Finally had some free time to get to the plenum on my truck (2001 with ~120,000). I had seen oil previously looking down the throttle body. After taking it apart, the gasket was completely intact. I think it had been lifting up, because there were oil stains between the bolt holes. I think the majority of the oil had been coming from the PCV valve, from the staining. I spent about 4.5 hours yesterday, and have it back almost ready to test.

The only problem I had was a small explosion. I was going to set the intake back in, and as I set it down, my trouble light slipped, and when it hit, it hit the fuel line on the intake and exploded, and then ignited the gas vapors, causing a slight boom. Had to pull it back off, and then shop vac all the broken glass out. Other than that, everything went pretty smoothly. I picked up a few more parts this morning, and should finish in another half hour, barring problems. I skipped on doing the distributor, only because it had been done not long before I bought the truck a few months ago. After I'm done, I guess I'll do a trans filter & fluid, and be back on the road.

Makes me wish I had torn into it sooner though, thanks to all the guys on the board that had given great info, I felt like I had done this before since I knew where everything was.

 

I would hate to do all that work just to find out it wasnt leaking and due to a PCV valve . Sound like you need a new drop light any pics?

 

I skipped taking pics, mainly because I was working by myself, and was trying to get it done. I still have the old belly pan sitting there and I'll try to get some pictures of it.

If nothing else, I figure it was worth it just for peace of mind. Next step is the SCT tuner, and I wanted to make sure it wasn't blown before I went to that step. I feel better already. I'll feel even better when I get it started and confirm that I did it correctly.

 

Note to self: Keep harping on those damned PCV valves.

Note to ferguson30: 'splosions are bad. Don't get blowed up.

 

The gasket does NOT have to be broken or falling apart for it to be leaking. If the steel plate lifts up enough between the bolts, to suck the oil through, that's all it takes.

 

I have the 2001 and my plenum gasket was still intact too. From what I understand, they were using a better gasket by then.

 

my 01 gasket wasn't broken, but it was leaking and both the plenum and plate gasket surfaces were wet with oil. i wasn't using all that much oil, but i was sucking air and pinging. new plate, gasket, (and timing set) silenced the ping.

i did not try to slide a thin blade past the gasket. i wished i had... i'll bet it would have slipped past.

 

Finished up the last of the few things (throttle body gasket, pcv valve, air filter), turned the key on and off a few times to cycle the fuel pump, and it fired right up. Ran it for a little bit, then double checked the torque on the intake bolts. Went ahead and changed the tranny fluid & filter, then took it for a test drive.

The only thing I noticed is that it started blowing heat from the vents a lot faster than before. Maybe it hadn't been bled properly before, and I got it this time. Who knows?

 

After i did the plenum fix today i also noticed my heater worked much better! but i flushed my heater core with CLR while i had it apart. i thought that was the reason why it worked better..