Driving with manifold leak

[Whino83]

I am new here and I hope I’m posting this in the correct forum. I have a 14 Ram with the 5.7 in it. A couple of years ago I noticed a tick when the engine was cold and found the exhaust manifold had 2 bolts broken. I had the manifold and blots replaced.
Fast forward to now and I’m hearing the same noise from the other side of the engine I believe. My appointment to get this taken care of is next Thursday and I had planned on going on a fishing trip this weekend about 3 hours away from my house (6 hours round trip)
Is it gonna make things worse or hurt anything if I go on this trip or should I cancel it until I get it repaired next week?
Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

 

[rmill]

Not to brag (joke) but i drove for years about 40000 miles with my busted bolts. I did finally get around to fixing it. As long as you are sure it is just the bolts? Expert advice should be on the way.

 

[CheechDogg.0n37s]

If it's just the bolts you will be fine, but if you are not sure that's what the issue is I wouldn't be driving it ...

 

[Ghost1500]

I think you'll be ok. When the time comes I am replacing mine with a set of shorty headers. Screw the exhaust manifold route, I only want to do it once.... Probably these...

BBK Performance Parts 4014: Shorty Unequal-Length Exhaust Headers 2009-2018 Dodge Ram 1500 5.7L Hemi 2/4WD [Titanium Ceramic] - JEGS

Get the Best Performance with BBK Performance Parts Shorty Unequal-Length Exhaust Headers 2009-2018 Dodge Ram 1500 5.7L Hemi 2/4WD [Titanium Ceramic] 4014 parts at JEGS. Shop Now at the Guaranteed Lowest Price!

www.jegs.com

Best regards,

-Mike

 

[Wild one]

I think you'll be ok. When the time comes I am replacing mine with a set of shorty headers. Screw the exhaust manifold route, I only want to do it once.... Probably these...

BBK Performance Parts 4014: Shorty Unequal-Length Exhaust Headers 2009-2018 Dodge Ram 1500 5.7L Hemi 2/4WD [Titanium Ceramic] - JEGS

Get the Best Performance with BBK Performance Parts Shorty Unequal-Length Exhaust Headers 2009-2018 Dodge Ram 1500 5.7L Hemi 2/4WD [Titanium Ceramic] 4014 parts at JEGS. Shop Now at the Guaranteed Lowest Price!

www.jegs.com

Best regards,

-Mike

You might want to research those BBK's a bit more Mike,they don't have all that good of a rep.AFE or JBA have a better rep then the BBK's

 

[Ghost1500]

Ya, I saw that. Thank you for the heads up. I was thinking of the Afe's too but they have a bad rep for the welds on the VelosterN stuff they sell so that makes me weary. I like the design of the H o o k e r ones they sell like the Afe's but they have a bad weld problem too. There has to be ones out there like those without BS. BBK's you got to do a BUNCH of extra crap to install them. So those are out of the ? Isn't there ones that will fit our stock exhaust that doesn't require moving the motor?

Br,

-Mike

 

[Whino83]

Thanks for the replies

 

[CheechDogg.0n37s]

Ya, I saw that. Thank you for the heads up. I was thinking of the Afe's too but they have a bad rep for the welds on the VelosterN stuff they sell so that makes me weary. I like the design of the H o o k e r ones they sell like the Afe's but they have a bad weld problem too. There has to be ones out there like those without BS. BBK's you got to do a BUNCH of extra crap to install them. So those are out of the ? Isn't there ones that will fit our stock exhaust that doesn't require moving the motor?

Br,

-Mike

We installed the AFEs on @the_goodguy07 's Ram last year and the install was easy ... he's had them on for almost a year if not longer and no problems with the welds ... I would go with the AFEs if I were you, I will be replacing my manifolds with the AFE headers when I get a wild hair up my @$$ ....

I haven't heard of any weld problems with the AFEs by the way ...

 

[EdGs]

I drove for a good bit with 1 broken bolt on each side, until I got off my ass and fixed it.

I can't believe I waited as long as I did, it really sounded like **** for quite a while.

Just verify that broken bolts is your issue, just to be sure.

With the engine cold, reach in through the wheel wells and grab the heat shield near the corners, and see if it's loose. Takes about 30 seconds to check.

