THE SAGA OF THE "TOP END" MINI OVERHAUL

Ok, so here is what is going on after a full day of turning wrenches. The following is a list of parts I am replacing:

PCV valve + rubber hose to mainifold
Distributor cap and rotor
Spark plugs and wires
Ignition coil and part of Ford harness that was damaged during previous posted problem
Air filter
EGR gasket
Valve cover gasket
Intake manifold gasket (middle one)
Throtle body gasket
Various hoses

I started to tear things apart, and one thing lead to another.....sorry this is so long. I took out the air box to look at the solinoid on the side, and to clean it out. This is what I found, I still don't know what it is??? Anyone? It was dirty inside, so I tried to clean it, and the air box. I hope EFI cleaner dosen't hurt it. Oh, and I don't know what those vaccum tips on the top are for???




Then I moved on to the spark plugs and wires. I removed the plug closest to the front (#4 I think), and it looked dry and powdery white. Not too sure what that means??? I think the Haynes said, weak ignition, running lean, or vaccum leak. They will be replaced, but I would like to correct any issues that caused this. Then I am replacing the ignition coil, and part of the coil harness that had broke afew months ago. And the cap and rotor. I haven't looked under the cap yet to see what signs, if any, are in there.

Then I moved on to removing the TB, and the upper part of the intake manifold. This is when I found the EGR valve on the back of the intake. The lower part of the manifold had a "wet" black look in the runners. Oily carbon deposits I guess. The upper manifold was packed full of crap too. The hole that leads to the EGR was only about 1/2 the size it should be. And the back of the TB, looked like an Oreo cookie, and almost as thick. There was so much build up on the back of the TB butterfly, I am surprised it ran at all. A can of Valvoline SynPower TB cleaner (this stuff works!), some towels, old tooth brush, and flat head screw driver did wonders. The TB looks new on the inside, and the intake needs a little more TLC, but I am getting it out slowly. I hope opening up the EGR inlet, and cleaning the butterfly will help alot.

While the manifold was off, I decided to try to correct the upper oil leak. So I removed the valve cover too. The bolts were fairly loose, and there was ALOT of build-up around the cover, and exhaust manifold. I did what I could there, and sanded the head edge down with emery cloth to remove old deposits. The worst was the valve cover gasket. I am not sure if it was the original or not, but it was so hard it was like a rock. A razor and wire brush took most of it off. A drill and wire wheel took the rest off. I did notice a small pin hole in the corner where the valve cover goes over the front "hump". I am only guessing it is not supposed to be there??? I got some JB kwik for it, I hope that will work. Something else I noticed is one of the head bolts in the oil valley had alot of hard carbon build-up. I don't know what it is from, so I just pulled it out???? As a side note I noticed the wear marks on the cam. Does this look bad for 114k???



I also found the PCV valve right behind the alternator. It was soo covered in crap that I didn't even notice there was a valve in the middle of the two rubber hoses. Does anyone know where the lower half of the hose goes from the bottom of the PCV???

I just hope I can get it all back together tomorrow. I am still missing some 11/32" hose for the coolant overflow hose to resivior. Auto parts store didnt have any. Doh!