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Several years ago when bolting the drivers side exhaust manifold back on, I accidentally put one of the long bolts in a shallow hole and of course proceeded to punch through into the water jacket. I have had a slow coolant leak past that bolt the whole time since then.
I now need to replace that exhaust manifold because it has developed a crack.
My question is, is there any kind of sealer I can put into that damaged bolt hole to stop the chronic slow coolant leak I caused?
Sounds like the only real fix would be to have the cylinder head repaired, or replace it. You will never be able to fully count on it's reliability. Something like that will turn around & bite on the backside when you need it most.
I did already install he manifold a few days ago, and interestingly enough, the anti-seize I put on the bolt seems to be sealing it for now. I don’t think that will last, but if it starts to leak, it will be easy enough to remove the bolt and try some hi temp silicone.
Yes, it probably would be best to remove the head and repair, but given the age of the truck I think I’ll go with the bandaids.
I've seen guys drill into the water jacket extracting broken manifold bolts. While I certainly agree that removing or ultimately replacing the head is the real fix here, some silicone seems to have saved the the day more than once.
I think I started to watch an Eric The Car Guy video where he penetrated the jacket during a manifold repair. I either didn't finish watching, or just don't remember what he did to fix it.
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