I have known for a while I had a manifold leak..
only recently it started whistling. high pitch chirping chickity type noise..
im hoping thats what it is.
Just crawled under and had a look, appears to be missing a stud in the manifold, driver side.
Have a look please!
let me know.

 

this first bolt there with the darker looking shell/casing...

 

DRIVER side , would be the EXHAUST MANIFOLD correct?
2007 DODGE DAKOTA 4.7L V8 : Exhaust : Exhaust Manifold

this is the part i am looking at on ROCKAUTO.

http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/more...542&cc=1434478


should I buy this or try to buy one from a parts dealer?

 

I'd just replace the gasket and studs. Not the manifold unless it is damaged. As far as parts, Someone had laid out a web address in another thread. Or you can go to the dealer, they keep it all in stock since it is a common item.

 

Thats exactly what happened to my 2006 dakota. It started off as a small exhaust leak that would go away once the motor and exhaust manifold heated up and expanded. Eventually one of the passenger side exhaust manifold bolt heads snapped clean off by itself (common failure on dakotas). This is when the leak really became much much louder.

You will want to replace your exhaust manifold gasket, and buy new manifold bolts. I bought my bolts and gasket from the parts dept at the dealership.
I would spray all of the bolts with penetrating oil the day before trying to remove them, otherwise you run the risk of snapping a head off a second bolt.

Removing the snapped bolt will be the most time consuming thing, but luckly it happened on the drivers side, because there is more room to work with on the drivers side vs the passenger. On mine, I removed the other 7 bolts, then took the manifold off. Then i used a vice-grip pliers to tediously turn the shaft of the busted bolt to remove it. This will only work if the bolt has NOT snapped flush with the block. Once you remove the exhaust manifold you should have enough of the broken bolt to work with.

 

More times than not the stud holding the heat shield on snaps before the head of the bolt causing the manifold to lose its clamp to the cylinder head. Don't waste your money on new studs. Just get some good grade 8 bolts with lock washers and ditch the heat shield. Ive done all 16 of mine with grade 8s and havent had a prob since. And I dont have inner fenders so replacing them is super easy. Driveway job.

 

thanks guys
it now looks like theres two bolts gone
one on top closest to driver seat and one on bottom closest to driver, as shown in picture....where its clean broke off , its hard to even think that a bolt belongs there, its the one right before the connection of manifold and pipe..

So , if i go to take off the rest of the bolts, and they all come out,
WILL THE MANIFOLD COME OFF EVEN THOUGH THE TWO BOLTS ARE CRACKED FLUSH?
i will just have to get them out with the manifold disconnected?
or will the manifold be still attached because of the two bolts that are cracked?

havent done it yet. . . I have the bolts, and gasket...

I was told at a shop that manifolds can become warped after driving so long with broken studs , and then the manifold needs to be replaced.

getting qoutes close to 500$...seems pretty legit i had the gasket done once before bit less than that.. but i dont have money to be dishing out at the moment...if it comes down to it and i have to get a garage to do it i will...

Am i best off taking the wheel off?

 

Have a look at . It should answer most of your questions.

 

If there's torque specs for the manifold bolts, go by them. I've seen manifolds break because they couldn't expand/contract properly due to being over-tightened.
Another trick is to put a light smear of graphite grease on both sides of the gasket before installing.

 

There are a few videos on YouTube and I thought I posted one as well. Not hard just time consuming I had to build a jig to drill out one of my bolts and helicoil it!