Introduction: How to Replace Upper Intake Plus Most Engine Gaskets in 04 3.4L Impala
This instructable will show you how to replace the lower intake gaskets + most of your engines top end gaskets and o rings. this instructable is for the 2004 3.4L engine in the Impala. The engine is in a lot of cars, but each is a little different in parts placement in some way or form for room consideration in the particular vehicle it is in.
Step 1: First Things First.....
I wanted to do this instructable so that I could show everyone out there that if you can tighten and loosen a nut and a bolt, you can do most of the work on your car yourself without having to pay thousands of dollars at the mechanics shops or the Stealerships. All you need are the right tools, and a GOOD set of instructions to follow.
I AM NOT A MECHANIC AND IF YOU CHOOSE TO FOLLOW THIS INSTRUCTABLE YOU DO SO AT YOUR OWN RISK!! I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGES THAT YOU DO TO YOUR CAR OR YOURSELF IF YOU FOLLOW THIS!!!
I used the Haynes manual, several online web boards, webpages, and a do it yourself video ( I WILL NOT give credit to the people who make this video because it is not complete, and towards the end of the video, the narrator gets lazy and instead of telling the viewer what to torque the bolts down to he just says " now tighten these bolts/ this bolt up" and goes from inch lbs to Foot lbs to Newton Meters..... NOT professional, and when I asked them for advice on a problem I had they told me to do something that I had already told them that I had done, and then deleted my comment off of their page so that no on could see it.)
I also put down on text here the short cuts to make this as easy as possible for you, I did not get to take pics of this so sometimes the text will say one thing and the pic will show another I had to do this because my the warranty for parts and labor on this NEW engine had just expired and what do you know, I have all of these problems with my car. The upper manifold was cracked in 2 places, in a nutshell it was due to not following directions and not doing things the right way, because of this when I loosened the bolts on my power steering pump the housing on the bottom bolt completely fell off! once again due to not following directions the last people that I had working on this car was a mechanic that I trusted, but later found out that he had hired an assistant who when I seen him work, I see him not follow directions/procedures and just use an air impact gun to tighten everything down instead of torquing things down to specific Ft lbs and in sequence......Needless to say that this assistant is ruining this mechanics good name.
Since I am broke and now unemployed I had to use what $$ I had and the knowledge that I could learn/find to do this and to show all of you that you can do this as well and that you don't have to spend thousands of dollars at the mechanics or stealerships to get this kind of work done. You can do it yourself.
Step 2: Tools You Will Need
Both Deep socket and regular Metric Socket set ( 7mm to 18MM)
Socket wrench
Several sizes of extensions
A swivel socket (or a crows foot)
Torque Wrench (Foot pounds) (Inch Pounds if you have it, but not necessary)
Degree Wheel
Flatblade Screwdriver
Phillips screwdriver
Pry Bar (you can use the screw driver if you want)
Duct tape
Q-Tips
Channel Locks
Electrical Tape
A Metric Tap and Die set (just in case)
Droplight/flashlight
Oil Drain Pan
a container to catch the coolant from your car
Wire Brush
Putty knife or scraper
RTV Gasket Maker (ULTRA BLACK) (I also used High Temp Red)
Degreaser
Extra Coolant ( I used the green 50/50 mix that goes with any type of coolant)
Transmission fluid (this is used to CLEAN AND CLEAR the debris in your exposed engine)
Oil (you are going to change your oil as well)
Oil Filter
Shop rags
Spill Proof Funnel (used to burp your cooling system)
Carb and choke cleaner
Brake parts cleaner (for stubborn to clean parts)
A Flexing Magnetic pickup tool with built in led light ( this saved me a number of times on this build )
Two containers to hold/clean your valve covers and lower/Upper intake manifolds in ( I used two foil containers bought form the 99 cents store)
Latex gloves (optional)
Hand cleaner
Magnetic parts holder tray
Gator wrench (grabs on to almost any size nut, bolt, you name it, OPTIONAL)
2 sets of FelPro fuel injector O Rings (they are sold in packs of 4, we need 6 of them) $10.00 at Autozone
Blue and Red Thread Locker (optional but worth it to have)
Magnetic oil Drain plug (not necessary, but if you do not have one it is a good idea to put one on since you are going to change the oil anyways)
A Extra Person to Help (not necessary, but greatly appreciated)
THESE PARTS WERE PURCHASED FROM ROCK AUTO . COM (cheapest place to get auto parts besides Amazon)
Felpro replacement intake manifold bolts (Part # FEL ES72226
Dorman Upper intake manifold (Part # DOR 615-197
FelPro EGR Gasket (Part # FEL 70804)
Felpro Throttle Body Gasket (Part # FEL 61053)
ACDELCO Oil Pump Gasket (Part # ACD 10477565)
Felpro PermadryPlus Lower intake gasket kit (Part # MS98003T ..... included in kit Aluminized steel carrier with fluoroelastomer rubber coating that is impervious to all types of coolants and oils, designed to provide a permanent seal, edge-molded seals protect each port,primary and secondary sealing beads provide additional protection while compensating for corrosion-roughened surfaces,engineered for easy installation)
you can check the prices out on the website
Step 3: Lets Get Started!!
I am doing this because I had a coolant leak from my Upper manifold cracking and from the Cheap factory lower intake manifold gaskets corroding/leaking on me. This solves the leaking problems in multiple areas on this car (if you have not touched your car at all it is now 10 YEARS OLD AND THINGS ARE BOUND TO START BREAKING DOWN/LEAKING..... THIS SHOULD ALSO TELL YOU TO BE VERY CAREFUL WHEN DOING ALL OF THIS)
Step one. Start by locating your bracing/bracket for the engine bay of your car on the PASSENGER SIDE, use a Metric 13 socket to remove the two bolts in the front of the vehicle and LOOSEN the one bolt towards the driver side of the car. Duct tape the bolts to this part (or just put in magnetic pickup tray) so that you do not lose them.
