How to for installing lower intake manifold gasket

emo666 · Jan 26, 2014

Finished rebuilding my 1989 bronco II but have a severe undetectable coolant leak. Thinking it's a lower intake gasket.
So doing over--BUT -- need the" know how" on getting it sealed.

P.S---did compression test--good
very little water from tail pipe
no visual leaks or drippings on ground.

Overflow tank loses 1/2 tank in 10 minutes or
radiator loses same.

steam coming from passenger side valve cover out of pcv valve outlet.

kimcrwbr1 · Jan 26, 2014

Are you getting coolant into the oil pan? All you need to do is put a little sealant in the valleys between the head and the block when you torque the intake gasket down have you went through a retorqued the intake bolts in the proper pattern. If your not getting coolant in the oil you may have other issues. Do a proper leakdown test and you can pressurize the cooling system and see if you can locate where it is leaking the coolant. How far did you go on the rebuild give details of everything you did, did you get the heads magnafluxed, ground and surfaced? It sounds like a substancial leak somewhere keep a close eye on your oil level.

kimcrwbr1 · Jan 26, 2014

http://search.aol.com/aol/imageDetails?s_it=imageDetails&q=ford+2.9+intake+torque+pattern&v_t=client-desktop-wscreen&b=image?enabled_terms=&s_it=client-desktop-wscreen&q=ford+2.9+intake+torque+pattern&oreq=6c3474ea2b7943b9b51f57400f9fbea7&img=http://econtent.autozone.com:24991/znetrgs/repair_guide_content/en_us/images//0900c152/80/07/7e/df//medium/0900c15280077edf.gif&host=http://www.justanswer.com/ford/1fpol-torque-specs-intake-upper-plenum-88-ranger-2-9.html&width=129&height=66&thumbUrl=http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRdGOrUSOjR2JdauH4L9A-wZqSk3ScvF8gEkN03L6a1k3r-1m45d3o4J2u0&imgWidth=500&imgHeight=256&imgSize=24346&imgTitle=ford+2.9+intake+torque+pattern

emo666 · Jan 27, 2014

kimcrwbr1 said:
Are you getting coolant into the oil pan? All you need to do is put a little sealant in the valleys between the head and the block when you torque the intake gasket down have you went through a retorqued the intake bolts in the proper pattern. If your not getting coolant in the oil you may have other issues. Do a proper leakdown test and you can pressurize the cooling system and see if you can locate where it is leaking the coolant. How far did you go on the rebuild give details of everything you did, did you get the heads magnafluxed, ground and surfaced? It sounds like a substancial leak somewhere keep a close eye on your oil level.

No water in oil---your right I didn't have the heads redone (bad)---BUT-- I was "led to believe" that the heads were good and had come off a running engine with no problems. I bought the whole engine off Graigs list listed as a short rebuild. Tore it all down- sent block to shop had new cam bearings installed and boiled. Installed a complete Engine tech rebuild kit.
P.S engine sounds quiet but has a slight idle intermittent miss AND coolant loss.

YEP--got to impatient and the heads I took off had busted exhaust bolts and the Machine shop I use was backed up to 2 wks . I will try retorqueing the bolts and then leaked down test and pressure

kimcrwbr1 · Jan 27, 2014

Maybe take it to a radiator shop and have them pressure test it for you somtimes a pinhole leak will mist out nand not do much if any dripping. It usually shows up as a real clean spot. Did you put a new radiator cap on and a new PCV valve? I allways retorque intake and exhaust manifold bolt after a couple complete warmups when the engine is cold. Put a timing light on each individual plug wire and see if the miss is spark related and pull the plugs to see if they are the same color. A vacuum guage will tell you if there is any internal engine issues is the egr working properly?

RonD · Jan 27, 2014

emo666 said:
Finished rebuilding my 1989 bronco II but have a severe undetectable coolant leak. Thinking it's a lower intake gasket.
So doing over--BUT -- need the" know how" on getting it sealed.

P.S---did compression test--good
very little water from tail pipe
no visual leaks or drippings on ground.

Overflow tank loses 1/2 tank in 10 minutes or
radiator loses same.

steam coming from passenger side valve cover out of pcv valve outlet.

Pop the valve cover on the passenger side
Could be the intake's coolant pass thru is leaking or..........cracked cooling passage in head.

But not sure how coolant ISN'T getting into the oil if leak is inside valve cover???

Because this reads like a top leak, i.e. it won't leak unless system is full and under some pressure, you may want to rent a cooling system pressure tester, these hook to the rad cap opening and you can pump up pressure to reveal the leak point.

emo666 · Jan 27, 2014

kimcrwbr1 said:
Maybe take it to a radiator shop and have them pressure test it for you somtimes a pinhole leak will mist out nand not do much if any dripping. It usually shows up as a real clean spot. Did you put a new radiator cap on and a new PCV valve? I allways retorque intake and exhaust manifold bolt after a couple complete warmups when the engine is cold. Put a timing light on each individual plug wire and see if the miss is spark related and pull the plugs to see if they are the same color. A vacuum guage will tell you if there is any internal engine issues is the egr working properly?

Well it all changed today---it let loose
Steam out tail pipe--
white foam in oil
sweet smell

Took passenger side valve cover off --whipped cream coating--spent most of the day making a plug thread air fitting adapter. Had to quit will continue manana
Will check with outcome
P.S. took other set of heads off original engine that was running good but had a bad tick and lots of miles into machine shop---and quess what one head is cracked. So if this head on the engine is cracked I'll be lookin for a good head

RonD · Jan 28, 2014

"............quess what one head is cracked."

