Exhaust manifold leak

[duckdogwhiskey]

Hi. I have had this annoying sound coming from under the hood since I have had the Bronco, about 5 years. I suppose I had just gotten used to it, then someone was riding with me the other day and pointed it out and now I hear it all the time again. He said he thought it was an exhaust manifold leak. I want to do this repair myself and was just wondering if anyone had any tips. I have read that chances are high that bolts will shear when I try to remove them. Is this something I want to get into or should I take it to a muffler shop? I have gotten pretty handy with the beast but certainly don't want to create more problems than I fix. It is a 95 xlt with a windsor 351. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Seabronc]

It is a doable job, but if it is on the right side of the engine, it is more difficult since you will have to take a bunch of stuff off to get at the bolts. The bolts won't sheer unless you force them when they don't want to move any more. First soak them a day or two with "PB Blaster" to soften any rust welds. An old technique is to first turn them in the tightening direction (right, to break the rust), then to the left. If you feel the bolt getting tight and difficult to unbolt, turn it back to the right, keep doing that till you get it out. Don't be stingy on the use of "PB blaster" while your are working a difficult bolt. Buy new bolt for the remount and use "antisieze" on the threads. Be sure to torque them to the proper specification (18 - 24 ft-lbs ), working from the center out to the ends. First snug them all then start the final tightening. Check the new gasket and make sure you put the proper side against the heads.

Good luck,

>-

 

[CJGamer]

I just did the drivers side of this myself about 2 weeks ago. I'll be doing the other side either this weekend or next.

The hardest part was the longer bolts that had other things on them (like heat shield or dipstick). Those second nuts wouldn't budge. I heated them, PB blasted waited, used everything I could. I ended up using the sawzall and dremel to cut them through that first nut. The bolts themselves all came out not too bad once soaked and heated a time or two. Just need to get everything out of the way first so you can get the appropriate sockets in- I'm thinking mine were 14mm. My headers (flowtech) came with a set of new bolts and gaskets that I put on. I have yet to torque them- and will do that this weekend, as my Cold Air intake is coming tommorrow I think- and I'll do that install to complete the drivers side upgrades.

 

[duckdogwhiskey]

I just did the drivers side of this myself about 2 weeks ago. I'll be doing the other side either this weekend or next.

The hardest part was the longer bolts that had other things on them (like heat shield or dipstick). Those second nuts wouldn't budge. I heated them, PB blasted waited, used everything I could. I ended up using the sawzall and dremel to cut them through that first nut. The bolts themselves all came out not too bad once soaked and heated a time or two. Just need to get everything out of the way first so you can get the appropriate sockets in- I'm thinking mine were 14mm. My headers (flowtech) came with a set of new bolts and gaskets that I put on. I have yet to torque them- and will do that this weekend, as my Cold Air intake is coming tommorrow I think- and I'll do that install to complete the drivers side upgrades.

Mine is on the passenger side. I now can see that one bolt on the manifold is sheared off, which looks like it will be a fun job to say the least. It looks like even assuming that I can get all of the other ones off, that working room to drill the sheared one off is going to be challenging to say the least.