Thanks SDV10. I'm going to replace all the gaskets while I'm in there and probably that line that runs under the manifold as well. Actually I'll probably replace every hose under the hood while I have the coolant drained anyway, I have no idea when the hoses were replaced last, they may be original for all I know, so it definitely wouldn't hurt. Anyone know the torque values for any of this when I put it back together? I seem to have misplaced my Haynes manual and am just taking it apart using common sense and a lot of pictures along the way.

 

I will throw some pics in the "Engine Build" album in my profile. The pics are for your truck specifically from Ford.

 

Here is the torque settings I think are important in this case. Please note 'FT' Lbs and 'IN' Lbs.
This is for bottom of intake to top. Same finished torque for fuel rail to manifold.
Stage 1: Tighten to 2 Nm (18 lb/in)
Stage 2: Tighten to 8-12 Nm (71-106 lb/in)
This is for intake to head.
Stage 1: Tighten to 2 Nm (18 lb/in)
Stage 2: Tighten to 20-30 Nm (15-22 lb/ft)
This is throttle body to intake.
Stage 1: Tighten to 8-10 Nm (71-88 lb/in).
Stage 2: Tighten an additional 85-95 degrees
It is easiest to remove the alternator and all coil packs for this job.
This is EGR just in case you wanted it.
Hand-tighten the fittings.
Tighten the upper fitting to 55-65 Nm (41-47 lb/ft).
Tighten the lower fitting to 55-65 Nm (41-47 lb/ft).
I changed my mind on putting this into the engine build album. I will make new album for tech pictures. No reason everyone has to look at my super cool engine!!

 

Thanks for those torque values SDV10, still haven't found my Haynes manual, so those should come in handy.

Two new questions:
1 - Does anyone have any tips on getting the EGR tube off the header? I sprayed it down with PB Blaster and beat on it for a while and can't get it to budge. It doesn't help that there isn't much room down there to do anything. The thing I don't get is that my truck has almost no rust, so it's not like it's all corroded together.

2 - When I pulled the COPs off the passenger side bank the holes were full of coolant. I'm amazed the truck was running great still with all the liquid in there, I guess the boots were doing their job. Other than blowing out the liquid, does anyone think I should do anything else? I was thinking about doing a plug change while I'm at it, I'm just afraid to touch the plugs since I haven't had any problems. My truck has just over 80k miles.

Oh, and one more thing...Merry Christmas!

 

Did you find the pictures and are you able to relate the pictures to the torque specs? My EGR tube comes off super easy so I can't really help there. PB blaster would've been my suggestion. The plug holes I did with paper towels after blowing out the coolant. That gets the most out. Use di electric grease when putting the boots back on. And Merry Christmas to you!!

 

Found the pictures as well, very helpful. I'll have to get the correct tools tomorrow for the EGR tube when the parts stores are open again. Thanks again for your help!

 

No problem. Any time. I have shop manual for your truck from top to bottom. Wiring mechanical and everything. Trans and engine tear down complete with torque specs.

 

If you get the nut off at the EGR valve you could just leave it connected at the manifold and work around it. Thats what I did and things worked out fine.

 

I might give that a try, knowing that you were able to get the manifold off with it still on pushes me more in that direction. I took the throttle body off the manifold, so that will give me a little more room to work around the EGR tube. I'm definitly picking up a foam mat though before resuming this project, my sternum and ribs are all bruised up from laying across the radiator area. I took the coolant bottle, lug wrench, and grill off so I would have less stuff to lay on and/or break, but still. My dad is in his 60s and still works as a mechanic, I don't know how he does it. If he didn't live 3,000 miles away I would have asked him to help in exchange for helping him chop wood or shovel snow.

