Hello All

Just wanted to say hello. Been a lurker for awhile and been reading and reading. This forum rocks. My hat off to you GirlBear. Tackling a job on the intake manifold. I just got a leak yesterday in the exact same spot. I learned alot about this problem on this forum. I started to tear down the intake last night. Got the upper intake off. Can't get to one screw under the AC bracket for the lower intake. I need to get a power stearing pulley puller so I can get to the bracket and take that bracket off. I think someone else ran into that problem. I'm taking pictures of the tear down so I can use it for reference when putting everything back together. I'm hoping to post the pictures here so others will have the guts to do this same repair themselves. I never did anything this extreme to a motor before and it's almost intimidating. I got a Haynes manual and reading the posts here, so I think I can do it. I am limited on time and not in a hurry since my wife has a Trailblazer and we can share it. I'm replacing the cap and rotor while I'm at it. Stat, wires and plugs are only a few months old. After I'm all done, I will be doing an oil change. By the way. I have a 98 Blazer 4x4. I had to get rid of the firebird (that I use to drive) so we could buy the TrailBlazer. My wife bought the 98 Blazer new and now it's mine.

Does anybody know where I could get the pulley puller?
I can get the gaskets from Napa. Does anybody know where else I could get the gaskets so I'm not just limited to NAPA?
Any other input would be appreciated.

I for one would love to see the photos. :D

dont limit yourselfe to napa, the dealer sometimes comes in cheeper then the victor gaskets and both are strongly reccomended by me, the first few tear downs like this are extreamly intimidating, do as your doing, take your time, take pictures and if you have any questions ask... you need the puller, any parts store should have them, and remove the ac pump to get at the bolt you need to get at, just unbolt it and put it aside, dont disconnect the hi/low side lines, leave it there, you will wind up hurting yoruselfe doing a drain like that, and then refilling it will hurt your wallet

dmbrisket, I did just that. AC is laying to the side. The cavity between the upper plenum and lower intake is filthy. I will take pictures before and after the clean up. I tried doing what BearGirl said and used a pry bar to get to that last bolt. No way. I'm going to get the right tool for the job. I know I will need the puller in the future as I plan on keeping this Blazer for quit some time. It has about 157,000 miles. Engine is still pretty strong and could go another 157,000. thanks for the input.

BlazerLT, how can I post attachments?

K & L Tools sales the Power Steering Pully puller. I bought mine locally for about $20.

K & L Tools sales the Power Steering Pully puller. I bought mine locally for about $20.



Thanks Gabe.

dmbrisket, I did just that. AC is laying to the side. The cavity between the upper plenum and lower intake is filthy. I will take pictures before and after the clean up. I tried doing what BearGirl said and used a pry bar to get to that last bolt. No way. I'm going to get the right tool for the job. I know I will need the puller in the future as I plan on keeping this Blazer for quit some time. It has about 157,000 miles. Engine is still pretty strong and could go another 157,000. thanks for the input.

BlazerLT, how can I post attachments?

Get the file hosted somewhere on one of those free image hosting services and post the image here.

eg.. image url here

Let's try it this way.

Here is what I started off with.
http://img510.imageshack.us/img510/1238/img00632vc.jpg

Here is where I left off.
http://img515.imageshack.us/img515/7522/img01788qn.jpg
http://img515.imageshack.us/img515/5889/img01799ti.jpg
http://img515.imageshack.us/img515/6808/img01802bk.jpg
http://img515.imageshack.us/img515/6804/img01811zh.jpg

Wow, Those pics bring back some fond memories. lol
I took out as many of the bracket bolts that i could. then backed out the ones that the pulley blocked as far as they would go. and pry'ed the bracket away from the bolt with a tire iron. only moved like an inch but it worked. lol. i dont have ac so that was 1 step i didnt have to worry about. after u clean everything, putting it together is a breeze.
Good Luck Man!!!

Let's try it this way.

Here is what I started off with.
http://img510.imageshack.us/img510/1238/img00632vc.jpg

Here is where I left off.
http://img515.imageshack.us/img515/7522/img01788qn.jpg
http://img515.imageshack.us/img515/5889/img01799ti.jpg
http://img515.imageshack.us/img515/6808/img01802bk.jpg
http://img515.imageshack.us/img515/6804/img01811zh.jpg

ok, you were close,

put the img url between this like I said before

x

put the above links where the x is

Had another day to work on it. Here is some more pitures. Got the pulley puller. That made a big difference. You can see where the gasket failed. Dame plastic.

http://img399.imageshack.us/img399/5470/img01832bi.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://img399.imageshack.us/img399/849/img01859ej.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Lower intake cleaned and put back on.
http://img399.imageshack.us/img399/3197/img01887cv.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Upper plenum cleaned.
http://img399.imageshack.us/img399/6093/img01892ej.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

My helper(daughter).
http://img399.imageshack.us/img399/3873/img01906un.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Got the upper plenum on. Just have to wait for a couple of coolant hoses to come in on Tuesday. When I put the lower intake on, I followed tourque specs in Haynes. Worked my way up in 3 increments.

Just wanted to post the pics because a picture is a thousand words to the curious.

What were the symptoms, visible leaking?

Oh yes. Drivers side front. Right behind the AC unit. You could see and hear it. I had to fill about a liter every 2 weeks. Couldn't find the leak for a couple of months. Then one day the leak became obvious. Luckily it leaked out and not in. By the way, I did your catch can mod last month. I'll post more pics after everything is done.

srbianats,
Nice post, Excellent Pictures too...

Thanks DINO.

How did you clean the gasket surface?

What materials and chemicals did you use?

I cleaned it with a razor blade. Much easier that way. I used acetone to clean the surfaces. It evaporated quickly.

Awesome post!

Did you change the oil and coolant after you did this?

I changed the oil, not the coolant. It leaked almost all of it when it sprung the leak. Just finished the whole job. It started right up. Freaked me out after awhile because I saw smoke, then realized I spilled a tad bit of oil on the exhaust manifold and it was burning off. Got a squeak now. I think it's coming from the power steering pulley. I think I have to push it back just a tad bit more.
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Thanks BlazerBoy.

Lol.. you should have seen the white smoke just billowing after i completed mine. I think I might need to replace my o2 sensors some time soon.... no troubles so far though.