If your truck is registered in Massachusetts you may be eligible for the "California extended emissions warranty" which covers, among other things, replacing broken exhaust manifold studs.

--A brief history--

I discovered a broken stud on my exhaust manifold a few weeks ago and started reading up in the forums about how to replace them. I discovered that it was going to be quite a task to get them out and it might even require lifting the engine block to get to some of them. The studs themselves cost about $12 each from ford, so for a V10 it costs $120 per side just for hardware.

Luckily one day i stumbled accross a link to the factory warranty for my truck (a 2003 F-250 with 65k miles.) Of course the standard 3/36 bumper to bumper warranty expired back in 2006, but a section called "California emissions warranty" cought my eye. It stated that the components in "the table" were covered for 7 years and 70,000 miles!!!! "Applicable if your vehicle is certified for sale in California and registered in California, Maine, Massachusetts, New York or Vermont." and the exhaust manifold was in the table.

After 45 minutes of arguing on the phone with the service manager (who finally contacted ford for clarification) he agreed to fix the manifold under warranty. (he tried to get out of it on a technicality saying that the manifold studs are not part of the manifold and therefore since the manifold was not cracked it was not covered. He was wrong.)

I got my truck back a few days ago and they had replaced ALL the bolts AND the manifold on the passenger side (the side that had the bolt missing).

SO, check your exhaust manifolds and read your warranty CAREFULLY. Here is a link to where you can download your warranty info:

****Warranty Lookup****

good luck

 

Great info Justin...

Glad it worked out for you..

Hopefully someone else can benefit from it..