Exhaust man. bolts coming loose?
 

Has anyone had any problems with the exhaust manifold bolts coming loose from the head and eventually pulling the threads out of the head? If so, what tips can you suggest to prevent this form happening? Thanks in advance

M

i had the same problem with one bolt.
 

i kept tightening the bolt and it eventually was stripped. i just put a larger bolt and it quit for now

I had 2 just strip out on me a couple years ago. They were toward the back of the head. I went for a full year before I could do the repair. I pulled the exhaust manifold and down pipe out as one unit, cleaned and sandpapered both the head and manifold, drilled out the stripped stud holes, cleaned out the shavings and installed helicoils and put everything back together with a new gasket. I also coated the gasket with a copper exhaust gasket spray. I torqued them down in proper sequence but still pulled another stud out. I went ahead and drilled that hole while the manifold was still bolted on. Installed the helicoil and stud, then tightened it down too. Once all was done It has stayed true. I drive 40 miles to and from work, and anywhere from 2 to 10 miles of on and off around town driveing everyday, and it has stayed together for a year now.

Someone also mentioned that you could just retap and use an american head stud i think, but i went the helicoil route. If you do a search for exhaust studs or helicoil, you may get some more info.

Ok, that helps, It sounds like it would be a real pain in the but, so hopefully i won't have to do it anytime soon. I've got some headers from LC engineering and I'm sure they would complicate things too. Thanks again

M

Try Threadlocker by Loctite. The only question is, do you want red or blue? I'll leave that up for you to decide.

Cool, I'll give it a try. Thank again

M

Just be glad you have the 4 banger. Try replacing a exh man nut/stud on a V6 sometime. It really sucks! :bang: