intake gaskets

[surrender]

Hey there everyone. I thought I would take a few moments to express my thanks to those in the forum that provided me input on my intake gasket fix, so thanks richtazz, crazy jim, LA1. For those of you that are thinking of doing this job yourself and don’t have a lot of experience, the best words of advice is to be organized. Get yourself a cheap Haynes Impala manual (42048). Take pictures before you start each process of tear down to give yourself reference for re-assembly. Make sure you have all the tools needed organized. Label all of your connectors and hoses. Give yourself plenty of space for putting and cleaning parts. Buy all your fluids, pipe compound and anti-seize (for spark plugs) at the same time you get the gaskets to avoid more trips to the parts store that will slow you down.

I got the car fixed with only a couple of hitches along the way (besides having to work as well as do the car). Since feedback is a good portion of this site, I thought I would give you a quick rundown of my progress through it..

Here is a picture of the engine before the tear down.





Negative batter cable disconnected. Fuel pressure relieved (thanks tazz). Coolant drained. Remove top radiator hose, cross vehicle brace, coolant overflow tank, alternator and alternator mounting bracket.





Remove air filter and ductwork. Remove throttle and cruise control cables.






Label and remove any more connections for the wiring harness and set it aside.






Remove coil pack, plug wires, power steering pump (set it aside) and coolant bypass pipe. I was able to get mine out without having to take off either of the top motor struts.







Remove EGR from upper intake. Remove upper intake. Take care to keep all brackets held on by the intake, with the intake. Use a plastic bag.






Remove fuel lines. 9/16 SAE on back rail and No. 27 torx for front rail (remove the fuel sensor retaining clip from the fuel rail and keep it with the torx bolt). Remove valve covers (for the back you need a 5/16 SAE with a 1/4 inch drive and 2" extention to fit beside the coil pack mounting stud). Remove thermostat (not shown). This will make it easier to get the lower intake off.






Loosen the fuel rail mounting bolts (to allow room to get to lower intake bolts). Remove lower intake. Loosen bolts 1/4 turn at a time to avoid warping the intake. This picture was also very helpful in the re-assembly. You can see that the pushrods are paint coded for easy identification. Exhaust (6" long) are marked bright orange and intake (5 3/4" long) are light orange. If you do what I did (cleaned pushrods thus removing paint) this picture could be a life saver. Its also possible to identify where the intake rods go by looking into the lower intake chambers. As you can see, where the fuel is drawn in, its clean. The direction of the mark is the location where the intake rods should go.






This is a picture of where my leak was. Drivers side back water jacket. You can see how the silicone gasket is all warped and falling out of the plastic allowing coolant to exit the intake around the angled bolt. It also was deteriorating the RTV on the block seal. Coolant is still visible on the block right under where the intake would be.





This was about the time I had to go to work and I forgot to take pictures of the push rods removed. For reference, I would also also take a picture of the table where you have the disassembled parts. Then if you are missing something you can identify where it could be.

And here is the final product.





I have checked for both oil and coolant leaks and have not found any. Although my car still stinks like coolant when it gets warm. Hopefully that will eventually burn away. So there you have it. Total cost for FelPro gaskets, Gastrol Syntec 5W-30, AC Delco oil filter and Murry + thermostat was around $150 or so. Less than $200 for sure and my car is back on the road.

I hope this post and pictures might help the next novice out!

Jim

[57chevyragtop]

Excellent post! Thank-you for your efforts and commitment to sharing. Dave~

[BNaylor]

Good post.

Here is one of the best LIM gasket procedures I've seen on the 3400 VIN "E" which goes into alot more detail.

Click here


Also, keep in mind GM revised the LIM bolt torque pattern and torque values in October 2003.

The material used in the gasket has been changed in order to improve the sealing qualities of the gasket. When replacing the gasket, the intake manifold bolts must also be replaced and torqued to a revised specification. The new bolts will come with a pre-applied threadlocker on them.

Notice

An oil leak may result if the vertical bolts are not tightened before the diagonal bolts.


Diagonal bolts may require a crows foot to tighten.

Tighten

1. Tighten the vertical lower intake manifold bolts (1) to 7 N.m (62 lb in).

2. Tighten the diagonal lower intake manifold bolts (2) to 7 N.m (62 lb in).

3. Tighten the vertical lower intake manifold bolts (1) to 13 N.m (115 lb in).

4. Tighten the diagonal lower intake manifold bolts (2) to 25 N.m (18 lb ft).

[richtazz]

Nice post and pictures, and you are very welcome.

