dont post too much on here but i do my fare share of browsing. and i've found myself in a bit of a pickle with my truck and some problems. long story short: truck blew #2 plug on the interstate the other day. wasn't near home so had it towed to the nearest ford dealership (used them before so i wasn't worried), had to have #2 re-tapped, all new plugs and one new coil pack. got that taken care of then called them back to give me an estimate on another problem. from what i can gather the exhaust manifold bolt breaking is a common problem(2001 150 5.4 125k). my exhaust leak is on passenger side, the rear most bolt is broke off in the head, and has been since i've had the truck. while it was there i just figured i'd have it fixed. I had talked to just the parts guy a few weeks ago and was quoted 300-400 depending on shop time. But when i talked to the service guy today, they are saying low end of $500(best case), high end up to $1200-1300(worst case). with my luck i've decided to hold off on having the dealership do the fix. figured i'd shop around and see what other quotes i can get. so while being on here i thought i'd ask any of you who might have tackled this at home in the garage. so i guess if you have done/attempted this fix, how is it? or should it even be something i should try at home? from what the service guy said, the bolts dont tend to seize in the head but in fact in the manifold flange and they can be a BIG pain to get loose....so what should i do?

 

not sure. need to do on mine.. I have all new bolts for mine though.. and i have hear some manifolds crack? Not sure on how many really do though.

 

Take it to an exhaust shop. They deal with removal of studs/bolts on a daily basis. I had my passenger side done, with 3 or 4 broken studs that had to be removed for $350.

I would never drop off my vehicle knowing the repair should be between 3-500 max if they were quoting me high end 12-1300... You know theyll find a way to get to the high end.

Find someone confident, familiar with extracting broken studs in aluminum heads who can give you a fairly close estimate at a good rate.

 

Had both sides of my exhaust go on my 1998 all the studs broke. i was driving home from school and my truck sounded like a bomb needless to say i got a few looks. but i got a buddy who owns a shop and he did mine for 200. id really look around a lot before you jumped into anything.