Greetings Gurus,

My Specs:
'96 EXT 4.0L 140,000 miles, 2WD, AT, Green, Vegetarian, Prefers cats over dogs, OK that's enough!!

My Aero presented me with its first major repair situation in the 10 years I've owned it. The intake manifold gasket is spewing coolant out the rear of the engine right against the cowl cover. I've been searching for posts related to this repair with my engine and whether or not to pull the engine to do this job, but I can't find anything specificly related to my set of circumstances. So, I guess what I'm asking is this:
Should I pull the engine? Is pulling the 4.0L more of a pain than the 3.0L? How should I pull it - through the front or drop it down? What caveats should I be aware of? What other parts are "definites" with regards to replacement.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Steve

 

idk personaly if i had my engine out i'd do an accessories rebuild... obviously you're changing the intake mani. gasket... why not change the water pump, thermostat, freeze plugs if they're ugly, spark plugs and wires, belts, timing chain cover gasket atleast if not timing chain, maybe oil pan gasket if it's causin you trouble, and have the head's checked too just for safety's if you like.

personaly i don't have much experience on pulling the motors out of aero's, but unless you have a lift i'd say your pretty much stuck with dissassembling your front end and pulling the motor out CAREFULLY with a cherry picker, ya know?

my .02 cents

 

is it a leaking intake manifold gasket or leaking head gasket? close confined area

for intake gasket, no need to pull engine unless you have other serious engine problems
been there, did that both on Rangers and my Aero 4L.
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/6...ml#post5177762

 

You don't need to pull the engine to change the manifold gaskets. I think it's possible to change the heads with the engine in place. But others have pulled the engines before, through the front. And if you do pull the engine, I would take the time to change the gaskets on the oil pan and front cover as well, and maybe even the front and rear main seals. You will need to mate the engine to the transmission to install the oil pan gasket, but it's much easier to do that when you have full access to the engine.

If you get new intake manifold gaskets, make sure you get the two-piece type. The factory installed a one-piece that had the two manifold gaskets connected together by a pan-like piece, and the thermal stresses caused them to easily fail. Do you have any oil leaks from the top of the engine as well? It would be the same cause.

 

Thanks guys for the quick replies. I have a hoist/picker and am not afraid to use it! It goes without saying that the repairs will be infinitely easier with the engine removed. What I'm curious about is the time factor. Which will take longer: Doing the repair with the engine in-place and fighting for elbow room or removing the engine, doing the repair and replacing it? I've pulled engines numerous times - I've just never pulled one out through an opening which resembles a mail slot! If I do pull it, it would be foolish not to replace the things you've listed with the exception of the water pump and plugs as I replaced those less than a year ago.
96_4wdr asked if I'm sure which gasket it is. It's definitely the manifold gasket - had my neighbor, a mechanic/engineer verify this for me. I read in other posts about also replacing certain bolts but if I read correctly those only apply when changing the head gasket is that correct? Please elaborate if you would on the removal procedure and the time involved.

Thanks again,
Steve

PS: Does anyone know how much time the shop manual calls for, for this job?

 

I don't think you can get a cherry picker arm in there without removing the intake manifold first. There's no clearance to lift the block. If that is true, and the problem is really with the manifold, you might as well fix it with the engine in.

 

Gentlemen,

If you have the engine out, for 26.00 you need to replace the rod bearings. It is a 20 minute job at this point and you will find these bearings ripped up as I did mine. The mains will probably be ok as they are larger and better oiled. You can take a main cap off and check the bearing. It is ok to reinstall and reuse the old bearing if it is perfect looking, mine were. Just keep everything squeaky clean. Even lint can cause trouble but rarely big trouble.

Of course changing the rings is awfully easy now too. Just clean things up and install the new rings carefully. If the engine was basically sound, you do not have to rebore or even hone a nice looking cylinder. I have had engines with 160,000 miles of hard work on 30w dino oil still have factory crosshatch pattern still visible on the walls. It is amazing how little wear there is inside a properly designed engine. My main experience here was with small block Chevy 350s.

