Exhaust manifold bolts - to remove or not to remove ...

[thefrey]

There are some exhaust manifold bolts on my 6.2 that fell out or the head of the bolt fell off. To fix the ones that the heads fell off, I would need to take the manifold off so while I'm there replace the manifold gasket. Is this a bad idea? I don't know if I want to touch any bolts that aren't broken or loose. I do not have access to a welder so I am not sure if these bolts break commonly when backing them out.

Edit: Manifolds are in decent shape but the bolts are pretty rusty.

 

[Dustin Jackson]

I didn’t have any exhaust manifold bolts break on me but there is no rust where I live. If a bolt is going to break on you it’s going to be one of these.

If you are missing exhaust bolts I would say they are broken off inside already but only way to know is to take the manifolds off.

 

[thefrey]

I didn’t have any exhaust manifold bolts break on me but there is no rust where I live. If a bolt is going to break on you it’s going to be one of these.

If you are missing exhaust bolts I would say they are broken off inside already but only way to know is to take the manifolds off.

From what I could see, I had one bolt that had halfway backed itself out and then another one that I could see the shaft of the bolt with no head. There was 2 other ones that I couldn't tell where it had broken off. But yeah, from Ohio so decent amount of rust

 

[CMoore711]

It is very common for the heads of the manifold bolts to break off, leaving the threaded bolt shaft still in the head. I currently have (2) manifold bolts in this condition on my '13 Escalade ESV (I'm also located in Ohio btw). Just my luck they're the far back ones located closest to the firewall with the least amount space to access and work on... I haven't done anything about them yet.

It's so common there are kits like these made and offered to assist with the process:

GM LS & LT: 2014-2020: 5.3L, 6.0L, 6.2L Exhaust Manifold Broken Bolt Repair Kit - Michele

New kit for on-the-truck hassle-free time-saving repairs. Exhaust manifold repair doesn’t mean a disaster and robbing the shop of productivity, FAST – REAL FAST

promaxxtool.com

 

[Joseph Garcia]

The kit above or kits made by Dorman are popular fixes for broken exhaust bolts. They will do just fine in the short run, and if you ever need to remove the exhaust manifolds in the future, you can replace the bolts at that time. Then, make sure that your replacement bolts are ARP bolts, and you won't have any future breakage.

 

[j91z28d1]

honestly not worth the risk for the average diy guy at home over one bolt head popping off. throw the clamp on it till the afm goes out and you gotta pull the heads anyways.

that's what I'm doing anyways haha.