I have had a leak on the left side for years and keep putting off tackling the job. I've heard stories about how hard it is to get the bolts out. I read on FTE to try when motor is hot. I was moving junk and trailers around today and though now is the time to try. I've got 7 bolts laying on the breather and one small problem. The reason I had a leak is the rear bolt is broken at the head.
Now do I drill and easy out , drill to tap size and thread or fire up the welder?

Aerodyne in E TN


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46 ton
F250 4x4 HD 460 C6
F350 6x6 460 4speed

 

i dont know what your doing with the welder , but if the stud is far enough out. heat up .
(around) the stut and vice-grip it . if not time to drill and tap helli-coil then.

 

I have never had a Vise grip work on an exhaust bolt. They are stuck too hard to come out and all you will do is chew up the rest of the stud that is sticking out. If you can get to it to put a larger nut over it put the nut on and weld it to the broken bolt. The excess heat from the welding might loosen it enough to allow you to back it out. If not use the old impact wrench on a lower setting and see if you can hammer it out. Run a clean out tap through all of the holes to clean them out. Use new bolts and use high temp anti-seize when you put it back together.

 

The Bolt is broken off just below the surface of the head. I've had good luck putting a washer over the bolt ,weld bolt to washer then a nut to the washer.
We had a stud broken off on a Mack fuel injection pump and our local welder took his TIG and built the bolt up about a 1/4 " above the block and then welded a nut on. He then worked the nut back and forth till it came out.

Aerodyne IN E TN

 

be very careful if you drill and tap, i tried it on my 88' 460. drilled and heli-coiled and was tightening the manifold down, after about 15 hours and 8 holes later i broke the head, there isn't much meat around the holes and after you get the heli-coil in there, it's even thinner. I tried getting the engine hot and removing the studs, and broke a few off doing that too. the right side is easier to get to than the left (steering shaft and PS lines in the way on the left side). If you do get to the point where you need new studs, i recommend buying them from McMaster-Carr. they have an awesome web-site with a vast assortment of various alloys to choose from. But defintely use some good hi-temp anti-seeze when you reassemble.

Good luck

 

Well it's a done deal. I drilled out the old bolt and chased the threds. Lucky I know, but I also took my time. It took about 3 1/2 hrs Sunday afternoon.
All is quite , no spiting but when I turn on the headlights the moter trys to die?



aerodyne in E TN

 

Congrads on a feat dreaded by all.

 

I pulled my heasd and took it to a local engine building shop where they pulled out 2 broken bolts to the tune of $88.63, OUCH!!! They said they had to clean my head before they would take it into the machine shop and they also surfaced it for me. When I told them that I didn't ask for those things and I only asked to have the "studs" removed the basic answer I got was I Dont Care, Pay Up. I'll never go back.

 

What you were charged wasn't really out of line. It seems like a lot, but considering what they have to pay employees, taxes, utilities, etc. you probably paid the shop minimum. They probably cleaned and magna-fluxed your head before they worked on it to make sure there wasn't any cracks. No legit shop will work on a head that is cracked. They should have told you up front what the were going to do and what the cost was going to be. (That is the law) Then you could have made the decision before you left the head. That would have been the most ethical thing to do.

 

I fixed the dy'ing problem with a new ignition box. I guess taking the inner fender out and moving it around finished it.

Aerodyne IN E TN

 

Ten years ago I had to pull the heads to repair one on each side when I was installing headers. Turned out there was a crack in one combustion chamber I didn't know about, repaired it with three stitches and haven't done anything else to my motor in 365,000 km.(220,000 miles?)

 

A MIG welder can be your friend when dealing with cast heads and broken bolts. I pulled the manifold from my 96 F250HD 7.5L and removed the gasket. Cleaned up the bolts and buttoned it back up. Silent now without any gaskets. Thankfully no broken bolts on mine, but I did use the MIG on my 2003 CVPI as it had one bolt broke flush with the manifold and not the head. So I just held a nut up there with some needle nose pliers and welded it to the stud. Backed it right out and replaced. Sure beat pulling the entire manifold.