Ken

 

Pcguru,
Replacing intake manifold gaskets are much easier than it would appear at first glance into the engine compartment. Once the upper intake manifold is removed (6 bolts) there is plenty of room to work. Ford has thoughtfully provided access holes in the upper manifold to reach the inside retaining nuts. Getting the associated components such as wiring connectors and vacuum lines disconnected is perhaps the hardest work. After that, it is an easy process. Once the manifold(s) are off, use a cloth/towel over the openings to prevent loose nuts/sockets/etc from dropping in there.

 

use only the FelPro 2 piece set FEL-PRO Part # MS98005T . solves the OEM design problems
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http://c2c.activant.com/ctoc/index.j...oLZF0BV3FWLU0A

 

Hi PCguru,

I split off Jay's post about pulling the engine and pinned it at the top of the forum, just in case you need it.

 

If all you're doing is replacing the intake manifold gaskets, it's definitely quicker to do it in-place. I wrote up my experience a couple months ago on this forum. It takes a couple of hours to get all the stuff disconnected and off of the upper and lower intakes. Some things I recall:

Be careful of the plastic PCV valve that has a right angle tube; it will break easily.

I left the fuel rail bolted to the lower intake, as it was not necessary to take those apart to remove them. I left a loop of wires and connectors with this assembly after disconnecting them from the main harness.

Fel-Pro recommends that you use thick beads of RTV sealant in place of the front and rear end seals. This is where you have to work a little more quickly on assembly. You want to apply the RTV and install the lower intake and start torquing it down while the RTV is still sticky. This is probably the trickiest part of re-assembly.

Always re-check the torque on the nuts and bolts after the last tightening sequence. Some of the bolts or nuts will loosen up as their adjacent nuts or bolts are being tightened.

 

UPDATE:
After giving it some thought, I decided to have it done rather than do it my self. My inexperience with this job on this vehicle and the time involved were the biggest factors in my decision. I called around this morning and got prices from $500 at one of the dealers (which is where I took it) all the way up to just over $1000.00! The other nice thing about where I took it was if I got it there before noon he could have it back to me tomorrow early in the day.
Got an email from the service advisor this evening right before he was headed home for the day. Here's the email:

BAD NEWS..... I DONT HAVE THE VAN APART YET BUT ON INSPECTION TO VERIFY LEAK THE TECH NOTICED THE INTAKE GASKET IS NOT SPLIT. THE LEAK IS BECAUSE THE INTAKE MANIFOLD IS ERODED AWAY. BOTTOM LINE THE INTAKE MANIFOLD NEEDS TO BE REPLACED.
THE INTAKE PARTS AND LABOR IS ABOUT $960.00 AND I WILL NEED TO GET THE PARTS. ALSO RECOMMEND NEW SERP BELT AND ATLEAST THE RADIATOR HOSES. BELT PARTS AND LABOR $98.50, RAD HOSES PARTS AND LABOR $279.60

Now, we can all just know that we are in complete agreement that pigs will fly out of my *** wearing tuxedos and smoking cubans before I pay to have my belt and hoses replaced by someone else let alone pay the prices he listed for these two jobs! So we're ignoring that part of the email and focusing on the diagnosis. How common is it for the manifold itself to erode as he is saying it is? Second of all, does the cost of the manifold automatically double the price quoted in this case? I looked around online and wasn't able to find a manifold to buy anywhere - maybe someone could steer me in the right direction. What do you guys think?

 

Take the van back and do it yourself before they take it apart. These guys are blowing smoke, and I am sure they are out to steal your wallet.

 

After reading that, i'd personaly have the tech show me what he was talking about, then hit up the local J/Ys to examine intake manifolds from other aero's around the same year. if you find one on annother aero that looks fine, why not go for it?

 

I've seen the cast iron around the water passages in the head erode away. That's actually worse than the manifold eroding away, which is less likely, but I guess possible. In fact, the port erosion is so common that the Fel-Pro gasket sets come with instructions on dealing with it. In general, if the erosion is not severe (not well defined), you can clean it up and use hard-setting RTV (the gray Permatex) to seal it. But if it's severe, you need to either weld it up and grind it down, or replace the head.

If it really is the intake manifold, just get another one from the junk yard. You should be able to find a usable replacement from other Aeros, Rangers, or Explorers using the same 4 liter v6. In any case, I would take the van back and fix it myself. It would be much cheaper and you would know exactly how the repair was made by you.