Now move this bracing/Bracket to the fender side of the car so that you now have move room to work with.
Disconnect the NEGATIVE terminal of your car battery (you can disconnect both terminals, but you only need to disconnect the negative terminal, I leave it up to you)
Step 4:
Put your container to catch the cars coolant under the car by the water pump (drivers side)
Now using your flatblade screw driver (or Channellocks depending on what type of hose clamp is on this) and pull the hose off of the water pump and push the hose downwards towards your container so that all of the coolant rushing out does not spill everywhere. wait for a few mins and let ALL OF THE COOLANT drip out onto the container.
After all of the coolant is in the container transfer the coolant into a container with your funnel so that you do not spill any ( I used two empty 2.5 liter soda bottles that I had lying around, make sure they are clean before you use them)
Step 5:
Next start by removing your air filter along with the senors on the air intake, I have a cold air intake so all I have to do is loosen the hose clamp with a flatblade screwdriver and pull the airfilter off of the mass airflow sensor. If you have the stock one it will look like the other pictures.
If you have the stock Air filter you do not need to remove it or your mass airflow sensor if you do not want to, just loosen the two hose clamps on each side, remove the hose on top, disconnect the harness to the mass airflow sensor and pull the rubber hose up and off of your car
Step 6:
Next remove your spark plug wires, it might be a good thing to number your plug wires if you do not have the factory ones still on your car (factory ones are numbered along the entire wire, non stock ones are not)use your flatblade screwdriver to push in and pull upwards on the clips holding the plug wires (if you still have them)
The even cylinders are at the FRONT OF THE VEHICLE, the odd cylinders are at the BACK OF THE VEHICLE (I did not do this so dont pay attention to the numbers in the red tape)
Step 7:
Next remove the hoses that go to your MAP sensor and Fuel system
Step 8:
Next remove the two 10mm bolts on top of the throttle body bracket (if you do NOT plan on replacing your Throttle body gasket you can SKIP taking off the two bolts)
Disconnect the throttle body sensor by pulling outward on the plastic tab while pulling the harness outward at the same time.
Do this for all of the harnesses plugged into the sensors on the throttle body and sensors in that area.
Step 9:
Disconnect the harness to your EGR valve and any remaining sensors in this area, The EGR valve harness is a hard one to disconnect (remember 10 years old=brittle plastic/wires=breaks EASY) I found it easiest to get my leatherman/ needle nose pliers and go from the back side and squeeze the locking tab in and at the same push out.
there is a hose with a white plastic end on it that has a locking tab that has to be pushed out from both sides of the bottom of this hose....chances are that the plastic is so brittle that it will break when you do this... if so do not feel bad, it did for me too, and I was real careful when I tried this..... if it does break bad news this paticular type of clip is not available at Autozone/parts stores.....Stealership only item..... I used some JBWeld and red duct tape to "fix" my clip. Also the hose that is connected to this part is also brittle and is prone to breaking/snapping into two. I even put a new part on and it broke in half when I tried to reconnect this hose= BE VERY CAREFUL.
Step 10:
next loosen/move the house clamps that are under the throttle body. If you already drained your coolant there should be just a little coolant coming out, not a lot.
TIP: I learned a trick to getting these out the easy way instead or ruining the hoses by trying to get them off with a screwdriver. Just loosen/ move the hose clamps up as far as they will go and when you remove the upper manifold do not take the throttle body off, and you can use the upper intake with the throttle body still attached to push up and pull out ward at the same time, removing both hoses at the same time. this will save you some time and frustration/hoses.
Step 11:
Next remove the hose that is connected to your upper intake, it is on the passenger side of the manifold and is connected to your booster, just loosen the hose clamp and pull off. If it is being stubborn get the flatblade screwdriver and lift up the house and spray some WD40 all around the inside of hose and move it in and out a few times and it should come loose, if it is still persistent then use the screwdriver to assist you in pulling the hose off. wrap some electrical or duct tape on the edge of the screwdriver so that you do not damage the hose.
Time to remove the MAP sensor: the illustration gives the best example of what you have to do except that there is only ONE bolt holding the MAP sensor bracket onto the manifold on the bottom of the bracket, it is on the PASSENGER SIDE of the manifold and is a 10mm bolt. the two bolts holding the MAP sensor in on the sides are 7mm
After you remove the two 7mm bolts holding the MAP sensor on its bracket, you want to both pull up and outward, upward to pull the plug that is on the bottom of the sensor out and out to pull the rubber hose that is on the manifold out. If you pull up and the rubber hose comes off of the sensor you should be able to put it back on, just make sure that you did not rip the hose into two pieces, remember gentle but firm these parts are OLD.
Next unplug the harness that are connected to the ignition coil packs, on the DRIVER side of the packs there are TWO plugs, the TOP one you can just unplug,TIP: the BOTTOM ONE NEEDS TO BE TAPED TO THE TRANS DIPSTICK OR ELSE IT WILL FALL DOWN INTO YOUR ENGINE BAY AND YOU WILL BE LOOKING FOR IT FOR HRS BEFORE YOU FIND IT. the reason is because this is on a different wiring harness than all of the other connections that you have unplugged so far.
