Rodeo Joe
Elite Bostonian
- Joined
- August 29, 2003
- Messages
- 428
- Reaction score
- 1
- City, State
- Frankin, MA
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 1997 XLT
Well, I finally got some much needed work done and banged it all out! This turned out to be multiple projects at once.
I've a CEL since God knows when, P0171. Searching the forums here, everything was pointing to bad intake gaskets.I followed mikeh's post on getting this job done. The tear down was easier than I thought, and when I got to the lower intake, 3 of the 12 bolts were only hand tight!
The gaskets looked pretty good, so I figured this was probably the cause of the CEL.
When I got to this point, plugs and wires. Pretty easy when the top half of the engine is removed!
Next was my coolant leak, another problem that's been around for sometime!
I had more shops telling that I had a leak and what the problem was, so then I finally did some digging here. I found JOEZ33 fix for the leaking thermostat housing. I had ordered the necessary parts, and went to work. It's pretty straight forward, but not an easy fix. Space is tight and the damn hose clamps and wiring harness in the way didn't help much. I got the old housing out and checked it over. It didn't looked cracked or leaking from the sensors, but the base was all gunked up and was probably leaking there. I got the new housing back in and reconnected all the hoses.
Next was a new radiator! Hey, I've gone this far, I may was well get it all done. I bought a new from Radiator Classic on eBay for only $50 plus shipping! This guy has good feedback and recommended by people from other sites I'm on. It fit great and looks to be well made. A word of warning though. Check the fittings for the transmission lines. Mine needed to be tightened after I saw some fluid leaking, not sure why I didn't check those before I put it in!
Stated filling the radiator with antifreeze and noticed the thermostat housing was leaking! WTF! 
I started checking everything and realized I put the gasket for the thermostat on the bottom and not the top!
Got everything back together, started right up! So far, so good! No leaks or CEL and runs better than it has for sometime. Thanks to this site, I saved a bundle doing it myself!
Joe
I've a CEL since God knows when, P0171. Searching the forums here, everything was pointing to bad intake gaskets.I followed mikeh's post on getting this job done. The tear down was easier than I thought, and when I got to the lower intake, 3 of the 12 bolts were only hand tight!
The gaskets looked pretty good, so I figured this was probably the cause of the CEL.When I got to this point, plugs and wires. Pretty easy when the top half of the engine is removed!
Next was my coolant leak, another problem that's been around for sometime!
I had more shops telling that I had a leak and what the problem was, so then I finally did some digging here. I found JOEZ33 fix for the leaking thermostat housing. I had ordered the necessary parts, and went to work. It's pretty straight forward, but not an easy fix. Space is tight and the damn hose clamps and wiring harness in the way didn't help much. I got the old housing out and checked it over. It didn't looked cracked or leaking from the sensors, but the base was all gunked up and was probably leaking there. I got the new housing back in and reconnected all the hoses. Next was a new radiator! Hey, I've gone this far, I may was well get it all done. I bought a new from Radiator Classic on eBay for only $50 plus shipping! This guy has good feedback and recommended by people from other sites I'm on. It fit great and looks to be well made. A word of warning though. Check the fittings for the transmission lines. Mine needed to be tightened after I saw some fluid leaking, not sure why I didn't check those before I put it in!
Stated filling the radiator with antifreeze and noticed the thermostat housing was leaking! WTF! I started checking everything and realized I put the gasket for the thermostat on the bottom and not the top! Got everything back together, started right up! So far, so good! No leaks or CEL and runs better than it has for sometime. Thanks to this site, I saved a bundle doing it myself!
Joe
