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Old 04-22-2006, 10:26 PM   #31
NM_HighPlains
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Re: Intake Manifold Gasket (my own Do-It-Yourself experience)

I spoke too soon. It's leaking like crazy right now. However, I don't think it's the intake manifold now, I think it's the water pump. I crawled underneath and there's just a steady heavy drip of antifreeze coming down from somewhere beneath the intake manifold. I checked the heater hoses- no leak, nothing at the thermostat. I can't see any leak from the top of the engine, just underneath. Plus, the coolant is clear coolant w/ no oil like it was before.

Oh well, it's going to have to go to the mechanic. Bummer.
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Old 04-24-2006, 05:08 PM   #32
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Re: Intake Manifold Gasket (my own Do-It-Yourself experience)

Quote:
Originally Posted by NM_HighPlains
I spoke too soon. It's leaking like crazy right now. However, I don't think it's the intake manifold now, I think it's the water pump. I crawled underneath and there's just a steady heavy drip of antifreeze coming down from somewhere beneath the intake manifold. I checked the heater hoses- no leak, nothing at the thermostat. I can't see any leak from the top of the engine, just underneath. Plus, the coolant is clear coolant w/ no oil like it was before.

Oh well, it's going to have to go to the mechanic. Bummer.
Have you checked the bypass hose and the heater hose that goes to the water pump?

If the water leak is from the water pump it's a pretty easy repair.

Don't give up yet. If you have the ability to change the intake manifold gasket you certainly have the ability to find your coolant leak.

Good luck!!!!!
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Old 04-27-2006, 05:59 PM   #33
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Re: Intake Manifold Gasket (my own Do-It-Yourself experience)

Quote:
Originally Posted by NoEcm
Have you checked the bypass hose and the heater hose that goes to the water pump?

If the water leak is from the water pump it's a pretty easy repair.

Don't give up yet. If you have the ability to change the intake manifold gasket you certainly have the ability to find your coolant leak.

Good luck!!!!!
Yes on the hoses- no problem.

I just didn't have time to do the water pump. With the manifold, I had a week's window there, but now I've got 2,000 head of yearling cattle coming in and I just don't have time. Mechanic (a guy I trust) has it and it is indeed the water pump. I'm wondering whether I should have him do the timing chain while he's there...104k miles on truck. I don't mind preventative maint and I hate having things break down.

What do y'all think?
==================================
edit: I'm picking the rig up today. Had the water pump, rear brakes, fuel filter, and fuel pump (weak pressure) replaced. Timing chain was in good shape, so we left it alone. It's been a busy week for me here on the ranch- I got nearly 1,000 yearlings in and there's just no way I would have had time to do the work myself. Oh well, the way I look at it, me replacing the head gasket saved the money that the other repairs cost!

Last edited by NM_HighPlains; 05-05-2006 at 07:41 AM.
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Old 06-05-2006, 11:43 AM   #34
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Re: Intake Manifold Gasket (my own Do-It-Yourself experience)

I want to thank Suburban-97 and NoECM for this thread. I had to complete this repair due to the heater quick disconnect breaking off at the threads when I was in the process of doing my annual failed-alternator change ( - love those reman alternators!). I can handle many repairs, but this thread was monumentally helpful -- both of the repair books I have don't give any of the details needed to complete this right. My biggest challenge was getting the wiring all disconnected and out of the way, then connected back correctly after it was complete -- there's a ton of those suckers! Thanks to your article, putting the manifold back on was actually the easy part -- the pens worked great! But it all worked -- started right up on the first crank, no leaks.

Related to this, several years ago we had a fuel injector fail. I spent $800+ having the dealer change that one $75 injector and "clean" it all out. As a result I started using Chevron Fuel System Cleaner at every oil change, and haven't had any trouble since. Despite that, the intake manifold was extremely dirty when I pulled it off last week -- could be over time, or they didn't do it well/at all in the first place. This time when I did it, I burned through 10 cans of the Valvoline synthetic carb/TB cleaner -- that stuff is amazing, but the engine was real dirty inside, and that gunk is hard to get off otherwise.