Step 12:
Next remove your ignition coil packs, they on on the ignition control module which is bolted to a steel plate, this is bolted to the top of the upper intake manifold via two 10mm bolts, and on the bottom sides with two 13mm nuts. If you have not done so already unplug the back spark plug wires and number them so that you don't forget their order.
Once you have unbolted this you can let it sit below the back valve cover or you will have to try to unplug the O2 sensor harness which is a beast to unplug/plug back in.
Step 13:
you are removing the other half of the air intake hose next, you disconnected the top half from your air intake, the bottom part is behind the driver side of the engine. the illustration shows it best.
when you remove this hose put it aside and do not forget where you put it, I just put it on my windshield so I could see that this needs to go somewhere when I start resembling everything.
Step 14:
Next it is time to remove a sensor and the EGR valve. there is one 10mm bolt holding the first sensor onto the upper intake manifold and there are two 10mm bolts holding the EGR valve on the upper intake manifold, remove these bolts and these parts off of the manifold.
TIP: Even though all of these parts need to come off if you are replacing the upper intake manifold, you can save yourself some time and frustration by KEEPING BOTH OF THESE ITEMS ON THE MANIFOLD, ONCE THE MANIFOLD IS REMOVED FORM THE CAR IT IS EASIER TO TAKE THESE ITEMS OFF/PUT THEM ON THE NEW UPPER INTAKE MANIFOLD. the EGR valve needs to have a new gasket put in and the valve needs to be CLEANED BEFORE YOU PUT IT ON THE NEW MANIFOLD. for the EGR valve, there is ONE either 10mm or 13mm (I forget, which one it is) bolt holding the EGR hose to the EGR valve, unbolt the hose and pull the hose off. it will take some force to pull off once the bolt is off it will SLIDE OFF, if you want spray some WD40 on the metal hose and wiggle it around and then try to pull it off.
TIP: MAKE SURE THAT YOU ARE TAPING THE BOLTS TO THE PARTS THEY ARE BOLTED TO, OR TAKE LOTS OF PICTURES OF THE BOTS AND THE PARTS THAT THEY GO TO.
Step 15:
next its time to remove the bolts that are holding the upper intake manifold.There are 6 total, these bolts are 10mm and one 13mm NUT THAT IS CONNECTED TO A STUD AND BRACKET THAT HOLDS YOUR ALTERNATOR IN PLACE
Step 16:
Now its time to remove your upper intake manifold, remove the 10mm bolts holding the manifold in place as well as unplug the big harness next to your alternator and ignition coil packs, for now you can leave the false spark plug looking red wire alone.
Now with all of the bolts and harnesses unplugged, pull up, then pull back and push up to pull both of the hoses that are connected to the throttle body off of the hard cooling line.
Now put the upper intake manifold with all of the items still attached to it in a container or something so that you can disassemble and CLEAN EACH ITEM THOROUGHLY. you will also need to take the plugs off of your old upper intake manifold and put them on your new one. Mine were frozen on the old manifold and brittle and I had some spare plugs laying around so I used those, you can tell because the plug on the driver side is a bit to long, still works and it was free so im not complaining.
TIP: If you do not want to disconnect your throttle cables like I did not want to, now is the time to separate your throttle body from the upper intake, or you can disconnect the throttle cables and reconnect them when you put everything back on as one assembly with the upper intake. IT is up to you.
Step 17:
next you can take off the speed nuts that hold the coolant return tank on the strut tower they are 7mm I think and put that to the side so you have more room to work with.
Now remove the temp sending sensor harness, then go to the driver side of the manifold by the valve cover and move the hose clamp holding the soft line to the hard line back on the rubber part of the hose and remove the rubber hose from the hard line. now remove the 8mm bolt that is on the hard line on the opposite side of the rubber hose and pull that part up and out of the water pump.
There is a 13mm nut holding the fuel lines to a bracket on the driver side of the engine, (once again I could be wrong on the size of this bolt) remove this.
Next remove the two 10mm bolts that are holding the fuel injectors/rail to the lower intake manifold.
Next there will be RAISED TABS ON EACH CORNER OF THE LOWER INTAKE MANIFOLD, use a screwdriver or prybar to rest the screwdriver onto the tab and push up do this on each tab of the front and backside in an X pattern.
Now you can pull up (not to far) on the injectors and rotate the assembly so that it is sitting upside down on the manifold.
Optional step: If you bought the two packs of fuel injector O rings (they come 4 to a pack) now its time to replace them. These are the LOWER O rings, if you want to mess with the uppers you have to remove each fuel injector off of the rail and take it off of the rail take the uppers off/put it back on, and put the injector back on the rail. this way you can still have everything attached and do this. the book says to use a flat-blade screwdriver to do this..... there is no way in hell that I am putting a screwdriver anywhere near these. I just pinched and pushed the O ring forward and then used my letherman (needle nose pliers will also work) to grab the excess rubber and pull upwards (remember the injectors are now UPSIDE DOWN). I then used my thumb to roll the rest of the O ring off. Repeat for all 6 injectors.
TIP: you DO NOT have to unplug each of the fuel injector harnesses, I did this because I was following the book/video step by step, the book/video also said that each of these were numbed so that you could not get them confused....THEY ARE NOT NUMBERED! just flip the assembly upside down until you remove the alternator and power steering pump, there is a main harness that plugs into the engine that this ENTIRE HARNESS FOR YOUR CAR IS PLUGGED INTO. you can only get to it after you have removed the alternator and power steering pump, once these are removed, unplug the main harness, and then you can move the whole fuel assembly to the side. To better protect the Fuel assembly you can put it all into a big plastic bag so that no debris gets on/in them.
