Changing Intake manifold gasket 1997 chevy 350 5.7...

[Chillinday2day]

Has anyone changed the intake manifold gasket on the 1997 Chevy 2500 350 5.7 truck? I have disconnected all wiring, vacum hoses, AC compressor and lines, distributor/wires. I was just wondering if you have to remove the assembly holding the power steering pump on and its also what the AC compressor bolts up too in order to remove the intake manifold? Any suggestions on how to get this manifold up? Thanks

BLEW A DAMN GASKET which I guess is common on these chevys! but i still love my truck!

[UncleBob]

yes, you have to at least unbolt it and slide the accessory bracket out a little bit, to get to the corner bolt. There's a nut hidden underneath the exhaust manifold on the driver side that holds the accessory bracket btw. it can be hard to find if you don't know about it.

Other than that, once you have everything out of the way, just a light touch of the prybar on the t-stat housing will unseat the gaskets and thats it.

[Chillinday2day]

Thank you for the help. So I got everything back together today after replacing the intake manifold gasket. I had to remove the distributor in order to remove the manifold. Now I think my timing is off? The truck won't start just turns once in awhile and backfires. YES I have all plugs in correct spots. Will it be as easy as just turning the distributor a little bit while trying to start the truck? Thank you in advance for your help!

[UncleBob]

unlike traditional distributors, there is no timing involved with the movement of the distributor. There is a cam sensor in the distributor, but thats it. All you are doing is lining up the posts of the cap to the rotor position.`

[Chillinday2day]

Im sorry if this sounds stupid but what do you mean the posts of the cap to the rotor position? I don't know what the posts of the cap are. Could you please explain in moron terms! lol

[UncleBob]

what I mean is, the computer controls the firing of the coil. The only job the distributor has, is to have the rotor in the proper position when the coil fires, so the spart goes to the proper cylinder. If you distributor is way off, either the rotor will be between posts (cylinders) which will cause the spart to jump the huge gap to the nearest post, and it will, at the least, very poor ignition. If the rotor is near the wrong cylinder, it will fire the wrong cylinder.

TECHNICALLY, you're supposed to use a scan tool and set the distributor angle so that the cam sensor in the distributor is properly aligned, but it only uses the cam sensor as a TDC reference, so its not overly crucial. It won't effect the running if its slightly off.

So if you have no idea how far off the distributor is, do the usual alignment....get it to TDC on #1 cylinder, line up the rotor to the proper post in the cap and see if it runs. If it won't, turn it 180*

[Chillinday2day]

Ok so the lines on the distributor is off 180degrees but I can't rotate the distributor because the assembly is set for one side only. What do I do? Again thank you for your help.

[UncleBob]

Originally Posted by Chillinday2day

Ok so the lines on the distributor is off 180degrees but I can't rotate the distributor because the assembly is set for one side only. What do I do? Again thank you for your help.

pull the distributor out and turn the shaft 180*

[Chillinday2day]

Ok so I got the distributor all aligned and fired it up. Unfortunately I thought I was done but I have a vacuum issue. The truck is blowing black smoke out the exhaust. So I have to figure out tommorow what to do as it got dark outside. Do you have any suggestions. Could I have not properly sealed the intake manifold part that runs between each side with silicone properly, leaking air. The other thing is if I left a wiring harness plug unconnected as I found one dangling on the left side(passenger side) and can't figure out where it goes!! Could my chevy have an extra plug. I feel sorry for you having to answer all my bullshit but again thanks as I tried to get help from mechanics shop but they want to charge me!

[UncleBob]

the connector could definitely be related to the runnability problem. How many wires, and what color are they?

[Chillinday2day]

The connector hanging has a purple band on it 3 pin...

[UncleBob]

what color are the wires?

[Chillinday2day]

It was the Map Sensor. The truck still runs rough though. The motor shakes bad. It sounds like a vacuum leak which means I didn't properly tourque the bolts down to specifications messing up the gasket right? I'm taking it to a mechanic shop and the guy says he will redo the whole thing for me for around $300. I just don't have time to mess around with it anymore.

[UncleBob]

well, if the shop has a smoker, they can tell quickly if you have a vacuum leak or something else.

It could be something as stupid as a couple ignition wires that are out of order....