[surrender]

Hmmm.... I didnt torque the angled bolts to 18 ft/lbs after acheiving 115 in/lbs. That sucks as that means that the upper intake and throttle body along, alternator and power steer needs to come back off. Looks like I had better get it back into the garage quick.

Also, concerning the coolant smell in the engine compartment... I didnt have the clip on the coolant bypass hose that goes under the upper intake. A small amount was seen on the front valve cover when I checked the oil today. Hopefully any coolant that ran down to the exhaust will burn away soon. So yeah.... DOUBLE AND TRIPLE check all connections and hoses

And thanks for posting that link bNaylor. That is a very informative article and anyone planning on doing this fix for themselves should definately read that. My post was basically giving everyone a quick run down of what I did and in what order. Thanks for the feedback AF!! Gotta love this site!

[57chevyragtop]

Bnaylor, very good post and thanks for the added information on the torque spec change...Hope I don't need it!

['97ventureowner]

Wouldn't it be a good idea to make this thread a "sticky" and put it at the top of the list so others can reference it as they need it, instead of having it slip into "oblivion" and then have to search for it?

[BNaylor]

Originally Posted by '97ventureowner

Wouldn't it be a good idea to make this thread a "sticky" and put it at the top of the list so others can reference it as they need it, instead of having it slip into "oblivion" and then have to search for it?

Good suggestion Tom. We could do that or another suggestion is what some of the other GM forums are doing. For example at Pontiac Grand Prix, Oldsmobile Cutlass/N Bodies and Buick we have started Tips & Maintenance Procedures subforums where members can post their experiences, any guidelines and R&R procedures including pics. See link below for example.

http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbul...lay.php?f=2142

Let me know and we shall take the matter under careful consideration to decide what is best for this forum.

[57chevyragtop]

I think that is an excellent idea, I sometimes forget where I read a procedure and need to reference to it. Having it posted in a sub-forum as mentioned could help this old guy. Example: I used a procedure to reset the brakes after a pad and rotor change and think it went like this...turn ignition to acc, pump the brake pedal 5 times slowly and and add brake fluid to level and your done. No bleeding necessary. Can't remember where I found that info, I've re-read all the books I've used and not found it...Might have been Alldata, but sub ran out...Yeah I like the idea!

[Shortbus]

Stickied.

John

[Colt Hero]

Finally picked up the intake gasket set for my 3.4l 2002 Impala 92k (base model). I went with FelPro at AutoZone. $85 for upper, lower, and valve cover gaskets. Question is: how do I know if this set conforms to GM's latest spec for these gaskets? I suppose I could contact FelPro, and I probably will, but I was wondering if anybody out there could offer reassurance.

['97ventureowner]

There is an excellent chance that the gaskets you purchased are the revised version. It's been almost 5 years since they were released and with the number of intake repairs performed in this county alone , I'm sure the supply of old gaskets was exhausted and replaced with the newer version long ago. Especially since you say you purchased them at Autozone, they tend to have a fairly high turnover rate on an item like that.If in doubt you still can contact Fel Pro to ease your worries.

[la1]

good post

one recommendation

I would highly recommend getting the factory manuals from HELM. It is a 3 volume set with 2 of the books the size of phone books. Haynes codences this down to one volume of 300 or so pages. They leave out a lot of info, like for instance on the malibu upper intake replacement. They leave out the fact that you have to remove the passenger side motor mount. Which means partially jacking up the engine with a floor jack. Imagine buying parts,getting to that point and finding you do not have a floor jack. You have spent good money getting top line parts like FEL-PRO gaskets why go cheapo on the manual. Plus you will have the manual for other repair jobs. The same very same manual the Mechanics use when you take your car to the shop.

[Colt Hero]

About to begin the intake manifold job on my '02 3.4l Impala (93k). Picked up the Felpro gaskets a few weeks ago. Mechanics will probably think this is crazy, but I went through my shops manuals and expanded the entire removal and install (sub) procedures into one big linear procedure (so that I can procede from step A to Z without flipping pages back and forth in my manuals).

