Even before letting it sit over night, when you're turning down the bolts and nuts on the lower intake (3 steps), check them at least twice before going to the next step. Then check twice after you think you've torqued them down that last step. Then wait over night and check again.

 

I'm stuck! I can't get the upper manifold to break free to lift it off. Is it possible I've missed a retaining bolt that is perhaps hidden or do I just need to be less gentle in my "tapping"? I certainly don't want to crack the upper manifold.

Getting to this point has been every bit the pain in the *** I dreamt it would be. The biggest pain is all of the wiring looms that are bolted down everywhere.

Also, I broke the little crinkly tube (don't tease me) that comes out of the top of the fuel press. regulator. Anyone know the part number or what the heck you call it?

 

the upper intake manifold aka plenum is held on by six nuts.
the ignition coil pack is bolted to the manifold by 2 of the nuts and a bolt into the top of the valve cover. it must be completely loosened and pushed out of the way toward firewall.
the EGR tube must also be removed. it has a smaller bent tube sticking out its side inside the plenum
the rear heater and a/c hoses over top of engine also prevent easy movement of the I. manifold and must have mount bolts removed or loosened and pushed off to side.
also helps to remove main wire loom connector above engine from it's body mount, take apart and slide ends off to side.

the upper intake manifold to fuel rail has no sealer on it, just neoprene O ring style gaskets. the later U. I. manifold aka plenum are plastic and can be broken
may require 2 people, one front and one rear to remove. equal pry pressure front and rear. has to come up vertically until it clears the fuel rail studs.

are you referring to the braided steel reinforced fuel line to the FPR? junke yard emporium item

 

I called my neighbor/mechanic/engineer and had him take a look to see if I was missing something of if I just wasn't 'tapping' in hard enough. First thing he did was feel around from the top downward and found the 2 bolts I didn't see. DOH! so anyway, everything is off and my hands are tore up from the wiring looms - that plastic has gotten so brittle over the years and some places where it has cracked or broken his sharp!

Regarding the hose I broke....
It's very small in diameter, is real bumpy like flex hose but on a much much smaller scale. It's a vacuum line of some sort that connects to the top of the fuel pressure regulator. Done for today. I'm going to order the gasket kit, serp. belt and hoses today. They'll take a few days to get here. In the mean time I can clean up the engine as it's filthy as well as the parts I took off. I'm going to presure wash/steam clean everything.

 

do NOT steam clean the engine, will destroy the electronics
even pressure washing is NOT good.
will cause problems that will make you get rid of the rig.
wipe down the valve covers with a mild cleaner such as Simple Green after you remove them, same with lower I. manifold

acetone or toulene is dangerous, fire hazard and damages many paints and plastics.

use an air hose blow nozzle at 100 psi to blow out dust and road debris.

there is a vacuum hose on the FPR that goes to the vac. tree on the rear of the intake manifold.

get a set of cheap auto service gloves, even cotton work gloves are better than bare skin. cuts down the cuts, excuse pun

 

Here's a picture of the part I'm obviously mistaking for the fuel press. reg.


[IMG][/IMG]


Thanks for the caveats on steam cleaning the engine. I have all of the electrical stuff removed, but you sound pretty adamant about the possiblilty of damage to it so, since you're the Master and I am the Grasshopper, I will heed your wisdom! I'm going to go out and take a couple of pics of the various parts which are pretty funky and post them here for you to gawk and hiss at.

 

that's the EGR exhaust gas recirculation valve
feeds exhaust gas back into the intake manifold to reduce emissions.
the tube on top is the vacuum valve control feed
is that the one broken off. should be repairable by just spicing unless the spout is snapped off the EGR valve

how does the leak area look on the lower manifold?
please post a picture for future reference for those that face the same problem in the future.

good job

 

Note the areas in the circles. These are the 2 rear coolant ports. They are completely clogged.



The outter edge is where the gasket blew out I assume due to the coolant trying to find a way past the plugged-up port.


The front coolant ports are somewhat clogged but nowhere near as bad as the rears. Looks like clogged arteries doesn't? Maybe I'll start watching the saturated fats and cholesterol.


The wizzard at the dealership said that the manifold was "eroded" and had to be replaced. I haven't thoroughly cleaned the manifold mating surfaces yet, but from what I can see by picking away the clogging material from around the edges, it appears that the outter edge of the manifold is as straight and smooth as can be. I'll get it cleaned up in a little while and post more pics. With the exception of the areas I've noted, the gasket was in perfect shape. No areas were worn or thinner than any other and it appears that the fuel has been burning evenly its entire lifespan. I was a bit surprised at the amount of carbon buildup inside the engine. It was especially thick on the tube inside the upper intake - like, really thick. The amount of mineral buildup inside the coolant areas shocked me but, my neighbor thought it looked surprisingly good for the age and miles. I'M AT A COMPLETE LOSS HOW THE THERMOSTAT COULD HAVE POSSIBLY STILL BEEN WORKING! Unfortunately I tossed it before taking a picture of it. Rust, mineral buildup, gunk, mung, you name it it was covered with it. The buildup directly behind it was equal to the front coolant ports on the manifold above - maybe just a bit more.

 

The hose/tube broke off right at the connector (see the yellow spot on top of the
EGR above) Didn't leave enough rom to splice. Is that a part I can easily buy or is it a Junque Emporium offering?

 

Should I replace thermostat with 180 or 195 degree?

 

Placed the order this morning - Damn, RockAuto ROCKS! Here's what I ordered:
Fel-Pro Gasket kit
Thermostat
Thermostat gasket
Water pump gasket
Water pump
Upper & lower rad. hoses
Serp. belt

Total: 183.67 including shipping.

Every one of the parts I ordered was either the the top item or 2nd top item - with the exception of anything Motorcraft that they had. sorry, I won't be gouged! Gates, Fel-Pro, Goodyear, Beck-Arnley......yeah, all quality products. The savings on the gasket kit alone paid for the shipping of everything - and it's shipping from 3 different locations!

 

PCguru,

I have been deployed to Iraq and just got back. I'm in the Air Force even though most think the Army and MArines do all of the work. You've got me worried about mine so I'll get dressed here in a bit and take my dog house off and look. It pays to be pro-active soooooooo

I just read everything about your story and am amazed by all of the detail from all of the senior members to even the newbee's. We all have our Aero's in common and that is a good thing.

PS-----Just though you'd like to know. My boss needed a tow home. He has a full-size chevy conversion van. He has always bad mouthed my Aero by saying Windstar or Astro van. I sent an e-mail out informing everyone that the lil ford took the big bad chevy home.---he was pissed---Boz

 

First off, Welcome Home and thank you for your service to our country!

Yeah, ya know I'm really grateful to those who have offered their support and have helped me the few times I've needed advice with my van. It is really rare to find a forum where the veterans extend the same helping hand to the newb's as they do others. The fact is, I'm not a newb if you look at when I registered, I have just had so few problems with my van that I (thankfully) have not had to seek advice and counselling very often. Additionally, the few repairs I've made doesn't make me qualified to give advice - especially when guys like copper and 96_4wdr are present. These guys are GODZ!! Great story about your boss! The power in these vans (at least the 4.0L's) is crazy.

Regards,

Steve

 

Thank you for the kind words PCguru. I joined the forum exactly a year behind you in Nov 2004 so I know what you mean. I haven't had too much bad luck either and even from time to time get reminded by the automatic message thats its been ***** since your last post. I have read your story's and posts and they are really rather good. It's going to be about 75 hear today--NICE! My folks are freezing their butts off up in Illinois. Don't think that I haven't done my time though in the weather arena for one moment-I lived up in Minot North Dakota from 1992 to 1997 and was Pheasant hunting in 30 below weather. BURRRRRRrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Have a nice day Boz

 

195d thermostat only. the PCM/ECU is programmed for that temp. you will loose fuel mileage and have poor operation with a colder temp

the black rubber connector is a push on fit to a steel nipple on the EGR valve.
the yellow hose under the protective sheath may be able to splice or connect back onto the rubber connector. it may be an adhesive or force fit. never had one apart. you may have to replace with a junke yard use tested part.

been 40 years since i've seen coolant ports so badly plugged. must be the alkaline water in the area there and someone using tap water. especially bad thing in these modern engines with all the dissimilar metals and corrosion prone metals such as aluminum. how's your heater cores? i know some owners try to save money in the non freezing areas by not using antifreeze, but bad idea. the modern high stressed multi metal cooling system requires the anti corrosives in AF to stay alive. also raises the boil over temp.

once you get the intake manifold back in, before installed thermostat, back blow through the thermostat hole with a garden hose at full pressure. make sure heater hoses are disconnected first to protect core.

then when up and running, before adding antifreeze, run one of the heavy duty cooling system cleaner scalers such as Prestone. flush multiple times before adding antifreeze with distilled water. your best bet there with the alkaline water is to get the premix antifreeze solution, safer for engine.

i would take the intake manifold done to your local engine rebuilder mechanic and have it dip cleaned in solvent. wipe all the crud out of the block valley. change oil last step before firing up to get rid of pieces of crud broken off.

soak the FI tips in Gumout Regane Concentrate or Chevron Techron Concentrate over night. from the deposits built up on some of the runners, there looks like there may be issues with injectors functioning properly. i would suggest send them out for professionally cleaning and testing.

yep, i like the quick knowledgeble service at our site sponsor Rockauto. plus they give a guy the option of several different parts price points and quality points depending on the vehicle needs and not made to feel like a cheap stupid fool at a parts counter when asking, "Do you have anything cheaper"