Topic: there is something loose on my exhaust manifold but I don't know what its called

[jcoleman]

So the problem is highlighted in red.  The forward most nut or whatever it is on that flange is loose.  And it seems that because of this the flange is not flush with the cast iron of the exhaust manifold.  Now that being the case, is it possible for exhaust to leak out of this if that forward most nut is not tightened securely?  I don't feel like taking off my exhaust manifold to find out.  My exhaust is making a pretty brutal clicking noise under acceleration but all my studs and nuts seem to be secure.  That's when I noticed this little bugga. 

any help would be greatly appreciated.

Also, my manifold is the exact same as the one in the picture.

[jcoleman]

update.  After playing around with it, i discovered what it is!  It's a bolt, that can be tightened with an allen wrench (although I doubt that is what it's supposed to be tightened with).  It was loose as hell.  And after I tightened it up the noise went away.  I also tightened up my o2 sensor because that was pretty damn loose as well.  All in all the noise basically gone away, I will update if the noise persists. 

sorry for the premature question.  I guess i'm just a little scared I may accidentally break some $100 part that wasn't the cause of the problem to begin with.

thanks for understanding. 

[Jeffy]

Your manifold looks like that?

That's a pre-91 exhaust manifold.  What you have circled looks to be some sort of bung for a sensor.  Your exhaust manifold should not have a pre-heat system either.

It should look more like this:

[jcsanders79]

Yeah, my 97 had something simular to what Jeffy posted.  That sheild looks like something off a newer Jeep?

[jcoleman]

that's just a cheapo replacement I got.  Not sure if you remember the whole shebang I had earlier having to replace the old exhaust manifold because of an apparent cracked manifold (according to the stealership).  It turned out there was no crack.  anywho, that's the one I've got on there, and it appears to be working fine now that I have tightened up that bung hole and the 02 sensor.

[Jeffy]

Yeah, my 97 had something simular to what Jeffy posted.  That sheild looks like something off a newer Jeep?

It's a pre-'91 feature.  You won't find it post '91.