08 4.6l exhaust manifold leak, snapped bolts

[exploderlimited]

Well i just bought a 2006 explorer limited with 74k for a decent price, but the drivers side manifold has a broken stud and also the passenger side does too. Thought i could do the job thru the wheel well but it looks like im going to be pulling the whole engine. Il take pics and post what ive done.

 

[scubat]

Getting ready to bring in my 06 Eddie Bauer V8 with 75k on it that I have owned since new to have the Ticking noise looked at again as I am 99% sure it is a leaking manifold. I brought it to the local dealer 6 months ago and they said the Ticking noise is normal and that nothing could be done to fix it! I am sure they just didn't want to deal with it as it is not an easy job.

I am still under Fords Premier Extended Warranty and want it taken care of before the warranty runs out. I am taking it to a different Ford dealer this time and hopefully they will take care of it. Any advice as to how to argue my case with the dealer to get this fixed? I got Ford Corporate involved last time and they scolded me for calling them and also told me it is a normal Ticking noise.

If the truck is in park and simply idling, yes the tick goes away after a minute or so but as soon as you put it in drive and pull away with the windows down you can still hear the Ticking for another couple minutes echoing off buildings and houses. The Ticking does eventually go away but probably because the metal or gasket expands and closes the leak. This is not normal though! Will keep you all posted as to how this other dealer handles it.

Update! Took the Explorer to another Ford dealer today for the ticking noise as well some front wheel bearing noise. They confirmed both issues and are replacing the exhaust manifold'(s) and front left wheel bearing under my Premier warranty. It is nice when a dealer actaully wants to do warranty work, even when they are not the easiest jobs. Will update you on how it runs when I pick up the truck in a few days. Premier warranty even covered my rental car 100%. I would like to know what it would cost retail to have this work done.

 

[scubat]

Update! Took the Explorer to another Ford dealer today for the ticking noise as well some front wheel bearing noise. They confirmed both issues and are replacing the exhaust manifold'(s) and front left wheel bearing under my Premier warranty. It is nice when a dealer actaully wants to do warranty work, even when they are not the easiest jobs. Will update you on how it runs when I pick up the truck in a few days. Premier warranty even covered my rental car 100%. I would like to know what it would cost retail to have this work done.

Final Update!!! Picked up the truck today and wow, what a difference! No more ticking and no more wheel bearing noise. I have a new truck again! It ended up being a cracked passenger side exhaust manifold and a bad drivers side wheel bearing. Kudos to Pompano Ford-Lincoln for taking care of the repairs under warranty and making the experience pleasurable!

 

[EX-SV]

scubat - Glad it worked out.

Wow, the Premier warranty sounds good, I assume that is a Ford warranty?

That sounds like a lot of expensive work, over a couple thousand.

 

[scubat]

scubat - Glad it worked out.

Wow, the Premier warranty sounds good, I assume that is a Ford warranty?

That sounds like a lot of expensive work, over a couple thousand.

I am 100% satisfied with the Premier Warranty. Yes it is through Ford. I actually bought it on line from a dealer in New Hampshire! Very easy and not that expensive for what it covers. I think it was ~$1500 when I purchased it. This recent repair would have probably been at least $1000 or more retail. It has covered other items as well so I would guess it has paid for itself and I still have over a year or 20k miles left on it.

 

[vipersinu2]

did you ask service if any studs broke off in engine?

 

[scubat]

did you ask service if any studs broke off in engine?

I didn't ask him if they broke any studs off. Honestly, I did not want to know! The tech was one of their deisel guys and was very meticulous.

 

[scubat]

I didn't ask him if they broke any studs off. Honestly, I did not want to know! The tech was one of their deisel guys and was very meticulous.

I am assuming they did not break any bolts as the repair was done in a few hours and the heads were not removed. It was the passenger side manifold which I think is the easier of the two to work on as far as space.

 

[Explorer_PL]

I am wondering the same thing.
Mine 06 v8 has 132k miles, I have the ticking, looks like from the driver side. Looked there and it seems that the passenger side has more room, but both sides just plain suck access wise. I may need to do it some time in the future, and was thinking if you can remove the strut or something for better access. Anybody has Helm PDF instruction for this job ?

