Replacing intake manifold gasket questions

[Matt S.]

Guys, for those of you who have done intake gaskets, I'd like any tips, advice, whatever you have come across.

I'm working with a 93 2.2 N/A and I'm just looking for past experiences for those of you who have done it. By the looks of it, it looks more time consuming then actually difficult to do, which is why I really don't want to take it to the dealer. So what I'm looking for is:

Rough estimate on how long it took you?
Any special tools needed?
Any really tricky parts to doing them?
What else should I replace, if anything, while I have it off?
How extensive is the job? What all must come off(alternator?, power steering pump?, etc.)
Now that you did it once, would you do it again or would you rather pay to have it done?

By the way, I did a search and I did find this: http://bbs.legacycentral.org/viewtopic. ... ld+gaskets

But I wanted some other opinions as well.

Thanks in advance!

[douglas vincent]

Intake gaskets are the gaskets under the intake manifold connecting to the heads. Is this what you are referring to?

[magicmike]

^ + 1, what makes you think you need to replace these?

[Matt S.]

"Replacing Intake Manifold Gaskets"

Guys, yes, I know the intake gaskets are the ones connecting the intake manifold to the heads.

They need replaced because the left rear side is leaking. 208,000 miles on the originals may have something to do with that

I'm pretty sure I'll try them myself, just looking for opinions from those who have done them already.

Thanks.

[vrg3]

I probably spent a few hours doing mine, because I was being really careful and having a good time. They're pretty easy. Definitely something you should do yourself.

You'll need lint-free rags to plug the intake ports on the head.

You'll need razor blades to scrape the old gaskets off. You'll probably want a strong vacuum cleaner or something to suck up the pieces of gasket you scrape off.

I like to use that copper gasket spray stuff.

You don't have to drain the coolant, but if you don't you'll have to deal with some coolant spilling when you disconnect the lines from the IAC valve and throttle body.

I do believe you need to remove the power steering pump, alternator, and air conditioning compressor.

If you unbolt the power steering lines from the intake manifold I believe you can simply remove the pump from the engine but leave it connected to the lines, and swing it over to the side. To remove the three mounting bolts you have to stick a deep socket in through the hole in the pulley.

The A/C compressor can also be left attached to its hoses and just swung over to the side.

If you're trying to remove the manifold and it seems stuck, don't just pull harder; it's probably a wiring harness connector you forgot to undo.

Before disconnecting the fuel hoses, relieve fuel system pressure.

[Matt S.]

vrg3, that's exactly what I'm looking for. Thanks a lot!

-Matt

[Psychoreo]

READ THE TORQUE SPEC CAREFULLY!!! it's an easy job but when i looked up the torque everything was in ft/lbs except the manifold bolts... in/lbs... breaking one of those bolts makes the job a pain in the ass.

[Matt S.]

Great tip, thanks Psychoreo.

-Matt

[dzx]

Did this yesterday, took me 10 mins. I just unbolted the 8 bolts that hold the manifold to the heads then used a screwdriver to poke the old one out and slid the new one in and retorqued it down. Very simple job.

[vrg3]

You didn't have to scrape the old gaskets off, Dan? It took me a good five minutes of scraping per side.

[douglas vincent]

I am swapping manifolds tonight (Maybe, depends, we will see....) and I don't have replacement gaskets. So..... I hope to reuse the old ones. Done it before, hope to do it again. but it depends upon the type of gasket. Some get "sticky" and tear apart when you pull the manifold off. Some are metalish and are reusable (to a point).

[vrg3]

Hmm... Now that I think about it, I think they redesigned the gaskets at some point, to make them seal better. So maybe one type is reusable and the other is sticky and not reusable.

[Psychoreo]

yes, the gaskets i got from Blackbart were the metalish re-useable kind. the other ones were the sticky gross ones

[dzx]

Yeah, mine didnt require any scraping. I've also swapped manifolds quite a bit lately. It's become a weekly part of my life lol.

[Matt S.]

Well, I got the intake manifold off. Not nearly as bad as I first thought. I was plesantly surprised I didn't have to mess with any of the accessories(PS/Alt/AC/etc.).

Took me about an hour, but it's one of those jobs where, as others have mentioned, after doing it once, knowing what gets unplugged, what doesn't, knowing what tools you need, you can cut that time in half at the very least.

I'm totally glad I did it myself because it gives me a chance to clean things really good. Also, I'm replacing as many vacumn lines as possible with new hose since the current vacumn lines are solid as a rock. And, while I'm at it, I'm going to replace the Thottle body gasket and the IAC valve gasket since I have the stuff off. Why not, they all have 208,000 miles on as well so...

Going back together my be a bit more troublesome, but not too bad I hope.

On a side note, my intake gaskets were not metal, but required very little effort to get any remains off of the head. This is a '93 so maybe they had the upgraded gaskets on by then? I know they are the originals because the car was a one owner before me and I have all of her service records from day one. Hey, I'm not complaining

-Matt