Serious lower intake gasket install problems
OK, I am finally reporing about my failed gasket replacement job. Here is what's happening and the events leading up to it.
The whole job seemed to go fine albeit a bit long. After re-assembly, the car started fine. After a few minutes at idle, the drivers' side exhaust manifold (right at or below the fitting that connects the EGR valve pipe) started
smoking -- vapor like. I did this a few times in succession just to make sure it was not on the outside of the pipe. Additionally, water puddles in decent amounts below the tail pipe. And finally, when I drain the oil (now I have one of those Fumoto quick release valves which makes this easy) the first thing that comes out is a little antifreeze followed by oil (after the fluids have had a chance to settle). And this is true every time.
So I have a major coolant leak on one side!
Now, this will sound even worse, and I hope it does not reflect too badly on my mechanical competence... but I did the job twice with the same results!
My main question is, could have I messed up the alignment or RTV addition so badly to cause this to happen twice?! Or could another part of the engine block have gotten compromised the first time, and now I am done?
Or should I try it again with more RTV?
Here are some higlights of what I did each time and what may be slightly different from the original directions. Please bare with me:
1. The first time I chose the OEM 1-piece gasket. Placed RTV on the mandatory 4 corners (on both sides of the gasket) plus added a VERY thin bead everywhere around the coolant passage-ways and down across the middle (only on the engine side of the gasket). The first time I bolted it down, I noticed that the lower intake did not sit even, so I loosened the bolts and re-torqued w/out any change. This was probably not a good idea especially if I did not have enough RTV in the first place, but as I should not have needed the RTV, does it matter?
2. The second time, I used the thicker, 2-piece Victor Reinz (as I already had an opened set). This time I used my finger to swag some RTV across both sides of the gasket just around the coolant holes to ensure that if there were any gouges in the metal surface, the RTV would fill it. Nothing bad happened there during torquing as I was super careful at that point. I assume it is not bad to add extra RTV even if not required -- and this was truly a small amount. Since I used teh permatex RTV, it says to partially torque and then wait for an hour before doing the final torquing. Is this significant?
3. Each time I torqued the lower intake bolts to a different amount everyone else seems to list. Not sure if this is significant either, or if it can break anything. For my '97 ranger, my Ford factory says to go up to 25Nm (in 3 steps). The Victor Reinz gasket did not state anything about a lower torque value which Fel-Pro might have based on online info.
4. In order to remove the lower manifold, I had to use a crowbar and placed it very carefully so that it did not scrape any sensitive areas. This was the only way I could break the old seal.... similar to the fuel rail. Both were stuck on really tight.
Everything else seems to be holding. The upper intake is a no brainer, the valve-covers fit with enough RTV (note, per my above post, with the thicker, 2-piece gaskets, the lower intake sits abot a milimeter above the plane of the valve cover mating surface, whereas it was less than a milimeter under with the OEM gasket). This different in height did not seem to affect anything during the short period of time I had the engine idling. Also, I replaced the fuel rail gasket and the injector o-rings w/out problems. This gasket was the worst to clean up by far.
To prep the surface, I ended up using a razor blade or box-cutter knife tips as scapers. When it was mostly free from major chunks, I used gasoline to soften any remaining silicone and finished it off with 400 grit sand paper where necessary. I used brake cleaner for final prep. Both gasoline and brake cleaner were applied via a paint brush or a rag.
I also decidd replaced the EGR valve, so unmounting that compression fitting was a royal pain. I ended up using a hammer over my adjustable wrench to loosen it. I imagine this should not have caused any damage since its far enough away from the block, but???
PLEASE HELP!