Ok so after searching these forums, I'm aware of the FI 460 and how they like to break exhaust manifolt bolts. Mine is a 94 F350 with the typical passenger side rear broken bolt. Upon startup it is only a light ticking that goes away once warm. How many people just leave it alone like it is and not worry about it. It looks like a huge job to remove the manifold and surely a few other will prob snap in the process.

 

"Bump" form an interested, fellow '97 F-250 460 owner, with a passenger-side exhaust leak. FWIW, the P.O. said he replaced the gaskets, and it leaked worse, so he put exhaust manifolds back on WITHOUT gaskets, and it was improved.

You can hear it at idle (less than a "ticking" but I know what you mean) and it makes a pleasant chuffing under accel.

I never thought to ask him if he broke any bolts, as he comes off as super-consciencious and told me about the known problems.

Interested to learn more about your situation....

 

soak em with PB blaster a couple times a week before tearing into it...

 

Mine is a 96 E-350, daily work truck. I tolerated the same ticking you described for 4 years. (Passenger side, back cylinder, back bolt, head broke off) Clicking would disappear when the engine warmed up. Finally, a couple on the driver's side broke, and I got tired of the constant clicking. Looking back, I made the repair more difficult by waiting. Every time I started the truck, heat expansion was making that manifold move just a fraction. That is why the leak would seal once warm. The thousands of heating/cooling cycles caused the front bolt on the back port to fatigue AT THE BLOCK. So when I removed the passenger manifold, removing the original broken bolt was a piece of cake. (Vice grips and unscrew.) It was the front bolt on that port that caused me to go buy a nice little angle air drill and some colbalt reverse cutting bits. But...all is well now. And I got a new air tool out of the project.

 

dirtfrmr57,

I like "happy endings" as much as the next guy! LOL So I really appreciate you're sharing your very practical solution.

Did the bolt finally give up and unscrew itself, onto one of the reverse bits? Or were you forced to go all the way, then chase the threads?

What angle air drill did you select and, if you don't mind, how much were the bits and drill, roughly?

Thanks for sharing.

Peter

 

I purchased a Chicago Pneumatics CP-879 with a 90 degree angle. I still had to modify the tin lip for the doghouse to get the drill where it needed to be.
I knew I needed to start dead center on the bolt, and follow the bolt axis. I put one of the other manifold bolts into the block so I could see the axis line. I center punched and drilled a pilot hole, rechecking my line about twenty times. I kept the drill speed down to a crawl, and the cobalt bits cut through that bolt like it was butter. I drilled a 5/32" hole for the # 3 extractor. It seated and I torqued on it until I thought it was about to break and the bolt didn't budge. So I went for broke and drilled a 1/4" for the #4 extractor. I drilled all the way to the end of the bolt. It finally snapped loose with the #4. It was a miracle that I did not even touch the block threads with the drill or extractor. 9 times out of 10 I would not have been that lucky, and would have had to either chase or re-tap.

Looking back, I should have used PB blaster ahead of time. It probably would have helped.

Also, my 96 does not use a manifold gasket. I don't know out the 97. Kirt

 

The drill and bits cost me $130 April '08.

 

The most painful part was the $90 for the 8 new bolts from Ford. Anti-seized them.

 

Another trick-no gasket but use high temp. rtv.
Also make sure the bolts do not bottom in the hole before they cinch the manifold down-bolt stretch.

The FI 460's are notorious for that-because the catalytic converter causes too much heat(restrictive) and warps the manifold, causing bolt failure. It's a bigger problem, the bigger the vehicle and load. Motorhome guys go through hell with that.
Our solution was to eliminate the cat, worked fine, altho we don't have emission laws here. So, those that need to abide by that law-try a high performance cat, or double them up into a dual setup?

 

Alright, to answer your question about if it hurts the motor or not, when I first got my truck (2 years ago) I ran it with an exhaust leak in front of the cat and a broken manifold bolt on the rear driver's side for about 3 months. took it in for an all new exhaust system (from manifolds back 3" into cat and 2.5" into empty muffler into 2" duals coming out to the corners of the bumper) and the guy that replaced the manifold bolts also took the spark plugs out on that side just to look them over. He told me that the spark plug on the cylinder that had the leak from the manifold bolt being broke, was burnt beyond belief and replaced it after showing the old one to me. He also told me it was a bad thing to run it that way because with the leak at the manifold like that, that cylinder runs at a diferent temperature than the rest and could cause a catastrophic failure. I knew about the cat restricting the heat so when i got home i tore the new exhaust apart and gutted my cat. No problems since and temp runs about half temp all the time. 97 f250 crew cab 460 . If it was mine, I'd fix it quickly. My dad is also a deisel mechanic of 40 years and he also said the same thing about the cylinder temp. GOOD LUCK with it.

 

I would be real careful when using the extractors. Those things are make of hardened steel and are real hard to get out if you break one off. I think dirtfrmr57 got real lucky. I have never had any luck using them. I have watched machine shops take bolts out using a cutting torch. The put the heat on the broken bolt and when it turns cherry red they hit the oxygen and it blows the bolt right out. Then they run a tap through the hole to clean the slag out. The head comes out so clean you couldn't even tell they did it. I am not sure about going to Ford and paying 90 bucks for eight bolts. I just went to the hardware store and bought grade 8 bolts. This is not a pleasant task, so good luck and be sure and use anti-seize on them when you put the thing back together. Use the high temp copper anti-seize if you can find it. I was told that Ford originally designed these manifolds to bolt to the heads without gaskets. This way the cooling and heating cycle is more evenly distributed and is supposed to prevent this bolt snapping.

 

This is good info. guys...Thanks for the help. This past weekend I recently got back from a 600 mile trip with the truck and I am thinking of taking a stab at the project. My truck has the CA smog equipment which probably makes it run even leaner/hotter. We do have emissions test here in phx so I'm thinking I will flange the stock cat on both sides and use that for emissions which are once a year. During the rest of the year I will bolt in a "test pipe" for normal usage. Hopfully this will take care of some of the heat issue and my chances of this happening again will be better.

 

Does anyone know the hp difference between the California model compared to the normal version?