Summary of my Plenum Pan Replacement Weekend...
Thread Starter
|
Veteran
Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 387
Likes: 3
From: Lee's Summit, MO (KC)
Summary of my Plenum Pan Replacement Weekend...
Ok, here is the summary of my long weekend.
Friday - 1.5 hours
- Got the fan unbolted (that was a pain)
- Took out the radiator fan shroud with the Rad fluid fluid bottle attached and the washer fluid bottle off and resting inside on the frame rail.
- Drained the radiator (hint: take off radiator cap for better flow) and found that my radiator fluid was cruddy!
- Took air box off
- Took serpentine belt off
- Took A/C compressor off and laid it over on the passenger side tire well
- Took the Alternator out all together
- Took the A/C and Alternator holding bracket out all together.
Saturday - 1.5 hours - family outting - then 3 hours more
- Took the throttle bottle bracket off
- Took the throttle bottle off (it had a ton of gooey carbon build up on the under side of the fins, and even slipping around the fins.
Could see how much oily build up was down on the plenum plate
- Took off coolant by-pass hose
- Took off top radiator hose from the block with thermostat housing intact.
- Cleaned out a ton of RTV that was holding the thermostat in and was used as a gasket by the previous owner.
- Didn't have the special took to take the fuel line off of the rails, so I just popped the rails with injectors attached up and out with some gentle, yet firm pulling and a little help from a long screw driver to pry with between each set of injectors.
- Injector 3 (2nd one back on driver's side) decided to stay in the manifold and pop out of the rail
- Cleaned up fuel with rags
- Got Injector 3 out easily with hands
- Attempted to install Injector 3 back into the rail only to break the top o-ring
- Start to take the bolts out that are holding the Intake Manifold down
- Snap the first bolt (front of engine, driver's side) with hardly any torque at all!!! (wondered how the rest of the 12 bolts would fair)
- Took off the other 11 bolts with no problem at all.
- Pulled the Intake Manifold off and hear/see coolant drain out as I was slowly pulling it up through wires and trying not to hit anything.
- Laid it on it's top and took off all 15 bolts to reveal the extent of the plenum leak on the inside of the plenum pan
And how much oily build up there was on the inside of the intake manifold.
- Then I looked back at the engine.....COOLANT WHERE THERE SHOULD BE OIL!!!
- After being convinced by the great minds here that I didn't have a head gasket leak, but rather had just dumped my coolant from the intake manifold into the area on top of the head, I calmed down. Soaked it up with some rags, and covered the entire area with rags to keep any of the old gasket pieces and metal shavings from falling down in there.
- Then I looked at my snapped off bolt.
- Soaked it with PB Blaster
- Soaked it with PB Blaster
- Vice Grips and couldn't get it to budge
- Soaked it with PB Blaster
- Cleaned throttle body and intake manifold with Brake Cleaner
- Installed new thicker plenum plate from 1999Blkdakrt on ebay which came in less than 2 days with plenum plate bolts.
- Soaked bolt with PB Blaster
Sunday - Fathers day and no work done
- Soaked bolt with PB Blaster
Monday - 7 hours including multiple trips to O'Rielly's and Lowes
- Got propane for my torch and headed the bolt
- Vice grips on it and it appeared to move slighly
- Hit it with a hammer, heated it more
- Vice grips on it and it starts to turn....SNAP!! Now it broke off in the head.
- Off to Lowes for a tap!
- Drilled out the bolt/hole clean through the head
- Used a 5/16" tap in the hole. Was a pain because of the design of the tap handle, I could only make quarter turns before hitting the valve cover
- Installed gaskets and placed the intake manifold back into place
- Hand tightened all NEW bolts, and the drilled out bolt wouldn't go
- Using the intake manifold as a guide, I drilled out the rough spots in the hole and ran the tap completely through
- New bolt screwed in like butter! Nice and snug.
- Tightened 1-4 bolts to 4lbs/ft and then to 6lbs/ft
- Tightened all other bolts to 6lbs/ft
- Tightened all bolts to 12lbs/ft
- Put new o-rings on Injector 3 and lightly rubbed them with motor oil and it popped right into the rail
- Installed throttle body and throttle body bracket
- Applied light oil to all injectors' lower o-rings and popped the two fuel rails back into the intake manifold.
- Put everything back together.
- Popped the wires off of all the spark plugs (hardest part of this entire job!!!!) and Number 7 decided to break off and the metal stayed on the spark plug
- Needle nose pliers got the metal off and back into the plug wire and crimped (note to self to watch for a mis-fire of cylinder 7)
- Pulled all plugs to find that they were all gapped to .070 and look like they haven't been replaced in over 100,000 miles
- Drained out the 2 week old synthetic oil that was contaminated by the coolant
- Pulled the oil filter and replaced with cheap filter.
