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So, I got tired of the cold start "tick tick tick tick until-it-warms-up" sound on my 377k mile motor. I found that #5 was leaking for sure, and I was fairly certain #3 was, too. I couldn't tell on the driver side (oil cooler is in the way), and I forgot to check when I had the oil cooler out last summer. Sooooo, I bought these:
The Mahle gaskets are carbon fiber with the steel ring.
Today I got to work on it. Took about 6 hours with a 30 min break in between sides. I opted to drop the front axle and pull the coil buckets and springs...although it would be possible to do it without going to that length...Just a pain to work around the buckets or shock tower. Better to pull them off in my opinion.
Small amount of work considering how much easier it makes the job at hand.
With the bucket/shock tower out of the way (depending on which one you have), the passenger side is a breeze. Driver side is a little more challenging because of the steering rod and the hydro-boost hoses, but it still wasn't that hard.
I disconnected the up-pipe and the EBP tube, then started removing the bolts from the middle out. I saved the forward most bolt for last.
This is what I found: #1, 3 and 5 were all leaking at the bottoms of the ports. #7 was not.
At this point, I realized my oil pan gasket was leaking, and THAT was the source of the oil I keep finding on the bottom of my starter. It appears to be a slow seep, so I have some time yet to tackle it. Full tear down on the engine when I do.
Here are the ports and exhaust manifold:
Despite its appearance in this photo, #7 was not leaking. #5 and #3...hard to see, but #5 was leaking at the bottom just like #3 I then broke out the wire cup and went after the heads and the manifold.
I placed a straight edge on both manifolds after they were off, and I found them to both be flat. No warpage. Good for me!
After the wire cup I hit the up-pipe, too. Then I ran a thread chaser into all the holes. Got some rust and junk out of all of them. Some more than others. You can see some junk in the hole to the right that is next to get chased.
The manifold did not clean up as well as the head. Lots of pitting and factory imperfections. I was pretty disappointed with the quality of the Motorcraft original equipment pieces, to be honest.
There is a bolt hole in the manifold that is smaller than the rest. Start with that one when putting it back together. On mine, it was the forward bolt for #5 & #6. I put anti-seize on all the stainless bolts (even if they don't need it). The all went in nice and tight in the holes, and then I torqued to 45 ft/lbs. Re-connected the EBP tube and hooked the up-pipe back up.
On to the driver side. At this point, I was quite dirty and tired. I didn't take as many pics...old age I guess.
Driver side manifold was leaking at #2, 4 and 6...but not 8. Just like the passenger side. You can see the evidence at the tops of the holes in the pic...yes, it is upside down in the photo. Those leaks are at the bottoms of the ports just like passenger side. #2 and #4 #6 and #8 The forward bolt on #6 was the only bolt that gave me any problems, and that was because it is smaller diameter than the rest...the bolt got stuck in the smaller space easier than the others. It did come out after some forward-reverse treatment from the impact. All the rest came right out without issues. It was stuck/rusted up at the shoulder, not in the threads. Driver side manifold after cleanup with the wire cup. Flat as can be on the straight edge, too. Lots of pitting on the surface of #8, just like the other side on #7. Definitely a pattern here.
So, after starting it up, it is MUCH QUIETER now! I'm very happy with the results. Between this and the injector re-torque this week, the truck is as quiet as it can be with single shots. This was actually fun to do for me. I enjoyed the process and the results, even if it did tucker me out a bit.
So the manifold bolts just spun right out? lol. Did you heat them first?
Were there no factory gaskets of any kind from manifold to block, or am I seeing some raised convex looking lip around the block outlets?
Very nice!! Did you spray any of the bolts prior to removal? It’s great to know that even after that mileage the bolts came out rather easily.
I did not spray the bolts. My no-rust TX truck rarely needs that kind of preparation, and it held true for this evolution (with exception of the one on #6 that I had to coax out).
So the manifold bolts just spun right out? lol. Did you heat them first?
