This is becoming a regular situation on any engine that I open up. This is good in a way but utterly frustrating in another.

On my '98 T&C I have a coolant fluid leak that I thought was coming from the front head gasket. I found out today that the leak is coming from the area between the air intake plenum and the front head. Thus, no leaking head gasket. But, when I was pulling the bolts out of the air intake plenum one of the bolts was broken off inside the head. . This situation has been frustrating because the previous owner poured a lot of STOP LEAK into the engine to make the leak stop. Well, the leak resumed just a little while after I purchased the car and now I had to figure out where it was coming from and fix it, thus i'm now in this predicament.

I have gotten everything off the top of the engine (fuel rail, plenum, wiring harness.....) and the only thing left to remove is the exhaust manifolds. The front exhaust manifold bolts came off easily but where it turns to the backside of the engine there is a flex joint that has a flange with two bolts. Those bolts are STUCK. I have put pb blaster on them and used an impact wrench and still they will not release. I tried to seperate the rear flange bolts and these are siezed tight also. How would you guys get these bolts and nuts loose? I have used PB blaster, a 3/8" socket wrench with a three foot extension, and an impact wrench, yet they do not budge the bolts.

If the plenum bolt had not broken off inside head I would be on the home stretch of putting everything back together. Now I have to pull the heads(if you do one then do both while you are in there) so I can extract the plenum bolt or replace the front head entirely. I am frustrated beyond belief and need some assistance.

thanks

terry

 

without torches exhaust work is a joke. if you cant cut em off try (cold chistle, die grinder, mini cutoff tool, heat em with a propane plumbers torch, ect..) Eat your wheaties and shear em off.

U'll need to loose the 3/8 toys and get a good breaker bar, you'll twist those suckers right off, if you have the room to use it of course

Can't you extract while the head is on?
drill & EZout?
did the plenum bolt break off with a bit sticking out of head or flush/recessed?

 

When i remove the rear exhaust, i leave the crossover tube on the rear exhaust and just remove the exhaust bolts on the head.

 

Hemi4spd, the plenum bolt broke off flush with the Head. I have tried an easyout, but as luck would have it, the pilot hole I drilled was not centered and now I think I have drilled into the threads.

Will this necessitate a replacement head or can I continue to drill the bolt out and pray the threads will not be messed up?

 

don't worry about the threads, you can always use a Heli-coil to fix it.

 

Sapporo, Thanks you very, very, very, much for the heli-coil idea. After looking at the area of the leak I feel very confident that the intake plenum is where the radiator fluid is leaking. I bought a Helicoil pack and installed one after I reamed the old bolt out of the hole. This was the first time I ever experienced a Heli coil. I watched some youtube videos on how to use the coils. After a couple of hours tonight under the hood I now have a new threaded intake maniford hole. It is a lot easier than pulling the heads. The exhaust manifold bolts are the worst for breaking loose and I didn't not want to tackle that. So now I just have to clean up the mating surfaces and start putting everything back together.

Before I do that, even though I don't want to do it, Do you think I should replace the head gaskets? The van has 210,000 on it and I don't think it has ever had work done on the engine.

One other thing, the flexible portion of the exhaust crossover tube has a crack in it. Does this need to be replaced?

thanks

 

Depends where you live... in AZ I never had a problem getting exhaust bolts loose. where I live now (in the rust belt), I never need a torch either. I bought a tool that will heat a fastener to cherry red in less than 30 seconds without a flame so no vehicle fire issues.

I won't bother with head gaskets unless they are leaking. I've only encountered one 3.3 with a bad head gaskets and I've owned several hundred 3.3/3.8 vehicles (I'm a dealer so yes I've owned hundreds!!)

 

if you want to do the head gaskets your in the same place as you were earlier getting those bolts undone.

I'd just leave em unless you know for sure they are leaking.

As for the crossobver pipe you wouldnt want exhaust gasses filling the engine compartment then being sucked through the cowl vents into the cabin,,, so I'd say yes look into relacing that pipe

does it really mater what tool you use? heat is still needed to be applied.
In Canada here theres no such thing as a rust belt its the whole country

 

I went to a dodge dealership today and there was a shop mechanic standing next to me in the parts dept. I asked him how he would remove the bolts and his reply was " I use a grinder with a cutting disc. Just cut the bolts off." That sounds a little easier and safer than using heat. Plus the replacement crossover tubes I found on Ebay come with new bolts and gaskets. $50 + shipping. Beats O'reillys and autozone by about $280.

Thanks for the help, everyone. This van has been a pain in the &$% since I bought it, but with everything I have replaced, it is going to be about brand new.

Thanks

terry

 

my tool heats bolts red hot, no flame, no spark... safe enough to use, I'd have a 9th grader use it.

www.theinductor.com. makes sway bar links piece of cake to remove (especially the lower one)