[austratton]

Hi All, I noticed an exhaust leak between the manifold and the head the other day. I pulled the heat shield off and found 3 broken studs. The studs seem to have broken off with about 3/4-1" sticking out of the head, so I'm hoping I can get them out with the double nut trick and some heat. I tried just pulling all the unbroken studs and sliding the manifold and turbo back, but can't get enough clearance. If I pull the turbo oil/coolant lines and downpipe off will I have enough clearance to move the exhaust manifold back more than an inch? Car is an 06 v50 t5. anything else I should attend to / replace when I'm in there? Just did the timing belt/water pump/terrible plastic automatic coolant pipe and really hoping to avoid pulling the head.

thanks

 

[LittleRedRidingHood]

Be very careful with these - I ended up snapping some studs flush with the head and it ended up being a head-out job, taking the head to the machine shop.

Anyways, it is very tight in there. I'd give it a shot as-is to start, but doubt you'll have enough room to pull the turbo off the studs. I'd try supporting the engine by the oil pan, then disconnect the upper (passenger-side for LHD cars) engine mount and that should allow you to pull the engine forward a little ways.

 

[austratton]

Be very careful with these - I ended up snapping some studs flush with the head and it ended up being a head-out job, taking the head to the machine shop.

this is my nightmare

doubt you'll have enough room to pull the turbo off the studs. I'd try supporting the engine by the oil pan, then disconnect the upper (passenger-side for LHD cars) engine mount and that should allow you to pull the engine forward a little ways.

You are right, there isn't enough room, I already tried just pulling the manifold back on the studs. am now wondering if removing the motor mount will give enough room, or if I should just commit to pulling the dp and turbo oil/coolant lines to allow the manifold more room to move

 

[tmtalpey]

MyNameIdeasWereTaken has a video or a post here somewhere about how he did this. I believe he was able to unhook the exhaust system and move the entire thing backward in the car, allowing the exhaust manifold to shift without unbolting or disconnecting much.

There are also threads from theshadow27 about his way of drilling and tapping broken studs.

 

[austratton]

MyNameIdeasWereTaken has a video or a post here somewhere about how he did this. I believe he was able to unhook the exhaust system and move the entire thing backward in the car, allowing the exhaust manifold to shift without unbolting or disconnecting much.

thanks, i've watched MINWTs video a few times. he has a fwd, and I think the clearance on the awd cars is much worse (ie even with unhooking/sliding the exhaust and manifold backwards I don't have enough clearance to get the manifold off of the studs on an awd car)! I am worried I am headed in the direction of theshadow27 and LittleRedRidingHood in that I will have to pull the head and drill and tap the broken studs.

if anyone has experience otherwise I would love to hear your advice

 

[lookforjoe]

OK - so at this point you have NOT removed the oil drain tube, disconnected the breather, turbo charge pipe, feed pipe and disconnected the DP from the turbo?

Until you disconnect EVERYTHING you won't have room to maneuver the manifold/turbo rearward enough to get studs out. Since the alternative is head removal, it makes sense to do this first, and/or remove the turbo/manifold out the top for much more access...

I used a plastic mirror to look back there

& make sure gasket is properly in place prior to reinstall

 

[austratton]

OK - so at this point you have NOT removed the oil drain tube, disconnected the breather, turbo charge pipe, feed pipe and disconnected the DP from the turbo?

thanks for the pictures.
can you clarify what you mean by oil drain tube and breather? I have the turbo inlet/cross-over pipe off, but havent removed DP or the oil lines to the turbo. will remove em this weekend and see how much wiggle room I get

 

[LittleRedRidingHood]

The oil drain tube is a solid metal pipe that goes from the very bottom of the turbo's CHRA to the engine block. Two screws connect it to the turbo, and it's a pressure fit (pulls out with little effort) to the engine block. You will easily see the rest of the connections.

 

[walky_talky20]

I did this job on my 06 T5 AWD, too. It was "worst case". Several studs were broken, with 1 broken flush with the head. Also, the manifold itself was warped quite a bit (this is actually what causes the studs to break to begin with). I pulled the cylinder head to do the job. Extraction of the broken studs was done fairly easily on the bench by welding a nut to the broken studs. The heat from the welder really helps a lot. And then you have a nut to turn, and presto - they are out.

The manifold surface of the cylinder head was flat, but the manifold itself was warped pretty excessively. Too much for me to feel good about just bolting it back on. I want to say it was 1/16" out. Yeah. I plugged up all the runners with greasy rags and put plastic bags over the cold side and CHRA. The v-band area was pretty rusted and the turbo CHRA would not release from the hot side. Took the whole thing to a machine shop and they were my heroes and resurfaced it with the turbo still attached!

In your case, I would probably give it a shot to do in place. If you can get the studs out, forget about the possible manifold warping and just get it bolted back together. That will likely be good enough for the rest of the life of the car. If possible, I'd recommend zapping the ends of the studs with a MIG welder if you can reach. This really helps free them up.

If you haven't seen it already, here is a thread with a lot of discussion about this repair. Around page 6-7 I posted photos of my repair steps:

Exhaust manifold gasked (squealing issue) job - few...

Hi all talking about that squealing issue on other post made me actually talk to my mechanics and book a day to have this sorted. I was asked to organise those parts below and drop the car to them in apx 2 weeks. - Exhaust manifold gasket - exhaust manifold studs - gasket between turbo and...

www.swedespeed.com

 

[austratton]

I got 3 of my 4 broken studs out, but snapped the 4th one off in the head (F**k). I pulled the head and took it to a machine shop to drill out the stud. I'm going to re-assemble in the next few days. However, I am somewhat confused by the different VVT configurations on different versions of this motor. I have a 2005 T5. When I re assemble, do I need to lock the cams and mess with the VVT hubs? should I replace the cam seals behind the hubs? or can I just re-set the timing using the marks I made on the crank/cams and belt?

 

[lookforjoe]

It would be crazy not to replace the cam seals at this point. The cams are out anyway. The seals will leak eventually, even more likely since you have disturbed them. The cam hubs don't have a special lock procedure like P2's - you just need to make sure all marks are lined up.