exhaust manifold replacement

[rathrbcruisin]

The truck has been running pretty good, so of course on my way into work I pass this car and the exhaust got loud and sounds like and old tractor chugging along. I've already had the egr tube replaced. and thats what it sounds like again. so i'm thinking it may be that small nut going into the manifold. or it could be a crack in the manifold. it is quiet at idle, and if you dont push it too hard it's not bad. I'm sure its going to get worse so i'm getting my info to change the manifold. I would rather do it in the summer, than the freezing cold of winter.

I've seen there are a couple different types. dorman and atp seem to be available. dorman is cast iron, atp you can get cast iron, or steel. is the cast iron usually what everyone gets?

I havent seen many horror stories about breaking off studs. If you did break off a stud can you drill it out and use a heli coil? not sure what else you could do.

Any advice? 98 explorer 5.0, working on passenger side.

 

[Turdle]

First, make sure the one of the DPFE hoses isn't split out or blown off the egr tube.

It happens.

If not, and you do discover the exhaust header is cracked, which is very common, you can replace it with the later style cast iron manifold from a 99-up

http://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/ford,2000,explorer,5.0l+v8,1362462,exhaust,exhaust+manifold,5860

I also suggest getting 2 new collector bolts. Believe me, you'll want to cut the old ones off.

 

[chefduane]

This probably is NOT what your problem is but.. I had the same symptoms after leaving work one day. No power, sounded like a damn Farmall M. Thought I had a leaking or cracked exhaust mani, or at least a blown gasket. Could find a thing until I crawled underneath. Some SOB had sawzalled out one of my cat's. Tweakers gut them for the precious metals that they then sell to get their next fix.

 

[rathrbcruisin]

I'm wondering if the tubular steel and the cast flow differently. I looked on the ford website and for the cast manifolds it says "Exhaust Manifold
5.0L ``FROM 2/1/98''; RH; Cast Manifold. Use only with LH "Cast" manifold."

so I'm wondering if i should get the ATP tubular steel one from rockauto.

https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=539461&cc=1304435&jsn=273&jsn=273

 

[rathrbcruisin]

messed around a bit with the egr tube nut to see if it was loose. I loosened it a bit, then tried to crank it down. I think I got it tighter, but not much. It is not a lot quieter, but I can live with it for now. I'm wondering if the nut is decayed that connects to the manifold. Has anyone had luck with replacing that nut? It looks like if you take the egr tube off you should be able to get a socket on it. but if it breaks off, i may need to replace the manifold anyway.

Nut looks like this:

 

[rathrbcruisin]

took the egr tube off of the manifold connection. that all looked good. that connector is in good shape. the tubes look fine. the nut on the bottom of the egr was loose but when tightened it didnt make a difference. I couldnt see anything wrong with the manifold its self, but i've heard that it could be bad and you may not see it until you take it off.

I was also thinking about using some kind exhaust jb weld to seal the threads on the egr tube. But I'm worried that if I have to remove it in the future, it will not come off.

 

[fixt]

I've been through this twice with the passenger side manifold cracking. Both were the welded tubular steel manifolds from Dorman. The last one was covered under warranty from Rock Auto. If (when) I have to do it again, I'm going to replace both with the cast iron manifolds. The engine is a 5.0, 1996 model with internal EGR. Both manifolds broke in the same spot, between cylinder 2 and 3 passenger side under the heat shield. The original had completely separated and the last was badly cracked. A pretty common failure as I understand it.

If you go with either Dorman or ATP, be advised that the manifold will need to be planed within flatness specification. I've looked at both and in my opinion the Dorman is the better made replacement. The EGR connection is made on, no difference there. There's a cap for those with the internal EGR like mine. The Dorman install sheet requires flatness within .015, and mine was about .040 as it arrived. No install sheet for the ATP and I didn't check flatness on it. Cost was about $40 for planing and both manifolds I had required planing.

The collector bolts are a pain. You will need a long extension with universal adapter to get to those things from underneath. I used a 30" extension and it was fairly painless. Collector bolts are included with the Dorman manifold.

I didn't have any problem with manifold bolts either time. I did use a fel-pro manifold gasket instead of the crappy one that comes with it.

 

[rathrbcruisin]

I took the truck to a shop to get an estimate for the job. He said he was 99% sure it was the gasket that was bad. They quoted me a price of 450.00 if no bolts break off. So, I guess I'll be doing this myself

 

[rathrbcruisin]

i got the dorman from rockauto. i plan on getting a gasket from advance auto to use. I know there was a warning sheet in the package about flatness. I put a straight edge on it, it doesnt look like its off at all. does everyone have these ground or just use them right out of the box? i kinda thought thats part of what the gasket is for.

