So I have a bolt broken off inside the head in the dreaded position of the very last bolt hole on the driver's side. Only real solution I see is to take the head off, which I don't want to do now. Anyways, the flange is actually sealed and it does not leak. I was told today that over time it will start to leak, is this true? He said air will get in and lean out the bank and make the engine run like ****. Thanks.

 

i actually lost a bolt and never bothered to pick up another one, so i left the one in the center out...doesnt leak on me, plus u gotta think how thick the flange is on the headers(you have OBX's correct)...just a thought

 

yeah I got the OBX, it's all sealed good without the last bolt. I just don't see why it would leak over time if its not leaking now

 

i installed my headers in april or so and never had a problem since...i think you'll be fine...

 

I ran my header on the drivers side without the bolt closest to the firewall for months and had no issues whatsoever. I did check all my bolts on a weekly basis to make sure all were tight.

 

Awesome, sounds good. I've currently got the stock bolts torqued down TIGHT...I'm thinking of replacing them with some better bolts.

 

Over time it will pos start leaking, due to the flanges, engine getting hot, cold.. I would try and get it out with out pulling the head, before, it gets corrision on the bolt, then you will def have to pull it.. Just a thought

 

The 317s are so dirt cheap it wouldn't even be worth my time to take it to a shop to get the bolt out. I want LS6 heads anyways.

 

Oh yeah, I forgot to add, when I had all the exhaust stuff off, I stuck a bolt in that last hole and it screwed in, but it was crooked. Guess the threads got misaligned or something. Anyways, I went to Home Depot and got a short 8mm bolt (so it doesn't hit the bolt broken off deep in the head) and I'm just going to try and stick that in there when I get time and torque the ****** down and hope it hold. The hole is already screwed up so I don't see any downside to this.

 

My experience with broken header/exhaust manifold bolts is that eventually they will leak. As Mangled03gmc mentioned, the constant expanding and contracting from heating and cooling will take it's toll, especially if it's one of the end bolts. I guess try and see if you can get a shorter bolt to tighten in there first....it sounds strange that the bolt is broken deep enough in the hole to have enough threads to catch, but if it went in cross-threaded and locked up it's possible.

You could always remove the header (again lol), and get an angle drill to drill out the bolt and re-tap or install a heli-coil into the hole if you had to.