I had to get towed last night because my ranger started spraying coolant out the front, front left of the engine. I was told that it is probably the intake gasket. Does anyone know how hard it is to replace the intake gasket? Or how I can verify that this is the problem.

Thanks

 

The mechanic said that he is 99 percent sure that this is the problem but he would need to dig in farther to know for sure. It's an old truck and I don't really wanna spend five hundred dollars to fix it.

 

If you want to do the job yourself, check out: Replacing Upper Engine Gaskets on the Ford 4.0L OHV

It's still going to cost you some cash for the gaskets...

 

how much do the gaskets cost

 

rockauto.com

 

mbuck54, one way to verify the leak is to fill the radiator with water, leave the cap off, start it up and let it idle. As it warms up coolant will start to flow and make the leak show up. Look for it to leak at the corners of the lower intake manifold in front of the engine where the intake meets the heads. That would be to either side of the thermostat housing on the manifold. To change this lower intake manifold gasket you need to take a few things off or loose so they can be moved out of the way. Some of these items are: intake air tube, throttle & cruise control cable, upper intake, coil pack, fuel rail, both rocker arm covers (they bolt to the lower intake), upper radiator hose, heater hose that goes to manifold, thermostat housing and lower intake manifold. The alternator needs to be unbolted from its mount and moved over so the rocker arm cover on that side can be removed. So you need to take the belt off too, but shouldn't need to unplug the alternator but disconnect the battery before you start the project. There are also vacuum lines and electrical connections to disconnect. When the fuel rail is removed the fuel injectors may come with it or get removed from their respective positions. The fuel rail has flexible lines so it can be kind of swung out of the way. Try not to let big pieces of dirt or bugs or other debris go into any holes that go into the engine when taking things apart. If you have an older vacuum cleaner you can clean things up before the junk falls in the engine. For the upper intake studs you'll need an external star drive socket, Torx # E7. The nuts and bolts are metric. All the torque values for the nuts, bolts & studs are in inch pounds.(At least in the "Haynes" book I have). If you have leaking rocker arm cover gaskets now would be a good time to get new ones. FelPro makes the better replacement gaskets for the intake and rocker arm covers. The lower intake set runs around 40 bucks and the same for the rocker covers. Depending who you get them from. They also make a kit that includes all five of these gaskets. Following the installation instructions provided in the gasket kits will give good results . If you get a new thermostat be sure to get a new gasket. Stick with Motorcraft (Ford) for the thermostat if you can. "Stant" wound be the only other name brand I would trust. The o-ring seals on the fuel injectors can tear or cut easily and should have no gouges in them when you put it back together. You can get new seals for them if needed. Just did this gasket change on my 91 4.0 with over 230k. Took me a couple of days, but it's cold outside and I wasn't in a hurry.