Manifold bolts sheared off!?

Ok so I recently developed a very annoying ticking noise from the right side of my engine and when I got it checked out the mechanic said that 4 bolts on the driver side manifold had sheared off from the head. How in the world does that happen? I had been planning on getting some LTs but I guess that will be happening sooner than expected.

Thermal expansion.

Weird, I haven't been beating on it too hard or anything silly like that..and the shop guy said it was really weird that it happened. Now I have 2 choices..get the driver side manifold fixed, or have a set of LT's put in..I know what the right answer is it's just that if the bolts are broken off in the head I don't think I could get them out.

Weird, I haven't been beating on it too hard or anything silly like that..and the shop guy said it was really weird that it happened. Now I have 2 choices..get the driver side manifold fixed, or have a set of LT's put in..I know what the right answer is it's just that if the bolts are broken off in the head I don't think I could get them out.

Worst case you'd have to pull the head, then you could definitely get them out... they might just be finger tight though. Also binding and vibration could have been factors of the breakage.

Is there anyway to tell if the broken bolts can be taken out of the head without removing the manifold? I have no tools or experience with engines so most likely someone else will have to do this for me..

I would say that removing the manifold at a minimum is necessary. More likely, the head needs to be pulled as well. Chances are that the bolts snapped flush with the surface of the head. Been there, on my LT1 Caprice.

They make a tool for removing the broken part of the bolt. Unless all are sticking out some you are going to have to pull the heads. I would remove the manifold and see what you have. You can use vice grips to remove them if there is enough to grab a hold of. Mine broke flush with the head but the outside one is not used on the headers so if you can get all the inside ones out you could leave the other ones alone. These cars have little room to work on so if it going to be a pain in the butt no matter what you end up doing.

Alright well I pulled the manifold and luckily all the broken bolts were sticking out enough for me to get at them with a vice grip. Everything is sealed up again and it doesn't sound like a flock of birds in my car anymore lol.