Anyway, thanks again, great thread!!!
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Old 06-10-2006, 05:56 PM   #35
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Re: Intake Manifold Gasket (my own Do-It-Yourself experience)

This is a great thread. I have a 93 Suburban with leaking coolant that I think is coming out of the intake manifold just above the right water pump attachment. Will these directions work for a 93 as well? From the pics, I saw one difference was the AC compressor. I'm wondering what else is different as I may be so bold/foolish to take this on myself since it purports to be such an expensive repair shop job. Thanks.
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Old 06-11-2006, 11:17 PM   #36
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Re: Intake Manifold Gasket (my own Do-It-Yourself experience)

Quote:
Originally Posted by kraf
This is a great thread. I have a 93 Suburban with leaking coolant that I think is coming out of the intake manifold just above the right water pump attachment. Will these directions work for a 93 as well? From the pics, I saw one difference was the AC compressor. I'm wondering what else is different as I may be so bold/foolish to take this on myself since it purports to be such an expensive repair shop job. Thanks.
I have no knowledge regarding a 93 but this may help:
http://www.chevytalk.org/threads/sho...Number/1552659

Especially note the following from the above link:
"Intake gasket, and from what I have read here, when a TBI motors intake leaks it can easily make a turn into the intake port, fit it ASAP."
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Old 06-15-2007, 04:04 PM   #37
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Thumbs up Re: Intake Manifold Gasket (my own Do-It-Yourself experience)

Quote:
Originally Posted by Suburban-97
I did it, I did it!!! Thanks to all of you and your advice I finally replaced my intake manifold gasket, all by myself. It wasn't easy, it took me a very long time, but I am done and everything is fine now!

I have compiled a small web page with my own pictures and my own comments about this project. Feel free to visit it and click on all the links you see for the pics that I took in the process of fixing my truck.

Feel free to post here any questions or comments you may have..

>>> Click here to see my project page! <<<

Thanks again!

Your Project page was very helpful !! Your info and pics gave me more confidence to do this on my own than the Haynes manual. The time you spent putting this together is very much appreciated.
Thanks
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Old 02-01-2008, 02:10 AM   #38
NoEcm
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Quote:
Originally Posted by NoEcm on 4-5-2006
Thanks again to Suburban-97 for the great posting. 4,000 miles after I changed my intake manifold gasket everything is still perfect.

While you are changing the intake manifold gasket you might also want to change the heater hose quick disconnect fitting with a steel one. The stock one is pot metal one will fail sooner or later. If it's going to break off better that this happens with the intake manifold off the engine. I understand that there is a factory fitting that is steel but I don't have the part #. The aftermarket one is made by Dorman and is part # 800-401. You can get the fitting at Rockauto.com for $5.00 along with your intake manifold gasket.

Quote from another forum:

"At www.rockauto.com for 5% off here is the code# 385239360427 just put it in the box for discount when you checkout, it works until May, 2 2006 and I all ready tried it and it works."
Suburban-97's: Intake Manifold Gasket (my own Do-It-Yourself experience)


Glutton for punishment? Just bought a 1996 Tahoe with 81k on the odometer a couple of weeks ago.

First project on the Tahoe: Lower Intake manifold gasket replacement using Suburban-97's instructions again. The only change I made to the procedure this time was to buy a 2nd valve cover gasket (the Fel-Pro kit only comes with 1 valve cover gasket). Removing both valve covers sure made it easier to drop the Intake Manifold back onto the engine.

My costs for the project came to ~$200:

Fel-Pro Intake manifold gasket set $50
2nd Valve Cover Gasket $8
New Water Pump $40 (why not change it while I was in there)
Lower Radiator Hose $20 (this hose is not easy to get to when everything is together. I made the decision to change this while I was changing the water pump and had the thing apart. I did not change the upper hose at this time as this will be real easy to get to when it needs replacement.)
Steel Heater Hose Quick Disconnect $8
Both By-Pass hoses for the water pump $10
Heater Control Valve (it had a small leak) $11
2 Gallons of Green Anti-Freeze $20
1 gallon of solvent $5 (clean, clean, clean)
2 Oil changes with filters $18
1 tube of Permatex Ultra Black RTV $6 (the Fel-Pro kit only comes with 1 tiny tube)
1 tube of Blue Loctite $4


Thanks again for Suburban-97's original post again. Everything went super smooth again.
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Old 02-01-2008, 08:02 PM   #39
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Re: Intake Manifold Gasket (my own Do-It-Yourself experience)

Hey NoEcm!

Nice "Deja Vu"! Great news to hear that you did it again!

Almost 3 years and ~ 40Kmiles later and my 97 Burb is still the greatest on Earth! I haven't posted much in this forum since my intake manifold repair, but I just could not resist coming back to give my congrats to you, my friend!

Suburban-97

PS - I live in Canada now. My Suburban probably hates the salt here, but drives like a #1! I never used the 4x4 in Florida, but here.. it's a must have!
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Old 03-05-2008, 06:21 PM   #40
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Re: Intake Manifold Gasket (my own Do-It-Yourself experience)

Suburban-97 et al.,
GREAT Thread! I have a 97 Suburban K2500 w/7.4L with 195K miles on it. It has been a terrific vehicle and has worked hard for me over the years. I am pretty meticulous about taking care of it and am hoping to put another 100K on it. I have a friend that has a 94 GMC 2500 and he has 360K miles on it (everything original!) ... so I'm hopeful.

