V10 in an RV
 

Hi all,

I have a new to us 2010 Winnebago with the V10. It has low miles, so I am wondering if I should be pro-active and replace the manifold studs now rather than later. They are fairly easy to access in the truck frame, but I don't want to open a can of worms either. They do look a little rusty, have not failed yet, but with now 16k miles on the engine maybe easier to get them out now? Here are some pics from one side. Can I replace one at a time without removing the manifold and replacing the gasket?

I think you should be prepared to open a can of worms. Lots of great posts in the history of this page on replacing broken studs. I would go for it.

If it isn't broke why try and fix it, I had 2 V10s one still had the original studs at 300+ when it died (I no longer owned it at that mileage) and the other had 130K when I traded it with original studs.

Denny

Well I'm thinking it may be easier now to get them out before they continue to rust and degrade. If it doesn't matter and will be just as bad now then I will leave them alone.

The only place you will see rust is where you can see them, when I changed the bad manifold gasket on my 4.6 F150 with 122K miles the stud where it went into the head was not rusted just the nut and exposed stud. I even reused 6 of the 8 studs, two broke off when trying to remove the nuts. Every motor I have ever taken apart had rusty exhausts studs. If you change them they will look the same way in a couple of years.

Denny

Don't play pinata with a hornets nest if you aren't prepared to get stung!

Don't do it !
Some are guaranteed to break off.

I offer you mixed advice.

1. DONT WORRY ABOUT IT ! I got my v10 E350 4y5m ago and it already had some broken studs on the passenger side. It made some ticking noises when cold but only for 30-45 seconds or so. I’m a very busy man so I just ignored it.
Here I am 210,000 miles later with the same van and never fixed it. And yeah it probably has a few more studs missing or loose. I still drive it.

2. JUMP IN ! In your RV, I assume you have more room to work on it. And I assume it wouldn’t be a terrible thing if the project whooped you and caused days or weeks of downtime.
Soak them with PB Blaster a few times and then get into the job. Be sure to spend a few hours here on FTE learning what others have learned (learnt? Lol) before you.

Keep us posted.

I did play with the hornets nest deciding to fix the slight ticking sound and go with a new exhaust manifold since we were fixing the already broken ones, but now it doesn't have the Ford studs just the SS bolts that came with the Gibson headers.

Heres my story...https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...d-project.html

Did you change those studs?

exhaust
 

Any concerns about drilling out the SS bolts for the headers if they ever break off ?