Exhaust manifold problems
 

I have a super duty 99 ford F250 V10 and have bolts on both sides that are broken off. They rusted out and fell off and some point and I would not be surprised if others fell off when they are replaced. I went to a local muffler man to have the muffler replaced and they are the ones who brought it to my attention. Muffler man told me they could fix both sides for around $800.00. I went to another mechanic to see what other estimates I could get and they told me they would have to lift my engine out of the car to get at the bolts and gave me and estimate around $2500.00!!! Does that seem right or do they not want to do the work?? Can this be done with the engine still in place?? Any advice would be great. Thanks

i got a guy to do one side for $80.00

it can absolutely be done with the engine in the truck. is seems that 600 to 800 bucks is what most people get quoted to fix this at private shops. If you pull the inner fender liner and the shock tower you have full access to all 20 studs. I am waiting for a weekend that the weather cooperates that im not obligated to help someone with something to install the ebay headers and remaining 16 studs and nuts on mine, I've already done the 4 that were broken off. Plan on having more of them break off, the key is several days of hitting them with penetrating oil before you try to get them out.

Can be done on your driveway with hand tools.
Took me a couple of days after work.

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b4...0/DSC02814.jpg

it defiantly can be done by anyone. i done mine yesterday in 1 1/2 days. i had 2 broken stunds and a crack exhaust manifold. all my bolts were rusted and corroded but i got lucky and not one broke off when i took it apart. like i said i did the whole job in a day and a half, just make sure befor you start spray the heck out of all the old bolts with BP Blaster and let it sit for a few hours if not overnight

Can someone tell me the best replacement studs for this problem. I am doing it next weekend and don't want to replace them and have to do it again! What size are they? Thanks in advance

when i did it on my 03 v10 i used flange bolts. i forget the actual size. if you search in the v10 forum, there should be a good thread about the size and how to do it. i used about 4 LEFT hand drill bits and flange bolts. cost me about 35 bucks and a weekend of work. good luck

Thanks Brownie

I used the stock studs from ford which now are stainless steel...IMO I would use them as well as the stock nuts which are a mix of metals. I had to weld nuts on the broken studs to get them out with a mig welder...not fun but I got it done..NPI.

Dick

What Dick said! I had like 8 broken studs. Got them all out in less than 4hrs. Heat from the welder helps loosen the broken studs.

I believe the originals were SS, too. The new ones are just a different grade.

In 2003 they came out with the SS units before that they were steel..

Dick

My '03 has at least seven broken studs right now. So... are you saying that these are the new, improved "stainless" studs?

I stand by my earlier statement. All of them are stainless, just different grades. But, in either case, it's irrelevant. Ford did change the studs at some point. The problem is that they're only marginally better than the originals. And, there's still plenty of reports of failures using the new ones.