 

[kam327]

I am 100% satisfied with the Premier Warranty. Yes it is through Ford. I actually bought it on line from a dealer in New Hampshire! Very easy and not that expensive for what it covers. I think it was ~$1500 when I purchased it. This recent repair would have probably been at least $1000 or more retail. It has covered other items as well so I would guess it has paid for itself and I still have over a year or 20k miles left on it.

I bought mine lightly used at a Cadillac dealer and got the GM full-coverage $0 deductible extended warranty on it. A couple weeks ago I took it to a Ford dealer to have a head gasket replaced for about $2,400 (plus $700 to me for replacing the other gasket and spark plugs). Then they determined the instrument cluster needed replacement, another $700. The GM warranty was great, no hassle and all they did was send out an adjuster to verify. I think it cost me $1,200 when I bought the truck and it covered over $3,000 in repairs. Very happy. I'm going to check into extending the warranty for another 3 years.

 

[steve6534]

I think mine just started in the last few days I visually inspected what I could from the top but can't tell if there's more than just the 4 studs along the top of the manifold. Has anyone got a good look at it to see how many there are ?

 

[exploderlimited]

well I just pulled the heads off my 06 4.6 v8 since 2 exhaust manifold studs where broken on each head, the job is almost impossible to due thru the wheel well so i just tore it down. Currently my manifolds are being machined due to slight warping, and the heads are on a bench.. il let you know how hard it is to remove the broken studs in the head.

 

[steve6534]

well I just pulled the heads off my 06 4.6 v8 since 2 exhaust manifold studs where broken on each head, the job is almost impossible to due thru the wheel well so i just tore it down. Currently my manifolds are being machined due to slight warping, and the heads are on a bench.. il let you know how hard it is to remove the broken studs in the head.

Yikes ! I was looking at the shop instruction to remove the head and it looked pretty complex. How many studs overall are there for the exhaust manifolds ?

 

[Explorer_PL]

I believe 8 for each side,4 top and 4 bottom.

 

[steve6534]

I believe 8 for each side,4 top and 4 bottom.

Thanks for the confirmation. It seems a little challenging to get a look at the bottom four so I'll have to try and get a peek through the wheel well this weekend.

 

[Explorer_PL]

I had the wheels off and looked for broken studs but all of them were OK but I have a loud tick from the driver side that goes away but not completely. I counted the studs, but some of them I found just with fingers as you can not see them behind the spring. If it were my old 5.0 Mounty, maybe I would be brave enough to pull the heads off. On those OHC 4.6 it's beyond me. Now when I think about those simple pushrod engines from 90's I realize how the new engines got so complex.

 

[vipersinu2]

i was looking at engine tonight. I can see all 4 top bolts and on the bottom row I see the 2 outers bolts. I can not get a visual of the 2 middle bolts. It looks really tight. can the manifold even be replaced or does the motor mounts need to removed?

 

[wood1]

Hey guys, I will share some info learned from a good friend a couple years ago. He is a licensed mechanic he took care of the local police cars which were were mostly Crown Vics with the 4.6L of course.

They all snapped off some of their manifold studs. Ford's repair included removal of the engine, you can imagine that was a bit on the expensive side so he came up with a better way to fix them. He would put them up on his lift and use his mig. Tack the mig wire to the end of what was left of the stud in the head, cut it off leaving a couple inches, repeat. Once you do that a few times you have enough wire to twist together with vice-grips and loosen and remove what is left of the stud. There is no torque on what is left so they turn out easily. Once he removed all the studs he used grade 8 bolts with a flat washer under the heads. It was his theory that the washer allowed the manifold to move a bit under the head of the bolt.

He claimed he didn't have any come backs with broken bolts.

 

[vipersinu2]

I looked, all 8 studs are in and tight. no leak around the engine to manifold. I think the manifold is cracked somewhere but I can not tell because of the heat shield wraps around the manifold. wow this is gonna be a ***** to get at the studs to try and remove. anybody have any idea's on the best way to get at the studs?

 

[vipersinu2]

I'm screwed now. front two bolts were cracked and just sitting in place I can not see how to weld because they are cracked in below the head about 3/16 of an inch?