exhaust manifold bolts question

[killercat]

hi all,
well, i have a problem with my 1998 expedition. it has i believe the 4.6 engine. I've had this super running truck for 5 years now and i started to have a exhaust manifold gasket leak. its on the passenger side front port. problem is that the studs and nuts look like a tooth pick with some meat around it if you know what i mean. rusted. i mean, i do mostly all my own work but we all know what happens when you mess the this kind of problem. and i also heard that the heads are aluminum which is not good ether. but i don't know. just want to know if anyone of you guys have come across this problem and if you did the work yourself what proses did you go through? any help with this situation would be greatly appreciated. thank you.

 

[01yellerCobra]

Yes, the heads are aluminum. I would start soaking the studs in PB Blaster. You might get lucky and the nut and stud will come out as one piece.

Misspelling brought to you by Tapatalk

 

[BakerEdition]

There are many threads on here...my personal preference is to order a set of pacesetter long tube headers and the off road y-pipe...take a saws all and cut the manifolds between the studs this will help release the tension off the studs and help come out much easier..

 

[killercat]

Yes, the heads are aluminum. I would start soaking the studs in PB Blaster. You might get lucky and the nut and stud will come out as one piece.

Misspelling brought to you by Tapatalk

yea, i thought about that but it looks like the bolts don't even have a hex pattern anymore. but i'll give it a shot. as far as the headers. i would love to but i don't think the wife would like the rumble sound or spending the extra money. but super idea...

 

[oblivion]

Personally, dont waste your money on a set of tube headers. On the 5.4 and 4.6 they tend to warp really easily and theres really very minimal gains. My fathers f150 had a set and he was re-torquing them every 6-8 months. Go to Rock auto and get a set of OEM ones and order a set of lock bolts. You will spend 150 for the whole deal instead of $500+ oh and when you do order a new EGR tube, its way easier to just cut the old one out.

 

[killercat]

not sure what to do. I'm thinking on trying to loosening the stud nuts but man. really sucks.

 

[BakerEdition]

Personally, dont waste your money on a set of tube headers. On the 5.4 and 4.6 they tend to warp really easily and there's really very minimal gains. My fathers f150 had a set and he was re-torquing them every 6-8 months. Go to Rock auto and get a set of OEM ones and order a set of lock bolts. You will spend 150 for the whole deal instead of $500+ oh and when you do order a new EGR tube, its way easier to just cut the old one out.

I noticed a big difference on performance and fuel economy, headers have o2 sensor bungs, 3" y-pipe to a 3" extension pipe into a 3" flowmaster 70 series and dual 2.5 tail pipes out.....have not had to tighten at all...no problems..just because you had an issue don't mean everyone else will. Oh yeah im getting 15 to 17.5 city mpg and 20 to 21.5 on the highway at 72mph and it didnt cost 500.00 it was 750.00 and i have saved that in gas 10 times.

 

[onlyexilove]

I have a 98 also and had the same exact issue on both sides. I prefer to use "Freeze Off" on any rusted bolts, especially on this rig. Mine came from PA and most of the bolts are rusted. I started soaking the bolts a few weeks before I tore mine apart and I still had a few of the bolt heads break off. We took about a full day using easy outs and drill bits but they finally came out. Biggest thing is use a torch when trying to remove them. I recently did a full PI head swap and went to the BBK shorty headers which are always a pain to install but make it sound nice and open it up a bit.

 

[oblivion]

Baker, I am not the only one this has happened too, I work with an exhaust shop on a regular basis who has seen it happen countless times an they suggest the same as it do. Also of course you felt butt dyno gains with the WHOLE exhaust being done. He was asking about just fixing the exhaust leak in the headers. I have virtually the same trick as him so I suggested what worked very well with mine and didn't cost a lot.

 

[omegalita]

I have done this work 5 Weeks ago...leaking on each side and some bolts were broken

I had to heat each bolt and spent much time on each...
Two of them i had to drill out.

I also had to lift the engine because there was not enough space to take the header off...

 

[Big White]

I have done this work 5 Weeks ago...leaking on each side and some bolts were broken

I had to heat each bolt and spent much time on each...
Two of them i had to drill out.

I also had to lift the engine because there was not enough space to take the header off...

OUCH! Can we assume since you put headers on (and off!) that was all new hardware a little while ago? Which hardware was that?

 

[omegalita]

I'm not sure whether I understood the meaning, but it was the original hardware (98)...

 

[Marksexpy]

What is the best exhaust manifold gasket on the market? Put on a new manifold "dorman" 4 years ago and it blew out the gasket recently. I have changed several manifolds on these 5.4. On The studs i cant get the nut off i grind off with a burr. Once you get the manifold off there is enough of the stud remaining to mig weld a nut or bolt to the existing stud. Then I use a wrench and turn them out. I think the heat of welding really helps on loosing them up.

What is the best exhaust manifold gasket? Want it to last more than 4 years next time.

Thanks

 

[DUNE RCR]

Just did mine recently. If you have a good set of easy outs(style that grabs the outside) then you should do ok. Just soak in pb blaster like previously said. I only had one stubborn one, luckily I have a welder and welded a nut to the very short stud I had remaining. If you do snap it flush you will want to center punch and carefully drill and use an extractor.

 

[DUNE RCR]

Here it is after it finally came out. I believe it was a mix of the high temp from welding and actually having something to grab hold of, but it worked for me.

 

[DUNE RCR]

What is the best exhaust manifold gasket on the market? Put on a new manifold "dorman" 4 years ago and it blew out the gasket recently. I have changed several manifolds on these 5.4. On The studs i cant get the nut off i grind off with a burr. Once you get the manifold off there is enough of the stud remaining to mig weld a nut or bolt to the existing stud. Then I use a wrench and turn them out. I think the heat of welding really helps on loosing them up.

What is the best exhaust manifold gasket? Want it to last more than 4 years next time.

Thanks

Lmao I didn't even catch your reply.

 

[Marksexpy]

Dune rcr- what gasket did you go with. I have decided on trying victor reinz with metal layers. I am hoping these dont blow out as easy. The dorman was all fiber with no metal and only lasted four years 20-30 thousand miles. All my studs were still in place and tight but the gasket blew out on the rear port.

 

[Bedrck47]

If you ever need to replace the studs again there is a vendor on e-bay that carries Stainless Steel Studs Which should hold up much better

 

[Marksexpy]

Yeah i guess i will give these try. Any info on gaskets? What are good ones for these motors?

 

[Marksexpy]

Got the victor reinz gaskets today what a difference than the one the comes in the dorman minifold kit. The new gasket are actually oem gasket you can see the ford logo in them. Look like the will hold up much better.