Stripped exhaust manifold bolt?

[Disturban]

Is there anything I can do besides replacing the head? It is leaking bad and it is loud! I tried two gaskets and its a no go 

[redchevy11]

drill it out and re tap it

[camok10]

how bout a helicoil or if you dont want to over size the hole or use a helicoil, jbweld it drill it out and tap it stock size

[Eroq]

hmm, only way i can think is helicoil....

would be the fastest and easiest way.. just a 3/8-16

[Disturban]

If I use a helicoil I would have to remove the head to drill it...I am trying to avoid that right now I think I will drive it loud for the winter and change the whole motor in the spring. I was just seeing if soneone knew a cheap and easy fix for now...I thought about welding the manifold right to the head where it leak...but decided against that idea for obvious reasons

[Disturban]

If I use a helicoil I would have to remove the head to drill it...I am trying to avoid that right now I think I will drive it loud for the winter and change the whole motor in the spring. I was just seeing if soneone knew a cheap and easy fix for now...I thought about welding the manifold right to the head where it leak...but decided against that idea for obvious reasons

make a bracket from the engine somehow and have a jam bolt go through that to press against the manifold to pinch it tight

What bolt is broke? A rear one I take it

It is the secont from the last and that is a real good idea thank you for the excellent input!

[Bowtie972]

Heres an idea I have used myself, most recently on my 03 2500HD.  Is the bolt  broke off or just  rounded? If its broke off remove the rest  of the bolts and the manifold, get a new 3/8" nut place it directly over the broken bolt, then use a wire welder and weld the inside of the nut to the broken stud, use short pulls on the trigger, as soon as the cherry red is gone try to turn it out.  Caution:   Plug all open holes in the heads, duct tape works good to keep stray sparks and spatter out.

If the bolt is just rounded weld the nut on the end of the stripped one, then try to turn out.

[Disturban]

The bolt is out but the threads in the head are stripped.

[Bowtie972]

Gotcha.. probably helicoil or thread insert

[Eroq]

Lets see one of you guys get a drill in there, second from the rear of the engine ;drill out the hole and repair it

pull the steering shaft, pull out manifold...

or just drive it how it is

[Disturban]

It is on the drivers side...I am going to pull the head and try a helicoil or replace heads. I realy dont want to do this in the middle of winter so I might just pay someone to do it?

[Orangecrush]

buy some of that red goop gasket stuff, replace with new gasket and put a good bead of this stuff around the ports,tighten all bolts but the bad one and let this stuff set up over nite, Bowtie 972 has used this red rtv for exhaust gasket leaks and it worked great .

[Disturban]

buy some of that red goop gasket stuff, replace with new gasket and put a good bead of this stuff around the ports,tighten all bolts but the bad one and let this stuff set up over nite, Bowtie 972 has used this red rtv for exhaust gasket leaks and it worked great .

I was thinking about using some JB Weld and doing that.

[Bowtie972]

Yea use the red RTV for now until you can fix it right, I wouldnt use JB weld on that , I have used JB weld to plug the A.I.R. holes in a manifold on a pontiac 301 before and it held for years, gotta let it set up for a couple days though.


Put about a 1/8 to 3/16 bead around the manifold, let skin up for 20 minutes or so then put manifold back on and tighten.

[Disturban]

Ultra Copper High Heat RTV Gasket Silicone works best.

I will give that a try.

[Disturban]

the only thing that i can think of would be to re tap it

YEP....got sick of it and took it to a friend who works at Lentz and he did it for $150. It took him about 4 hours to do, what a pain in the ass! No my Burban is quiet except for a nice throaty sound of the new high flow 3" exhaust system I had installed...sounds real nice when ya get on it.

[GreenBOGGER]

dude im sure you have it done now but for future times when u tapp the head you have to be extremely carfull you dont hit the water jaket cause than ull be done i just did that on my 98 ram but i fixed it but it was a heck of a job so becarfull