Thread: Broken exhaust manifold studs on newly replaced head?

depends on a few things.

1. Where you are
2. how good you are with the tools
3. how many friends you have that are good on the tools
4. what skills or quality beer you have to barter with.


Fare Caution.

Replacing and upgrading the studs is not a part of the work requirements to do the exhaust manifold work. It is however firmly in my category of "best practice and the mechanic should ask if the customer wants to pay the extra to have it done" however if they didnt advise you and you didnt specifically ask for it they are not obligated to do it. If you ask in the right way and asking the right questions the company that did the manifold work for you might replace the studs at "mates rates" A really good company with great customer relations would probably only ping you an hours labour and the cost of the studs and part needed just to replace the broken studs, maybe 2 for all studs. This work can be done without removing the manifold.

Fare Warning.

you are not doing your engine any favors with your warm up, extended cool down or babying it. once its got oil presure and a stable idle start to get into it once the temp gauge has moved out of the blue part of the temp gauge drive it as though its at operating temp. on shut down, unless you have literally just pulled off of the highway from 110Kph pulling a 2t trailer into a headwind by means of slamming on the brakes, and bringing the whole thing to a halt on the side of the road in less than 10 seconds the turbo will have slowed and cooled under 95%+ of normal driving, even getting into a servo by the time youve bled off speed, moved over into the slip lane, bled off more speed, got down to 10kph moved into the apron, pulled up to the bowser, stopped, removed your seatbelt, grabbed your wallet and opened the door the turbo is down and ready for shut down.

you also occassionally need to give it a bit of "italian tune" treatment, I dont mean run it up and hold it on the limiter but just occasionally (once or twice a fortnight at least) get assertive with the loud pedal, smack it to 2/3rds instantly and hold it there for at least 3 shifts. The ideal places to do this are slip lanes onto quiet highways where you have a nice clean run and town exits that go from 60-80-100-110 in fairly short order, troll up at 40, when you hit the 80 sign get into it.

Fare advice, there is no typo in the caution warning or advice.



If you were in the NT, you might get away with cost of parts, bed, a feed and a carton

Thanks for the heads up mate.

I've obviously come across as a little over-cautious. My warm up and cool down really aren't that extensive; literally 1-2 minutes warm up before putting her in drive, and only time enough to grab my wallet and phone before shut-off. My driving style is related purely to fuel economy, not babying the td5. 😉

So seeing you had a new head fitted, the mechanics must have diligently removed the studs from the old head and then fitted them to the new head! Or were they new studs that were over torqued?

Unless they were completely ignorant of TD5s they should have fitted new studs as they are a very well known issue with TD5s, but maybe they are not experienced .
Perhaps you should approach them and point out the problem and ask them to fix it. Maybe a cost share is in order.
Regards Philip A

This is all assuming it is the exhaust manifold, its possible that they may not have tightened the intake manifold or intercooler hoses properly, it would be worth having a look under the heat shield with a torch , or removing it to see if you can see any soot / missing studs around the ports before taking it back , don't leave it too long.
Just out of curiosity were they familiar with td5 engines?

This is all assuming it is the exhaust manifold

Inlet manifold has bolts.
Regards Philip A

Originally Posted by PhilipA

Inlet manifold has bolts.
Regards Philip A

Yep , that's correct ........ Maybe I wasn't clear in my post but if they forgot to tighten those bolts it could leak under boost possibly giving similar symptoms , ditto for intercooler hoses and yep they have clamps but I also meant it would be worth having a look for any soot around the exhaust manifold.