Fixing exhaust manifold bolts under warranty

[jd1wilson]

There are some very good post results on the forum under this topic. Members who have replaced their headers with "shorty's" #8 manifold bolts and a quality manifold gasket say they have solved their problem.

To clarify, are you saying that they only replaced the bolts and gasket, or that they replaced the header, bolts, and gasket?

 

[Fitz-0518]

To clarify, are you saying that they only replaced the bolts and gasket, or that they replaced the header, bolts, and gasket?

Jd they have replaced all three. From what I have read and understand. The "shorty" exhaust headers are a better material match with our aluminum heads. Less expansion and contraction at a different rate.

 

[Louis Lugnutz]

Mine was under the 100k mile but a little over the 5 year mark . No luck had to replace them out of pocket. But used better bolts so it shouldn't happen again. At least not on the passenger side. They seem to break anytime after 60k miles


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That might be a bad idea. Right now the screws are the weakest link. If you make the screws not the weakest link then it may be the next weakest is the female threads in the heads which would then fail/strip instead of the screws breaking. Best practice in machine design is to have the screws fail not the threaded hole, due to repair expense.

I strongly believe that the solution is headers, as the real problem is not the scews, but the strong structural box shape of the manifolds overpowers the bolts if the manifold warps, while headers are far less stiff than manifolds by nature of their design structural shape, an easier to deflect flat flange shape instead of a stiffer box shape, so the screws are able to overpower the flat shaped header flange but not the box manifold shape.

 

[Fitz-0518]

Pretty darn sad, ain't it?

How miles did you have again, Fitz?

TXCOMT

7200 miles

 

[Fitz-0518]

Wow, they going to replace entire truck, instead of doing manifolds and give U a truck till repaired. Now that makes sense $$$????

Sounds like in the end Fitz U may be the winner in this lottery.

Good Luck on all.

T-Bird

Will see. I sure agree, would have been much cheaper and less hassle for us if they had replaced the exhaust system including manifolds as the dealer requested. Replacement truck is in transient status to my dealer. Expect to exchange the week of 11/5.

 

[Oregoner]

Is expecting my exhaust manifolds NOT to fall off my engine an unreasonable expectation? Mine is still in the shop (92k mi) being fixed under warranty. IMO it is being repaired not fixed. So I can expect the same problem to start AGAIN in about 60k miles??? Broken manifold bolts should be an extremely rare thing. The next round of repairs for the same known problem is going to be on me??? Maybe Ram has a Chevy, Toyota or Ford I can trade it in for! Ram needs a fix for this problem... my next truck may not be Ram (not so tough)!

 

[Fitz-0518]

^^^Can understand how you see it and I think your expectation is reasonable. But, keep in mind, this is not a problem on all 5.7 and 6.4. Most owners never have this issue. My 03 5.7 has 230k miles. Never an issue. From what I have learned, it is a known failure to follow assembly procedure specs. However, that does not change the fact that cast iron box manifolds and aluminum heads are I believe, a poor design decision. I'm sure you know, other manufactures have some brilliant design issues.

 

[Tach_tech]

Is expecting my exhaust manifolds NOT to fall off my engine an unreasonable expectation? Mine is still in the shop (92k mi) being fixed under warranty. IMO it is being repaired not fixed. So I can expect the same problem to start AGAIN in about 60k miles??? Broken manifold bolts should be an extremely rare thing. The next round of repairs for the same known problem is going to be on me??? Maybe Ram has a Chevy, Toyota or Ford I can trade it in for! Ram needs a fix for this problem... my next truck may not be Ram (not so tough)!

This issue is not isolated to Ram. Both ford and GM have had these issues.

 

[Patrick L]

Hi Hawki1cr,

If you need any assistance once you take your truck in for repair, let me know! We're happy to reach out on your behalf if needed!

Kori
Ram Social Care Specialist

I'm extremely new to this form and I specifically joined to ask questions about getting warranty work done on my truck. This Friday, I'm going to be taking my truck in to get the manifold bolts replaced on my 2016 Ram Outdoorsman. It's still under warranty and the servicemen told me that this would be covered under the warranty. However, I still have to pay $125 for some sort of troubleshooting fee for the tech. Is this standard procedure?

To me, this sounds fishy. If it's warranty work, it's warranty work. That means it's covered under warranty and there's no extra cost. Of course, I could be wrong. I'm hoping that perhaps you can clarify this for me? Thank you very much.

 

[Patrick L]

Truck is fixed, well I think. The dealership replaced 4 bolts and gasket, etc. I had a 5pm appointment and I finally left at 8:15pm. No charge because of powertrain warranty (5 years or 100,000)

You said they replaced 4 bolts. Did they only replace 4 bolts? Or did you have 4 broken bolts that they replaced along with the rest of them?

Or do they literally not replace the unbroken bolts when they are doing this project?

 

[Lifted2wd]

I've had my 5.7 in the shop 4 times for manifold bolts to be replaced. Most recently (this month) had 5 replaced. It is not fixed it is repaired, as someone stated previously. It is a joke but at this point I am under the 5/100k power train. Not sure what will be the solution after that is up in about 8k. The dealership claimed that there was no warping on the manifold itself. Time will tell. My friend has a '14 with the 5.7 and has had his in the shop 2x.

