Wondering why my manifold to turbo bolts keep breaking?

[sbiggi]

I have a PTE exhaust housing, had it on for one month.
Broke 3 bolts off removing the turbo.

Sent it back to PTE and 3 of them are helicoiled.

Last time I took the turbo off the three helicoiled bolts seemed to come out easier and smoother.

You could always put in four OEM studs, it would just make removing the turbo a bit more difficult, but you wouldn't be breaking any bolts.

 

[timawdtsi]

In my situation that I posted earlier my APP bolt's were never subjected to heat, the motor was never run, it was on the stand. The Gasket was never installed, so that eliminates the gasket causing damages to the thread's.
Into a EVO16G housing not a bullseye.
bolts had been threaded in BY HAND and it was upon removal that they became increasingly difficukt to turn, started out easy then became stiffer the more they were turned.
Until they could not be turned by a wrench, at that point I went to a rachet hoping they would come out before breaking. Ended up having to just brak them off with a big torque wrench handle.

 

[flinguist]

I've read several posts in the last few months about this problem. The common denominator seems to be the stainless steel gaskets warping. One post had a pic of the warped gasket.

 

[mavisky]

Odd, mine never break, they just don't stay screwed in. I have to pull the heatshield and re-tighten about once every other day that the car is driven.

 

[RoasT BeeF]

I use a 1/8" thick steel gasket from RRE. I know its not warped.

Odd, mine never break, they just don't stay screwed in. I have to pull the heatshield and re-tighten about once every other day that the car is driven.

I had this problem for a long time as well. Then one day they just stopped comming loose. heh

Dunno what caused it or what I did to fix it.

 

[TimG]

Heres two tricks I picked up.

1. Use the crank main bolts with lock washers to hold the turbo to the manifold. They work very well and are about 1/4 inch shorter then the stock bolts.

2. VERY IMPORTANT: When you take the bolts out, crack them all loose about 1/4 turn in an X pattern. Proceed with 1 full rotation of each bolt in the X pattern until all the bolts come out on the same last turn.

If you take bolts out one at a time, of course they will snap. The weight of the turbo causes the exhaust housing to drop a bit when you pull one bolt out. It's no longer perfectly square with the manifold and the remaining 3 bolts cross-thread as you pull them out.

OR when you are installing them, the housing might not be square with the manifold and you cross-thread them on the way in. Either way, don't bolt it or unbolt it one bolt at a time.