Can you get at it from the bottom? The front bolts are thru holes, they open up into empty space above the timing cover.

 

I was in that situation, broke the right front and the rear left. Rear I got off after I used induction heater to make it glow red, let it cool down for a while, then carefully wiggled it off. Front one I was not so lucky, eventually there were nothing to grab so I had to drill it out and make a new thread. Now there's a one odd size bolt as I didn't have a correct size tap, nor I couldn't get one from anywere on saturday night. But got it all back together.

 

I was back working on the bolts again today. I didn’t get underneath and look up, but feeling with my fingers, I didn’t feel any thru holes.

Upon further review, you are correct, they are thru holes and I can see the bottom of the bolts in question.

 

After soaking the area for several days with PB Blaster, I was able to clean out all of the material that was built up in the machined recesses around the bolts. Today I switched to Liquid Wrench as a penetrant, after I watched this:

I was able to get a bite on the right bolt with a screw extractor but still can’t get it out.
I used vice grips and about 30 seconds of heat from a handheld propane torch (like you use for soldering copper) but still can’t get it out either.
I will keep soaking the area with Liquid Wrench and tapping on the bolts while I complete the other tasks like surface cleaning and spark plug change.

Screw extractor

Machined area around bolt finally cleaned out

 

Might need something hotter then a handheld propane torch

 

So how hot can I get that area before it’s starts damaging or warping the head? I read above where HeikIlm used an induction heater (whatever that is) and heated it till it glowed red ( which I think is 900F) I have a oxyacetylene setup if I need it. Im kinda scared of doing more damage at this point.

 

Induction heater is actually a really cool tool. You can bend a wire that heats up so you can heat up just the bolt. You can get it pretty hot as cast iron can take the heat. Dint be afraid to get it hot.

 

If a magnet will stick to the metal around it, you can heat it cherry red. That will pop the rust particles loose and the bolt will come out.

 

I just finished replacing the cam and lifters and put in reman heads from a place in Texas. My truck is a '99 Ram 1500 with 5.9 magnum motor and mine was identical. I had to drill out the bolt in the manifold to get it out because both bolts broke off even with the head so good luck.

 

After drilling out the passenger side to accommodate a larger screw extractor but still failing to extract the old bolt, I retapped that hole with a 5/16-18 tap. The passenger side was removed successfully after using oxyacetylene torch to bolt to red hot and vice gripped it out.

Im in the process of reassembly. I would like to clean the oil gallery. Despite my best efforts there is a some debris in that area. My shop vac with a 2 1/2” hose is not real effective. I’m going to get a smaller 1 1/4” hose to get to hard to reach places. That said I was thinking about washing it out with some kerosene and then changing oil. Any suggestions?

Also, I’m replacing the fuel injector o-rings. Any tricks or trip wires to watch out for when doing that?


Retapped driver side with old bolt

Passenger side bolt extracted with oxyacetylene heat

Post extraction