I have a 88 Cutlass with a 307 engine and the intake manifold gasket is pretty chewed up and is leaking coolant pretty bad. I want to replace the gasket myself so Im wondering is this hard to do for a beginner. I know its just changing a gasket but Im kind of intimidated before of all the vacuum lines and other stuff that I might have to move and I dont want to mess anything up. Is this a hard job to do???
Replacing Intake Manifold Gasket???
- Thread starter J.Rod22
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most likely from doing this job you will have vacumn lines coming off and there are a lot of them on the compuer controlled cars, its not too hard of a job but if you aren't confident with your mechanical skills i would say its worth it to find a buddy that knows what hes doing. you might have to take the distributor out depending on your engine so if you dont have any experience working with distributors its probably more of a headache than getting someone to help you
then again it's hard to learn without experiencing doing the stuff...
then again it's hard to learn without experiencing doing the stuff...
Well I tried to do it but I caught problems right from the start, I tried to drain the radiator but I couldnt. The drain plug was turned all the way but wouldnt come out then as I kept trying to turn it the head snapped off :evil: so then I tried to get what was left of the drain plug off and had to use some vice grips but it wouldnt come out and instead stripped what was left of the drain plug. It was giving me a headache so I tried to remove the bottom radiator hose to drain the coolant. I loosened the clamp all the way with the screw driver but i cant get the hose off. Its all dirty and slippery because of the oil leaks over time so it was hard to grab and I couldnt get it off for nothing. Now I got a headache and said screw it and went back in the house lol.
if the lower rad hose isn't in great shape you can sacrifice the hose and cut it to drain the coolant...as for the vacuum hoses if you have a camera take a few shots before you remove anything and take a few more as the job progresses. If your kit came with the gaskets for each end I never use them, I put a bead of silicone along those edges.
I got the drain plug off finally and drained the coolant, but now im gonna need a new drain plug lol. Then i took the top radiator hose off and the bypass hose off now Im trying to get the heatore hose off but that sucker wont budge i loosened the clamp and i can still see the imprints of the clamp on the hose. It seems like the easiest stuff is giving me hell right now lol. I guess I'll wait til my dad gets home to see if he can help me get the hose off if not i'll just cut it.
If the hoses are that hard and oil soaked just cut them off and go buy some new ones, Replace the T-stat and the belts also. Now that you have broken the radiator pull it out and have it cleaned and checked..If the intake gasket is rotted that bad and leaking I would bet the radiator will probably have to be re-cored or replaced anyway.I hope your Intake manifold isn't all corroded and full of holes around the water jackets too. The aluminum ones rot from electrolysis, It sounds like you are in for a real education on this one. 
it's a snap clip that you pull the tab away so you can slide the clip down to the larger hole in the clip to remove it from the shaft..
Just an FYI on the radiator drain plug. Righty tighty lefty loosy applies in this situation however it works in reverse. By tightening the petcock your actually opening it up to let the fluid out.
Something else to keep in mind is when you do get the manifold off, stuff some rags in the intake ports of the heads and lay a towel in the lifter valley to keep any junk from getting into the engine while you clean the surfaces.
You may also find it makes the process easier by removing the oil fill tube at the front of the block. It just takes a couple of smacks with a rubber mallet and you should be able to wiggle it out. To put it back in, just smack it with the rubber hammer.
Without doing that it makes it a bit tought to get the intake to sit straight the first time. You'll be hitting that tube and the distributor.
Something else to keep in mind is when you do get the manifold off, stuff some rags in the intake ports of the heads and lay a towel in the lifter valley to keep any junk from getting into the engine while you clean the surfaces.
You may also find it makes the process easier by removing the oil fill tube at the front of the block. It just takes a couple of smacks with a rubber mallet and you should be able to wiggle it out. To put it back in, just smack it with the rubber hammer.
Without doing that it makes it a bit tought to get the intake to sit straight the first time. You'll be hitting that tube and the distributor.
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