How to Replace Exhaust Manifold 2006-10 Ford Explorer 4-6L V8

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In this video, we're going to show you how to specifically remove and reinstall a left-hander driver side exhaust manifold on this 2006 Ford Explorer. The same for most Explorers of this generation. This is also a pretty good tutorial for really any exhaust manifold. The general steps are the same. For this you're going to need jack and jack stands, 8mm, 13mm, 15mm, T30 and E7 star sockets, ratchets, extension, and flexible joints, a pry bar or a large screwdriver, a hammer, and as well as some good lighting.

When doing manifolds, you're working in tight spaces, so I have some kind of specific tools from left to right. On the left is a long extension that's an 18-inch extension, a 13-millimeter deep socket, as well as a flexible joint are the next ones, and then a flexible ratchet head. Then for this one, this 1 3/4-inch 13-millimeter socket was key. Then also a 1/4-inch drive ratchet and 13-millimeter socket.

If you like, you can mark the front yokes so that you can install them into the same location. Then you can do the same thing for the rear yoke. Mark the flange and then mark.

You'll want to lift and securely support the vehicle. Then you're going to work. Start at the bottom. Remove any of the items that impede your ability to get to the manifold. In this case there is the four-wheel drive front drive shaft which is secured with six 8 millimeter bolts at the back and then four T-30 Torx screws or bolts at the front.

Start at the rear with an 8mm socket on an extension. I use a 3/8ths and 1/4 inch adapter so I can use a 3/8ths handle to give me a little more leverage. Put a pry bar or a large screwdriver into the yoke to hold the drive shaft and then put your ratchet socket and extension on. It takes a little bit of force to get them off first but then they go fairly easily. I'll speed up. The rear bolts don't come all the way out. You can just loosen them up as much you can until they're moving freely in the flange. You'll want to use a large screwdriver or a pry bar and hit the shaft side of the flange to loosen it up and drive it out of the transfer case side. Same thing at the front. Put your screwdriver in to hold the shaft from turning and then the T30 torques driver with the extension ratchet. You can just remove those four bolts as well as the two yoke brackets.

Take a pry bar/large screwdriver and pry the front yoke out of the flange. Then you'll want to push the drive shaft towards the rear of the vehicle and lift it up over the yoke in the front and then go to the front to drop the back down and out. If you should lose one of the caps off of the front U joint, you just want to make sure you collect any of the needle bearings, put them in there, put a little bit of grease back in, and then put it back on and you'll be okay.

With the drive shaft out of the way it's easier to get to the 15 millimeter nuts that hold the exhaust to the exhaust manifolds. On each side there are two 15 millimeters nuts. I didn't get a really good shot of them, but you'll need an extension, a ratchet, and a 15 millimeter deep socket. It's a good bet you'll probably need a swiveling socket to get the top one on the right side.

Remove those four 15 millimeter bolts so that you can drop the exhaust down off of the exhaust manifolds. Now as you look up between the frame and the differential chuck, you'll see the two rear most bottom nuts. They're 13 millimeter that hold the manifold on. Also, there's one further forward that you can get with your pivoting ratchet and socket. Easiest way to get to those two though is with a long extension, a u-joint, and a 13 millimeter deep socket.

Put the extension joint and socket up in there and then get those out. Then reaching up and in over the motor mount to get that one a little further forward with just a ratchet and socket. The upper ones, the front two are pretty easy to get to. You can see there. Then the one further back. The rear two you'll want to remove the 13 millimeter bolt that holds your upper steering shaft. Remove that bolt right there. Then you can pull your shaft off and drop it down.

Extension, 13-millimeter socket, and a ratchet and remove that bolt. That bolt out and use a pry bar or a large screwdriver. You can grab hold of the shaft and shake it up and down back and forth a little bit. Then use a pry bar, pry the end of the shaft and using the brake booster, it's kind of one of those things is once it comes off it comes off really easy, but just a combination of shaking up and down and prying it. Then put it down and out of the way.

