Exhaust manifold stud nightmare

Trucker1017 · Aug 30, 2024

So here’s my dilemma… I took my stock exhaust manifolds off and passenger side back bottom bolt was broke off into the cylinder head. To make a long story short, I attempted to drill out and got two easy out stuck in there… The hole is a mess, and the stud is still in there with the broken, easy outs… I attempted to drill one more hole and then I got an antifreeze leak. So if I get this hole machine out Can I use an oversize threaded insert? And if so once it’s all put back together, will it stop the leak?

Trucker1017 · Aug 30, 2024

Forgot to mention that it’s a 5.7 L hemi out of a 16 Dodge ram pick up 1500

Wild one · Aug 30, 2024

Trucker1017 said:
So here’s my dilemma… I took my stock exhaust manifolds off and passenger side back bottom bolt was broke off into the cylinder head. To make a long story short, I attempted to drill out and got two easy out stuck in there… The hole is a mess, and the stud is still in there with the broken, easy outs… I attempted to drill one more hole and then I got an antifreeze leak. So if I get this hole machine out Can I use an oversize threaded insert? And if so once it’s all put back together, will it stop the leak?

If you drilled into the water jacket,you're better off buying a new head,as that ones pretty well junk now.

Trucker1017 · Aug 30, 2024

That’s what I was afraid of. Thanks for your input.

PA Ram · Aug 30, 2024

Trucker1017 said:
That’s what I was afraid of. Thanks for your input.

That sucks! I started drilling on my passenger side and just couldn't get it to back out and ended up getting my son in law to bring over his little welder and we welded a nut. I stopped drilling, because I knew how close the water jacket was. Did the driver side a few weeks back and also had two broken bolts (1 flush same as pass side) and didn't even attempt to drill the flush bolt.

Slinge · Aug 30, 2024

PA Ram said:
That sucks! I started drilling on my passenger side and just couldn't get it to back out and ended up getting my son in law to bring over his little welder and we welded a nut. I stopped drilling, because I knew how close the water jacket was. Did the driver side a few weeks back and also had two broken bolts (1 flush same as pass side) and didn't even attempt to drill the flush bolt.

Did you have a drilling template ?

PA Ram · Aug 30, 2024

Slinge said:
Did you have a drilling template ?

Yes, just didn't feel comfortable knowing how close the water jacket is. The welder is way faster and easier. I'd buy my own if I thought I'd use it for something else, which I wouldn't.

dieselscout80 · Aug 31, 2024

Do the the 5.7 HEMI templates work on the 6.4 HEMI? I would think so, but would like to know.

Riccochet · Aug 31, 2024

drilling those is not the way. Need to weld a nut on to what's left of the bolt. Heat will break it free and the nut is used to unscrew it.

At this point though the head is trash.

zrock · Aug 31, 2024

This is why i pay a good shop to do it.. they have the knowledge and tooling to do it properly.. Last time cost me under $500 including a new manifold

Wild one · Aug 31, 2024

zrock said:
This is why i pay a good shop to do it.. they have the knowledge and tooling to do it properly.. Last time cost me under $500 including a new manifold

Put a name and address to this shop,so other guys in Canada might be able to access it also.

Trucker1017 · Aug 31, 2024

Yes I’m definitely learning the hard (and expensive) way!!! So I’m going to source out a head. That being said, is it okay to just replace the one head? And should I use the same rods that are in the damaged head?

Wild one · Aug 31, 2024

Trucker1017 said:
Yes I’m definitely learning the hard (and expensive) way!!! So I’m going to source out a head. That being said, is it okay to just replace the one head? And should I use the same rods that are in the damaged head?

You can get away with just replacing the 1 head,and your pushrods should be good to reuse.But if you have 1 head off,that's the time to really inspect your lifters on that side,and if there's any scoring at all on the lifter body or scuffing on the roller wheel,that'd be a good time to replace the lifters and cam,as you have to pull the heads to get at the lifters.How many clics/miles are on the truck?

Trucker1017 · Aug 31, 2024

I’ve got 118k on the motor…use high grade fuel since brand new and oil changed every 5000k or earlier. And mostly hiway driven. So hopefully it should be good. Going to take it to a mechanic shop to get the head swapped but always good to ask on here…thanks.

Wild one · Aug 31, 2024

Trucker1017 said:
I’ve got 118k on the motor…use high grade fuel since brand new and oil changed every 5000k or earlier. And mostly hiway driven. So hopefully it should be good. Going to take it to a mechanic shop to get the head swapped but always good to ask on here…thanks.

Make sure you ask them to inspect the lifters and run a boroscope down and check out the cam lobes while they're that far into it.

dmcent63 · Sep 2, 2024

I see a lot of guys posting that they are trying to drill and easy out the broken studs. A five minute search on YouTube will give you 20 videos of guys who’ve already figured this one out. You don’t even need to weld a nut on it. Simply building up the stud length with a mig to get enough meat for visegrips to bite is all you need.

Marshall · Sep 2, 2024

Whoever invented tappered screw in easy outs needed to be hung from a tree.
All they do is swell the stud tighter in the bore. Have no effect on the rust build up.
I have never seem them work. Mac had a good set, and snap on make some good ones that are straight .

Aircommuter · Sep 2, 2024

A good machine shop could save the head but the hourly rate might not be cost effective.

v8440 · Sep 2, 2024

Is it leaking because you drilled off the path sideways into the head, or is it leaking because there's a water jacket behind the exhaust stud and you drilled all the way to water? Big difference in scenario there. Many years ago I drilled through an exhaust stud (on a slant 6) and hit water because a cooling passage is behind that exhaust stud. I then compounded the error by breaking off an easy out in there, while not plugging the coolant leak. Easy outs are made of the hardest substance known to man; there's no drilling through one of those to get it out. A glob of jb weld saved the day-I smeared a glob over the top of that crap and pretended it never happened. It never leaked again. This was my own junky car, I would not try that on someone else's car.

diymirage · Sep 2, 2024

If it were me, in for a dime, in for a dollar

If one head comes off, they both get replaced with aftermarkets and shes getting a hotter cam

Exhaust manifold stud nightmare

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