Cracked exhaust manifold on my Ford F250 6.2L gasser!

[cabmandone]

I found out my 2012 F250 (less than months out of the CPO warranty period) has a broken exhaust manifold. The bolts are naturally a bit (understatement) rusty. I called a Ford dealer to check on replacement cost. $650 and that's if no studs break. If studs break that's $50 per stud so my total bill could run as much as $1050 to replace. I called Ford customer care to see if there was any way Ford would participate in the cost being so close to the warranty expiration date. I was told there are no programs. I know this isn't an uncommon issue. There are examples of this on Ford Truck Enthusiasts on several threads. Ford isn't going to step up. Warranty ended mid January of this year. I'm 28,000 miles under the 100,000 threshold and they won't do anything for a customer that has owned Ford trucks for the last 25 years.

Damn I'm running out of truck options.

[Arizona_928]

Just hit with a 6011 while it's still attached.

That said. If you break a stud do the ole weld a nut on it trick. I'm batting a 100 on that trick with all the cheb 5.3 manifolds I've messed with.

[cabmandone]

I'm working on removing it today. Hopefully all that spraying with penetrating oil I did yesterday pays off!

[Laneco]

When I was working at a company that had alot of the ten cylinder Ford gas engines, we were going through manifolds like crazy and the dealers were just killin' us on the price

I wound up buying these on eBay for 1/3 of what the dealer wanted. Same manifold exactly but big cost savings.

Looks like you have several options for your 6.2 manifold. Might be a nice pile of change saved to buy from someone other than the dealer.

angela

[RWebb]

maybe buy a Dodge RAM...???

[cabmandone]

Well, the wrenching gods smiled down upon me today. 8 exhaust manifold nuts removed, 5 with the stud, ZERO broken exhaust studs. Manifold will arrive tomorrow and it should be back together... until the next time it cracks

[Arizona_928]

Yup time to go ram. You won't regret it!

[legion]

No gasket residue to remove?

[pwd72s]

Originally Posted by cabmando

Well, the wrenching gods smiled down upon me today. 8 exhaust manifold nuts removed, 5 with the stud, ZERO broken exhaust studs. Manifold will arrive tomorrow and it should be back together... until the next time it cracks

Did you pull the remaining 3 rusty studs? Hope so...it would be a good "as long as you're in there" move.

[Bob Kontak]

Originally Posted by pwd72s

Did you pull the remaining 3 rusty studs? Hope so...it would be a good "as long as you're in there" move.

I bet he will. Dorman makes a nice replacement set of studs.

I have done several of these and once you get a good grip on the studs they come out without issue.

Issue is getting the right tool at the right angle, etc. Close quarters in an F250 for several of those studs.

It's more tedious than hard but I still don't care for the job.

[Arizona_928]

Double nut it

[Bob Kontak]

Originally Posted by AZ_porschekid

Double nut it

If you can. Need threads for that. Often just a rusted nub.

I did get plenty with welding a nut on.

[RWebb]

give up and buy a Dodge RAM

[cabmandone]

Originally Posted by legion

No gasket residue to remove?

Nope.

[cabmandone]

Originally Posted by pwd72s

Did you pull the remaining 3 rusty studs? Hope so...it would be a good "as long as you're in there" move.

Originally Posted by Bob Kontak

I bet he will. Dorman makes a nice replacement set of studs.

I have done several of these and once you get a good grip on the studs they come out without issue.

Issue is getting the right tool at the right angle, etc. Close quarters in an F250 for several of those studs.

It's more tedious than hard but I still don't care for the job.

That's the weird thing. There were three studs, one on the top and 2 on the bottom, that were actually really clean and the nuts came off after breaking loose from the manifold. One of the fasteners I was really stressing about was directly in the middle of the engine cross member and there was no way to get a socket and swivel in there. I got my 1/2 ratchet with a deep well socket in there. I had to pretty much bring one arm around the front side and the other the back of the cross member to work the ratchet. I prepared for a battle, and the thing popped right loose!

I'm considering changing the last three but not sure it's necessary. When everything goes back together I'm going to put a little copper anti seize on.

As for the right tool, a longer 15mm socket, not a deep well but just longer than a standard socket, a 1/2 impact swivel, two longer 1/2 extensions and two 1/2 swivel extensions made accessing most of them very easy. I was more sweating snapping a stud that getting at the majority of the fasteners. I took the front tire off. Removed the inner fender, put jack stands under the truck and has the jack under the front axle so I could raise or lower it. I found that lowering it really helped with gaining access. The new manifold comes today! So hopefully it'll be back up and going by this evening when I get time to put it all back together.

[Bob Kontak]

Originally Posted by cabmando

As for the right tool, a longer 15mm socket, not a deep well but just longer than a standard socket..........

Never did a larger V8. I don't remember the nuts being 15MM but trucks were 10 years older than yours.

They all had cross members though.

[Scott Douglas]

Is there some kind of stress on the installed header that causes it to break?

[rfuerst911sc]

The ones that are cracking are they cast iron ? Tubular steel ? Sure seems like something is adding undue stress to cause the cracks .

[Bob Kontak]

Originally Posted by rfuerst911sc

The ones that are cracking are they cast iron ?

Older ones I have worked on are cast iron. They like to warp and ping the end studs off. I have not seen a cracked one but my experience base is not huge.

[cabmandone]

Cast. I've been trying to post pics of the cracked manifold but the picture uploader isn't working for me. Pic is only 1.5 mb but it's not loading.
I gave some thought to going with headers and a complete new exhaust system but I'm looking at building a new home and gotta save some cabbage.