Well, my 03 has an exhaust leak. It's a slight *tut* *tut* sound coming from the passenger side that goes away once the engine warms up. So, I slid up under either side and started giving the bolts some turns. When...

I discovered that someone who had the truck before me broke the stud coming off the manifold. No wonder there's a leak! [:@]

So after a few choice words, I came to my senses. Anyone else had to have one of these studs replaced? Your experiences? Cost?

I haven't called any exhaust shops for estimates yet, but I want to get a ballpark in mind before they see me pull up in a Land Rover and think $$.

 

Add: That's the stud between the bottom of the manifold and the coupler to the Y pipe.

 

I replaced them myself and got them at Atlantic british

 

I'm sure you can get the studs anywhere. Get the measurement on them (thread depth, pitch, length, etc.) and you shouldn't have a problem finding 'em.

 

The issue is getting to them. The space is incredibly tight and I don't know if I want to spend that time doing it. Dpending on cost, it may be worth it to skip the headache.

 

Here's what I do. I find out what it will cost to have a shop do the work and what it costs for parts alone and for me to do the work. Then I take the difference and spend half of it on new tools for the shop and put the rest in my vacation fund.

I just replaced the thermostat on my '99 Rodeo over the holidays, which is buried under the intake manifold and was a real bitch of a job. The dealer wanted $800 to do it, and the local import shop wanted $700. Parts cost me $100 for the thermostat, gaskets and new hoses, etc. and it took me roughly 12 hours to do the work.

So I saved $600 and got a better job done in the process because I replaced all of the hoses while I had the thing apart, which would not have been part of the deal from the dealer. With the money I saved I bought a new torque wrench, some new sockets, and a seat of flex head gear wrenches for $250 and put the remaining $350 in a special account toward our Alaska trip this year. Good deal. Only lost one Saturday in the process. :-)

Dave

 

All right....Is the stud broken flush with the exhaust manifold, or just flush under the y-pipe ???

Either, you'll have to drop the y-pipe. If its only broken at the y-pipe, you should have enough bolt left to grab with wise grips ( after heatingthe studwith a torch) and unscrew it. If this doesn't work, or if the stud is broken flush with the exhaust manifold, the manifold has to come out in order to work on it. If there's justenough bolt to weld a part onto it, it can be unscrewed.

If it is really broken flush withthe manifold, you or they, will have to drill the stud out and retread, or....like I did, simply drill a whole side to side and use a regular grade 5 , 5/16 inch exhaust bolt ( important...Don't ask me how I know!!)

If they do the work, I would expect to pay around $275.00 out the door, counting the manifold and y-pipegaskets.

 

A good quality bolt extactor set (eg. Snap on) is worth its weight in gold. I've used them on exhaust studs with good results.

Dave

 

It's at the Y-Pipe. Changing it would involve me dropping the Y pipe, removing the manifold so I could work out in the open, and replacing it all with new gaskets. I understand the work, that's not the issue.

Basically, I'm lazy.