New 2002 owner

[fjordblue]

Guys,

I have identified what I believe is an oil leak from the exhaust manifold. I have read about a hundred post on how to replace the gasket and studs. The problem is I'm terrified to attempt it in fear of breaking one of the studs. I have a spare head (came with car) on my workbench with the studs installed so I attempted to remove the studs on the spare on the workbench and they wouldnt budge. If I cant remove the ones on the workbench, how in the heck can I remove the ones on the car. Are there any 02 owners in Columbus Ohio who would be willing to spend an afternoon helping a fellow owner. Willing to pay with a case of your favorite beverage or steak dinner or whatever... Need serious help.

[ray_]

Welcome!

You may want to revise your subject line as a plaintive cry for help ;-)

There is an Ohio contingent that I'm sure can offer some help.

But if you double nut the studs, I bet you can back them out!

GL,

Ray

[Koblenz]

Welcome. I would suggest changing the title to help wanted as well.

[TobyB]

Aha, here is a super secret tip-

if the stud's leaking, it'll come right out. They just do that.

Comes from getting loose, I think.

But the ones that don't wanna come out, those don't leak.

(usually)

Whenever I have an engine that's doing this, I just fix the

2 or so that are leaking- almost always, the other 2 don't ever leak.

And those studs are pretty tough...

Good luck!

t

[nbcbird]

So you guys suggest changing the subject line to something more descriptive, yet offer a fix that may not be understandable by new owners???!!! "Double nut" means to tighten two nuts on the stud, and then wrench on the inner nut (closest to the cylinder head). The nuts will bind on the stud to help loosen it, but not strip the threads. There, I feel better about things already.