A couple of months ago I noticed the infamous "coolant leak" also. Mine ended up being the water pump so I replaced it. Took care of it, except for a tiny little leak...a few drops per couple days. My bigger fix was leaking oil cooler lines that I replaced. However, I do believe have an intake mainfold leak that is passing oil and fouling my #4 plug. I think all of the problems started when I had my serpentine belt break on the freeway, the belt tensioner pully seized and burned the belt. I smelled it, but I was going down a slight hill at the time and an 18-wheeler was just ahead of me and I thought it was him riding his brakes. Well, first thing I noticed was that my power steering was out and by the time I managed to lift my hand up to scratch my head, I noticed the temp guage going up fast.. I got her shut down and pulled over before I think anything serious happened, but I suspect some seals developed some leaks. After getting towed home, changed the belt, pulley, oil and coolant and everyting seemed fine.

A mechanic friend warned me that the intake man. gasket probably developed a leak and to watch out for it. Well, after reading the EXCELLECNT posts in this thread I think I will finally tackle the intake manifold. HOWEVER, I have the 7.4L Vortec which has a different configuration that the 5.7L....Has anybody done the 7.4 intake manifold?
I imagine that it is not too different other than where things are located, but having somebody post it like you guys have done here is REALLY valuable. You know what I mean, when I read the Haynes manual it basically reads as follows: 1) disconnect neg. batt. cable, 2) Remove intake manifold, 3) replace gasket (see figure), 4) re-install intake manifold and connect battery cable. Okay, it's not quite that bad but you know what I mean.
My big fear is the distributor (and rotor) removal/reinstall alignment issues, but sounds like everybody here has had no trouble PROVIDED that you are meticulous about marking and documenting every exact position.

If anybody knows of any issues related to the 7.4L procedures, please advise.

Thanks!!!!
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Old 11-25-2008, 09:20 PM   #41
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Re: Intake Manifold Gasket (my own Do-It-Yourself experience)

i was still hoping to hear the torque specs on the upper manifold. also the upper is not mentioned alot,,,i'm hoping this means its pretty straight forward. i'm going to be starting this project soon. i think i remember a couple people talking about injector problems, cracked clips or something. do i need to take extra care when cleaning this area, will these injectors be exposed when the intake is off?? are the injectors in the upper or lower?? this will be my first intake project and its on my one and only vehicle so i need not to have any problems or i will be bumming rides to the parts store lol too cold to ride the bike, but i will if i have to hahaha
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Old 11-26-2008, 06:14 PM   #42
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Re: Intake Manifold Gasket (my own Do-It-Yourself experience)

Upper Intake Manifold Bolts In Sequence:
First Pass: 5 Nm (44 inch lbs.)
Final Pass: 10 Nm (88 inch lbs.)

The injectors are accessed by opening up the upper intake, and be real careful removing the suckers, the clips are brittle as heck and will break off easily. You will need to remove those suckers if you want to get a good cleaning of your intake. I only managed to break one off, but I got the spider upgrade, so it didn't really matter.

I'm still in the process of doing mine, in the cleaning stage, it sux!!! Cleaning is probably the worse part of the job, and it's been 2 weekends for me. It's taking this long because I can't seem to spend more than 3 hours a day doing it, in 30 degree temp.
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Old 11-26-2008, 06:18 PM   #43
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Re: Intake Manifold Gasket (my own Do-It-Yourself experience)

Quote:
Originally Posted by yukon6inchlift
i will be bumming rides to the parts store lol too cold to ride the bike, but i will if i have to hahaha
Plan on it, you'll probably have to!! lol
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Old 11-26-2008, 08:10 PM   #44
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Re: Intake Manifold Gasket (my own Do-It-Yourself experience)

thanks mints33. i had just found it(on ebay of all places) and logged on to post it, u beat me to it lol.

i dont have 2 wks to do this, i was thinking 2 days. i read where you can leave the upper on. think i may take that route and save the injectors for another day.

i just want to keep the antifreeze out of my oil for right now so i dont blow another motor up
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Old 05-12-2010, 04:17 PM   #45
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Re: Intake Manifold Gasket (my own Do-It-Yourself experience)

I've got a 7.4 2500. Looks to be leaking in the same spot -right next to the oil filler.
Will the change out be significantly different?
I've got 102k miles. Any suggestions on additional parts to change out.
She runs like a top otherwise.
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