The Ford house has a kit that includes the entire middle intake. Has anyone found it necessary to replace this to correct the lean condition codes? List is $270 but I can get it for $203. Amazon has bolts, gasket and runner control rod bushings for $63. I'm thinking that there might be a situation that where the runner shaft comes out could leak as well. I can understand that the dealer would want to CYA to minimize come-backs. I don't mind spending the extra money because I only want to do it once.

 

I'm not sure what is meant by the 'middle intake.' I just finished removing, cleaning & replacing my intake plenum, which comes off in upper & lower halves before uncovering the aluminum part of the intake manifold. I am guessing what you call the 'middle intake' is the lower half of the intake plenum. If that is the case, I would think the only reason to replace it is if it were severely damaged to the point that unmetered air could leak into the intakes. The two halves of the intake plenum are mostly hard plastic & I would think many minor defects could be repaired with epoxy.
If you are getting a lean condition code, I would suspect practically any other part before the plastic of the intake plenum, unless the damage is obvious before you start working.
Ford recommends that the isolator bolt assemblies be replaced when the intake plenum is serviced, along with the port gaskets. I also replaced the large gasket between the 2 halves of the intake plenum. The runner shaft is held in place by the control rod bushings, so when they break or jam, the shaft is not functional, and may actually fall out of its normal position. Let me tell you, those runner control rods & bushings are nearly inaccessible, being located as far back on the top of the engine & as far under the windshield cowl as can possibly be. I bought a set of bushings, but did not install them -- didn't really need to and the originals were too hard to get to. I could imagine fouling up the control rods in a misguided repair and then not being able to set things right.

 

i had the same issue with my 01 f-150. i ended up replacing the intake plenum gaskets. fixed it right up.

 

well i just bought a 01 with the v6 and i am getting a lean code on bank 2. i dont even know what bank 2 means. so i am wonderig if i have to replace the darn intake now?

 

More likely, you have a leak in a vacuum line, gaskets, or warpage due to isolator bolts gone bad. To fix most of those you will have to disassemble your intake plenum. Metal intake problem is highly unlikely.

 

okay well i was wondering if the air intake ( plastic ) is leaking would that not throw lean on bank 1 and bank 2 together not just one side? i dont know a darn thing about fuel injected engines. or obd 2 stuff.

 

yes, the plenum would cause a lean on bank one and two (and FYI bank one is drivers side, bank 2 is pass. side.)

 

okay well this helps me out a bunch i am lean on just bank 2 so i guess i will try O2 first then. then later on go aheand and buy up the gaskets for the orther just in case i need to replace later on