 

You could try putting the front on jack stands. That'll raise it higher'', you say.
Not when you remove the wheels and lower it closer to the ground. Lucky enough i have a hoist so this is less cumbersome to accomplish. Personal comfort is a must to getting a job done right Thats what an old welder fitter taught me when I was his helper/go'fer.
Best of luck and happy holidays

 

Just thought I would update this thread. Got the manifold pulled off yesterday. I was able to work around the EGR tube that I couldn't get to budge and it didn't present that big of an obstacle to work around. I've only had a short windows of time to work on it, so it has been taking a while to get anywhere. Judging by the pictures below, I'd say the source of the leak is pretty obvious now. Today I plugged the intake ports with rags and vacuumed the water out of the spark plug holes. They are now soaking in PB blaster. Now to clean the mating surfaces and finish cleaning out the spark plug holes... whenever I get a chance to get back to it. Since they like to develop pin hole leaks I'm still going to replace the metal line even though the old one shows now sign of leakage. Although the manifold isn't heavy, it is awkward to get out of the engine bay by yourself.

 

I finally finished putting everything together this afternoon. After the second attempt at starting it (battery was weak and had to be charged back up after cranking it for a short time) it fired up, ran rough for a second and then went into fast idle, which makes sense as it isn’t exactly warm outside.

However, I noticed a vibration and there seems to be a miss or something, it just isn’t running as smoothly as usual. I also noticed that there is some noticeable movement of the engine while idling. I’m hoping it’s just a bad connection to a COP or fuel injector. The fuel injector electrical connectors all had to be zip tied on since every single release lever broke off. I didn’t get a CEL even after letting it idle for a minute or two and revving it up a few times, but from what I understand these engines don’t light the CEL very easily. I just have to figure out what it is before I start driving it again since I have it on a California non-op since I couldn't fix it in time for the required smog, so of course I have to smog it before I can drive it again legally. (I even have to get a 1 day moving permit just to drive it to the smog station…I just love this state )

Secondly, I ended up with another bad coolant leak, this time it was the thermostat o-ring. The o-ring is brand new, but for some reason I’m getting a bad leak from between the inlet and house as if there were no o-ring installed. I even drained the coolant again to remove it to make sure. Does anyone know why it would do this?

Thank you everyone for your help with this issue and the related threads as well, such as the spark plug change for example. With that said, any help with the leak or the miss would be greatly appreciated.

 

Another repair complete! I just wanted to take a minute to thank everyone for their input on this thread trying to help me find the problem. I especially wanted to thank SDV10 for providing the torque values and tightening sequences, especially since I lost my Haynes manual sometime after repairing my ball joints a while back.

It took me a long time to get it done but I managed to replace the Intake manifold gasket set, replace the metal heater tube, replace both heater hoses and their quick connects, added a heater control valve, replaced the serpentine belt, replace the radiator hoses, replace the thermostat, change the spark plugs, change the COP boots, clean the throttle body and MAF, and even replace the front diff fluid and paint the cover…and I’m about half done installing new driving lights in the grill.

Since someone may ask…the miss I mentioned in the previous post was caused by corrosion on the COP terminal on cylinder 1 and 2, (luckily I had placed the COPs possibly affected by the coolant leak where they would be easy to get to.) It was easy to find by just unplugging one COP at a time, but it amazes me how well these engines run with dead cylinders, even with 2 of them in my case. And it wasn’t a huge change when a good COP was unplugged bringing it down to 7 cylinders. Although it did almost fall on its face and stall every time you would rev it up and let it drop down to idle. I removed the COPs and cleaned the terminals off with a small strip of sandpaper, reinstalled them, and it’s now running as smooth, if not smoother, than before I started the repair.

The leaking thermostat o-ring, if you didn’t see the other post, was probably just caused by pinching the o-ring during assembly.

 

Cool.

What is that sensor there right smack in the middle of the valley with a long wire coming out of it? I think that's the knock sensor?

 

Yeah, I believe that is the knock sensor, I almost replaced it while I had it exposed, but I've heard of very few instances of them going bad so I decided to leave it alone.