first. It could be where the manifold mounts up on the left or right side of the block, or it could be a cracked manifold, or it could be down at the flange where the manifold connects to the tailpipe (or anywhere in between). You need to know exactly what you are looking at to begin with.
(The rest of the write up will be where the manifold mates to the block on the right side of the engine).
2.) Make it EASY to get to the manifold.
First things first, before you start to take any bolts loose, make sure you can get to it fairly easily, so you can apply a good amount of torque to it. For this, on the right side of the block, I found that if you removed the air intake all together, including the box, the plastic fender well, and possibly even the tire, you can get to the manifold a lot easier and it will make it easier on you down the road.
3.) Be patient when removing bolts.
The last thing that you want to do when trying to remove the manifold is break of MORE bolts than necessary. This is why I say use patience! Penetrating oil is a must with exhaust where most everything is rusted over. There is a big debate about what to use, but I have had really good luck with Kroil. I have also experimented with the acetone and ATF mix, but I have mainly used that as a bath for rusted bolts and nuts (seems to work well). So make sure that you use some of this oil on the bolts, then WAIT a little bit, then try and budge the bolt. Also, remove the bolts that connect the flange to the manifold. It will be easier to access this if you remove everything from step 2. I also had to use an electric impact on the flange bolts, they were rusted pretty good.
4.) With the manifold removed, you are ready to remove the broken bolts.
There are two different types of broken bolts you will encounter, those that are broken off in the manifold, and those that are broken off in the block. If it is broken off in the manifold, you will have some sticking out when the manifold is removed. From here, you can either put a pair of vise grips on it, or you can weld a nut to the remaining threads and take it out that way. For both of these USE PENETRATING OIL! It will help break the rust loose.
Now if it is broken off in the block, you will have more trouble. Probably the best way to do it is to drill in the center of the broken bolt carefully trying to keep it centered. Then you can try and use an easy out to get the broken part out. This worked for one of the bolts on mine. The other bolt required more time. For this one, we ended up stepping up drill bits until we were very close to the diameter of the THREADS. You do not want to go anymore, or you will drill into the threads and have a real problem. After we got it most of the way drilled out, we took a tap that was the size of the hole and re-tapped it. This seemed to work out really well.
5.) Re-assemble.
You basically just put everything back together the way it came off. Make sure that both the manifold and the cast that it mounts to is clean before you put on the new gasket, and you should be good to go. A couple of problems that I ran into with the install was finding the studs that go back into the holes, and finding a doughnut for the flange (joke). I could not for the life of me find a stud to replace the one that broke, so I decided to make one. I did this with a piece of all-thread, and double nutted it where it mounted up to the manifold, and where the heat shield rests. This method worked good and is shown in the video. The other part was finding a doughnut to replace the one on the flange. Apparently, for this model, they do not have a doughnut. When I took the flange apart, it was just the two pieces fitted together. So don't go looking around for a doughnut because they don't make one for this model.
I hope this helps someone, it is kind of a pain, but it is nice to have done. My local shop quoted me at 200 dollars, which is a very good price I thought. However, I just bought a fairly expensive pair of sunglasses, and he couldn't get me in until two weeks down the road, so I sat out to do it myself. Pretty happy with the way it turned out.
Here is the video: Sorry about being upside down sometimes... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_20zw...ature=youtu.be
The leak was happening because two bolts had broken off in the head, so there was not an air tight seal there like there should be. So I will do a little step by step write up and show a link to a youtube video I created with it.
1.) Identify the leak source!!!
You need to know exactly where the leak is coming from first. It could be where the manifold mounts up on the left or right side of the block, or it could be a cracked manifold, or it could be down at the flange where the manifold connects to the tailpipe (or anywhere in between). You need to know exactly what you are looking at to begin with.
(The rest of the write up will be where the manifold mates to the block on the right side of the engine).
2.) Make it EASY to get to the manifold.
First things first, before you start to take any bolts loose, make sure you can get to it fairly easily, so you can apply a good amount of torque to it. For this, on the right side of the block, I found that if you removed the air intake all together, including the box, the plastic fender well, and possibly even the tire, you can get to the manifold a lot easier and it will make it easier on you down the road.
3.) Be patient when removing bolts.
The last thing that you want to do when trying to remove the manifold is break of MORE bolts than necessary. This is why I say use patience! Penetrating oil is a must with exhaust where most everything is rusted over. There is a big debate about what to use, but I have had really good luck with Kroil. I have also experimented with the acetone and ATF mix, but I have mainly used that as a bath for rusted bolts and nuts (seems to work well). So make sure that you use some of this oil on the bolts, then WAIT a little bit, then try and budge the bolt. Also, remove the bolts that connect the flange to the manifold. It will be easier to access this if you remove everything from step 2. I also had to use an electric impact on the flange bolts, they were rusted pretty good.
4.) With the manifold removed, you are ready to remove the broken bolts.
There are two different types of broken bolts you will encounter, those that are broken off in the manifold, and those that are broken off in the block. If it is broken off in the manifold, you will have some sticking out when the manifold is removed. From here, you can either put a pair of vise grips on it, or you can weld a nut to the remaining threads and take it out that way. For both of these USE PENETRATING OIL! It will help break the rust loose.
Now if it is broken off in the block, you will have more trouble. Probably the best way to do it is to drill in the center of the broken bolt carefully trying to keep it centered. Then you can try and use an easy out to get the broken part out. This worked for one of the bolts on mine. The other bolt required more time. For this one, we ended up stepping up drill bits until we were very close to the diameter of the THREADS. You do not want to go anymore, or you will drill into the threads and have a real problem. After we got it most of the way drilled out, we took a tap that was the size of the hole and re-tapped it. This seemed to work out really well.
5.) Re-assemble.
You basically just put everything back together the way it came off. Make sure that both the manifold and the cast that it mounts to is clean before you put on the new gasket, and you should be good to go. A couple of problems that I ran into with the install was finding the studs that go back into the holes, and finding a doughnut for the flange (joke). I could not for the life of me find a stud to replace the one that broke, so I decided to make one. I did this with a piece of all-thread, and double nutted it where it mounted up to the manifold, and where the heat shield rests. This method worked good and is shown in the video. The other part was finding a doughnut to replace the one on the flange. Apparently, for this model, they do not have a doughnut. When I took the flange apart, it was just the two pieces fitted together. So don't go looking around for a doughnut because they don't make one for this model.
I hope this helps someone, it is kind of a pain, but it is nice to have done. My local shop quoted me at 200 dollars, which is a very good price I thought. However, I just bought a fairly expensive pair of sunglasses, and he couldn't get me in until two weeks down the road, so I sat out to do it myself. Pretty happy with the way it turned out.
Here is the video: Sorry about being upside down sometimes... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_20zw...ature=youtu.be
Last edited by kyle3194; 03-24-2013 at 12:05 PM. Reason: Adding link to video
