Question about V8 exhaust leaks

[Bill MacLeod]

I'm going to add to what PL said above. When I did this job last year, I removed the engine mount nuts/bolt and lifted the engine as far as possible. Then I pulled the manifold right out after removing any studs the would come out or just broke them off. This will give you the best access to the broken studs. If you can file or grind flat the broken stud even with the head, then use an automatic centre punch .Now an angle drill can be used with your choice of left hand drill bits or buy some small "sheeter"/stubby drill bits from an industrial fastener house. (small sizes like 1/8")
With all studs removed, clean out the threads with a tap if you have one. (M8 x ???). Clean the surface around the ports. I used scotch bright buffing pads. Anti seize on the new studs torque to 9 #. I used felpro gaskets and put a bead of hi-temp rtv on each side. Install manifold and torque nuts to 15-18 # Installed a second s/s nut to jam the first nut. Downpipe studs are torqued to 30 #. Did a heat cycle and checked torque.
Have checked each stud nuts twice now at 6 months intervals when doing an oil change. No nuts have loosened, ..... yet. Will continue this.
Hope this is of help to anyone.

 

[absentx]

O7eddEB no worries - everything in this thread is really informative, the more information you have on these vehicles the better. My situation on this particular vehicle is now officially over.

I bought the 07 in question five years ago for $14,300 and brought it from 57,000 miles to 105,000. Carfax was clean but Autocheck report showed it with two accidents. In the time I had it, I had to replace both front hubs twice, all the spark plugs, some which had broke off, front and rear breaks, all new tires and about six hundred bucks on complete cooling system parts. Additionally, the rear wiper motor didn't work, it always pulled to the left, it had a horribly annoying windy noise right at drivers side ear level with the drivers side window completely up (same thing on passenger side) and frankly the truck was rough from the day I bought it! Additionally I could not drive more than half an hour without that damn tire sensor monitor fault going off AND at any given point for the last two years, despite multiple resealings and other work to the rims, I would regularly lose about 10 psi on two tires over two to four weeks. So when this exhaust leak issue came to head and I found out both sides were bad and with broken studs, it just came a bit overwhelming.

The important thing though - this truck never let me down and never left me high and dry and I just loved the truck.

So today I traded it in. I found a 2010 Limited V8 4x4 one owner, bought, serviced and traded back into the same dealership cherry cherry cherry super truck with 82K on it. Has everything my truck had plus navigation and modern bluetooth niceties. No exhaust leak, same Good Year Assurance Radials I had on my 07 and honestly just in amazing condition. Had a list of about ten things that annoyed me about my truck to check on this one, all passed with flying colors and well, this just seemed like the truck I tried to buy five years ago but just never got. This thing has a really solid ride too. Mine had become a bit loosey-goosey.

My 07 was a trooper, but I thought if I were going to get a nice truck in the final year of this generation that I could drive to 250k, now was the time to strike.

My truck was fairly rough on the outside and the dealership was well aware of the leak after they drove it and I still managed to get $4250 for it which I thought was more than fair for a dealer trade in. I suppose locally on Craigslist I would have disclosed the leak and tried to get $6500 maybe?? I think its a $9995 dealer lot truck if the leak is fixed. Done and over now though and on any given day you can search the internet for 2010 limited V8's with under 100,000 and not find one in the color you want plus with Class III hitch, let alone one you can drive to and check out. Ultimately the package added up to a good deal for me so I made it happen!

 

[07EddyB]

I think you made the right choice. I'd love to have a good 2010 with a V8 but honestly I think my 2007 at 99K is probably in better shape than what I could find out there in the wild. You did well by jumping on a good one. I bought mine in 2008 with 17K and it still looks and drives as good as it did the day I brought it home. It's had it's problems but this board has helped me sort them out. Outside of warranty no one but me has ever worked on my Ex. If that wasn't the case, I probably would have given it up a long time ago. It seems like every common problem with these vehicles carries a huge repair bill due to the labor involved.
Enjoy your new ride!