You have one, it was just tested and tested good, only one was cracked.

And not for nothing, but it could just be a bad intake gasket, probably not, but it could leak to oil pan and intake air passage to be sucked into engine.

A glove test can tell you if cylinder pressure is getting into cooling system, i.e. cracked head or failed head gasket.
Even tell you which cylinder

emo666 · Jan 31, 2014

RonD said:
"............quess what one head is cracked."

You have one, it was just tested and tested good, only one was cracked.

And not for nothing, but it could just be a bad intake gasket, probably not, but it could leak to oil pan and intake air passage to be sucked into engine.

A glove test can tell you if cylinder pressure is getting into cooling system, i.e. cracked head or failed head gasket.
Even tell you which cylinder

Yep you're surely right----made the plug thread to air fitting adapter put 150 Lbs to every cylinder---and again--she passed with flying colors--no blow by noise --no water bubbles in the radiator--so I put it back together for the second time. used enough RTV to seal a boat--ran great idled great --went for a ride for 15 minutes or so checked the oil ---*&^%$ it was still beginning to get creamy---swallowed my pride--opened my wallet and ordered 2 BRAND NEW heads today.
P.S--I guess all new heads are made in china-
P.S.also it passed a compression test earlier--I was told by the machine shop operator where I ordered the heads they crack by the valve seat which explains why I couldn't get the valve cover to seal. It was a teeny tiny crack on the lip for the valve cover and ran into the valve seat so narrow that even when I wire brushed the head it was hardly noticeable--so I just ignored it. Hard lesson to learn --thought with 2 sets of heads one would be still good---NOT

ALSO WHAT IS THE GLOVE TEST?? ONLY ONE I DIDN'T TRY

RonD · Feb 1, 2014

The glove test

Cold engine
Coil unhooked, we want a no start
Remove rad cap
Remove overflow hose and plug that opening in rad, vacuum cap from engine will work
Make sure coolant in rad is down about 1 to 2 inches, lower is fine.

Place latex glove over rad cap opening, seal base tight with rubber band or ??
You can also use a balloon and even seen a condom used, lol, instead of latex glove

So cooling system is now sealed
Crank engine
If glove bounces a cylinder is leaking pressure into cooling system, so bad gasket or crack between cylinder and cooling passage.

Remove 1 spark plug at a time and crank engine, when glove stops bouncing last plug removed was the leaking cylinder, re-install plug to confirm.

Recently tested a 4.0l that had two leaking cylinders, but glove bounced less when first leaking cylinder spark plug was pulled, so was able to ID both cylinders.
It was gasket issue for both not crack.

kimcrwbr1 · Feb 1, 2014

Makes for a good case to have the heads magnafluxed before rebuilding those extra bucks would have paid you dividends in parts and labor and down time!

emo666 · Feb 10, 2014

emo666 said:
Yep you're surely right----made the plug thread to air fitting adapter put 150 Lbs to every cylinder---and again--she passed with flying colors--no blow by noise --no water bubbles in the radiator--so I put it back together for the second time. used enough RTV to seal a boat--ran great idled great --went for a ride for 15 minutes or so checked the oil ---*&^%$ it was still beginning to get creamy---swallowed my pride--opened my wallet and ordered 2 BRAND NEW heads today.
P.S--I guess all new heads are made in china-
P.S.also it passed a compression test earlier--I was told by the machine shop operator where I ordered the heads they crack by the valve seat which explains why I couldn't get the valve cover to seal. It was a teeny tiny crack on the lip for the valve cover and ran into the valve seat so narrow that even when I wire brushed the head it was hardly noticeable--so I just ignored it. Hard lesson to learn --thought with 2 sets of heads one would be still good---NOT

ALSO WHAT IS THE GLOVE TEST?? ONLY ONE I DIDN'T TRY

Got my BRAND NEW heads on today--all put together---AND I would like to say that it's running fine---BUT---now it's back to loping idle and a 1000 rpm to 2000 intermittent miss. Had it before on the first intake manifold gasket change but seemed to clear up--didn't have it on the second change ---*&%#@ it's back . Sprayed carb cleaner all around no change.
I black rtved everywhere on the head wet before setting the intake manifold down. Put new gasket on manifold and let it dry before setting on block.
What now??? I'm want it running

Hitchner2009 · Feb 26, 2014

first we need to diagnose what cylinder is causing the misfire. The easiest way to do this is to pull each plug and ground it out on the engine block while just bumping the key to see if the spark is strong or weak. This will be easiest with a helper. A blue spark means good strong spark. A yellow spark means weak spark, if this is the case, a good tune up is in order. Distributor cap and Rotor, Coil packs and coils(if you even have them), spark plug wires and new plugs. Also, make sure that ALL of your spark plug wires are routed to the correct cylinder. I had a situation like yours and found i had swapped 2 of the plugs to the wrong cylinders. :icon_rofl:

How to for installing lower intake manifold gasket

Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Member

Well-Known Member

Official TRS AI

Member

Official TRS AI

Member

Official TRS AI

Well-Known Member

Member

New Member

Sponsored Ad

Sponsored Ad

Today's birthdays

Member & Vendor Upgrades

Truck of The Month

Recently Featured

Follow TRS On Instagram

TRS Events

25th Anniversary Sponsors

Check Out The TRS Store

Sponsored Ad

Sponsored Ad

Sponsored Ad

Amazon Deals