LIM job finished!

2001 Venture WB. Used Fel-pro metal/rubber gasket

I've been holding off on posting this because I didn't want to jinx the job I had done. But it's been a few weeks and everything seems to be holding up as planned.
Well, here's a little history. I have been losing antifreeze and oil for years now. About 3 years ago I was told to replace the LIM gasket for about $1600 (that included all the other things that you would replace as well). I just decided to keep adding antifreeze and oil and keeping an eye on the temp guage. Well this winter the cabin heat was almost nonexistant because the antifreeze level kept getting too low. I got another quote from a different shop and it was in the same ball park. Finally the antifreeze was coming out the side of the LIM at a rate so fast that it was almost gone after driving just a couple of miles. Thus, I took on the job.

The job overall wasn't that difficult. I did it over a 2 week time frame for a few reasons. One, I wasn't in that big of a hurry (the wife was out of town and she's the primary driver) and two, the main reason, the temperature outside was in the single digits so my garage was also in the single digits. The actual working hours (not including warm ups and head scratching) was probably around 10-12 hours. It's a guess but if I were to do it again I would estimate around 8 hours.
I would recommend doing this job yourself if you have done any engine work in the past. Alternators, water pumps, etc.

Issues:
Probably the biggest hurdle I had was getting the steering pump out of the way. I wanted to leave the fuel rail seated but that wasn't going to be possible. Even if I removed the pressure cap on the rail. So I took the fuel rail out and was then able to move the PSP out of the way. I set the rail off to the side but didn't disconnect it from the quick release. Why? Because I didn't think of it. I recommend disconnecting it from the quick release and setting the rail on a table away from where you are working. I was pretty lucky I didn't screw something up on the rail or bust an injector.

I would also recommend marking every thing. I did not but that too could have cost me. When you are tearing it a part, things seem obvious but unless you are doing this in one day it can become confusing. I've been in there enough that I have a good idea where things went. But since I was dragging the job out over a few weeks, the "non-marking" of plugs could have cost me dearly.

Once inside I was lucky (again) in the fact that the gasket seemed to fail on the sides and antifreeze leaked out instead of mixing into the oil. However, I do believe the oil got into the antifreeze which is better than
the other way around.


I do need a good cooling flush and I plan on doing fairly soon. I still have some sealant I used quite some time ago floating around in the antifreeze. But other than that, oil and coolant levels remain steady.


Other things I replaced:
plugs and wires - like they say, you won't ever have better access at them in the back
serpentine belt- very silly not to replace this since it comes off on the job anyway.
water pump - this is recommended but to me it's a job that can be done at any time. Although I do recommend losening the belt cover/pully on the pump BEFORE removing the belt.
EGR valve plug - A few years ago I tried to pull the plug out on this and ended up pulling the wires out. I've left it until I did the LIM job. It took a few tries and the right documentation (and help from this forum) to get the wires correct but no more SES light. Kind of weird after 2 years.
Vapor Canister Purge Solenoid - This was replaced because it was busted 2 years ago (same as EGR plug). The vacuum connector is a long plast tube and it didn't take much to snap this. Now whenever I work in that area, I unhook the vacuum hose to prevent a repeat.
Upper radiator hose - Because it was half off anyway. I have the lower one but I will need to replace that later. Like the water pump, you don't gain much doing it during this project.
radiator cap - it had never been replaced and they are cheap, so why not.
lower injector o-rings
fuel pressure regulator o-ring
heater pipe o-ring - this seems to be an odd ball thing. If you have a pipe going into the thermostat housing, you will need this.

And of course an upper and lower intake gasket and the valve cover gaskets

This is probably more babble than anything but in a nut shell, it's a tedious job but not over difficult.

Another point: I figured I would need 4 or 5 people to get enough torque when putting the LIM back on. I mean, it leaked so wouldn't you want it on tight? Well, it doesn't take much touque at all. I mean, VERY LITTLE torque according the the specs. It was more of a mind game for me. It was hard to convince myself not to got past the specs because I thought for sure I would be back in there doing it again if they weren't tight enough. But it held so USE THE SPECS!!!

Thanks to this forum. You guys helped a lot. :grinyes:

Thanks for the update heimdawg. Hey, I did tell you about using those quick disconnects on the fuel rail :sly:
Thanks for your posts. Now if you just had some photos. . .

Yeap, you told me about them. I think when you told me, I was hoping to keep the injectors seated in the manifold. Then when I pulled out the rails I completely forgot.
As for the picks, the wife took the camera out of town with her so the only pictures I have were starting pics.