Squeaks Exhaust Leak Revisited…….

Took the time on wednesday to tear apart Squeaks to replace the broken exhaust manifold studs.  Only had to cut off one bolt on the down pipe, so I was happy with that.  Could have been a lot worse.  The downside of working on a vehicle that has seen daily use for the last 11 years in Minnesota, South Dakota, and Kansas year round is dealing with the rust issues on all the fasteners.

The exhaust manifold studs luckily came out without a fight.  Once I had the downpipe loose and 6 of the exhaust studs out, the two broken studs were a little easier to deal with.  I was able to slide the manifold out slightly and turn out the studs with a needle nose, they were not under any pressure other than a little sideways pressure from the manifold, so they turned right out. 

 

All the studs out…..The factory manuals say to remove the manifold out the bottom, which I would really like to know how that is possible…..it came out the top just fine.

A pile of broken and unbroken studs.

THe manifold out of the car.  I did pull the manifold because I wanted to put a straight edge on it to check for trueness.  Sure enough, as I suspected, the manifold is slightly warped, which I am sure is why the studs broke.  Ordered a new manifold from Morris 4×4 Jeep, and it should be here next week.  I picked up all new hardware from the dealer which was about 50 bucks, the manifold was about 120 shipped from Morris.  For $200 we will be back on the road, until I get to do the passenger side, which I am sure will go eventually as well.  I have heard some people paying 800-1000 at the dealer per side for this job. 

The saddest part is that I couldn’t find any header upgrades for the 4.7L V8 🙁

4.7LBroken BoltsExhaustExhaust LeakJeep Grand CherokeeManifoldStuds