broken bolt on intake manifold! help me!

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Seanram

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Guys i dont know how to go at this but my engine has been exposed to salt on roads and the top of bolt broke on intake what are my options?
 

Bigdaddycodes

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like the actual intake manifold? if so you could try and use a reverse drill bit or an easy out.. but I would recommend just taking the time to take the full intake off and then try to use vicegrips on the broken bolt or if you have access to a welder, just weld a nut to the top of the broken bolt and undo
 
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Seanram

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i broke the first bolt off on intake and havent messed with any other bolts. the intake is still on my truck.
 

dudeman2009

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If you are doing the plenum, just keep taking the rest off. The broken bolt means its rusted in pretty tough so you may need a flat head to GENTLY pry the intake up, just to break the seal. Also, douse the bolt in WD-40or PB blaster while you are taking the rest off.

Once you get the intake off, get yourself a propane torch or something hotter, and some WD-40 (no need to waste the good stuff on this part). Take the torch and heat the bolt up for 20-30 second, the douse it with WD-40 until it stops smoking. If it lights on fire, just let it burn out and don't heat it as much next time. Repeat this once more. Take a pair of vise grips and latch them on TIGHT. Just rock the vise grips back and forth a little at a time, if it moves, just keep turning it more and more on each pass. If it won't budge, go back to heating and cooling 3 or so times. Eventually it will come out.

If you do decide to weld a nut on, its imperative that you do two things. Disconnect the battery, and put the negative clamp on the HEAD, not the block or anything else. Putting the clamp in the intake ports is fine. If you clamp it to the block, current will flow partially through the headgasket, ground straps, and possibly bearings on the crank, con rod, and piston rings/piston.

I broke one bolt on mine and got it out real easy using the heat and cool method.

I'd also take a can of compressed air and blow all the crud out of the bolt holes too. You can also dab your finger in oil and touch the threads on the bolts when re-installing to make your life easier. Just remember, a torque wrench is only accurate when moving, if you stop, it will indicate a higher torque until the bolt starts moving again.

As long as you don't go all 300lb gorilla, you will be fine. Just use a couple touches of oil or assembly lube to hold the gaskets in place and double check everything once you set the intake back down, and you'll be fine.
 

dapepper9

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Remove intake and follow the above advice from dudeman. Only thing i would add is cover the lifter valley and intake ports to protect from splatter.

Easy outs are a no no on these bolts. They break every damn time and make the job much worse.
 
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Seanram

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Guys check these pictures out and tell me that pletnum is shot. i am also going to try to heat the bolts up tomarrow.
 

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dudeman2009

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That crud is pretty common on the bottom if there has been intervals with way to much mileage on the oil.

The only way to tell if the plenum was infact bad is to unbolt that plate on the bottom and inspect the gasket.

You have plenty of height left on that bolt to get it out no problem. Just take it slow, nothing is done better because you shaved 5 minutes off.
 
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Seanram

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The gasket failed, I saw where was was no gasket and it was brittle and took 30 mins to to scrape it but I might have to take head off. Cause one bolt is flush with the exhaust gasket and no nub I can grab with my finger. What about drill and tap?
 
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Seanram

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Also would it be bad if I used the old steel plenum pan? It doesn't seem warped or nothing just the gasket failed.
 

pajeepman

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Ebay aluminum plenum is $72 on ebay from 289guy. I would spend the money and get the good felpro gasket. Wanna go through that again? My opinion. Just the good gasket probably would be fine but........

Sent from my SM-J320P using Tapatalk
 

dudeman2009

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Exhaust gasket? you mean intake gasket?

Well, you are in for some trouble then. The heads are known to crack, usually between valves. Taking it off might make any small cracks worse.

I have had good luck with slightly larger bolts than these by getting a nice carbide drill bit and putting a small hole about half the diameter of the bolt in the middle. Then get yourself a left-handed tap and bolt, then just tap and thread that bolt in.

Forget any device that claims to get stuck bolts out, they are all garbage and a waste of money.

If you decide to take the heads off, you might as well clean and inspect them with fluorescent dye. If they are cracked, they are just going to get worse once you put them back on. Its a decision you have to make.

However, if you want to replace the heads with something nicer not too long down the line, i'd recommend just fixing the plenum and letting the heads and that one bolt stay. It wont cause any damage if you plan on replacing the heads 6-8 months down the line.
 

mda8569

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Also would it be bad if I used the old steel plenum pan? It doesn't seem warped or nothing just the gasket failed.

That depends on who you talk too, lol. I've heard that the problem is the steel pan mated to an aluminum manifold, and i've also heard that the bolts are slightly too long and bottom out. I purchased the ebay aluminum plate that came with bolts and gasket. If you decide you are going to go back in later for heads, you could re-use the oem plate, and grind down the tips on the bolts.
 

dapepper9

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That depends on who you talk too, lol. I've heard that the problem is the steel pan mated to an aluminum manifold, and i've also heard that the bolts are slightly too long and bottom out. I purchased the ebay aluminum plate that came with bolts and gasket. If you decide you are going to go back in later for heads, you could re-use the oem plate, and grind down the tips on the bolts.

Flex measured across the length of the whole pan has shown to average about 0.00015" across. However, many cases have come around of pan bolts being loose upon removal and occasionally missing. Also, factory gasket was ****. Mopar even came out with an updated gasket with a steel core. Steel pan isn't the problem and I've had many guys reuse the pan, take 2 threads off the bolts as a pre-caution, loctite, updated gasket and none have come back saying it blew again.
 
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Seanram

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I just want to thank you I followed everything u told me and I was able to get all bolts out yesterday thanks!!!!!
 
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