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?