TIP: If you see a part with RTV sealer or some sort of gasket material BE SURE TO CLEAN IT ALL OFF AND PUT SOME MORE BACK ON IT, IT IS THERE FOR A REASON.
Step 18:
Time to remove the serpentine belt, alternator, and power steering pump.
Take a good look at the orientation of how your serpentine belt is on your car, if you mis-route it you are going to be in trouble.
the top plate on the right of your car has a picture of how it should look like, do what I did and take a picture or two so that you can go back to it for reference. The first illustration will show what it will look like when you are looking at it. the book says a 3/4 inch socket wrench, it might be smaller sorry guys I don't remember if it was or was not, Anyway put the socket into the tension-er pulley and and set the wrench to loosen. The video says to put a pipe on the wrench for leverage, I say just man up and use some muscle like I did and push upward and remove the serpentine belt.
Now its time for the alternator. there are three 15mm bolts,one bracket, one 13mm nut, and a harness holding this thing one, the first bolt is in plain sight and easy to get with a deep socket, the second bolt is behind the alternator and the second illustration shows its exact location, once again I used a deep socket to get to this. The harness is also on the backside of the alternator, remove this just like you did the others. last but not least is the rubber boot hiding the 13mm nut that is holding down the lug. remove the nut (regular 13mm not deep socket, not enough room) and pull the lug off, and put the nut BACK ON THE ALTERNATOR so you do not forget about it.
TIP: the alternator bracket HAS TWO PIECES TO THIS THAT WILL COME OUT HAVE TO BE PUT BACK in alignment , after removal duct tape them together along with the bolts, it makes things easier.
Step 19:
The two illustrations will show you how to remove the power steering pump. there are three 13mm bolts, you locate them by using one of the holes in the power steering pulley and your finger, once you feel a bolt stop turning the pulley (which should move freely now that there is nothing putting tension on it) get a deep socket and remove the three bolts the first two are easy, the bottom on was the hardest for me.
Once all of the bolts are removed, pull up and place the power steering pump to the side, you might have to remove the hard lines that go to it off from their clips that hold them into place, just remember from the illustrations where they go.
Step 20:
Next its time for the valve covers to come off, there are 4 8mm bolts holding each valve cover in place these bolts have a rubber boot that has a steel insert under that to prevent you from over torquing them, this also holds them in place from coming completely out of the holes.... We just caught a break, this means that they will stay in and not fall out when removing and putting them back in.
Remove the bolts, you will need a deep socket or an extension to hit the one on the passenger side front, and you will need some channel locks to remove the stud that holds the coil pack assembly in place which is right in front of the last bolt that you need to take off to remove the back valve cover.
After you remove the valve covers and the gaskets that are in them put both of these in a container to clean them up an put new gaskets in.
Step 21:
Next remove the last hard line going into your engine, it it located on the driver side of the engine. It may or may not be tac welded to the same bracket that was holding the fuel rail hard lines to the engine, it if is remove the nut or bolt that is holding the bracket from the engine and THEN grab the hard line from where it connects to the engine and twist/pull it out. Mine had liquid gasket on it which made it hard to separate, it also had two holes in it that matched two weld marks on that bracket, and GUESS WHAT? COOLANT was also leaking form these two holes. So instead of paying a lot of $$ at the stealership or parts stores I just used two coats of JB Weld (I let the first coat dry for 12 hrs, then applied the second coat, let it dry for 12 hrs) and then put some red duct tape over it ( I have no more $$ and I am now unemployed again so I am not putting any more $$ into this car if I do not have to).... So when this goes back on remember to put some RTV gasket maker on it, I used high temp Red gasket maker for this and other parts, where it had black RTV on it I used ultra Black gasket maker.
TIP:YOU DO NOT HAVE TO loosen the hose clamp on the rubber hose that is connected to this hard line. I did it because once again I was following the book/video step by step, This like other hard lines has an O ring that is replaced (comes in the Felpro Permadry Plus kit). You can scrape all of the liquid gasket maker off of this hard line and replace the O ring on it right there where it sits, it will save you both time and frustration of trying to figure out the alignment of this hose, because it needs to be put in the same angle you found it in to make sure that everything else fits back on when you reassemble.
Now its time to remove the bolts that are holding the lower intake manifold. there are two on the sides and four bolts on the top, all bolts are 10mm. One of each of the side bolts will require you to use a swivel+extension/or a crows-foot to remove/tighten/torque down. I used the smallest metric socket set I had with the swivel +extension + reducer for the torque /wrench to fit it. Take all of these bolts out, and put them aside, if you bought all of the things in the list you have new ones. Now CAREFULLY grab the lower intake manifold by both sides and pull up, you will have to do this for a few tries because of the now hardened liquid gasket on the sides, MAKE SURE YOU DO NOT CRACK THIS PART IT IS VERY EXPENSIVE TO REPLACE!!
Step 22:
Now its time to do a little cleaning/maintenance before you replace the lower intake gaskets. I recommend getting some plastic (be it a cut up trash bag, plastic wrap...ect) and covering up the now exposed part of your engine up so that none of the gasket material, dust, debris gets into the lower parts of your engine/engine oil.
