Geoff Wilson

I have been hearing around the nets that broken Exhaust Manifold Bolts are a thing for the GM5.3. So much a thing that there are kits sold on Amazon that will tighten the exhaust manifold to your block after a few bolts have broken their heads off. The removal of these broken bolts, I hear, is a sucky job. So, in that spirit, and because it was a nice day, I invested in a 10 dollar bag of exhaust manifold bolts and changed mine preventatively (I have 108,000 kms on my 2013 Sierra1500SLE). The old ones had rusted heads, and when I pulled them out they put up a bit of a fight (most of it was getting leverage angles on the right ratchets/wrenches), but otherwise I didn't see any obvious warning signs. So this begs the question: when are these bolts in danger of breaking off? Anyone had any experience with this?