I have a 04 Mazda 6 with the 3.0 v6 engine that has an exhaust leak on the front manifold. When i tackled the job i thought it was just the manifold gasket leaking but upon further investigation three of the 6 manifold to head bolts are broken off in the head! Is this a common problem and if so are the bolts going to be trouble to drill out? I sure hope that they will come on out without having to pull the head off. The rear gasket was replaced while it was still under warranty and the dealer didnt have any problems that i know of! Thanks in advance for any help anyone can offer. I attempted to look for any other threads on this concern but i gave up after about 10 pages!

 

Bolts just dont snap on their own, ask the dealer if they took off the front manifold while they did the rear, if they did they probably over tightened the bolts on re-assembly. Can you get a picture of the snapped bolt ends, I used to do failure analysis when I was working at Cat, maybe I can tell you if they were over torqued or not.

 

This is a rare thing. I would talk to some exhaust specialty shops and aftermarket shops (who have experience in installing headers and removing stock manifolds) and ask them there opinion.

 

Thanks guys! And i have 2 of the 3 bolts that are broken so i can try to post a picture of them to see what you think about root cause of this issue. I just really hope i can get to them with a drill and can get them out without anymore issues but from the way things are starting out i wont hold my breath! hahaha

 

Did they break flush with the cylinder head or flush with the manifold? If your talking about drilling it sounds like they broke at the head At least with a manifold break you can try vice-grips and a torch. Looking forward to the pics

 

So far the bolts that are broken are flush with the head. Not good i know! I worked at a Ford dealer as a tech for 12 years and we had a lot of problems with the F 150 manifold bolts breaking like that but luckily i never had any problems getting them out! once you started drilling with a reverse drill bit they would spin right out! Keeping my fingers crossed these will do the same if not im screwed! And of course there is a ton of room to get to them! Yeah right! lol I keep forgetting to take pics of the broken bolts to put on here but will do so soon! Thanks for the help guys!

 

well i started on my broken bolt project at 5 pm monday in a shop with a lift so that made a big difference and finished at 6:15. I have never been so lucky in my life. 3 of the 6 studs broke off flush in the head and i was able to drill with a angle drill and a 1/8 reverse cutting bit, then used an easy out and all 3 came right out with no problem! Should have gone and gotten a lottery ticket when i got done! LOL

 

sweet!