 

[Explorer_PL]

Absentx -
I guess we did not know about all the other issues, they would drive me nuts, so you made the right decision. 2010 Limited v8 would be my first choice as well if I needed to replace mine.
Those trucks are super nice but they need love and care, and if you can't do it yourself, it gets expensive.
I've had mine for the past 10 years, and like EddyB just on very few occasions somebody else worked on it, i tried to take care of things as soon as they would come up. Many used cars are in bad shape just because the owner would not address problems and the things accumulate to the point that a car is just junk.
Mine has 251k miles and I trust it more than any used one with half the miles on some dealer lot.
What color is the new one ? Cherry ?

 

[GeorgeH]

O7eddEB no worries - everything in this thread is really informative, the more information you have on these vehicles the better. My situation on this particular vehicle is now officially over.

I bought the 07 in question five years ago for $14,300 and brought it from 57,000 miles to 105,000. Carfax was clean but Autocheck report showed it with two accidents. In the time I had it, I had to replace both front hubs twice, all the spark plugs, some which had broke off, front and rear breaks, all new tires and about six hundred bucks on complete cooling system parts. Additionally, the rear wiper motor didn't work, it always pulled to the left, it had a horribly annoying windy noise right at drivers side ear level with the drivers side window completely up (same thing on passenger side) and frankly the truck was rough from the day I bought it! Additionally I could not drive more than half an hour without that damn tire sensor monitor fault going off AND at any given point for the last two years, despite multiple resealings and other work to the rims, I would regularly lose about 10 psi on two tires over two to four weeks. So when this exhaust leak issue came to head and I found out both sides were bad and with broken studs, it just came a bit overwhelming.

The important thing though - this truck never let me down and never left me high and dry and I just loved the truck.

So today I traded it in. I found a 2010 Limited V8 4x4 one owner, bought, serviced and traded back into the same dealership cherry cherry cherry super truck with 82K on it. Has everything my truck had plus navigation and modern bluetooth niceties. No exhaust leak, same Good Year Assurance Radials I had on my 07 and honestly just in amazing condition. Had a list of about ten things that annoyed me about my truck to check on this one, all passed with flying colors and well, this just seemed like the truck I tried to buy five years ago but just never got. This thing has a really solid ride too. Mine had become a bit loosey-goosey.

My 07 was a trooper, but I thought if I were going to get a nice truck in the final year of this generation that I could drive to 250k, now was the time to strike.

My truck was fairly rough on the outside and the dealership was well aware of the leak after they drove it and I still managed to get $4250 for it which I thought was more than fair for a dealer trade in. I suppose locally on Craigslist I would have disclosed the leak and tried to get $6500 maybe?? I think its a $9995 dealer lot truck if the leak is fixed. Done and over now though and on any given day you can search the internet for 2010 limited V8's with under 100,000 and not find one in the color you want plus with Class III hitch, let alone one you can drive to and check out. Ultimately the package added up to a good deal for me so I made it happen!

How much did the 2010 cost you before tradein ?

 

[absentx]

Not Cherry, I just called it that because I used to be in car sales back in the mid 2000's and thats always what we called super nice trade in's.

Black Slate! Really nice color.

$13,900 was the negotiated price, I felt it was fair.

 

[Explorer_PL]

Black on black ?

 

[absentx]

Yep black pearl slate metallic all around, no trim color. The interior is black leather, but the top half on the roof liner etc is like cream/tan.

The black pearl slate is a neat color...its black, Navy blue and Grey all in one kind of.

 

[PotatoExplorer]

I'm kind of curious about this... has anyone been quoted to do this manifold repair? Or better question, what is a fair price for one to expect to pay to replace the manifold studs, manifold gaskets and exhaust manifolds? I checked YourMechanic.com and it's saying it would be about $800. How accurate is this? I'd guess this job to be double this price.

 

[absentx]

I was quoted $1600 before the snapped bolts.

This was for all new studs and bolts, two new manifolds, gaskets and shields. Once four snap offs per side were discovered, it obviously changed drastically!