Well as I mentioned the problem is on the drivers side, I was able to drill out the old stud and ran a bolt through. Replacing only one seemed to **** it a bit so I may have to replace the other. That one is in a tighter spot and I just may have to remove the manifold. I have been spraying it with penatrating oil. What are the odds of the nuts comming off without the studs breaking?

 

This happened to me a couple of months ago. Both sides, the studs just away. Mid winter so I needed a quick fix. I used a 2.5in riser clamp and a 8in U bolt. I cut the riser clamo off on both ends and then drilled new holes to line up with the riser clamp. Then just assembled it around the manifold flange and the muffler flange drawing the 2 flanges to-gether.
It's still holding. 98 F-150 4.6L 348000km

 

I have had a ton of these trucks,some with leaky exhaust. A local muffler shop does an r&r taps out the studs & replaces with new studs for $125-225 per side depending on the amount of work. but they are done permanently, and I dont have to worry about it when a customer has the vehicle.I have found several shops that will do the job, all seem to be in that price range. PS the last truck he did both sides for $245

 

I have an 01 F150 5.4L that has two missing on the same flange!

Shop is quoting $250-300 in labor to slap some headers on....
now to find headers....wanted Bassani, but they only make for 2WD.

 

When you remove the drivers side manifold the EGR tube is connect to that manifold also I believe. If you are a LUCKY DOG it will not break when you remove the manifold, but usually it will need to be replaced also. It cost about $75.00 from FORD. If you plan to keep this truck, it would be money well spent fornew manifolds as they are notorious for warping. Especially after the junk manifold studs rust off. Been there, done that with my 99 F150 with 4.6.

 

Well, I am pretty cheap and prefer to do it myself....( when I can).

So, as of now the immediate need was the drivers side. the Passenger side looks sad but is holding.
So on the drivers side I was able to use a cut of tool and and cut the stud flush at the manifold and being flush I was able to drill it out. I did not retap it I just used a GRADE 8 bolt and torqued the hell out of it.
On the inside drivers manifold bolt, access was worse. I could not loosen the system to gain clearance. I was able to again cut the manifold stud off flush and then drill it out. However I ran to Walmart and bought a $3 drill bit extension. It is 12" long. That worked very well to get up in there. I did it all from the undersided. Other than some Blood and Sweat....It was under $10 to fix.
I did not have broken manifold bolts, so it was an easy choice to go this route, but if the others go, I'll then invest in some Headers....

 

thanks!!!! If I can access, I'll do the same thing (if those are the only ones broken!)....

 

Same thing I did, dropped the flange, used my small die gringer to grind the remainder of the studs flush with the manifold. If you look close at this point, you can see the outline of the old stud on the manifold. I ran a 1/8" bit on center thru both of them, and then a 5/16th bit thru the center of those holes. Then used some 5/16th stainless bolts, washers, and nuts to put it together. I had the inner fender shield off and worked from the bottom and side. The only mishap was I knicked the wire for the factory frost plug, no big deal to repair.

 

I used my cut off tool with my compressor. If you have a die grinder that would be more ideal. the cut off tool was way to bulky for the inner stud....

I had to make a die griner with a long bolt and a 1/2 used cut off .
What ever works.....

 

I got the dreaded news yesterday from the shop, so far only one stud on the passenger side is gone, they're saying it doesn't need to be replaced yet? Only time it seems to affect the truck is when I'm pulling a trailer, it leans out the cylinder and causes a bit of a miss. So I'm starting to save my pennies for a set of shiny new headers, I'm hoping that the exhaust shop that did my duals will be able to do the headers for a decent price.

Colin

 

have the same noise on drivers side on 2000 F150 also my brother in law has four trucks with that problem f250 and f350's manifold leaks ford is known for this thanks for the info first time posting for this site looking forward to much more good information thanks

 

This is one of the great things about this site. You find that you are not the only one with that problem and find simple cheap solutions. Or at least the knowledge to do it yourself. To be honest, I forgot how I fixed it until reading this again. This is a bit of an old post. So if somebody asked me I would be stumped. It's always nice when you do some sort of fix, to post it right away so the information is there for certain.
Mine is starting to make noise again but from reading this, I mentioned that the passenger side looked bad, so that may be the problem this time.
Also I did notice through the past year that when the engine is cold, it will leak a bit until it warms up. I guess the expansion/contraction plays a part too....

 

i think my girl is at that point too....time for headers, but i'm still debating if i should bother trying to install myself....it could get ugly.

 

For your problem there is an easy fix. They make a product called the Hush studfix that replaces the old studs without having to remove the manifold. The hardest part of using this thing is you have to cut off the remaining part of the rusted or broken stud. I use a cutting torch which makes it simple. A sharp chisel, sawsall or a small cut off blade will work, but not as easy as a torch. They have a neat web site with pictures at The Hush studfix .
Mufflerman