Scrape/clean off all of the remaining gasket material form the sides of the engine and on the driverside of the engine you will notice a round cylinder shaped object that looks like a distributor would go into. This is your OIL PUMP DRIVE SHAFT and it, like your lower intake gaskets are PRONE TO LEAKING, IF YOU DO NOT TAKE THIS OUT AND REPLACE THE O RING YOU RUN THE POSSIBILITY OF HAVING A LEAKING PROBLEM THAT WILL MIMIC THE CURRENT LEAKING PROBLEM WE ARE FIXING. to remove this it is either a 10mm or 13mm bolt and once the bolt and bracket are removed you want to grab your channel locks get a good grip on it and twist and pull upward on it at the same time to remove it form the engine. You will notice that is has quite a bit of hardened liquid gasket maker on it along with the O ring, which makes this thing so hard to take out. once you clean this part up and replace the O ring and reapply some liquid gasket maker (I used high temp RED gasket maker for this part) re install this part back into the engine (because now you have a giant hole going straight to your cars oil and you do not want anything getting in there) put the bracket back on and tighten and torque the 10mm or 13mm bolt up to 27 FOOT LBS
Step 23:
Next you will remove a sensor form your throttle body, depending on what you did it may or may not still be attached to the upper intake manifold. wherever it is you will need a star head screwdriver to remove the two star screws that are holding this sensor in place. This part is what controls the amount of pressure that your solenoid in your transmission gives when it shifts gears, since you have access to it, it is a good idea to clean it out. REMEMBER if this part has not been replaced it is now 10 years old and in serious need of cleaning. When this part gets gunked up, it along with other parts that are in your transmission will either cause hard or skipping conditions when your car is shifting into first gear or even second gear.
If your part was as dirty as mine was you are having hard sifting problems with your transmission. I made an instructable about this problem HERE, if you are still having problems with hard shifting THIS IS MOST LIKELY THE CULPRIT, DO THIS STEP FIRST AND CLEAN THIS SENSOR BEFORE YOU TAKE YOUR CAR TO THE STEALERSHIP OR TRANSMISSION SHOP, THE TRANSMISSION SHOP TRIED TO TELL ME THAT MY TRANSMISSION NEEDED TO BE REBUILT AND THAT IT WOULD COST ME $2,500.00 FOR THEM TO REBUILD IT. GUESS WHAT? AFTER I CLEANED THIS SENSOR OUT I NO LONGER HAVE HARD SHIFTING PROBLEMS WITH MY TRANSMISSION. I had to use break parts cleaner, several Q-Tips and a shop rag to get this sensor completely clean, it was so dirty that the inside metal (which has an unfinished steel look/color to it) looked as black as the painted metal on the outside. you want to clean the surface first, then pull the spring down and clean the inside of the sensor, don't for get about cleaning the spring, use as many Q-Tips as you need to get this job done, A few cents worth of this, shop rags, and brake parts cleaner is better than spending SEVERAL THOUSAND DOLLARS at the shops. put the sensor back in the throttle body
Now clean up your lower intake and your valve covers, I used both carb and choke cleaner and brake parts cleaner for both parts.
grab your EGR valve and clean it with brake parts cleaner and Q-Tips do this SEVERAL TIMES and this part should be good for many more years to come.
Now clean out your throttle body of your car by cleaning each side with brake parts cleaner, then carb and choke cleaner, then open up the throttle boy blade so that is is horizontal, put a piece of wood on the bottom side to keep it wedged open so that you can clean the insides and everywhere else in-between clean as much as needed to get everything clean on this.
Step 24: MAKE SURE IT IS CLEAN!!!!
you want to make sure that EVERY PART THAT YOU HAVE IS AS CLEAN AS IT CAN POSSIBLY BE!!! this might take several rounds of cleaning with several products (carb/brake parts cleaners...ect) DO NOT RUSH THIS STEP! you might need to let things dry out/off, before you can start to clean on them again, just let them dry off and keep cleaning untill it the job is done.
In the end all of the mating surfaces should look like new, and be free of all material/debris so that when you put new gaskets/O rings, gasket maker you have a clean mating surface on EVERYTHING.
Step 25:
Now it is time to remove and install your new lower intake manifold gaskets in your engine.
LOOSEN the 10mm nuts on your rocker arms, do not completely remove these. BE CAREFUL THESE ARE PRONE TO STRIPPING!!! take caution when loosening and tightening the rocker arm nuts. You want to loosen the rocker arm nuts just enough so that the push rods slide out of them, NO MORE. Do this for all 12 of the rocker arms/push rods.
LEAVE THE PUSH RODS IN THE ENGINE!!! DO NOT TAKE THEM OUT!!!! EACH VALVE HAS TWO PUSH RODS PER CYLINDER AND THE INTAKE RODS ARE SMALLER THAN THE EXHAUST RODS. IF YOU PUT THE RODS IN THE WRONG SPOT YOU WILL CAUSE CATASTROPHIC DAMAGE TO YOUR ENGINE !!!
TIP: YOU are only loosening the rocker arm nuts/studs because if you completely take these off they have to be realigned and if misaligned will cause engine problems. The push rods as mentioned above are different lengths and if put in the wrong spots will also cause engine problems.... so to avoid all of this just loosen the rocker arm nuts/studs and leave the push rods in the engine.
As you can tell form the gaskets that some of the push rods are under and some are over the gasket, CAREFULLY pull the gasket away from the engine, making sure that you pull all of the material AND the plastic alignment pins out of the engine, if you do not the new gaskets will not seal properly and cause leaking to occur. Now Pull the gasket up and out of the engine, if you have to take a push rod out do it one at a time and as soon as you take it out put it back on over the old gasket so that all you have to do is pull the gaskets up and out of the engine.
CLEAN the mating surfaces of the gaskets before you put the new ones one, I used brake parts cleaner, then WD40, then wiped clean with shop rags.
Install the new gaskets the SAME WAY YOU TOOK THE OLD ONES OFF (see above)
Put the push rods back into the rocker arms and torque the 10mm bolts back to 10.5 foot lbs and then using your degree wheel tighten to 30 degrees (the video says 14 newton meters which equals 10.325870089878 foot lbs it is up to you on how much you want to torque it down to). For those of you that are like me and had no idea on how to use a crappy degree wheel : one can be bought at Autozone for $9.99 + tax.
