Anti seize for exhaust manifold does not work

Hi,

On my Toyota Corolla exhaust manifold there is a heat shield mounted by means of four M6 screws. Thats approx 1/4" screws.

When I need to access the oil filter this heat shield needs to be removed which happens approx 1x pr year.

I ALWAYS struggled to undo these 4 screws and I always feared that they would break.

I tried copper, aluminium and nickel anti seize to no avail. Now 1 of the screws broke off and basically I need to pull the entire manifold to drill it out again.

Is there a product that will function in this environment? I think it's crazy that even 3M Nickel Anti seize gets completely stuck after just 1 year and maybe 10000 miles.

Copper and Aluminium for sure don't work either.

Will titanium screws work?

Lucas
And is why not to put it on spark plugs.
 
Seriously what year is this Toyota Corolla? Did you ever try to access it from under the car? Just sayin a dealership is not going to remove the exhaust manifold to change that filter. What am I missing?
 
Seriously what year is this Toyota Corolla? Did you ever try to access it from under the car? Just sayin a dealership is not going to remove the exhaust manifold to change that filter. What am I missing?

If I have access to a car lift I can do the oil job from underneath without removing the heat shield. But as a home "street" mechanic I have to do it from above where a removal is required.

He's not able to get the car in the air to get it from the bottom.
 
Awful lot of 4A-FE's on the road and I doubt most people are removing the heat shield to change the oil. I had 396,000 miles on mine with many, many oil changes over its lifetime and never once removed the heat shield to get the filter off.

It was a tight fit, I will say that. Between the exhaust manifold, alternator, and the radiator right in front, skinned knuckles after the oil change was a normal thing. But once I got the correct extension and filter cap to use, it got a lot easier to do.

I would not remove the heat shield and wrap the manifold, the manifolds on these engines are very prone to cracking to begin with and wrapping it will make that much worse. Mine cracked, and while searching through the many 4A-FE's in Corollas in my local junkyards for a replacement, almost every one I found was cracked and finding one that wasnt ended up being a bigger search than I ever thought it would be.

Use a thin pair of mechanic's gloves, a 3/8" socket wrench, a 6-inch extension, and the correct filter cap wrench and you're life will be much easier than trying to mess with that heat shield and those fragile, rusty bolts.
4a-fe.png
 
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