Got a few questions after doing this, however:

REMOVAL STEP #2: Remove the Upper Intake Manifold:

1.) Sub-Step 10 says to "remove the ignition coil bracket with the coils", however the sub-steps say to remove the coils from the ICM. Will this be necessary?

2.) Sub-Step 13 says to remove the EGR valve, which has a gasket. Will this gasket need to be replace on re-install?

3.) Sub-Step 18 says to remove the throttle body if replacing the intake manifold. This implies that I shouldn't have to remove the throttle body, right?

4.) Sub-Step 19 says to "clean the upper intake gasket mating surfaces". How is this best done?

REMOVAL STEP #3: Remove the LEFT valve rocker arm cover:

5.) Sub-Step 3 says to "remove the right engine mount strut". Sub-Step 4 says to remove the thermostat bypass hose and pipe - which includes removal of the "LH engine mount strut". If BOTH engine mounts are removed, what's holding up the engine at this point? Also part of the T-stat bypass hose/pipe removal is the removal of the "fuel injector sight shield". Can all this T-stat bypass hose/pipe removal-related stuff be skipped? I thought I remember seeing someone say they did this.

REMOVAL STEP #9: Remove the fuel FEED pipe from the fuel injector rail:

6.) Sub-Step 1 says to "Relieve Fuel Pressure" by installing a fuel pressure gauge fitting and fuel pressure gauge, then installing a bleed hose and opening a valve. What's the easier way to do this?

7.) Sub-Step 5 says to "Disconnect the quick-connect fittings from the fuel FEED pipe and the fuel return pipe in the engine compartment". Sub-Step 6 says to "Disconnect the quick-connect fitting from the fuel RETURN pipe in front of the fuel tank". Is this necessary?

REMOVAL STEP #11: Remove the Fuel Injector Rail:

8.) Sub-Step 14 says to "Remove the injector O-ring seal from the spray tip end of each injector". Is this necessary?

REMOVAL STEP #12: Remove the power steering pump:

8.) Do the pressure line and return hoses need to be dis-connected? Can I avoid bleeding the system later on?

---------------------------------------------------

INSTALL STEP #5: Apply bead of RTV Sealer (to install Lower Intake gaskets)

9.) What type and brand of RTV Sealer should I use (other than the GM P/N mentioned)?

INSTALL STEP #7: Install the valve rocker arms and push rods:

10.) Sub-steps specify "pre-lube" to be put on the ends of the push rods and rocker arm friction surfaces. What type and brand to use ?? Also when the valve rocker arm bolts are tightened to 19 N-m, it also specifies an "additional 30 degrees" of tightening. What's with that?

INSTALL STEP #9: Apply thread locker to lower intake manifold bolts:

11.) Can I buy the thread locker in a store, or do I have to get the GM P/N? Also, can I clean and re-use the old bolts?

INSTALL STEP #10: Lower Intake bolt tightening schedule:

a.) Tighten the vertical lower intake manifold bolts (4 inner bolts) to 7 N-m or 62 lb in
b.) Tighten the diagonal lower intake manifold bolts (4 outer bolts) to 7 N-m or 62 lb in
c.) Tighten the vertical lower intake manifold bolts (2nd round) to 13 N-m or 115 lb in
d.) Tighten the diagonal lower intake manifold bolts (2nd round) to 13 N-m or 115 lb in

Are this values still good, or have they been revised since the manual was printed?

INSTALL STEP #15: Install the fuel injector rail:

12.) Sub-step 8 calls for NEW O-RINGS in the fuel feed pipe and fuel return pipe. Necessary?

INSTALL STEP #24: Install the upper intake manifold:

13.) Sub-procedure makes no mention of any sealant being used on the gaskets. Is this correct?

-------------------------------------------
Also, procedure doesn't appear to mention any special tools. Are there any, or are there any ADDITIONAL repairs that are recommended that the manual hasn't mentioned?


Sorry for the length of this post...

[benjaminj0711]

Hello,

Great Pictures ! Heres my problem and I mean a problem I was doing a standard intake replace ment on the same car (3.4 liter ) my assistant knocked over my arranged pushrods and I do not know what order to put them in. If any one can tell me the arrangement and if they have to be a specific way for flow. Email me at benjaminj@ufl.edu or call me 786 879 0420 . I should have been done with this many moons ago. HELP ME