Yeah, I caught that, unfortunately it seems the connector is a little broken. Caught the problem when I pulled it out and gave it a once over to make sure the o-ring was seated correctly... Contacted Dorman for a replacement; hopefully it won't take long to get here.

 

Back to square one. Got the replacement part, installed it and I still have a hiss and a very rough running engine. Not sure what to do now. One friend advised me to tear it back down and start over again... I don't like the idea of that. Tried to find the leak using carb cleaner, but I didn't have much luck since it seems to be behind the throttle body. Any ideas?

 

Alright. I have the truck running again. Still has a hiss but my friend and I can't find a vacuum leak anywhere. The idle is real rough, and the truck stalls when I reverse out of the driveway and put it back into drive, or at stop signs, until it has been running a little while. While drive it runs great. My buddy thinks the IAC might be shot. Any ideas? I might have screwed up the IAC when cleaning the throttle body, but I didn't do anything out of the ordinary. This is driving me nuts.

 

I am just posting to say hi and that I am now in the middle, or near the front, of this issue.

I had my problem diagnosed with Ford and they quoted me $560 to repair. Said it was a "leaking upper intake gasket". So, I talked to a guy that does a lot of mechanicking and he said, "Go for it"... I do brakes and some other simple stuff, but NEVER have gotten into a deal like this... Ugh!

Anyhow, I bought the gasket at NAPA... and started disassembling! I have 1 hour in so far and have the intake exposed, i think i just have to pull the bolts... and it will come off. I am thinking easily within 1.5 hrs I have it off.

I was reading about changing plugs out and am scared now, since there are a lot of threads about breaking plugs and stripping aluminum threads and such. Should I worry about this?? Also, my truck as 145k on it... and I THINK maybe hte plugs and COPs have been replaced... is there a way to tell that??

I will probably have a question or two soon... thanks for any advice and support!! I am really excited to save many hundreds of dollars on this... cant believe how esay and how much $$ I saved doing brakes...

HS

 

plugs should have been replace about 100K. You can pull a coil and inspect and see if it is FORD or aftermarket. I was also worried about doing the plug replace. Did this truck at 135K and NO PROBLEMS... Now i have a 2002 and did it at 105K miles and NO PROBLEM. I think there are a million trucks and a dozen guys have problems. Anything is possible, but you have a good chance of NO PROBLEMS if you change out.

 

So, can anyone tell me what the torque requirement is for the manifold bolts and for my spark plugs?

Thanks...

 

Your torque specs are:
Intake manifold to cylinder head bolts:
Step one: 18 in-lbs
Step two: 15 to 22 ft-lbs

There is a torque sequence I'll send if I can figure out how to upload an image...

Spark Plugs: 84 to 168 in-lbs

Hope this helps
Joel

 

Hi, new member here. Been reading this thread to learn a thing or two as a first-time truck owner. Two days ago my 2001 F-150 SCrew 4x4 w/165k (bought used 5 months ago) started smoking under the hood after shutting off the engine. Popped the hood, ended up being more like steam, APPEARED to be coming from the front left fuel injector. I didn't want to screw with depressurizing the fuel pump, if that's even required--I needed to get going, my commuter.

So I took it to a shop next morning, told them the injector looked broken. They replaced it for $230, but that wasn't the problem. I don't think that was honest since under a light you can see the steam coming out of a crack about 1/2 inch from the injector, not the injector itself. I do a lot of mechanical jobs myself but lately I'm too busy at work and didn't have time to screw with it this time.

The shop recommends replacing both head gaskets, getting the heads machined, new intake manifold, t-stat, all gaskets, for a grand total of $2,800, half of which is labor @ 18 hours.

I think it's just the intake manifold but I get off work late so I haven't been able to look at it closely in daylight to see clearly where exactly the crack is at. Could be the head gasket, could be the intake, I'll have to check.

If it is just the intake, will this Dorman intake everyone is talking about be the way to go or would a Motorcraft factory intake be a better choice? I'm also trying to guesstimate labor time if I decide I don't have time to do it myself.

 

I just want to say thanks for the great posts. I too had to replace my intake manifold. (cracked up front like by the crossover) I am no mechanic but it really wasn't that bad. A little time consuming. If yours is a 5.4L 2V engine it was really easy to change the plugs (highly recommended) when I did the intake. The only issue I had was needing certain tools like a in/lb torque wrench and fuel line disconnect tools. Thanks for helping me diagnose my problem.

 

I also got a clear look at the tiny crack and it is indeed in the crossover part of the intake. Seems to be a design flaw for so many to fail at this same spot. It's 10* outside and my garage is full so I'll be taking the Dorman intake to a shop for install. Might have them do the serpentine while they're at it.

 

Just a quick note to say Hey ya'll first time poster here. I have a 03 expedition (wife's kid hauler) with 135K that apparently needs a new intake. I thought it was a possible head gasket due to a loss of coolant a bit of smoke and # 1 COP going bad after install of a new one. Took it the stealership and they say its leaking on the intake manifold after a pressure test was preformed and want $2000 for a new intake, 2 plugs, 2 cops installed. Um, Thanks but no thank you Sir. I ordered a Dorman intake from Amazon, new injectors from ebay, and going to buy new plugs. Wish me luck boys, I am jumping on it this weekend. Any last minute advice, pictures, prayers are appreciated.

Any of you local San Diego boys want free beer to come help just let me know!

Best,
Shawn

 

Just take your time and you'll be fine.

 

Well, I am getting closer. I got the old intake out, changed the spark plugs (no broken plugs Thank GOD), cleaned the **** out of the heads, put the new Fuel injectors back in the intake and fuel rail and got the intake seated back on the motor. After putting in the new COP into #1 and trying to plug in the new injector I realize I was sold the wrong injectors. Bummer deal dude. The $100. refurbs I bought on ebay don't fit my wiring harness plugs so I had to go get new ones at over 2xs the cost. They will be here tomorrow I hope. Hopefully I get it all back in and together and this fixes it. I really hope my local Stealership diagnosed this problem correctly cause I am not seeing much of a crack in the old intake.

Thanks for listening.

 

It dont take much of a gouge in the gasket or nick / crack in the manifold to cause a big problem. Hopefully the new parts will fix all problems.

 

Thanks Steve. This was exactly like mine was.