Kakashi

I just wanted to see if it was okay to remove the lower intake to clean it, but I want to leave the fuel rail on so I don't have to fuss with the o rings. I have new gaskets for the lower intake too. Any tips, advice? Thanks.

wdornbach

I wouldnt do that.

If you are going that far, then take the time to pull the fuel rail and injectors, and send the injectors out to be serviced / rebuilt. Get all new seals & o rings directly from the dealer. (They are not that expensive, don't fuss with aftermarket o rings and seals).

You will see more performance benefit from rebuilding the injectors than cleaning the intake unless the intake is horribly clogged.

Also while you are in there, get a new regulator, it's vacum operated and it screws into the end of the rail. You will see it. Looks like a little flying saucer.

Be careful when loosening the screws which hold in that regulator as well as the injector hold down caps. The philps heads strip if you are not careful or if using a worn out screwdriver. Just spray them all first with a penetrate oil

When you put the injectors back in the rail, make sure the injector cups are smooth and clean, no rust. oil the o rings and push and twist the injectors down until they are fully seated in the rail cups. (DO NOT USE THE INJECTOR HOLD DOWN CAPS TO SCREW IN TO PUSH INJECTORS INTO RAIL. YOU WILL MESS UP THE O RINGS).

In case you didnt see that warning , here it is again:

(DO NOT USE THE INJECTOR HOLD DOWN CAPS TO SCREW IN TO PUSH INJECTORS INTO RAIL. YOU WILL MESS UP THE O RINGS).

in case you think we're kidding, here it is again:

(DO NOT USE THE INJECTOR HOLD DOWN CAPS TO SCREW IN TO PUSH INJECTORS INTO RAIL. YOU WILL MESS UP THE O RINGS).

seriously we are not joking.

(DO NOT USE THE INJECTOR HOLD DOWN CAPS TO SCREW IN TO PUSH INJECTORS INTO RAIL. YOU WILL MESS UP THE O RINGS).

Not being sarcastic, trust us:

(DO NOT USE THE INJECTOR HOLD DOWN CAPS TO SCREW IN TO PUSH INJECTORS INTO RAIL. YOU WILL MESS UP THE O RINGS).

JvG

There is no reason to clean the lower intake manifold, nor any reason to do so.

I heartily agree with all of what wdornback said.

service the injectors and clean out the egr , the egr tube, and all get passages. Inspect or replace the knock sensor.

leave the lower intake manifold alone.

Kakashi

So I was in there about a month or two ago and had just replaced all of the injectors because a pintle cap was cracked off and the injector was dumping gas. The reason I want to remove the lower intake is because the valve cover gaskets were leaking slowly. Then the upper intake manifold gasket must have been letting oil into the lower intake cause there are these plates that look kinda like the throttle one that are kinda dirty now. I think it might a be a part of the swirl control valve.

So I have the gaskets for the lower intake but I don't think those ones can go bad cause they are metal? The OCD in me wants to clean my lady's engine bay so it wont drip oil in my garage and I can see if there are any other leaks lol. I have also removed the EGR tube once a few years ago to clean for a code. It was a PITA to saw that little bit off. I cleaned that tube again though.

Would a JIS screwdriver work well on that regulator? I have seen people stripping the screws on a Ninja carburetor but it's cause the screws were JIS ones and I have some drivers that I got in Japan.

I'll take a look on how to clean the EGR too then, I had also planned to clean whatever the IACV is too since that seems to get pretty dirty.

JvG

I have also replaced my injectors, cleaned out the egr system, cleaned the throttle body, disassembled and cleaned the iacv, replaced the knock sensor, and replaced all coolant hoses. I did not replace the valve cover gaskets at that time.
Big mistake. Of course the valve cover gaskets started to leak a year after. So I had to remove the uim again. So I have been there, done that.

I noticed that the fel-pro intake manifold gasket set had other rubber gaskets which must have been for the lower intake manifold - to engine. I did not use those. I left the lim on the engine.

your leaks are probably from the valve covers. Other leak areas are on the passenger side if the engine. Sensors and such.

Most of the Phillips head screws as Japanese Industrial Standard spec. Harbor Frieght should have a set of jis screwdrivers at a reasonable price.

I would not bother removing the intake manifold again . You might create a new set of problems.

you might as well disassembleand clean the iacv and clean the inside of the throttle body and the edges of the throttle plate.

Kakashi

Yeah, I changed the valve cover gaskets with fel-pro ones. I noticed they are quite a bit thicker than the stock ones. I ended up snapping a bolt last week because of a harbor freight torque wrench, the small one in in-lbs because I was tired and waiting for a click like my bigger torque wrench and saw a huge gap still. I saw someone used some stainless steel washers to bring it down more, so I did that.

The gaskets that I have for the lower intake are a thin piece of metal rather than rubber. I guess I should probably leave the lower intake alone then since the car didn't have any real problems other than the leaking cover gaskets.

Thanks.

JvG

It has been a while since I dealt with the intake manifold. Come to think of it, the lower intake manifold foes use the metal type gasket similar to some old school Chrysler V 8 engines.

Kakashi

So after closing the car up, the car ran a tiny bit rough and there was no check engine light, checked to see any pending codes, pulled code P0325. Drove it for a bit then got code P0134 on the next start. I was watching the fuel trims for bank 1 and it shot up to 25 then crashed to 0 and then stayed in open loop. I replaced a hose from the valve cover to the plastic intake since it was cracked then reset the codes.

The o2 code came back. Bad sensor or did I break a wire in the harness? Or miss a vacuum line?

I checked the harness with the key on and got 11.75 volts for the heater wires. I am not sure how to test the middle part of the o2 harness. I am trying to look up how to test the sensor without removing it. I think I plugged in everything I had removed.

Forgot to add that I have seen the o2 code for high voltage or low, but this time it says no activity, which is new to me. I had to replace both downstream sensors already.