Then your 13 millimeter 1 inch socket and your flexible headed ratchet. You should be able to easily reach all 4 of the upper nuts, as well as from the top you can reach the lowest forward nut. You just have to reach way underneath and you can get that one that's at the bottom and closest to the front. The nuts sometimes will come off by themselves. Sometimes the nuts and studs will pull out, which is absolutely fine. You actually do need to remove a couple of the studs to get the manifold out anyways. With all the eight nuts off that hold the manifold in place you can just drop the manifold down some. Then you're going to have to take off at least the front two studs.

I have an E7 star bit and just a one inch ratchet. You can see here the E7 star bit. That in my left hand is an old stud. You basically want to remove the front upper two, that will allow the manifold to pivot around and it'll allow you to take it out. With all the bolts out and those front two studs removed, I can slide the manifold down. You can see I'm just lifting the exhaust up and out of the way a little bit and bringing the manifold down and out. You can see one of the studs is broken on our manifold. That's why we're removing it and reinstalling it.

Reinstallation is kind of a reverse. You can see we put a new stud on the bottom of the exhaust flange there. You push the exhaust up and feed the manifold in. Then reach up between the frame and the front axle housing again and help the manifold go up into place. Then once you get it most of the way in you balance it on the exhaust.

Now, at 1A Auto, we sell new studs for these Fords. The old stud uses that E7 star. The new studs from 1A Auto are exactly the same, but they just use a 5 millimeter socket to drive them in instead. What we're going to do is now that the manifold is up in place, we're going to put the two front most studs back in place. Actually, we're going to put all 4 of the top studs in place. That way it'll make it easier to get the exhaust manifold in there. We recommend any of the studs that come out obviously, put the new studs in. If some of your studs stay behind try and get them out with the E7 star bit and replace them if you can. When you put them back in tighten them up. Tighten them up snug. They should only be about 7 foot-pounds when you tighten them up. Then put the gaskets back in place.

Have your 13 millimeter nuts ready. Now we've got all 4 of the top studs back in place so we're just reaching down. Pull the manifold back up into place and hold it. Then start the 13 millimeter nut on. We just start two on at first and then we can start the rest. For a couple of the studs that are underneath, that are hard to get to, the nuts that come with the new studs are locking nuts, so if you just get the studs started barely then you can thread a nut on and then use the 13 millimeter nut to drive the stud in. The locking part of it as you can see here, the nut goes on, and then the locking causes enough friction that you can turn the stud with a wrench on that 13 millimeter nut, that will drive it into place and then you can just continue to drive the 13 millimeter nut until it's tightened. Once you've tightened up all the eight 13 millimeter nuts that hold the manifold in place. Then you can use a jack and jack your exhaust back into place. Make sure both sides are up and placed correctly and the flanges are on the studs.

Then once you get them started, get the flanges on the stud. Get the nuts, the 15mm nuts on. And then tighten them up evenly. You want to tighten one side up, not all the way, just tighten up halfway, switch to the other side, and tighten the other side up about halfway. And then tighten them up from there. These 15mm nuts should be about 40-45 foot-pounds.

Continuing on, put the driveshaft up in place. On this side, you had to remove the driveshaft to get to the fasteners of the exhaust manifold. If you were doing a right-hand exhaust manifold, you would probably need to remove the starter on this vehicle.

Put it up and to the top and left of the differential, then slide it back in. You'll have to get the back flange seated a little bit then force the drive shaft back and pull it down into place and line up the u-joint into the front differential yoke. Take the T30 Torx bolt and one of the yoke brackets and put it up in place. Start the bolt in and then start the second bolt in. Then you'll spin the flange around. You want to make sure that the U joint is seated correctly in the yoke of the differential. Make sure it's fully seated in there. You can just start it.

When you turn the drive shaft, make sure you're pushing the drive shaft into the differential to keep it seated correctly. Then repeat the same thing for the other side. You'll want to tighten these up evenly and then torque them to 150 inch pounds; 150 inch pounds is just over 12 foot pounds, so they're not actually that tight.

Then the rear is a little bit tricky. You want to get into place and you have to twist it to line up the bolts and then just force the bolt in with your fingers and get it going. Once you get them going, they're actually fairly easy. You want to avoid cross threading them. Get them into place. Again, they should be pretty easy. I basically get each one of them just a little bit firm and then again these will torque. You want to torque these the same thing, 150 inch pounds.

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