Intake plenum replacement.

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Moparornocar0346

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Ok so I started my plenum job tonight. So I’m half way threw the job so to say. Got everything apart so far but haven’t got the plenum off yet. All I have to do now is unbolt the bracket for my throttle cables. 45c7d80882c17f118ee8b7d83a88f51b.jpg4d45bd88cba77eecf61e1bf9a0d0360a.jpg
Also I got a new water pump and the Hughes kit with the fel pro gaskets. Thermostat and come to find out that my clutch fan is bad. So imma have to get one of those. Now I’m affaid that my bolts r gonna break is really a fear. I need this done by Sunday night so did I make a mistake by taking it apart?
And also can I get some pointers from anyone that has done this. Bc this is my first one and hopefully my last lol. Should I clean the intake with brake cleaner? Clean the throttle bodies as well. Should I use any sealant? Any advice will be greatly appreciated


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jessyj

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abbotsford, bc
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Do you know how to get fan off? You need a large wrench 1"3/16" and a strap wrench to hold the pully. It is a reverse thread. Hold the pulley with strap wrench and use the big wrench to turn it .Remember its reverse thread. Hope this helps. Good luck.You can do it.
 

dudeman2009

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In my experience, the bolts on the rear of the plenum and middle aren't likely to break. Most often it's the ones in the front, usually the front 2 that break. Over the couple dozen that I've done at work I've found the best way to keep them from breaking is to coat them well with penetrating oil as soon as you can, and get the bottom of the front two with little straw thing, only the front two are open and can be reached easily. I think the rear two are open from underneath as well, but I've yet to break one of those.

After that, get a torch, the hotter and finer the tip the better. I've used propane in a pinch on my personal truck, but oxy at work is great. Heat the bolts most and a little on the intake, you don't want to fry the head gasket, valve cover gasket or any plastic sensors you didn't remove from the intake, but don't worry to much about the intake gasket as you'll be replacing it anyway.after you've heated it a bit, doesn't have to even glow with heat, douse it with penetrating oil. Wash it off with a spray bottle of water so you don't light the engine on fire and heat them again. Do this 2-3 times for the front two and if you feel adventurous the next 2 or 4 back. You should already have the fuel rail and injectors completely removed at this point.

Once you've heated them and allowed them to cool, heat the heads on the front two bolts as well as the intake a little. A heat gun is preferable as you are far less likely to burn the heat gaskets. Then take your wrench and just put some medium force into TIGHTENING them, you don't want them to turn much at all, if they start to turn stop. You don't want to snap or stretch them either, you're just trying to break loose some rust. It doesn't make sense to me but it seems to work better to tighten first. Then put more force into loosening them. If they don't budge, go back to tightening. Keep alternating and applying a decent amount of force. A 3/8ths breaker bar works best as you don't have to keep switching the ratchet. Eventually they will start to move. Don't get greedy, if they have more than a hairs resistance stop after a little bit of turn and reverse direction. Just make small bits of progress. If it takes 5 minutes per bolt, that's less time to remove them all than trying to remove a single snapped bolt.

Feel free to add plenty of penetrating oil along the way, you cannot add too much.

If you do snap one, it's not the end of the world, you're just in for a pain in the ass. Every single one I've had snap has left me with enough to get a pair of vice grips on. Don't try the bolt extractors, I've never had one work on a bolt this size.

If it snaps, continue removing the rest and the intake will come off, you may have to force it, and if you do, try not to pry on the cracks along the edge, those are mating surfaces for the gaskets it'll just add more work later to clean them up. Once the intake is off, clean the heads of gasket material and spray them with water. You want the water to wet the head not bead up and run off. With the heads wet, take your torch and repeat the heating and drenching process from earlier, just use water. After a few cycles, heat the head, making sure to stop every note and then and put a couple drops next to the bolt, if the water boils stop heating, you won't cook the gasket at 212F,but above that I make no promises. Once you're ready get a pair of vice grips and grab as much of the bolt with as much force as you can physically get the vise grips to clamp. If you thing your hand will break, that's about right. Clamp them on from the side like you were using a wrench and make small back and forth moves trying to get the bolt to come loose. Don't get greedy, if you slip off or snap the bolt again, your chances of getting it out plumit. The bolt should come out eventually, it might take an hour, but it should come out.

If you just can't get it out, or it snaps flush with the head, you can try to drill out the first two, they will eventually just fall out, but the ones in the middle are blind holes and you may just end up damaging the heads,you have to be very careful and will likely need to drill them larger once the bolt is out and use spiral inserts to get the proper thread size and pitch. If you don't want to drill them out, a single bolt won't ruin anything and quality felpro gaskets should take care of it.

Good luck.

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dudeman2009

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Don't worry about cleaning the intake too much, it will always have oil in it for to the pcv valve, just wipe the plenum pan down with a paper towel. Don't use rtv or any gasket maker on the main part of the intake gaskets, you shouldn't need it. Just a little at the ends where the silicone strips cross the block between the heads is all I recommend. Also the black silicone strip on the front is easy to get upside down if you don't have enough light, make sure you put it in right side up.

Also, before you move the intake, vacuum or blowgun the crevice between the intake and heads, the less **** you drop into the lifter Valley the better. I always pay down a small towel in the lifter Valley once I get the intake off just to keep anything from falling in. I also recommend changing the oil immediately after getting it back together, then again within the next 100 miles just to get rid of any junk that might have fallen past. Expecting the filter to just handle it for the next 3000 miles doesn't sit well with me.

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Moparornocar0346

Moparornocar0346

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Well all and all there out the whole job one intake bolt broke and it was the front ones. Now I had the common problems pinging under acceleration, using oil, lack of power. But when I took my intake off. I didn’t see That the belly pan gasket had failed. But I had oil inside my intake. I will say that the gasket was really hard. So hopefully that fixed my problem. I haven’t drove it that far since the fix. It did have the stock belly pan on it still to.


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cat199

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2002 Quadcab Ram 1500 SLT Sport 4x4 3.92 gears
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5.9
My 5.9 was using 1-2 quarts of oil every 600 or so miles. But I had no missing pinging or smoke. I even ran the vacuum test where you block off the pvc line and see if you starting pulling vacuum in the crankcase it tested OK. So I thought damn probably going to be valve stem seals. But the plenum gasket would be easier and known problem. I removed the intake plenum gasket wasn't broken but very hard and thin. One bolt was slightly loose. And oil in the intake. Resealed it. No oil consumption at all, none. Made me happy. So it doesn't have to blown to create a problem. Good luck!! Let us know how it goes.
 
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