 

[Flash]

If it's not off it will be ok.

$450 for a gasket job, yikes!

 

[cbusse92]

So the cast iron manifold would be a direct swap onto a 97 Mountaineer that originally had steel? If so, that seems like a much better route.

 

[Flash]

I couldn't say, I don't have a V8.

I don't think the difference in flow capability will make any difference either because they're both really terrible.

 

[delexploder]

Two days ago I got the air conditioning functional in my V8 sport for the first time ever, the first thing I notice while I was charging the system was the condensate on the dryer and its lines dripping directly on the spot where the manifolds crack!? Makes me wonder, I wrapped the tubes dripping over the manifold with foam pipe insulation and zip ties and it helps aim the drip away from that area

 

[rathrbcruisin]

So the cast iron manifold would be a direct swap onto a 97 Mountaineer that originally had steel? If so, that seems like a much better route.

I'm not sure if the cast is for the 97 or not. for mine it says "from 2/98" it looks like on rockauto that the 97's are all steel tubes.

 

[rathrbcruisin]

i started this job this morning. I only broke 1 bolt off. its the long one, but it looks like a straight shot in, so i should be able to get it out pretty easy. Having trouble with the inner collector bolt. can't seem to find a good angle to get on that sucker. I was able to get the grinder in to cut the outer bolt in half. this inner bolt is a real pain. I figured i'd take a break for the rest of the day and get at it tomorrow when my son can help. I may try my 3/8 extensions and breaker bar as my 1/2 seems too big to squeeze up in there. Mine has 2 studs with nuts, and 5 bolts. can anyone say if this is how it's supposed to be? I got new studs and nuts. they came in a 4 pack. the bolts have some type of washer on them, but the one that broke looks like a regular bolt. I'm wondering if this has been done before and they used these bolts, are they all supposed to be studs? the bolts look OK so i was going to clean and re-use them.

 

[Turdle]

i started this job this morning. I only broke 1 bolt off. its the long one, but it looks like a straight shot in, so i should be able to get it out pretty easy. Having trouble with the inner collector bolt. can't seem to find a good angle to get on that sucker. I was able to get the grinder in to cut the outer bolt in half. this inner bolt is a real pain. I figured i'd take a break for the rest of the day and get at it tomorrow when my son can help. I may try my 3/8 extensions and breaker bar as my 1/2 seems too big to squeeze up in there. Mine has 2 studs with nuts, and 5 bolts. can anyone say if this is how it's supposed to be? I got new studs and nuts. they came in a 4 pack. the bolts have some type of washer on them, but the one that broke looks like a regular bolt. I'm wondering if this has been done before and they used these bolts, are they all supposed to be studs? the bolts look OK so i was going to clean and re-use them.

For that inner bolt, a wobble extension is worth it's weight in gold. You just have to refrain from pushing down too hard on the socket which will lock it on "straight"

Use liberal amounts of pb blaster ( wd40 won't do it) on the exposed threads first.

Tansmission fluid mixed 50-50 with acetone will really bust that bolt loose-if you are inclined to try.

 

[delexploder]

If you have the manifold free from the head and the front or outer collector bolt out of the way you can wiggle and rotate the manifold down to gain access to the back collector bolt and cut it with a die grinder or dremmel , egr tube undone also , I just did this last month with my brothers

 

[rathrbcruisin]

For that inner bolt, a wobble extension is worth it's weight in gold. You just have to refrain from pushing down too hard on the socket which will lock it on "straight"

Use liberal amounts of pb blaster ( wd40 won't do it) on the exposed threads first.

Tansmission fluid mixed 50-50 with acetone will really bust that bolt loose-if you are inclined to try.

I went and got some wobble extensions today, hoping that works. I do have a bottle of trans fluid and acetone mix.

 

[rathrbcruisin]

If you have the manifold free from the head and the front or outer collector bolt out of the way you can wiggle and rotate the manifold down to gain access to the back collector bolt and cut it with a die grinder or dremmel , egr tube undone also , I just did this last month with my brothers

I tried to roll this around a bit, but i guess i was losing interest by then. I picked up some wobble extensions so between the two it has to come out. It is a pain though. On your brothers truck were there only 2 out of 8 studs with nuts? and six bolts?

 

[delexploder]

No he has the early tube style manifolds and they use all the same length of bolts , I did however have the cast iron ones on my motor and they were all bolts , it was a 99 motor