Broken manifold bolts

[Powerwagontim]

Hi All,
I picked up a 01 Sierra 2500 about a month ago, with 92,000 miles. About 2 weeks ago I was on a 2500 mile round trip, hauling a trailer and started noticing the exhaust got louder when I put a load on it. Last week it got a bit worse and I took it into a local shop. He just called me to say I have 3 broken bolts on my exhaust manifold. He cant get them out without pulling the head to drill them out. He estimated 8 or 9 hundred to do the job. Big ouch. Anyone else had this problem, or know if there is any sort of recall on this? The mechanic said they see this relativly often. Anyone have any other fixes for this? (high temp chewing gum maybe?) This is really frustrating.
Thanks, Tim

[GMCTech]

I'd take a good look at the ends of those broken bolts and make sure the garage didn't break them trying to tighten them up, thinking he had found the problem.

Don't think I've ever seen a broken manifold bolt break on it's own on a vehicle that new.

It is not common, despite what the mechanic said, at least not on something with that kind of mileage at that age.

And, by the way I've never had to pull a head to remove broken manifold bolts. The exhaust maniflod will have to come off though.

Unfortunately there is no recall or bulletins on this, sorry.

Hope this helps.

[Powerwagontim]

Hi GMCTech,
There are actually 4 broken bolts, they checked the passenger side and saw the rearmost one broken off also. I dont believe they broke them, as they didnt have any need to be playing with the passenger side manifold. I suppose it is possible they snapped some of the drivers side bolts on removal of the manifold.
I decided that rather than shell out the big bucks on a job which is mostly labor to do it myself. I have the truck back and in my shop and will pull it apart this weekend.
Time is money, unless all you have is time!
Tim

[dpatrick]

I had a 94 chev silverado 350 and the drivers side rear bolt broke. I traded it in for a 2000 2500 6.0l. I've had it for almost two years now and the same thing has happened. Is this a common problem with Chev

[Powerwagontim]

Although my dealer wouldnt admit to this being a common problem I have certainly heard of a bunch of cases of this. ITS A CONSPIRACY!
Tim

[oinkr2]

My brother has a 00 Silverado 2500 with the 6.0 and had the same problem. I think they had to yank the head on his truck to repair it.

The LT-1's have a manifold bolt problem as well. Some guys on another forum were successful in getting a piece of metal welded to the broken off part of the bolt and then cranking out the broken end.

[michaelmeck]

take the 900 bucks he is trying to charge you and spend it on some heads, headers, and ARP bolts that won't break

[ALAN PRITCHARD]

hey i have a 2001 gmc k2500 and have had 3 manifold bolts break but after taking off the manifold i could get vicegrips on and remove the rest.

[blabhern]

Has anyone here heard of an Easy out tool? It's made specifically to remove broken bolts. The way it works is;
1) drill a hole down the center of the broken bolt to be removed.
2) insert the easy out in the hole and unscrew it as you would a regular bolt.

That should do it. The mechanic should not have to remove the heads unless they are in the way. Ask him why the heads have to be removed and start from there.

FYI-I've had tons of exhaust manifold bolts break on me. They get welded in place when anti-seize compound is not used on them from the start. Even with anti-seize, sometimes they just expand too much and seize up in the holes.

Good luck

[TheArtesian]

The easy out usually won`t unscrew the broken bolt but breaks off in it instead. Then you need to call me!

[rhandwor]

Lisle sells a kit at the parts store Pep Boys you tap it on with a hammer then try to remove the bolt. I've soaked them with a penetrating oil and used a stud remover I have a four piece set. I always tap them with a hammer first.
I used to use a 5/16 inch drill remove the old stud and retap on cast iron heads. Aluminum heads are a lot harder to work on. Some times you have to drill bigger and use a brass plug redrill and retap. You also can use an allen set screw. If you screw up take it to a shop and have the hole welded which I have done in the past.
I've saved a lot of money but wasn't always successful. If you have 3 or 4 broken it is easier to take to a shop.

[fuzzypuppy]

My 91 suffered the same problem, I tried removing them myself by drilling, easyouts etc with no luck, had a few muffler shops swear that pulling the head was the only way to get the job done.
Then had a shop tell me "NO PROBLEM"!! and after leaving it with them for an hour they had it fixed.
All three of my broken bolts were broken "below the surface", what these guys did was to weld a washer with a hole smaller than the threaded hole diameter to the broken bolt, "they welded the broken bolt to the inside of the washer hole" they did this to protect the threads in the hole, then they welded a bolt to the outside part of the washer and wrenched the broken bolt out.
They charged me $100.00 bucks for the whole job including installing a new driver side manifold I picked up since my driver side manifold had broke due to the lack of support, "at the rear".
The muffler shop told me this is a very common problem on GM trucks and that even my new install would break over time as well.
Their only opinion for a fix was headers which I ended up buying and installing two months later, That was about 4 yrs ago with not a problem since.
I installed the direct bolt on shorty headers and havent even had a leak in 4 years.
This shop told me that "very seldom" is there a need to pull a head to repair a broken bolt if the shop is worth a damn, that even the deepest broken bolt can be removed by welding a sleeve to the broken bolt on the inside of the sleeve then a bolt to the sleeve, that seldom are the broken bolts siezed just stressed and broken so once they weld a way to remove the bolt it usually backs out fairly well.
Hope this helps, good luck.