Were there no factory gaskets of any kind from manifold to block, or am I seeing some raised convex looking lip around the block outlets?
No heat needed for my truck. Same will not be true for some other trucks that have been up north or on the beach a lot. I did use an impact with a long extension on the passenger side, and I had to add a wobble on the driver's side.
Ford put these in metal to metal at the factory. No gaskets up until now. You are seeing the inner convex shape of the exhaust ports in the pics.
I fixed the labeling on the last couple pics...cylinder numbers were wrong. Also, the forward bolt on #6 that was a "little" stuck...that was the smaller hole that is used to align the rest of the holes, so that is why the rust grabbed that bolt and not the others on my truck.
Good work and nice write up. Love the coil-sprung X. You will likely notice an increase in power and MPG and lower EGT’s without those drive pressure leaks!!
Ive had several trucks with bad exhaust leaks from blown out exhaust gaskets. It seems they do not tolerate the conditions in this application very well. When I have a truck with leaks like yours, I have the machine shop deck the exhaust manifolds or just replace them. Always metal to metal.
As for rusty bolts, the bolts seize in the manifold and almost never in the head. Ugly, rusty bolts often don’t have enough head to get a socket on good. I just cut them off and use heat and air chisel to drive them out. The bolt generally backs out of head easily with a small pipe wrench - unless some monkey has over torqued it in the past... Then, a nut welded on the end works almost every time.
Alright now, no threads on fix it stuff that get the rest of us lazy owners thinking about real work!
LOL....nice job. Maybe my Arizona, but now Texas truck won't be so bad and I do have that nifty new Milwaukee Impact to put to work. You got me adding this to my winter list as soon as I have a shop durn it. I don't hear mine leaking, but I believe #7 has got some soot around it. I need to do the uppies anyways and that would be a good time. How did you like the results?
Good work and nice write up. Love the coil-sprung X. You will likely notice an increase in power and MPG and lower EGT’s without those drive pressure leaks!!
Ive had several trucks with bad exhaust leaks from blown out exhaust gaskets. It seems they do not tolerate the conditions in this application very well. When I have a truck with leaks like yours, I have the machine shop deck the exhaust manifolds or just replace them. Always metal to metal.
As for rusty bolts, the bolts seize in the manifold and almost never in the head. Ugly, rusty bolts often don’t have enough head to get a socket on good. I just cut them off and use heat and air chisel to drive them out. The bolt generally backs out of head easily with a small pipe wrench - unless some monkey has over torqued it in the past... Then, a nut welded on the end works almost every time.
Jason, do you think these gaskets are not a good idea? It seems most have had good results? Do they wear over time and leak?
I have a question regarding the stainless bolts.
First off, I did a exhaust manifold replacement with OEM exhaust & bolts from Riffraff.
After cleaning the thread & antisieze the bolts, I still had resistance installing the bolts. I assumed there was a thread locking feature built into the bolt thread to keep it from getting loose with heat cycles. The bolts appeared to be an engineered item. Note: If others installed OEM bolts with no resistance, I had bad bolts.
What is the advantage to stainless bolts?
Standard 300 series is not hardened & and quite low in strength.
400 series & and others can be heat treated.
From the photo, it appeared to be a standard fully threaded 300 series bolt.
Is there any additional info on the stainless bolts material. I love stainless steel in the proper places.
FYI: In a previous life I machined every grade of stainless including the super alloy Inconels.
Bob
Jason, do you think these gaskets are not a good idea? It seems most have had good results? Do they wear over time and leak?
I have seen a number of failures. Including the built long block I put in my truck way back when. Eventually, they leaked. I fixed it by removing gaskets.
As as far as bolts go, I always use stock bolts and put hi-temp anti seize on the manifolds. Like I said above, the bolts don’t seize in the heads if torqued correctly. I don’t think the anti seize remains effective at the temps this application sees, but it cannot hurt!
I also like the VHT 2000* coating and I bake them per instructions in my powder coat oven.
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