Found exhaust leak

[gmcman]

Typical "Harley" sound as another poster mentioned when cold then kinda goes away after awhile but not fully disappears. Pulled the heat shield and didn't see much discoloration around the manifold so I was checking the bolts to make sure they were tight.

Low and behold, one was loose. Sweet, as I started to tighten it the bolt kept turning.....

Anyone wanna guess which one?

Since this won't take too much thought, I do have a right-angle drill so what has been the best course of action on removing said "buried" bolt. I want to assume I will likely break a few more removing the manifold but if freaking figures.

 

[dfc739]

Typical "Harley" sound as another poster mentioned when cold then kinda goes away after awhile but not fully disappears. Pulled the heat shield and didn't see much discoloration around the manifold so I was checking the bolts to make sure they were tight.

Low and behold, one was loose. Sweet, as I started to tighten it the bolt kept turning.....

Anyone wanna guess which one?

Since this won't take too much thought, I do have a right-angle drill so what has been the best course of action on removing said "buried" bolt. I want to assume I will likely break a few more removing the manifold but if freaking figures.

I have had to change two exhaust manifolds now (one while it was in the car, and one when we were doing my engine swap last September). I got really lucky: I only had two bolts broken and they had enough sticking out that I could get a hold of them and twist them out. And they were both the far back bolt. Take your time and lubricate them with more PB Blaster or your choice of skunk piss than you have ever used before. I didn't break any by soaking them overnight and using my shortest ratchet (the only broken ones I had to deal with were already broken when I got to them). If they start turning really hard, reverse and run it back in a little to break the threadlocker free. I alternated spraying them down with ATF/acetone mix and PB Blaster for around 18 hours. And make sure you properly torque the new bolts. Good luck.

 

[ConeKilrAutoX]

hey I have 150,xxx miles and as mentioned before I gave the bolts a nice soak (I did it everyday for a week) in PB blaster and then I heated the bolts with a blow torch right before I went to take them off and it worked like a charm. Slow off a 1/4 turn and then back on a 1/4 turn then repeat but each time take it off a little further as long as there isnt too much resistance. Try not to wiggle the socket wrench too much it will lessen the chance even more of bolts snapping off. Hope this helps.

 

[tricguy007]

The best course of action is to let the engine run for about 15 min then get the bolts out the heat of the engine will make the bolts come rite out then u don't have to worry about a torch (this is the same way I take ford exhaust manifold bolts out at work, works almost every time)

 

[gmcman]

What really concerns me is being able to drill the rear bolt. Will the right angle drill fit or will i need to loosen the mounts and tilt the motor?

 

[CaptainXL]

you don't need the rear bolt. just remove the rest and replace the manifold gasket.

 

[gmcman]

you don't need the rear bolt. just remove the rest and replace the manifold gasket.

Nah....needs to be fixed. Can't have that ticking going on. I want to speculate the gasket is still ok but if I pull the manifold I'm surely going to replace it.

What I need to know is how deep the bolt hole is in the head. The bolts are 33MM in lengh but I hear they are very close to bottoming out. If that's the case I'm going to go with some 10.9 30MM long bolts but if not then I will cut down some 35MM bolts but I don't want to cut them if I don't have to.