Its a round device about 3 inches in diameter. You plug it in between
1/2" drive socket and socket wrench/breaker bar. An "L" shaped hook clamps to the
device and hooks around a nearby rocker stud to keep the degree scale
wheel in one place. As you tighten the bolt, an indicator needle moves
around the scale to show the number of degrees of rotation. Pretty
simple device. found this info HERE. they sell expensive torque wrenches with the degree wheel built in it, if you have the cash I would suggest buying this over the degree wheel. Tighten these in a STAR PATTERN and then go along each one again to make sure that they are torqued down. TRIPLE CHECK THESE BEFORE MOVING TO THE NEXT STEP.
Now get a quart of transmission fluid and evenly pour it down inside the engine on both sides, this is to catch any debris that has landed on your engine and pull it down to your oil pan where you will drain it and change it before starting your car.
TIP: THESE ROCKER ARMS ARE NOT ONLY NOTORIOUS FOR STRIPPING, BUT ALSO WIGGLING LOOSE WHEN YOU FIRST START THE CAR BECAUSE OF THE VALVE OR LIFTER BEING OPEN INSTEAD OF BEING CLOSED, WHICH IS WHY YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO TRIPLE CHECK THESE. I DID THIS AND ONE OF THESE STILL WIGGLED LOOSE BECAUSE OF THE VALVE BEING OPEN WHEN I TORQUED THE NUT DOWN. THIS CAUSED A CHECK ENGINE LIGHT TO COME ON WITH A CODE OF P0305=CYLINDER 5 MISFIRE, WHICH WAS THE CYLINDER THAT THE ROCKER ARM WIGGLED LOOSE FROM WHICH CAUSED THE VALVE TO STAY STUCK CLOSED AND STARVED MY #5 CYLINDER OF FUEL....... THIS CAUSED ME TO SPEND MORE TIME AND $$ REPLACING/TESTING PARTS THAT WOULD HAVE NORMALLY HAVE CAUSED THE ENGINE TO MISFIRE LIKE THIS BUT WERE FINE.REMEMBER IF IT WAS WORKING FINE BEFORE YOU DID ALL OF THIS IT WILL STILL WORK FINE AFTERWARDS..............
YOU HAVE A CHOICE TO MAKE:THE CHOICE IS TO CLEAN OFF AND USE YOUR OLD LOWER INTAKE MANIFOLD BOLTS JUST TO FINISH YOUR ASSEMBLY AND START THE CAR TO SEE IF EVERYTHING IS FINE, AND IF IT IS THEN DISSEMBLE UNTIL YOU GET TO THE LOWER INTAKE AND REPLACE WITH NEW BOLTS AND TORQUE THEM DOWN AND REASSEMBLE THE UPPER HALF AGAIN...... ORTAKE YOUR CHANCES AND INSTALL/TORQUE DOWN THE NEW BOLTS NOW AND PRAY THAT EVERYTHING WILL BE OK WHEN YOU START YOUR CAR UP...... I LEAVE IT UP TO YOU.
Now Apply the BLACK RTV gasket maker that came with the Felpro Permadry Plus kit on both sides of the engine, don't be stingy with it either, make sure that it goes UNDERNEATH AND ON TOP OF THE ENDS OF BOTH OF THE LOWER INTAKE GASKETS OR YOU WILL HAVE AN UNSEALED SPOT AND IT WILL LEAK.
The instructions that came with the Felpro Permadry gasket kit says to put the lower intake manifold on while the supplied liquid gasket material you laid on the sides of the engine is still wet, the book/video says to wait until it dries a little around 5 to 15 mins depending how hot or cold it is outside.....since I used the supplied liquid gasket material that came with the gasket kit I am going to listen to its instructions and put the lower intake manifold on while the gasket material is still WET. If you have a buddy helping you out this is where this part is easy, if not this is hard.... you have to make sure that this is aligned with the bolt holes on the sides so that they all go into place like they are supposed to.... If it is not you CANNOT JUST SLIDE IT BACK AND FORTH TO GET IT TO ALIGN, YOU HAVE TO TAKE IT BACK OFF AND TRY IT AGAIN OR ELSE YOU WILL CAUSE THE RUBBER PARTS OF THE LOWER INTAKE GASKETS TO NOT SEAL PROPERLY AND CAUSE LEAKS.
The tightening sequence is in the last illustration you start with the top bolts and end with the bottom/side bolts. the 10mm UPPER BOLTS get torqued down to 10/9.5 Ft lbs (the video states that it is 13 newton meters which equals 9.588307940601 Ft lbs of Torque I leave it up to you) and THE LOWER/SIDE BOLTS get torqued down to 18.5/18 Ft lbs (the video states 25 newton meters which equals 18.439053731925 Ft lbs once again I leave it up to you ) IF you are going to use your new bolts, break them out and do so, if not clean off the old ones and torque down. One of each of the side bolts will require you to use a swivel+extension/or a crows-foot to remove/tighten/torque down. I used a the smallest metric socket set I had with the swivel +extension + reducer for the torque wrench to fit it.