- Filled engine with cheap oil
- Unplugged the fuel feed fuse
- Turned over the engine a few times to pop any possible coolant out the plug holes
- Gapped new plugs to .050 and installed
- Filled up radiator with new coolant
- Started her up and let her run for 10 min.
- Drained out cheap oil and filter
- Replaced oil with synthetic and new K&N oil filter.
Test Drove and NO LEAKS DETECTED!!! PRAISE GOD. I now have a 218k truck with a new plenum plate and 180-degree thermostat.
This was my first attempt at a major disassemble (at least major in my book) as I usually stick to suspension, brakes, starters, etc. It was scary, but I took my time and consulted the GREAT minds on here often. THANKS GUYS!!! Couldn't have done it without you!
Friday - 1.5 hours
- Got the fan unbolted (that was a pain)
- Took out the radiator fan shroud with the Rad fluid fluid bottle attached and the washer fluid bottle off and resting inside on the frame rail.
- Drained the radiator (hint: take off radiator cap for better flow) and found that my radiator fluid was cruddy!
- Took air box off
- Took serpentine belt off
- Took A/C compressor off and laid it over on the passenger side tire well
- Took the Alternator out all together
- Took the A/C and Alternator holding bracket out all together.
Saturday - 1.5 hours - family outting - then 3 hours more
- Took the throttle bottle bracket off
- Took the throttle bottle off (it had a ton of gooey carbon build up on the under side of the fins, and even slipping around the fins.
Could see how much oily build up was down on the plenum plate
- Took off coolant by-pass hose
- Took off top radiator hose from the block with thermostat housing intact.
- Cleaned out a ton of RTV that was holding the thermostat in and was used as a gasket by the previous owner.
- Didn't have the special took to take the fuel line off of the rails, so I just popped the rails with injectors attached up and out with some gentle, yet firm pulling and a little help from a long screw driver to pry with between each set of injectors.
- Injector 3 (2nd one back on driver's side) decided to stay in the manifold and pop out of the rail
- Cleaned up fuel with rags
- Got Injector 3 out easily with hands
- Attempted to install Injector 3 back into the rail only to break the top o-ring
- Start to take the bolts out that are holding the Intake Manifold down
- Snap the first bolt (front of engine, driver's side) with hardly any torque at all!!! (wondered how the rest of the 12 bolts would fair)
- Took off the other 11 bolts with no problem at all.
- Pulled the Intake Manifold off and hear/see coolant drain out as I was slowly pulling it up through wires and trying not to hit anything.
- Laid it on it's top and took off all 15 bolts to reveal the extent of the plenum leak on the inside of the plenum pan
And how much oily build up there was on the inside of the intake manifold.
- Then I looked back at the engine.....COOLANT WHERE THERE SHOULD BE OIL!!!
- After being convinced by the great minds here that I didn't have a head gasket leak, but rather had just dumped my coolant from the intake manifold into the area on top of the head, I calmed down. Soaked it up with some rags, and covered the entire area with rags to keep any of the old gasket pieces and metal shavings from falling down in there.
- Then I looked at my snapped off bolt.
- Soaked it with PB Blaster
- Soaked it with PB Blaster
- Vice Grips and couldn't get it to budge
- Soaked it with PB Blaster
- Cleaned throttle body and intake manifold with Brake Cleaner
- Installed new thicker plenum plate from 1999Blkdakrt on ebay which came in less than 2 days with plenum plate bolts.
- Soaked bolt with PB Blaster
Sunday - Fathers day and no work done
- Soaked bolt with PB Blaster
Monday - 7 hours including multiple trips to O'Rielly's and Lowes
- Got propane for my torch and headed the bolt
- Vice grips on it and it appeared to move slighly
- Hit it with a hammer, heated it more
- Vice grips on it and it starts to turn....SNAP!! Now it broke off in the head.
- Off to Lowes for a tap!
- Drilled out the bolt/hole clean through the head
- Used a 5/16" tap in the hole. Was a pain because of the design of the tap handle, I could only make quarter turns before hitting the valve cover
- Installed gaskets and placed the intake manifold back into place
- Hand tightened all NEW bolts, and the drilled out bolt wouldn't go
- Using the intake manifold as a guide, I drilled out the rough spots in the hole and ran the tap completely through
- New bolt screwed in like butter! Nice and snug.
- Tightened 1-4 bolts to 4lbs/ft and then to 6lbs/ft
- Tightened all other bolts to 6lbs/ft
- Tightened all bolts to 12lbs/ft
- Put new o-rings on Injector 3 and lightly rubbed them with motor oil and it popped right into the rail
- Installed throttle body and throttle body bracket
- Applied light oil to all injectors' lower o-rings and popped the two fuel rails back into the intake manifold.
