2002 XLT 4.6 Coolant Leak | Page 2 | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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2002 XLT 4.6 Coolant Leak

Extra gasket?

Please excuse my ignorance, but what is the "elbow"? The extra gasket in question is oval shaped and labeled "throttle body" gasket. Is the elbow attached to the throttle body? Obviously, it must look like an elbow, but can you give more details?
 



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the piece between the throttle body and the manifold is the elbow, or upper plenum.
 






Ford/Mercury intake manifold replacement how to

Guys; I found this while investigating about my faulty intake manifold. It has all the steps with ilustrations, etc really good! Thank you to whomever did this site!

http://www.autoclinix.com/Manifold.htm

Peace!
:exporange
 






Hey People, first time post so bear with me, I have an 02 explorer and it has a leak below the thermostat housing (not the easy fix of the thermosatat gasket) near the driverside front spark plug!My question is- Do I have to replace the whole manifold or can I just replace the gasket where the coolant is leaking onto my spark plug!?
 






You really won't know until you remove and examine both parts. On my Explorer it was the manifold that was cracked, at exactly the same location yours is leaking. I bought a new one (the "Dorman" with molded intake gaskets) at O'Reilley's.
 






I just finished replacing my intake manifold a few hours ago. I was getting a missfire on Cylinder 5 and 8, 2 Oxygen sensor codes, and white smoke like a head gasket. After taking it all apart I was able to see the problem was a crack in the manifold under the thermostat housing (which allowed coolant to poor internally into cylinder 5) and the gasket was bad which allowed coolant to go into the spark plug holes of cylinder 5, 6, and 8. Installed the dorman replacement from AutoZone, replaced the sparkplugs, and cleaned the coil boots... did a 50 mile test drive and it runs better than it ever has!!!!!!!
 






Anyone else have the plastic clips on the fuel injector connectors break off? I'm thinking of using plastic wire ties to hold them on. Replacing the wiring harness for that d*#$ clip seems like a waste.
2002 Merc Mountaineer 4.6 Liter V8
 






Manifold gasket sounds like my problem too.
Had an intermittent misfire on cyl 8 and when I checked the plug well was full of coolant and the coil rubber had swollen and was misshaped.
In the short term I just blew all the coolant out from around the plug and replaced the coil.
It's been OK for the past couple of months so I don't know how long it takes to fill up again.
 






Looking for advice or tip

I just started removing the intake manifold today; I'm working at a very casual speed.

Everything is going fine (I'm following a Haynes manual), but I do have a catch or two.

Any tips how to get the rear most mannifold bolt, driver's side, without removing the whole nest of wiring and tubing that sits very snugly over it?

Another catch is separating the fuel rail from the individual fuel injectors. What is the method to take the clips off? The Haynes manual doesn't show that. Can the manifold be removed with the injectors and rail still on it?

Thanks
Tim

'05 Eddi Buaer 4.6L 4x4
 






Yes you can remove the manifold with the fuel rail and injectors. Warning, most of the injector clips will break off and you can tie strap them on if necessary.
 






Hey thanks for the info about the removal of the fuel rails and injectors. I removed them from the manifold together. As swetrid mentioned two of the clips snapped off the injector; the clips seem okay, but I will probably replace them to insure there aren't any unseen problems. I removed the fuel system because it was easier to access the rear most bolts that secured the manifold to the engine; and it saved the effort of disconnecting the rails from the fuel supply line.

After I removed the mannifold I discovered that it is 'nested' into a four sided box lined with foam; it slid off the bottom of the manifold very easily. It does not fit onto the bottom of the replacement manifold and I haven't seen any mention or instruction that it should be reused. The replacement is a dorman, and is shaped a bit differently than the original; this includes spaces on the top of the manifold that would allow heat to more easily escape from the top of the block than the original.

So, I'm not going to worry about the nested box underneat; if I'm wrong, please post about it.
 






It is just a sound deadener so dont worry about it.
 












