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In this video, we're going to be working with our 1996 GMC Sierra K1500. We're going to show you how to remove and replace the driver side exhaust manifold on a V8 engine. If you like this video, please click subscribe. We have a ton more information on this and many other vehicles. If you need this part for your truck, you can follow the link down in the description over to 1AAuto.com.
Here are the items you'll need for this repair.
Start your vehicle and allow it to run up to operating temperature. Now, while our exhaust manifolds are nice and hot, we're going to take a 14 millimeter socket and ratchet and break loose all of our exhaust manifold bolts. Now, remember these are really hot, so use proper safety gloves. You could even put on a set of welding gloves or something thick like that if you wanted to. Just make sure you're in control of the ratchet at all times, because slipping could not only hurt your hand but cause burns in this situation. And you see how easily these come apart when they're nice and warm. If any of your bolts are stuck or being stubborn, take your time, work them back and forth or use penetrating oil, and don't be afraid to heat them back up again, because breaking a bolt off in the head could make this job a lot harder than it needs to be.
Underneath the truck, you'll find a three bolt flange at the back of the manifold. This is where the down pipe to the Y-pipe of the exhaust goes. Now, I'm not sure what size those nuts used to be. One of ours is missing, and the other ones are corroded pretty bad. This is pretty common on these trucks. So, I found a 12 millimeter socket fits best. We're going to use that and try to break these loose but in the case that the bolts or nuts break, don't worry because our new manifold comes with new studs on it. Breaking them off is only going to save us time.
Unfortunately, rust is something you're going to have to deal with a lot—especially on vehicles. Now, this truck is right in the heart of the rust belt, so we're going to end up needing to use a cut off wheel to cut those bolts off. I'm going to try to either cut them between the flange of the nut and the flange of the exhaust. Or, I may have to go in between and cut the stud where the flange meets the exhaust manifold. The other method that you can try is cutting the exhaust pipe some where that's convenient for you to work on and either sleeving and clamping it back together or potentially welding it if you have the capability to do so.
So we're just going to be using a little air cut off wheel here. This is just a small disc. You don't really have a lot of room to get much else in there. You can also try nut crackers and various types of saws. But we have this handy so we're going to see what we can do with it. To remove your EGR tube, right at the back of the manifold there there's a one inch nut on the bottom. Now, ours, again is very rusty. We're not able to remove that with any tools so, we're going to cut it right there. If you're just replacing the EGR tube, you can use a one inch socket on it with a big ratchet at that point and get it off. But we're replacing our entire manifold so, we're just going to cut it and pull our manifold out of the truck.
Now that everything else is disconnected, we can remove the rest of our six 14 millimeter bolts. Once all the bolts are out, make sure your manifold is not hot and get it off of the flange at the rear. You may need to pry apart the flanges with a pry bar. Always be sure, if you had to cut the bolts off like we did, that you cut them flush so there's no material left attaching it. Once you've removed it from the exhaust flange, remove your manifold from the vehicle.
Here we have our old exhaust manifold that we removed from our vehicle and our new parts from 1AAuto.com. As you can see, these parts are exactly the same. We have the same exhaust flange here. We have the same threads. This is actually the old piece of our EGR tube there that we need to get off. We're going to be putting a new one on with this manifold. Comes with a new heat shield and the same three bolt flange. Nice new studs because it's not uncommon for you to need to cut the studs off like we did here. Three new nuts, some spring mounts which will actually go between the flange and the nuts to help keep that ball socket seated. It even comes with a nice new gasket which just locks in. We also have a new exhaust flange gasket which we're going to need to cut at these points. You can see, all three pieces are there, you've just got to cut them apart, and put them together. So, if you're old exhaust manifolds have cracked or rotted out, these new part from 1A Auto are going to go in direct fit just like your original equipment and fix you up right.
Your new manifold comes with studs and the rest of the hardware you need to install and secure it. However, if you don't have a stud installer tool, this can easily be done with the parts just included in the kit.
For starters, you'll want to make sure you put some of the appropriate high temperature thread locker on the short side of the stud, so it remains in the manifold. Start the threads in as far as you can by hand, then install one of the nuts included with the kit backwards so that the flange faces out. This particular one is a 15 millimeter. Yours may be different. Actually, this seems to be sticking on there and installing the thread pretty well. This is not the method I had intended to use, so once it gets in, we'll show you another way to do it if this doesn't work. There we go.
Now, what we were after is normally the nut would spin down onto the threads and once you had it down about the length of the nut, or two times the length of the nut, you would install another one. Use your 15 millimeter ratchet. Bring that down. Get them to touch, and then back this nut off while tightening the top one to lock them together and then turning the nut will install your stud. Make sure that bottom's out in there.
Hold the ratchet the other way, support the nut toward you, and remove your nuts. You'll then repeat this process on the remaining studs. Be sure that the studs and gasket are already installed into the outlet flange of your exhaust manifold and set it into place. You'll now want to install all six 14 millimeter bolts, but only a couple of threads. So they'll support the weight of the manifold, but not hold it tight against the head. Drop in your new exhaust gaskets onto the studs. Then tighten down all of your 14 millimeter bolts. Torque the two center bolts to 26 foot-pounds.
We're still going to need to install a new EGR tube so you'll need to thread yours back on and tighten it down with the appropriate size wrench or socket. You'll also need to line up the ball socket on the exhaust side to your new gasket. Slide the three bolt flange over and tighten down your 15 millimeter nuts.
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