 

[hemihustlin]

with everything ive heard about shorty headers on here afe twisted steel is the way to go for quality/price. bbk, jba and the hooks all crack. theres always a few guys that have no problems with the bbk/jba but its rare it seems!

 

[JF19Longhorn]

Dealer diagnosed mine with a cracked manifold in early April, they didn't get the part in till a few weeks ago, and installed it the end of June.

They told me to keep driving as if nothing was wrong. Doesn't appear to have done any damage.

 

[Mako21]

Ditto to JF19Longhorn. For 8+ months I have been back and forth to several dealers with the concern of an exhaust leak somewhere, specifically the manifolds. Finally, after hearing a much louder noise, I took it to a different dealer and they quickly diagnosed it with a crack to the right manifold. They said it must have been smaller and driving it for a while probably pushed the crack to grow. Manifolds are back-ordered, so I have to wait ~6 weeks for parts. But they said driving it will not hurt anything.

 

[Taspeace]

I have broken bolts on both sides and can hear an exhaust leak when the engine is cold. The manifolds are probably warped. I have decided to get the manifolds milled flat and use stainless steel bolts from Dorman (part number 03309HP). Once iron manifolds warp, they their shape tends to become more stable, so I'm hoping that they won't warp enough in the future to be a problem. If the manifolds turn out to be cracked I MIGHT be able to have them welded before the milling. There are so many stories about failures and difficulties with shorty headers that I lost interest in them, and I don't need the slight high RPM increase that they can give. So far, my research indicates that the Ramflex gaskets are the best, with Felco coming in second.

 

[farout75]

Go fishing! I wouldn't drive 10,000 miles before fixing it, but fish wait for no man, so get moving!

 

[RJ1234]

I am going to be selling my truck relatively soon, but I want to repair the issue before I do. Would you guys recommend machining the manifolds and replacing the bolts with better ones or using bbk’s or JBA’s obviously don’t want to break the bank figuring I’m getting rid of the truck. Started having this issue around 70k miles. Any suggestions?

 

[EdGs]

Have the manifolds machined flat, replace the hardware and gaskets and you should be good-to-go. Gaskets and a set of manifold bolts should run you $80 or so.

 

[KerryinTN]

You don’t need better bolts. All that would do is stress the block threads more. Once you machine the manifold, the stresses will be gone and the regular bolts will be more than good enough for their intended torque values.

 

[Bandit1859]

I am new here and I hope I’m posting this in the correct forum. I have a 14 Ram with the 5.7 in it. A couple of years ago I noticed a tick when the engine was cold and found the exhaust manifold had 2 bolts broken. I had the manifold and blots replaced.
Fast forward to now and I’m hearing the same noise from the other side of the engine I believe. My appointment to get this taken care of is next Thursday and I had planned on going on a fishing trip this weekend about 3 hours away from my house (6 hours round trip)
Is it gonna make things worse or hurt anything if I go on this trip or should I cancel it until I get it repaired next week?
Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

Mine is new and it’s been doing it for most of a year. Have it fixed now no damage smooth and quiet

 

[Dusty]

I have broken bolts on both sides and can hear an exhaust leak when the engine is cold. The manifolds are probably warped. I have decided to get the manifolds milled flat and use stainless steel bolts from Dorman (part number 03309HP). Once iron manifolds warp, they their shape tends to become more stable, so I'm hoping that they won't warp enough in the future to be a problem. If the manifolds turn out to be cracked I MIGHT be able to have them welded before the milling. There are so many stories about failures and difficulties with shorty headers that I lost interest in them, and I don't need the slight high RPM increase that they can give. So far, my research indicates that the Ramflex gaskets are the best, with Felco coming in second.

I have no experience with the hardware you've mentioned, but in general I would not think a stainless bolt would be the best solution in that application.

Regards,
Dusty
2019 Ram 1500 Billet Silver Quad Cab 2WD, 5.7 Hemi, 8HP75, 3.21 axle, 33-gallon fuel tank, factory dual exhaust, 18” wheels. Build date: 3 June 2018. Now at 75071 miles

 

[Shawn Burns]

I replaced mine with shorty headers after a leak just shy of 40k miles. I plan on keeping the truck for a long time. If I were getting rid of the truck, I would have machined the OEM manifolds and replaced with new gaskets and bolts. The headers do not give much (if any) power gain, introduce more noise (not a bad thing for me), and are more prone to cracking that a cast manifold.