Step 26:
Now its time to put the new gaskets on the valve covers.make sure that the lips on the gaskets point OUTWARDS of the valve covers, those fit into a small crevice on each side of the engine and if not put int right will cause OIL TO LEAK OUT OF THE ENDS OF THE VALVE COVERS. The illustration says to apply a dab of sealant on these lips that fit into the crevices on the side of the engine.... the gasket kit that I had did not state this so I did not (I don't have any leaks either).
put the valve covers on and finger tighten the 7mm bolts to secure them in the engine first, this is easy because of the boots that are on the bolts, these keep them from falling out so you can do this by yourself with ease. once you have both of the valve covers on torque the bolts up in a X pattern to 8 Ft lbs
After you torque the Backside valve cover bolts, be sure to put the other coil pack assembly stud that you removed to get to that last bolt back on the engine, finger tight plus a little twist from the channel locks is good enough
Step 27:
Reconnect the upper radiator hose, use a wire brush and clean any built up debris off before putting the coolant hose back on and tighten the hose clamp.
Do the same for the water pump hose too.
Now take the black hard line that was plugged into the top of your water pump, scrape/clean off old gasket material and replace the O Ring on it with new one from the kit, apply ULTRA BLACK RTV GASKET MAKER HERE AND BOLT DOWN the book/video gave no specific torque specs so I just did it to 12 Ft lbs
TIP: The gasket kit tells you what O Rings come in it, if you are unsure just make sire that the O ring that you are replacing is the same size as the one you are about to throw away. also apply gasket maker to ANYWHERE that you had to remove it form, it is there for a reason.
Step 28:
You are going to have to maneuver your fuel assembly on top of the lower intake so that the main harness that you unplugged can get plugged back into the sensor before you can put your power steering pump back in.
Now its time to put on your power steering pump, MAKE SURE THAT THE LINES ARE ALIGNED THE WAY THEY WERE WHEN YOU TOOK THEM OUT OR THE ALTERNATOR BRACKET WILL NOT BOLT IN!! the second illustration shows it best, the line that is connected to the rubber hose in the top of the pump goes in first, followed by the hard line going straight into the bottom of the pump, once you have the lines like this push the lines down onto its clip , you should hear a snap or a clicking sound, confirming that it is securely in place, some duct tape or zip ties also help hold this into place so that you can easily attach your alternator bracket. Once this is done use a 13mm deep socket to put the three bolts in via the hole in the pump pulley, torque down to 25 Ft lbs (there was not torque spec for this in the video or book, so I used to torque specs in the first illustration)
Next grab both pieces of the alternator bracket align the three 15mm holes/bolts and finger tighten to MAKE SURE THAT IT WILL ALL ALIGN IN CORRECTLY, once you can finger tighten ALL of the botls down to the part itself with out any complication Torque these bolts to 40 Ft lbs
Now grab your alternator and rest it in place of the bracket, you can now put the bolts in the back side of the alternator in, do not put the last bolt that goes through the front of the alternator yet. remove the 13MM nut off of the alternator to pug the lug back on, tighten up the nut back onto the alternator (no torque specs) make sure it is good and tight. put the rubber boot back on the lug and plug in the harness on the back of the alternator. torque to 30 Ft lbs ( the book or video did not give these specs)
Grab your serpentine belt, route it like the last illustration and use your ratchet to insert it into the tension-er pulley, pull upwards and wrap the serpentine belt around the alternator
TIP: The ENTIRE WIRING HARNESS OF THE CAR is designed so that each plug only fits into the right sensor/part and cannot be plugged in backwards. so do not worry about plugging in something in the wrong spot. The only place where this does not apply is the FUEL INJECTORS , THEY ALL HAVE THE SAME CONNECTORS AND ARE NOT NUMBERED. LEAVE THOSE ALONE
Step 29:
Next grab your coilpack assembly, it should still be down right before the O2 sensor resting comfy. set the back end of the assembly on the studs and pull them back so that they are sitting high up giving you room to put other things on.
Now put some CLEAN oil on your fingers and rub it on all of the O Rings on the fuel injectors that you just replaced. once that is done flip the fuel assembly right-side up and make sure that ALL OF THE INJECTORS are in the spot to go into their holes, start by pushing down in an X pattern, making sure that the harness to the MAP sensor is UNDERNEATH the fuel rails and the harness to the injectors is ABOVE the mounting plate.
Grab the hard fuel lines on the driver-side and bolt it back to its bracket.
next grab your new upper/lower intake manifold mating gaskets and put them on making sure that the mating surface is CLEAN. For some reason the old gaskets and even these new ones do not completely cover one of the holes completely. there was a little liquid gasket material on these spots but I did not put any on them.... I DO NOT HAVE ANY LEAKS IN THESE AREAS i leave it up to you if you want to put any in there or not.
Next connect the rubber hose back onto the hard line on the intake and tighten/move the hose clamp back in its place, you will see where it has been all if this time.
Step 30:
Next grab your MAP sensor and keep it close, after the upper intake manifold goes on you are going to plug it back in.
Torque the two 10mm bots that secure the fuel rail to the lower intake manifold to 8 Ft lbs
Step 31:
grab your new upper intake manifold, making sure that all of the plugs are snug, and that you attached the now cleaned EGR valve to it with its new gasket. Another sensor should also be attached to it (don't know the name sorry guys) and place the upper intake manifold on top of the lower intake manifold.
Place the 10mm bolts and the 13mm stud on finger tight in a X pattern, making sure that each one goes in with no trouble, if one of them does it is not aligned right, GENTLY move the manifold back and forth until all of the bolts go in easy the two bolts on the passenger front side will need to come out because a bracket that holds a wiring harness goes on top first, then the bolts, this is being done to make sure that the manifold is properly aligned. MAKE sure that the green harness that the MAP sensor pugs into is going over the UPPER intake manifold and through the hole of the upper intake.
