I was wondering if anyone could tell me step by step how to replace an intake manifold gasket on a 2000 f150 5.4L 4x4. I need to replace mine it is leaking coolant and is causing idle problems.

 

01) DISCONNECT the negative battery terminal

02) Drain any engine coolant that may still be in the car (there is a small drain near the bottom of the radiator). After these two steps, you must gain access to the intake manifold by removing some things that are in your way.

03) Remove the engine cover by turning the oil cap to loosen, then without pulling it off, continue to twist it counterclockwise, when it stops completely, pull the oil cap AND oil cap tube away from the engine. You can then lift the engine cover off of the engine.

Remove the air filter housing. Loosen the two Philips screws on the housing itself, then pull the throttle body hose end off. (Peel back the top of the hose, then work around until the whole thing comes loose) Disconnect the plug going into the intake hose, and remove whole assembly from car.

04) Remove serpentine belt.

06) Loosen the three alternator bolts and remove wiring from back of alternator. Remove alternator and set aside. NOTE: To remove one of the bolts, you must remove a bracket which runs from the Alternator to just below the Ignition coils.TIP: There is a bolt which is hard to see just below the belt idler pulley.

07) Remove the Fuel Injector electrical plugs, (I'm pretty sure all you have to do is squeeze in on the metal locks and pull up) Remove the three electrical connectors going to the throttle body. Remove the electrical connector going to the MAP sensor (sits on top of the intake manifold near the alternator)

Remove all vacuum lines going to the throttle body and intake manifold.

08) Remove the fuel lines from the fuel rail. You will see two plastic lines going the the fuel rail, they are both held in by small plastic clips. To remove them, squeeze in on the bottom of the clips, then pull up on the fuel line. **CAUTION** There may be some residual fuel pressure in one of the lines, so remove the lines very slowly and carefully.

09) Remove Fuel Rail with injectors. There are four nuts which keep the fuel rail, and injectors in place. Once you remove those four 10mm nuts, carefully wiggle and pull upwards on the fuel rail, and the injectors will unseat themselves from the lower intake manifold, and the whole fuel rail will come out. Set aside.

10) Remove Throttle Body. There is a bracket which connects the throttle body to the cylinder head, this little bracket blocks access to one of the throttle body nuts. My trick is to remove the Bracket-to-throttle body bolt, then carefully pry the bracket back until you have enough access to reach the nut with a deep 10mm socket and extension. You can leave the throttle cables attached to the throttle body, and just position the entire assembly aside.At this point, you should have clear access to the entire upper intake manifold.

11) Remove all of the upper intake manifold bolts, and remove the intake from the car. If the intake does not want to separate from the lower, then you most likely missed a bolt. it should NOT require any prying to get it loose.

12)Now if the intake was leaking internally badly, you will likely see an alarmingly large puddle of coolant sitting inside the engine. It is CRUCIAL that you remove all of this coolant, use Paper towels or old rags to soak it all up. Clean the gasket mating surface on the lower intake manifold.TIP: It is very important to have a clean mating surface on the top of the lower intake manifold, or you may encounter leaks.

13) Snap the upper intake gasket into place onto the bottom of the new upper intake manifold and place the upper intake back onto the car, make sure all the bolt holes are aligned.

14) Install and tighten all the bolts in the proper sequence NOTE: I DO NOT KNOW OFFHAND WHAT THE PROPER TORQUE IS.. be very careful not to over-torque and risk cracking the new intake.

15) Reinstall all accessories and wiring, and fuel rail in the reverse order of removal. Refill the coolant system.

16) IMPORTANT STEP: If you saw ANY coolant at all inside the intake manifold upon removal,, you MUST replace the spark plugs. Also it is very important that you remove most of the coolant that may have entered the combustion chambers. Which is simple to do

16a) Remove all spark plugs, and turn the engine over (pretend you’re starting it) for at least 30 seconds. Install new spark plugs and you are good to go.

17) Start car and let idle for a while, check for any coolant leaks, carefully watch your temperature gage to make sure no overheating takes place.

 

You may also find it helpful to get a temporary subscription to ford's service manager program, it's VERY helpful for ALL repairs... I actually just ordered the full set for all ford models up to 2012

 

Thanks for all the info. I am going to that this weekend so it should be a good little project. I had a leaking gasket and it was causing a bad idle and my spark plugs were covered in coolant.

 

could be the intake manifold gasket, or could the the aluminum crossover tube above the alternator that goes from side to side... bolted to bottom of manifold.

 

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/8...d-on-5-4l.html

 

its the manifold gasket. I got it off today when i got back from school and it was broke in 3 spots. So i am going to install it tomorrow and see how it runs. only cost me 60 bucks for the gaskets and the shop was going to charge me 700 to get it done. Thank god i am a DIY guy or i would be broke. ha

 

I did this on my 4.6 due to a bad IRCM and would highly suggest you replace the plugs while you are in there. It is so much easier to replace them while the intake is off not to do it. Let us know how it ends up.

 

well i put my new intake gasket in and so far the truck runs great. While i had the intake off i cleaned my entire throttle body and install new plugs. runs amazing