So I finally took ownership of my jimmy yesterday. The drivers side exhaust manifold was leaking from the last cylinder so I stopped and picked up a gasket set after work. I removed the intake tube and filter box, and the steering shaft. I unbolted the manifold and removed the gaskets from the first 2 cylinders and what was left of the gasket on the 3rd. I got the gaskets that have the slots for the bolts so you just drop them in. Now for some reason I cannot get the last 2 bolts of the manifold to line up. I've tried starting the 3rd cylinder and then I can't get the 1st cyl to line up, I've tried the 1st and can't get the 3rd to line up, I've tried one on each, I've tried damn near everything I can think of but I just can't get the last 2 bolts to line up.. any ideas why and more importantly what I can do to get those bolts all lined up?

 

The manifold might be cracked, causing the leak, and maybe why you can't line up the bolts.

 

Or warped from expanding and contracting.

 

I looked at the manifold pretty thoroughly and didn't see any cracks. and It's gotta go back together if it came apart. lol I think tomorrow I'll soak the lower bolts that attach the manifold to the rest of the exhaust in pb'blaster and break those loose and see what happens.

 

Or a big hammer might help.

 

yep very common. this has happend to me in pretty much every truck i ever had. just becareful trying to thread those bolts back in, dont want to jack the threads up.

so what you can do is they actually sell a spreader for the manifold you can stick in between to spread it back apart.

or buy a new manifold

or what i always do is take the manifold out, oblong the heck out of the holes then reinstall it. i just put it in the drill press and keep going a size upon which ever ones dont fit til they finally do fit.

 

Did any bolts break? I have a cracked exhaust manifold (driver's side too). I was advised to live with it as is, because bolts may break if I try to replace it. Is that true and what should I do? Is it better to unbolt it with the engine warmed up? Was thinking of swapping the steering shaft with a Cherokee one when I remove it in the process

 

I didn't run into any broken bolts, I also soaked them with pb blaster before hand. I was talking to one of the guys at work today and they also mentioned the spreader. If I can't get it tomorrow after unbolting the flange I'll see about getting one.

 

when we changed the motor in mine we never broke a bolt on the manifolds (149k miles in the salt belt) used an impact to remove them.

 

Ok so I've got an update. Removed the manifold, broke the lower y pipe flange bolts. No surprise there though and an easy fix. But I thought that would solve my issue and give me more room to thread the front cyl bolts that don't fit but it didnt. And the spreader is too big to work between the 1st and 2nd cyl so that won't work. I guess my options are, buy a new manifold @$120 or try to wallow out the holes some. Ugh. So much for a quick job.