Attach the MAP sensor bracket tighten the bolt to this bracket FINGER TIGHT ONLY for now, plug the green harness back into the BOTTOM of the MAP sensor, push the hose into the upper intake manifold via the hole in the bracket. push the other end of this hose to the gold canister on the front of the manifold (don't have a name for it) do not bolt the MAP sensor to the bracket just yet.....
Step 32:
Now if you listened to what I put down here and not the first picture, you could have saved yourself some time and agony by keeping this part on the rubber hose and scraping off/ cleaning all of the gasket material and O ring in the engine bay. If you did Kudos! if not follow along. After replacing the O ring put some RTV gasket maker on the end that goes into the engine I sued Red high temp RTV gasket maker. as you can tell from the second and third pics this part is pretty beat up, put the hose in the engine and then into the rubber hose, tighten the hose clamp and make sure that this hose sits on the DRIVER-SIDE of the EGR valve, NOT THE PASSENGER SIDE the last hose will not fit if you do not place this one on its proper side.
Step 33:
If you have attached the EGR valve to the upper intake manifold then all you have to do to connect it to your engine is to push the hose back in the back side and tighten the bolt holding it in place. if you need to you can spray some WD40 on the hose to get it to go in. this bolt gets torqued down to 18 Ft lbs. same for the two bolts holing the EGR valve onto the manifold.
If you left the EGR valve on the hose then get your new gasket and place it on the manifold while pushing the EGR valve in place, put the bolts in and torque to 18 Ft lbs
Step 34:
Now take your ignition assembly and move it so that it rests on the upper manifold. put the 10mm bolts on the front side finger tight for now and do the same with the 13mm nuts that go to the studs on the backside of the assembly, then torque to 18 Ft lbs. Plug the Back three spark plug wires in to the spark plugs in there right spots, look at the two illustrations to see where each one goes.
Now go around and torque all of the 10mm bolts and the 13mm nut/stud on the manifold to 18 Ft lbs in a X pattern, make sure that you put the bracket that holds the wiring harness on the front passenger side first then torque them down. now torque the MAP sensor bracket down to 18 Ft lbs, and the MAP sensor bolts as well. Double check that all bolts are torqued down!
now that you have bolted the bracket with the wiring harness in its place all of the sensor plugs should be in there general areas. plug the two harnesses into the passenger side of the ignition assembly, one is on the backside on the bottom for the O2 sensor, the other goes on the coil assembly. the other two get plugged into the driver side of the coil assembly, the one that gets plugged into the bottom connection should be taped to your trans dipstick, remove the tape and plug it back in the ignition assembly.
Step 35:
NOW take that bracket that was with your alternator and place the hole side on the 13mm stud on the backside of the upper manifold. Take the last 15mm bolt and put in in the alternator, it should now be going into the nut that is on the bracket, torque this bolt to 30 Ft lbs NOW take the 13mm nut and torque it down to 18 Ft lbs on the upper intake manifold. If you torque the nut down first and then the last alternator bolt the movement/vibration of the serpentine belt/alternator will crack this part of the manifold.
Now take your new Throttle body gasket and put it on the UPPER INTAKE MANIFOLD, and put a piece of tape on the top tab that protrudes out of the throttle body and secure it to the upper intake manifold (that tab is meant to be there to make putting that gasket on easy and breaks off) you will now align the two rubber hoses on the bottom to the hard line and push down and outward at the same time making sure that you have pushed both of the hoses into the hard lines at the same time. spray a little WD40 if you havea hard time getting both hoses in. then place the throttle body onto the upper intake manifold torque the 13mm or 10mm bolts one on the front side and the other on the bottom to 18 Ft lbs , next place the hard line onto the bolt/stud and tighten the 13mm nut to 18 Ft lbs securing the hard lines.
Next apply liquid gasket maker to back side of air hose and attach the back end of the plastic air hose to the engine, take a look at the last illustration for better reference
Step 36:
Attach the two 10mm bolts on the top to the throttle body bracket to the throttle body torque to 18 Ft lbs, making sure that there is NO KINKING OR SLACK IN THE THROTTLE CABLES. and slide the boot that goes to your air intake to your throttle body, tighten the hose clamp to secure.
There is a hose that connects to two places on your intake and to the sensor plug those in as well, put some RTV liquid gasket maker on the hose that gets plugged into the top of the intake/throttle body.
Now push the front end of the air hose into your air intake.
Attach air filter, or rubber hose to air filter depending if you have a cold air intake or stock
Step 37:
Plug in the front spark plug wires
Reconnect the battery, and put the coolant return tank in its place securing them with the speed nuts
Slide the bracing bar back into place and torque the 13mm bolts to 45 Ft lbs
Use a funnel to add your coolant back into your system and return tank.
DRAIN YOUR OIL AND ADD NEW OIL PLUS OIL FILTER
BEFORE YOU START YOUR CAR
you need to prime your engine with fuel so that it does not give excessive wear on the engine by cranking over too much and not starting. this is done the putting the key in the ignition and turning it to the ON position and back to off 5 times, then start your car, it should start right up.
BURP YOUR COOLING SYSTEM.I made an Instructable on it HERE
While your car is running.....
Now if you start your car and it is running fine, and you do not hear any strange noises or sounds coming from the engine check for leaks, make sure that the heater is blowing out hot air, then take your car for a test drive on the street for 15 mins. then re check for more leaks. Then take it on the freeway for 30 mins. Check for more leaks. If there is no leaks and the car is running fine (the transmission should also be shifting fine as well.If it is not I made an instructable on how to fix this HERE) CONGRATULATE YOURSELF ON A JOB WELL DONE! YOU JUST SAVED SEVERAL THOUSAND DOLLARS BY DOING THE WORK YOURSELF.
