Fun...a broken exhaust stud

Saab exhaust mani studs have been unexpectedly 'snapping' for decades.
Get used to it
Cleverest repair method involves having your local freindly Saab Indie deal with it.
Otrherwise these things can be a whole new world of DIY pain.
You've been warned

ohlins8990 said:

Well I was cleaning up and checkup hose clamps on the engine and bumped the 4th cyl exhaust stud and saw the spacer was loose...got out the 13mm and as soon as the wrench touched it, the whole stud just fell out.

Thinking, its prob been that way for awhile and wondering if its even worth trying to fix. No exhaust leaks ATM, but I also don't really wanna take the manifold off to fix it. What does TSL think?

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I bought my 9k with a missing stud....so I did the headgasket

Well...the gasket as finally decided to take a dump...means the manifold needs to come off. Any tricks to getting it off I should know about? It looks like
the turbo has to be dropped because of having studs on both sides.

don't dick with the extractor until you get the manifold off. sometime you can use vicegrips if theres any stud past the head.

chances are, your nuts will be rust-welded on when you try to remove them and the studs will come out when you try to loosen the nuts. you can always try to double-nut the studs out, but be careful and go easy.

g96nt said:

don't dick with the extractor until you get the manifold off. sometime you can use vicegrips if theres any stud past the head.

chances are, your nuts will be rust-welded on when you try to remove them and the studs will come out when you try to loosen the nuts. you can always try to double-nut the studs out, but be careful and go easy.

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I've never taken the manifold off, and if anything the recesses in the manifold make it much easier to center the extractor over the broken the stud. Just my experience.

I still need to replace the gasket however, I'll hope that the studs come out of the head then and that I dont have to drop the turbo.

g95nt, are you suggesting I avoid PB Blastering the studs and just ratchet them out gently.

In anycase, you can get the manifold off without removing the turbo. If the studs are still in the turbo you can try to remove them, if that fails...

If you detach the turbo oil return hose and the support bracket you can use a pry bar to force the turbo down enough (the other lines will give) to get the manifold off.

Also, I've been known to cut up an exhaust manifold gasket to slide it behind the section of the manifold and notch the fastener holes so that I could repair just the broken and section and not deal with other fragile studs

132417SAAB said:

I bought my 9k with a missing stud....so I did the headgasket

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i gennerelly do this with these cars. if a stud has crapped out, usally the headgasket isnt far behind.

ohlins8990 said:

I still need to replace the gasket however, I'll hope that the studs come out of the head then and that I dont have to drop the turbo.

g95nt, are you suggesting I avoid PB Blastering the studs and just ratchet them out gently.

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yeah,

If you're in there, there's no reason not to replace the studs.
It's been a while, but I don't think saab uses any locker like loctite/rtv on them.
there might be some stainless kits out there. I think eeuro used to have a kit..

here's their stock set: Saab OE 92151352 | Exhaust Manifold Hardware Kit | Proparts Sweden 21347280 | Free Shipping

GS has a set of ARP studs:
GenuineSaab.com

I forget what's on mine, but I think I used regular nuts and lock-washers.

I already have a set from eeuro on the way...it was like 10 bucks for all the manifold hardware.

I did one in-car and ended-up having to drill/tap/helicoil. Major major pain. If it's quiet and not leaking I'd just let it go until it started leaking lol. The sound is embarrassing when it does start but not as if it'll leave you stranded somewhere.

edit: ok, yeah missed the 'gasket dump' post. Have fun lol, doing those is about as enjoyable as poking yourself in the eye over and over

Thats about what I figured...definitely procrastinating and driving the BMW at the moment.

Dimitry Platanoff has a write up about fixing the dreaded broken exhaust stud , and changing manifold gasket , my car is need of this as it is starting to make some noise and the most pain in the ass stud has snapped off, oh yeah apparently you need to move the powersteering pump as it is in the way and take off the serpentine , I will wish you luck on yours as i will need some serious good karma to accomplish the fix on mine

I wish you luck, seems an unpleasant job. I've got an engine on a stand with 2 studs broken in the head and a third showing a tiny bit of metal above the surface, and this was removing the manifold with each bolt red hot.

So looking forward to this, been putting it off since October, time to buy some small new drill bits and get to it. Going to try 3mm, then 5mm, then lots of heat and a good quality LH drill bit and see how I get on. Hope to not need to take the head off, but need to pass this test first.

Got the manifold off this afternoon. I moved the A/C compressor out of the way and took off the bracket that mounts it to the block. 3 broken studs total, 2 that had been that way for a while and one that broke off trying to get it out. The manifold to turbo studs were nice enough to thread out as a stud and ditto with all but 2 of the manifold to head studs. I ended up unbolting the turbo bracket and was able to push the turbo down just enough to get the manifold off the studs and out of the car. I then used vicegrips to get those 2 studs out.

Plan for tomorrow is to pull the fan and intake tubes to ease getting a drill in there. My dad recommended these extractors...so I'll give it a shot.

Craftsman Drill Extractor - Tools - Hand Tools - Tap & Dies & Sets

Then all I have to do is bolt everything back up. I might recommend a ratcheting 13mm boxend for anyone attempting this.

Left handed drill bits, center punch, 8x1.25 tap. Those studs really do drill out pretty easily with good sharp bits at a LOW speed. As you move to larger bits, the heat from drilling usually loosens it up enough for the bit to spin what's left of the stud out. Steady hand required


just looked at the date of your first post, that gasket held up for a good long time

Nice easy out skills , ohlins 8990 ,
ill post on here again complaining about how it needs done because i think its stealing horse power