Removal of Exhaust Bolts

[AV325i]

Great suggestions. Thanks.

I thought I could drop the exhaust a little by simply removing the muffler and exhaust pipe supports and be carful not to let it drop too far. Shouldn't it drop down a little if it is just help by the manifold?

I just need a little room at the top to get a straight shot to the nut and to try to pound on a socket, or the "reverse thread socket" mentioned above (never used one, but it sounds interesting).

I don't get the candle wax idea mentioned above. Is the hot wax suppose to somehow seep into the threads? Does this actually work? Better than the PB Blaster?

[stamar]

I have a gator grip socket and I have never had it take any rounded nut off.

And it wouldnt work on this one either, theres not enough room for it to because the bolts are sticking out.

Thats the key to that thing.... Its made for a rounded bolt head that has lots of clearance.... a nut that basically never gets rounded anyway.

Ill sell you mine for nothing.

[dnguyen1963]

The candle wax idea is one of the redneck's solutions that actually works. Yes, the wax does get inside the threads. You do not have to wait all night for PB Blaster to soak in.

[gillette]

I have a set of sockets from craftsman that are used to grip on rounded bolts and it works great. I use heat till its red hot and than grab it with the socket. The socket gets tighter and digs into the rounded bolt as you turn it. That and PB blater worked on all my rounded manifold bolts this weekend.

[jrobie79]

if its really rounded, weld a sloppy tack bead to make it unround, and will give something for the vice grips to grab on to

[AV325i]

Great ideas. I hope to have a welder sometime to try the bead idea. I will have to try the candle wax sometime, but for now it has had PB Blaster for two days and I will give it a try.

[AV325i]

I got 3 of the 4 bolts off tonight. They must have been 12mm at one time, but rusted to 11.5mm. A 12 mm was to big and a 11 would not fit.

I ended up pounding a 7/16 socket (let's see that would be 7/16 x 25.4mm/inch = 11.1 mm) on to the bolt and then using a 4 foot extension on the socket. This allowed me to get far enough away to use my breaker bar and a lot of torque.

I had disconnected the muffler to drop it down 6 inches and get a straight shot to the top bolts.

The bolts had be soaking in PB blaster for 3 days, but in the end it did not matter, because 3 of them broke before the bolt even turned one mm. The last bolt is still on there and I can't seem to get a grip with the socket. I may cut that one off. Always a battle with exhaust bolts!

[joeym215]

Aside from soaking them, I used 3 wobble extensions (one on top of the other) and came at the bolts from under the car. I used a 3 foot breaker bar to get them off. To get a grip on the last bolt maybe try using a C-clamp to push a smaller socket on. Just a thought.

[pawi30]

I am having the same problem with the manifold bolts. I think I may have rounded one off. All of them are lose except the one. Strange clearance issues in this spot.

[Cabriolet]

I am having the same problem with the manifold bolts. I think I may have rounded one off. All of them are lose except the one. Strange clearance issues in this spot.

make sure you use 6point 12mm for those and the 2 under the spouts need to be broken loose with a box wrench. use a torch to warm them, they shouldn't be all that hard if you use 6pt sockets. <.< had to remove those off of 8 heads so far. never had one get the best of me yet.

[e30trooper]

make sure you use 6point 12mm for those and the 2 under the spouts need to be broken loose with a box wrench. use a torch to warm them, they shouldn't be all that hard if you use 6pt sockets. <.< had to remove those off of 8 heads so far. never had one get the best of me yet.

This!

Use a box wrench to break them loose. Make sure you use the closed end.
I've taken off 4 heads and never had an issue.

[StreetMafia21]

Vise grip and socket if that doesn't work get a dremel and cut the nut

[audiquattrot]

had this issue last wk. Just cut them off and be done w/ it. Put new bolts in.