Difference between original and replacement.

After posting, I realized something.

Can't find a delete option.

The original post was about a difference between the old manifold, and the new manifold.

According to the Dorman site, O'Reilly sold me a manifold for a Crown Victoria.....
 






I have a slow coolant leak on my '02 4.6 between the manifold and the crossover pipe.
I went to Ford yesterday and they cannot find the proper gasket for that application and told me that I must change the entire manifold because the crossover pipe isn't meant to be disassembled. This is BS right?
 






I was able to remove it from the old manifold; I did so because I was curious what caused the leak. I don't think Ford makes the crossover independant from the manifold.

My memory is that I can't post pictures here or that I'd have
To use a third party site like photo bucket. If you pm your email address I'll send you the pictures I took.

BTW Ford was the only supplier could find (at least for my model and year) for the manifold. Be careful at the auto supply store they all promised the manifold they had/could get was the right part but none of the were. The manifold is common for many Ford engines, but each model has slight variations. I have picture illustrating some of the differences.
 






Snowball?

So... after all of these misfires I'm seeing, has anyone had their cats go bad too?

'02 4.6, I've been clearing misfires and blowing out the plug bores for about a year now. Yes, coolant. I'm guessing that all of the misfires (#5/6/7/8) have finally dumped enough gas into the exhaust to burn up the driver side cat. I wasn't sure, so I let it run for about ten minutes and compared the upstream cat temps w/ a laser thermometer. The Driver cat was over 600 degrees, and the pass side was around 350. I get a rattle when I rev it too.

'Looks like I'll be checking the intake seals AND swapping the cat setup.

$$$

Great thread and forum,

Al
 






I have a slow coolant leak on my '02 4.6 between the manifold and the crossover pipe.
I went to Ford yesterday and they cannot find the proper gasket for that application and told me that I must change the entire manifold because the crossover pipe isn't meant to be disassembled. This is BS right?

I was told the same thing by a local Ford dealership. Likely Ford's way of selling us a $600 intake rather than a $5 gasket.
 






I was told the same thing by a local Ford dealership. Likely Ford's way of selling us a $600 intake rather than a $5 gasket.

Probably so. However, when I swapped out my manifold, upon further inspection, the surface between the crossover pipe and the manifold wasnt really how it appeared before I started the job (which I thought was just a typical mating surface between a plastic and aluminum part). It really isn't meant to be repaired. I say this because, it's not like a gasket gave way age & use. The plastic surface on the manifold port actually deteriorated and broke away. That would never be repairable with a new gasket.

There is only one way to go to fix this correctly. Order the original Ford equipment manifold from Tousley Ford. Their prices are seriously insane compared to the local "Stealer".

I did a side-by-side comparison between a Dorman manifold and the OEM Ford. They are not even in the same stratosphere in terms of quality. Go Ford OEM (please)

Depending upon your production date, you will either need (or not need) a replacement alternator bracket. Tousley will tell you.

Parts: 1L2Z9424FA (Manifold - $254.31)
YL3Z-9439-BA (Manifold Gaskets - $15.83 each)
F1VY-8255-AA (Thermostat o-ring)

Chances are, you do not need the alternator bracket or the longer thermostat housing bolts. If you did, purchase them separately as opposed to the manifold kit (1L2Z-9424-AA) which is more expensive than the sum of the parts. "Bear" from Tousley (awesome guy) and I had a laugh about this. It seems that one of the parts in the manifold kit was labled "instruction sheet" and that must have accounted for the $50+ difference between the kit and its components. Go Ford!

Best of luck
 



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Hi Kyoshi71,

I will look into your suggestion. If I can do this for less than the $600 OEM kit I was quoted from a local Ford "stealership", I will likely try tackling this myself. I would prefer to use Ford parts but $600 is a big price tag.

I appreciate the tip on Tousley Ford. I'll keep you posted.

Thanks again!
Michael
 






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