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During a quick inspection of the underside today (prepping for a transmission service ) I noticed a bolt dangling from between the jack point and armor
I was puzzled and after some internet crowd sourcing, it appears that this is one of 13 exhaust manifold bolts
As expected, this is a fiendishly difficult bolt to get to and replace
I’m not sure if it’s sheared off or unscrewed or both
Getting it replaced is not going to be fun
A dirt cheap part positioned deep in the belly of the beast
This will not be an easy job
I fear it’s something that needs to be fixed if more serious problems are to be avoided.
currently there are no associated symptoms or problems.
That's a common problem. Fix it soon. One broken bolt puts stress on the others and can lead to an exhaust leak. The job is difficult and requires manifold removal.
Yes. That’s the plan
requires major disassembly to get to the bolt. Probably replacing all 13 is the way to go.
still doing it homework on it.
Looks like a bloody nightmare of a job.
Not sure how common this issue is. First time I’ve seen it in the L663 chat
We need to form a support group. The prospect of this repair is giving me night-terrors.
I can record the process and post it on Youtube. Its definitely not an easy job though. The bolts are made of inconel and may be difficult to extract. I couldnt find an alternative so I ordered oem again. Maybe ill get some made specifically to replace these so it never happens again.
I can record the process and post it on Youtube. Its definitely not an easy job though. The bolts are made of inconel and may be difficult to extract. I couldnt find an alternative so I ordered oem again. Maybe ill get some made specifically to replace these so it never happens again.
I'd love to see the process. I think this job is well beyond my limited grease-monkey skill-set.
I'm almost inclined to live with it. 1 out of 13 bolts is gone. Who knows when it broke. Likely thousands of miles ago. Probably would cost thousands in labor at an independent, if I could even find one to do it. It may be a self limiting issue or one that is a slow failure. I'm thinking there has to be thousands of cars on the road with missing manifold bolts. It seems to be a universal issue across brands albeit not on young engines like this one.
DIY ; my worry is I'd spend hours/days getting to the bolt to find I can't get the damn thing out.
The drilling out is a real pain I’d bet. Saltek, curious about access and angles here. Please do post something up.
Seems like it would be a good idea to pro-actively replace these around 50K miles before they break and save myself the trouble of them breaking around 70K-100K miles.
I don't know. If they are prone to breaking I'm not sure I'd risk trying to replace them. Chances of breaking several off and having to drill them out sounds painful. If it were me and just one was broken I would let it be.
I don't know. If they are prone to breaking I'm not sure I'd risk trying to replace them. Chances of breaking several off and having to drill them out sounds painful. If it were me and just one was broken I would let it be.
The torque on them is low. 15Nm +135 degrees but given the size of them (M8 by the looks of it) and their length and the high heat area the live in, I think that breaking one/some is very possible/probable.
Bottom line: This is not something I am comfortable tackling.
I'm going to see if I can get pricing from some local independents and if the numbers don't make sense possibly just let it ride.
P400 Exhaust Manifold Failure. Bolt LR125335
