How to: replace valve cover gaskets, fuel rail gaskets and lower intake gaskets

[Jim Oaks]

Added to online magazine.

Thanks!

 

[slvr00gt]

Thanks

Thanks for the great write-up!

I can definitely see this job in my future. The valve covers are starting to leak more and I suspect some coolant is seeping into cylinder #4. Hopefully, the job can wait until the warmer months when I don't need the truck as much

 

[Carter89ranger]

Does any one know what causes a pinging noise in the 2.9L engine?

 

[97RangerXLT]

while this is an excellent section to research your problem, this is not the area to ask a technical question (unless directly involved with the subject in the post) If you have an engine issue, your best bet would be to go to the main forums menu and scroll down to the engine section and click on the V6 forums and then 2.9. there is a good possibility that someone can help you there, or has experienced the same issues and can get you going in the right direction.

AJ

 

[xentris02]

in a previous comment i believe i read that some one had metal valve cover gaskets if so (after i bought all of my parts like 3 hours ago) i found this. http://www.partsgeek.com/gbproducts...content=DN&utm_campaign=PartsGeek+Google+Base which seams to be a all metal gasket kit so for suture reference look into this

 

[97RangerXLT]

The original ford valve cover gaskets were metal with the rubber seal fused to it. On mine the metal was separating from the rubber and leaking. Thanks for the link. All I found was the felpro set when I did mine and they were plastic and rubber.

AJ

 

[97RangerXLT]

Just took a look at the link, that has pretty much every part that you would need for the job, but the lower intake gasket is a two peice instead of the ford OEM one piece. Not sure on how well that would work, it looks like the two pieces have to rest on the cylinder heads, I can see how they would be very easily bumped out of place when putting the intake on...

I still say get the OEM lower intake gasket from Ford...

AJ

 

[xentris02]

when you did the intake plennim did you need the o ring style gaskets and a long flat one to. the diagram i have shows both but the only thing you mentioned was the o ring style.

 

[bilzy7]

wow, someones awesome lol.

 

[Oceaneer]

Great instructions on this procedure. This project and this thread motivated me to become a member. Just completed the job over the weekend. Went pretty smooth for the most part. Lots of labeling though.

I am experiencing a bit of an issue after the work. I seem to have a coolant leak on the front drivers side of the engine block. Its a consistent leak about a drip every 2 seconds approx. I cant seem to find the exact source without removing everything again and I have not had the time yet. I wonder if anybody has had a similar issue after they did these gaskets?

Suggestions welcome.

 

[97RangerXLT]

when you did the intake plennim did you need the o ring style gaskets and a long flat one to. the diagram i have shows both but the only thing you mentioned was the o ring style.

Sorry I missed this earlier xentris, but if you are dealing with just the intake, all you need is the three o-ring type gaskets. (felpro sells them in a package of 6, but you only need three) if you remove the fuel rail you will need a paper one as well.

This is for the plastic upper intake, I believe the aluminum one has a paper gasket... someone correct me if I am wrong...

AJ

 

[97RangerXLT]

wow, someones awesome lol.

hehe Thanks Bilzy

Great instructions on this procedure. This project and this thread motivated me to become a member. Just completed the job over the weekend. Went pretty smooth for the most part. Lots of labeling though.

I am experiencing a bit of an issue after the work. I seem to have a coolant leak on the front drivers side of the engine block. Its a consistent leak about a drip every 2 seconds approx. I cant seem to find the exact source without removing everything again and I have not had the time yet. I wonder if anybody has had a similar issue after they did these gaskets?

Suggestions welcome.

my guess is that you did not get enough rtv on the corners of the lower intake gasket. you need to put it on both sides of the lower intake as well..

it might seal itself up by itself, watch it for a while. if it does not, you will have to take it apart again

Hope this helps

AJ

 

[Oceaneer]

97RangerXLT,

thanks for the response. I just started to take the intakes off again, but only the upper so I dont ruin any of the new gaskets i just put in. It looks like you are right about the RTV. When i squeeze the upper rad hose I can see a little pressure come out at the mating surface at the lower intake. Looks like i just bought another set of gaskets. I am just worried that a head gasket may have gone coincidentally and I wont find out until I assemble it once more.

Thanks again I will post when i figure something out.

I had to redo the lower intake gasket. Was a little shy with the RTV. A lesson not soon to be forgotten.

On to the next job.

 

[vedrand]

Clarification and some questions

I wanted to make one clarification to this super excellent write-up.

The parts list shows the lower intake gasket as part# F7TZ-9E439-AA. Ford (as well as Google) only shows F7TZ-9439-AA as the one and only original gasket for the lower intake spot. I assume that is the actual part# -- this may already be obvious since one cannot confuse it with any other gaskets, but I wanted to mention it for accuracy and/or check if I am wrong.

Now for my questions:

1. 97rangerxlt specifically chose the OEM gasket over the others. According to Ford, this is the original version. Does it mean that it is prone to the same problem? I would think that the aftermarket ones might be preferrable over this one to eliminate the repeat problem.

2. The Ford OEM gasket does have "filled" rubber ends on one end of the gasket (as pictured in the first post). Other OEM version do not. I assume this does not affect any functionality?

3. Some (most?) aftermarket versions come in 2 pieces instead of the sort of trough-shaped one. Are there downsides to the multi-piece version? Apologies if this one has been asked before.

4. Lastly, and relating to #1 above, some aftermarket products claim to use HNBR rubber (Victor Reinz for example). It sounds like this might be better for contact with anti-freeze, but I don't see anyone else claiming this. Any thoughts about this?

Thanks!

P.S. Related to forum password reset functionality -- I have a 6 year old login that requires a password reset. However, the system cannot validate my email address (which I know I used as I have the original verification email). But then, the "contact the administrator" feature requires a valid login, so I could not do anything excepy create a new account ... any ideas?

 

[Mark_88]

Wow...awesome write up...now I know what I missed on mine...lol

But it looks like a big job...think I will stick with the 2.3!