i didnt use any sealant with my hughes, but did torque to spec...and after 5K not one drop has leaked in, and its easy to tell with mine, for my manifold was cleaned at a machine hop, so its all silver inside and out, and VERy easy to tell if oil leaks in, and theres not one drop. and my truck just rolled 200K

 

I bet you have oil in the intake.
Without thread locker on those bolts they could work their way loose, but I don't think that is your problem. I think you squished the gasket in the center and now it is leaking again.
When I did mine, I laid all my tools on the cowl since I didn't have anyone to help me.
Look at the bright side though, having done it once already it will be a piece of cake to pop it off again.

 

The intake is clean I looked at it yesterday. Yea its been bothering me it was only last weekend when i did all this and i will most likely redo it. damnit...Ok one more question put in a 180 stat also now my temp guage is way lower than what it used to be i am fairly certain it had the stocker in it but it was hung open and it always registered closer to the 210 mark but now it closer to the 130 mark may not be a big deal heater and everything is fine but it just surprised me as to how it was leaning toward the lower part of the gauge... sorry for all the questions i just don't like starting new threads for little questions

 

does it hang out right here?


Mine used to hang just below the 210 mark also, then I changed the radiator and now it stays right there. A lot of the guys running the 180º thermostat say that is what their temp reads. But I've put in two different 195º thermostats and it still runs cooler.

 

yea about there might be a smidge lower i'll look at it this afternoon. that gives me a good reference point

 

you may want to change your tranny fluid and filter and you may need a tune up all around and change to sythetic oil your cat may need changed out there prone to go bad from a leaking plenum

got any pics welcome to the forum !!

 

Yea thats the next thing on my list is tranny fluid and filter. Cat is only 6 months old had new exhaust put on after i bought it. I should have pics on here tomorrow. I have read this forum for about three months now I just decided to join the party.

 

Sorry to hijack the thread, but how critical is the threadlocker on the plenum pan bolts?

 

i didnt use it and have not one drop of oil in my manifold after 5K....ive gone mudding and revved the **** out of it, and still no leaks....and i used no rtv on the gasket...just torque to proper spec

 

If the bolts were to wiggle out then I could see them working their way to a valve and scuffing it bad enough to cause a sealing problem or making their way to the distributor and that would just be plain bad.