Just found out my '03 Yukon Denali has the famous broken exhaust manifold bolt problem. The rear two on the drivers side are broken.

From what I've read the best course of action is to replace them all with ARP stainless ones to eliminate the problem recurring in the future.

I was a little hesitant to tackle this myself at first, but can only imagine what the dealer would charge. Seems most guys weld a nut onto the broken stud to get it out, and I have a welder so I'll give it a shot.

It'll be a week or so till I get to it but I'll let you all know how it goes.

 

welding is the way to go.



Is stainless a good idea in aluminum heads? I was wondering about this. the stock bolts are coated to prevent galvanic corrosion. Where can I find this information....an arp site?







The job pays 3 hours for R&R of the manifolds. Usually, its an hour per side for bolt extraction. They unscrew pretty easy once you get a nut on them.

 

I've been using the ARP stainless bolts to hold the headers onto the aluminum heads in my Mustang for years without any problems, and know lots of racers who do the same.

However, the ARP bolts are $50 and the zinc plated steel ones from Dorman are $9. The cheap part of me thinks that if the OE bolts lasted 12 years the Dorman ones should be good enough if they give the same service life.

I also noticed the ARP ones are slightly shorter at 25mm vs 30mm. I'll have to see what the OE ones are when I pull them as I don't intend to replace them with something shorter.

 

I have to do this job for my vehicle and will stay with oem for ease of installation. It could be a problem on something with a cramped engine compartment. You need lots of side clearance to move the manifold off studs.