exhaust stud oil leak fix - complete instruction (archive)

Here's the whole poop. The thread cavity goes all the way into the valve train area so any oil in there can find its way out unfortunately via the exhaust manifold threads. The angle of the engine only makes matters worse. The manifold gasket has no effect on the oil leak of this sort.

Here's what you do about it:
First buy some studs. Qty 8. The type with a shank so that it can bottom out.
Buy some self locking manifold nuts
Buy some thick thread lock (or hi-temp RTV probably works too).
Buy new manifold gasket. To make things easier get a 318 gasket which has a heat shield and all the ports are on one piece.
Clean the exterior area around the manifold.
Remove the exhaust manifold. If you remove the lower support bracketry you can probably gain suffucient clearance to prevent having to remove more than just the top area.
Remove all the studs (if one leaks the others probably will be soon too).
If you have trouble removing the studs then put too nuts against each other and remove that way.
Remove the old gasket material and clean the head surface.
Open the valve cover and thoroughly clean out any oil in the stud area - otherwise oil will drip down the holes later. You'll see the stud holes!
Spray some brake cleaner into the holes and clean out with a Q-tip. Must be spotless and totally dry for the next step.
Clean the studs with brake cleaner, dry, then apply some thick thread lock to the end that goes into the head.
Insert the studs and use the double nut technique to install them all the way in to the shank of the stud. Hope you chose the right stud or they will be too short for the manifold.
I personally think its best to let this sit over night before proceeding but here's the next step.
Install the 318 gasket, the manifold and the correct manifold nuts and torque to the correct setting (don't know what that is off hand - check a manual).
Reattach the bottom support bracketry etc and you're done.

While the valve cover is off maybe thats a good time to adjust the valves too.
Peter S

can yout please tell me how to fix the leak comoing out of the manifold bolts, because oil is definitely leaking there

thnaks alot

could you tell me in better detail exactly where to locate this, and what it looks like....sorry but im not much of a mechanic.

thanks alot

Sounds like another case of the classic bad ground problem. Check for or replace the existing ground cable. There is one at the bottom of the engine bay attaching engine block to chassis.
Peter S

please help, my car stalls out sometimes and when it does this my gas gauge goes wacky, bouncing all over the place. then i stop becuase my car isnt running anymore, i try to start it again and it starts and then stalls immediately. then i wat a few minutes and it starts fine and is fine again......at least for a while, sometimes it happens a few times a day and sometimes not for a week. what is this?

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