This is just a growing list of issues I've had with the truck starting at about 25k miles. Tried to get lemon law but had to many miles so it's been patch work.

 

[Ben Troseth]

How do i get through to the ram care specialists?

 

[Ribtipram]

Sent mine to dealer. Week and a half now. Not fixed yet. One bolt broken, so they say. Waiting on warranty company to authorize major expense. Technician screwed up on drilling out. Not happy at all. Service tells me the head needs to go to machine shop for helicoil. I am now having to rent a truck to tow my camp trailer for a camping trip that has been planned since March. This is my extended service warranty not the factory. They put it back together so I could use it for trip. told me its loud now and may throw some codes. I said no thanks. Remember this is a dealership. Sorry for the venting. Just wanted anyone thinking of this repair to check around. I would have fixed it myself (with the welding process)if not covered by warranty. Thanks for the post.

Same happened to me. But they put a new head on mine. That helicoil gonna rip right out

 

[www1951]

my 2014 had 45000 miles but was over the 5 year by 5 months Chrysler wanted 937.00 to replace the bolts went to headers and exhaust shop 340.00 for headers and 700.00 to have botls removed and headers put on nephew's 2016 going in next week for the 2nd time 56000 miles on it still under warranty .and all so the 2014 of mine has live time power train will not cover

 

[Dan98]

I wonder if stainless manifold bolts with high temp anti seize and copper gasket. Aluminum and cast steal do not go together at all. You guys gotta go stainless bolts with headers or manifolds on aluminum heads

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[Louis Lugnutz]

Same happened to me. But they put a new head on mine. That helicoil gonna rip right out

No actually helicoil makes it stronger than before helicoil, in most aluminums. The material of helicoil will be of higher strength than the aluminum most likely. To be sure, if you know the exact materials you can look up the material yield and ultimate strength on matweb.com. If the helicoil material has higher strength than the material receiving helicoil, then it is actually stronger with a helicoil. Even better than helicoil is a keyed insert or keensert, but steel helicoil in aluminum is generally higher pullout force than just tapped aluminum. I know this for sure from designing spacecraft components of the highest quality aluminums such as 7075-T7351, which you still want at least helicoils in or if structural critical then you want keenserts.

 

[Wild one]

I wonder if stainless manifold bolts with high temp anti seize and copper gasket. Aluminum and cast steal do not go together at all. You guys gotta go stainless bolts with headers or manifolds on aluminum heads

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Check these out,even more forgiving then a copper gasket.They only call for 20lb-ft and don't require retorquing.A few of us swear by them now.

http://catalog.remflex.com/

Hemi specific gaskets.

https://catalog.remflex.com/MOPAR_Header_Exhaust_Manifold_Gasket_p/6022.htm

 

[Louis Lugnutz]

Check these out,even more forgiving then a copper gasket.They only call for 20lb-ft and don't require retorquing.A few of us swear by them now.

http://catalog.remflex.com/

Hemi specific gaskets.

https://catalog.remflex.com/MOPAR_Header_Exhaust_Manifold_Gasket_p/6022.htm

From top of your link...
"PLEASE NOTE: AS OF SEPTEMBER 1ST 2019 WE WILL NO LONGER HONOR WARRANTIES AND RETURNS OF PRODUCT PURCHASED THROUGH AMAZON OR EBAY"

Pretty sketchy.

First red flag was quoting a low required torque number. The amount of math involved in specifying tightening torque is very complicated. So for a seller to say you only need n amount of torque just is a huge red flag to me.

 

[Wild one]

From top of your link...
"PLEASE NOTE: AS OF SEPTEMBER 1ST 2019 WE WILL NO LONGER HONOR WARRANTIES AND RETURNS OF PRODUCT PURCHASED THROUGH AMAZON OR EBAY"

Pretty sketchy.

First red flag was quoting a low required torque number. The amount of math involved in specifying tightening torque is very complicated. So for a seller to say you only need n amount of torque just is a huge red flag to me.

Don't try them then,lol. It's a flipping gasket ,how in hell do you expect it to have a warrenty,show me another gasket that has a warrenty.Jesus Christ you guys way over think things some days,and if expecting warrenty on an exhaust gasket isn't the last straw,lol.There's a bunch of guys using the Remflex gaskets these days,and there's very few yelling or ******** about them.Try them or not,i don't really care,but it's another option. What's the saying about insanity,something about doing the same thing over and over again,and expecting a different result,well you guys are doing the same exhaust gasket/bolt repair "over and over" and don't seem to be getting anywhere,maybe for ***** and giggles try something else,you got nothing to lose. There are some dumb statements on here at times Louis,but you just about have the dumbest,lol

 

[Louis Lugnutz]

Don't try them then,lol. It's a flipping gasket ,how in hell do you expect it to have a warrenty,show me another gasket that has a warrenty.Jesus Christ you guys way over think things some days,and if expecting warrenty on a gasket isn't the last straw,lol.There's a bunch of guys using the Remflex gaskets these days,and there's very few yelling or ******** about them.Try them or not ,what's the saying about insanity,something about doing the same thing over and over again,and expecting a different result,well you guys are doing the same exhaust gasket/bolt repair "over and over" and don't seem to be getting anywhere,maybe for ***** and giggles try something else,you got nothing to lose. There are some dumb statements on here at times Louis,but you just about have the dumbest,lol

I guess you told me!