My driver's side exhaust manifold is loose (rear 4 bolts nearer to firewall) due to the heads of some bolts popping off. I believe this is due to vibration but in any case I would like to fix it, but before I get to work on it I wanted to ask for some advice.
I bought a Chilton manual for my truck yesterday and looked over the section about exhaust manifolds several times now, and I have some questions regarding the procedure/parts. The second step says:
2. Block the rear wheels, set parking brake, raise the front of the vehicle and support it securely on jackstands. Working below the vehicle, disconnect the electrical connectors from the oxygen senors. Unbolt the front Y-pipe from both manifolds, then detach the Y-pipe from the exhaust system.
NOTE:It will be necessary to detach the center exhaust system mount from the transmission and loosen the exhaust pipe clamp to accomplish this task.
How difficult is this procedure? Does the pipe itself have to be moved or removed before the manifold will come out? Is there a gasket that goes between the manifold and Y-pipe that would have to be replaced?
Also, step 4:
4. Lower the vehicle. Working in the engine compartment, remove the air intake duct and the throttle body resonator.
What is the resonator? I know what the throttle body is and there is another section in the book telling how to remove it but it says nothing of a resonator. I'm just guessing they are the same thing...? Also in that section about removing the throttle body it states that there is a gasket between it and the intake manifold. Would this have to be replaced as well?
The rest of the procedure seems fairly simple... so on to the bigger problem. Since the heads of those bolts are broken, what would be the best way to remove them from the manifold? I was thinking to borrow a dremel tool and grind down two sides of the stud and use a wrench to turn them... is this feasible or practical?
Also this brings up the question of if I should even go through this whole procedure of removing the Y-pipe, duct and throttle body resonator... or attempt to remove the broken bolts without doing all this and just replace them with new ones and re-tighten? This would be prefered because I think it would shorten the work time by hours probably...
Another question that is posed from that... (LoL, sorry but there's lots of questions) the manifold has been loose for about 2-3 months, I'm assuming there could be some kind of buildup between the loose parts, does this need to be cleaned before re-tightening? I guess that would entail removing all the other parts too.
Thanks in advance for reading this LONG post and for any advice presented.
JBiggs