# Exhaust leak? 04 chevy 8.1



## CompleteCare (Feb 15, 2006)

The truck sat most of the summer and this winter it seems to develop an exhaust leak at the headers, very annoying. Is this ussual for the 8.1 ltr? Also is it as simple as just tightening the bolts? I'm willing to tear into a mower or a plow but the truck makes me nervous, any suggestion?


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## r7287 (Dec 8, 2008)

Yes that is a common problem on the 6.0 & 8.1 i work at a chevy dealer and i wouldnt try to repair this myself at home. The leak is caused by rust between the head & manifold .tightening the bolts on the rust can crack the manifold to fix it correctly u will need to replace the manifold gasket gm#12558275 bolts gm#11515757 stud gm#11609296 and also the manifold to exhaust pipe hardware hope this helps


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## younggun86 (Sep 25, 2008)

agreed...replace the gasket and bolts...that is if the bolt heads are still in place. i just did an 01 gmc 6.0l and only had to take out 5 bolts total to get both manifolds off. took me about 12 hours to get the broken ones out and broke two off in the head. local shop charged 100 per stud. also look for cracks on the manifold itself. i had one welded then found it costs the same for a brand new manifold. Don't be affraid to jump into this project. take your time and think it over.


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