- Put everything back together.
- Popped the wires off of all the spark plugs (hardest part of this entire job!!!!) and Number 7 decided to break off and the metal stayed on the spark plug
- Needle nose pliers got the metal off and back into the plug wire and crimped (note to self to watch for a mis-fire of cylinder 7)
- Pulled all plugs to find that they were all gapped to .070 and look like they haven't been replaced in over 100,000 miles
- Drained out the 2 week old synthetic oil that was contaminated by the coolant
- Pulled the oil filter and replaced with cheap filter.
- Filled engine with cheap oil
- Unplugged the fuel feed fuse
- Turned over the engine a few times to pop any possible coolant out the plug holes
- Gapped new plugs to .050 and installed
- Filled up radiator with new coolant
- Started her up and let her run for 10 min.
- Drained out cheap oil and filter
- Replaced oil with synthetic and new K&N oil filter.
Test Drove and NO LEAKS DETECTED!!! PRAISE GOD. I now have a 218k truck with a new plenum plate and 180-degree thermostat.
This was my first attempt at a major disassemble (at least major in my book) as I usually stick to suspension, brakes, starters, etc. It was scary, but I took my time and consulted the GREAT minds on here often. THANKS GUYS!!! Couldn't have done it without you!
Thread Starter
|
Veteran
Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 387
Likes: 3
From: Lee's Summit, MO (KC)
YES! The confidence level is sky high right now. What I have learned from you guys on here and those over at IH8MUD.com over the last few years have added so much to my home repair possibilities. In fact...I went camping with a buddy recently and when we got to the lake, his boat wouldn't start. Click, but not start. He was thinking that a trip to the local boat shop and a 2nd mortgage was in order. I said, "sounds like the starter...let's take it apart and brush the contacts off." In the O'Reilly's parking lot with a $2 wire brush, we fixed the boat and had it in the water fishing that night!!
Thread Starter
|
Veteran
Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 387
Likes: 3
From: Lee's Summit, MO (KC)
Oh...and HEYYOU......I couldn't have done this job without your constant patience, and guidance. Thank you, brother!
If you ever plan on hunting northwest Missouri, I will put you on some good spots!
Administrator
Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 87,395
Likes: 4,213
From: Clayton MI
Yeah, plenum gasket. Your doesn't look stock. Prolly someone was in there, and just replaced the gasket, and didn't address the underlying problem. 
I broke both the front bolts on mine. Same thing as you, give it a harsh look, and the head popped off.... That was fun.
And: Happy to be of service.
I broke both the front bolts on mine. Same thing as you, give it a harsh look, and the head popped off.... That was fun.
And: Happy to be of service.
Veteran
Joined: Jun 2011
Posts: 325
Likes: 0
From: California
Mudshack,
Just wanted to tell you how much i appreciate these pictures.
Im about to do plenum plate, valve cover gaskets and painting, timing chain, water pump, electric fan mod,kegger mod,and all hoses as well. Me and a friend hoping to tackle it in 2-3 days. May have to split it into two weekends and do intake, valve covers and e-fan one weekend then timing chain and water pump next weekend, just nice when everything's outta the way to do it all :P Looks like i need to buy some fuel injector o-rings and a 5/16" tap and a drill bit just incase :P
Just wanted to tell you how much i appreciate these pictures.
Im about to do plenum plate, valve cover gaskets and painting, timing chain, water pump, electric fan mod,kegger mod,and all hoses as well. Me and a friend hoping to tackle it in 2-3 days. May have to split it into two weekends and do intake, valve covers and e-fan one weekend then timing chain and water pump next weekend, just nice when everything's outta the way to do it all :P Looks like i need to buy some fuel injector o-rings and a 5/16" tap and a drill bit just incase :P
Trending Topics
Thread Starter
|
Veteran
Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 387
Likes: 3
From: Lee's Summit, MO (KC)
I have 7 boxes of O-rings for ya. LOL. After breaking the one trying to get it installed, I figured if I was buying 1 box, I might as well by all 8 just in case. Better to have and not have to run out, then to be stuck.
Banned Goober Smoocher
Joined: Jun 2010
Posts: 8,916
Likes: 1
Good to hear everything is working great now.
Although I have one thing to say, gapping your plugs at .050 will theoretically shorten their usable lifespan. I, personally, would drop them down to .040.
Other that, great work.
Although I have one thing to say, gapping your plugs at .050 will theoretically shorten their usable lifespan. I, personally, would drop them down to .040.
Other that, great work.