undertow119

Okay, I know I've heard people mention loose manifold bolts around here before. I never paid much attention because I didn't seem to have the problem, but now I think I do. My Jeep makes a horrible rattling noise under acceleration after it has warmed up, and I I've narrowed it down to the general area of passenger side exhaust manifold.

I'm no mechanic, so bear with me here...how the hell do you reach the bolts? I can only see two of them, and one is in a place where there's not enough room to get a socket in there to tighten it. How many bolts are there, and how do I get to them? Can I reach them from under the hood, or do I need to go in from underneath the Jeep? Do I have to remove anything to reach them easily? There must be some trick to it, cuz everybody says "oh, just tighten up your manifold bolts and the noise will go away" Easier said than done, apparently, at least for those of us who are mechanically challenged.

Pics would be helpful too.

Thanks.

bly109

The Passengerside it tough, I think you can reach them if you take the inner fender liner out. But becareful of the black clips that hold in on, they break easily. The only other option is pulling the battery/fuse block/air box tray. That comes out fairly easily, but it takes about 30-60 minutes to remove. You have to remove the bat, fuse box and air filter box before you can get it out.

dsp

I would take off the inner fender well and fender. Only 4 bolts, the middle one will break. There are also two plastic buttons, one will come off easily, and can be reused, the other I just snapped off.

Then, just start at the bottom and pop off the fender. I then took out the clips and reinstalled them on the fender.

thissideup

I tightened mine by removing the plastic fendr wells. Left the things off so it was easy to deal with...Plus I trimed my fenders for the flat fender look while I was at it...