Leaking Valve Cover Gaskets - Remove Intake Manifold? 2006 4.0L

[jtmillan]

Valve Cover Leak, Intake Manifold, Oil Leak....
Looking for advice here. I need to replace both side valve cover gaskets on my daughter's 2006 Explorer 4.0L 4WD. Is it necessary or advised to remove the intake manifold in order to remove the valve covers for valve cover gasket replacement? Or, is it possible/advisable to attempt snaking the driver side valve cover under the intake manifold? I have not worked on this vehicle before so I am not knowledgeable on the various intricacies of what must be removed to access the items I need to affect.
Any confirmed advice is appreciated.
Jim in Houston

 

[DAVY S]

Hey Jim - I have same problem and I am aking the same thing - 2002 Ford Explorer with V6 4 liter engine - Driver Side Valve Cover Leaks oil on hot manifold - CAN I REMOVE this cover & replace the gasket & grommets without removing Intake manifold ??? - - - I realy hope some one can answer us !

 

[donalds]

If I was you I'd start a new thread

 

[DAVY S]

If I was you I'd start a new thread

ya thanks Donalds - I tried to create a new thread but it wont let me - It keeps saying there are already threads covering this - it wont let me type my question Lol... - guess I gotta do the legwork my self - reviewing evry Post in the Valve Cover category and The Intake Cover Category - - I just spent 3 hours reading evrything on this site on these subjects - THE CONCENSUS IS - - - BUY both Left & Right Valve cover gaskets with the corresponding donuts to seal the bolts - AND buy The INTAKE Mannifold Donuts as well cause U-R going to need all of them - plus 2 nights of back breaking labour to unbolt it all and make sure ya take a gazillion pictures - so ya know how it all comes together - Ha Hah Ha- I can't Waite!!!- Guess I will be the freekin expert when Im Done Lol... -

 

[donalds]

What you can't start a new thread

Perhaps @Rick can help me understand this I'm curious

 

[Gene619]

Valve Cover Leak, Intake Manifold, Oil Leak....
Looking for advice here. I need to replace both side valve cover gaskets on my daughter's 2006 Explorer 4.0L 4WD. Is it necessary or advised to remove the intake manifold in order to remove the valve covers for valve cover gasket replacement? Or, is it possible/advisable to attempt snaking the driver side valve cover under the intake manifold? I have not worked on this vehicle before so I am not knowledgeable on the various intricacies of what must be removed to access the items I need to affect.
Any confirmed advice is appreciated.
Jim in Houston

JT,what did you wind up doing about the leaky head gasket ? I've got the same problem on my '06. I purchased the gasket kit but saw what was involved and changed my mind. I've been putting in a bottle of sealer with the oil changes.
I've tackled other issues like replacing the crappy hub assemblies which seams to be common problem on the explorer plus other normal wear and tear items. Did you replace the one on your daughters '06 ?

 

[Justin J]

I recently did mine. The driver side was easy but the passenger side was a little harder as the EGR pipe was on the way. I ended removing the generator and sliding the valve cover from the direction of generator.

Be careful not to damage the covers as they are plastic; the metal sprockets or chains can damage the cover bottom easily.

If I were to do it again, I would choose to remove the EGR pipe instead of generator.

There are a few videos on YouTube.

 

[Justin J]

Another thing I found is, don’t even bother to try tightening down the bolts to stop the leak. You must replace the seals.

Seems Ford has designed it in a way that even all bolts are threaded in 100%, they won’t tighten the cover to the metal frame 100% flat. In other words, the design has left some room/gap for the seal to fill in; if the old seal is shrunk due to age, tightening bolts won’t work!

After replacing with new seals and tighten down, you’ll see a gap in between, and your new seal! I think the design is to prevent us from overtighten the bolts and then crack the plastic valve covers.

 

[vipersinu2]

Replace the orings and intake bolts.
The rubber grommet shrink on the slip bolts and the bolts and do not tighten the intake down well to the block causing a air leak

 

[Justin J]

Replace the orings and intake bolts.
The rubber grommet shrink on the slip bolts and the bolts and do not tighten the intake down well to the block causing a air leak

This may help or May not work. Based on what I saw, the shrinking happens mainly on the main seals instead of the o rings on the bolts. My old o-rings feel like new (so I still keep them for a rainy day), but the main seals were totally dry and fragile (143k miles).

If you really want to cut short on the job, a way I can think of is to grind down the bolts a little bit so they can go in more. However, a potential risk is you crack the plastic valve covers.

 

[houstad]

This may help or May not work. Based on what I saw, the shrinking happens mainly on the main seals instead of the o rings on the bolts. My old o-rings feel like new (so I still keep them for a rainy day), but the main seals were totally dry and fragile (143k miles).

If you really want to cut short on the job, a way I can think of is to grind down the bolts a little bit so they can go in more. However, a potential risk is you crack the plastic valve covers.

I had to fix the valve cover leak on passenger side on my 07 exploder. Take it all out and clean everything. I also took the hood off and it made a world of difference. Get new gaskets for everything. Be very careful with all your electrical harnesses. They are brittle and the wires break when the wind blows.

 

[Fix4Dirt]

I had to fix the valve cover leak on passenger side on my 07 exploder. Take it all out and clean everything. I also took the hood off and it made a world of difference. Get new gaskets for everything. Be very careful with all your electrical harnesses. They are brittle and the wires break when the wind blows.

heck even looking at em can break em once in a while! though di watch out o your 4th gen the wires were known for deteriortion

 

[San Hill]

heck even looking at em can break em once in a while! though di watch out o your 4th gen the wires were known for deteriortion

Question #1: How many generations of Ford Explorer, more specifically how many different designs under the hood does Ford produce in a single year for God's sake? I mean, I see that there are 4 generations of Ford Explorers but is that all in a single year?
Question #2: How can I know what generation of Ford Explorer my 2006 Limited happens to be?

 

[Fix4Dirt]

Question #1: How many generations of Ford Explorer, more specifically how many different designs under the hood does Ford produce in a single year for God's sake? I mean, I see that there are 4 generations of Ford Explorers but is that all in a single year?
Question #2: How can I know what generation of Ford Explorer my 2006 Limited happens to be?

thus far we have had 6 generations of explorers. 1st gen (91-4) 2nd gen (95-01) 3rd gen (01-05) 4th gen (06-10) 5th (11-20?) 6th (21?-present). in one year, there will be only 1 generation. we just refer to generations

your 06 will be a 4th gen

ford produces the same truck largely the same, but throughout the years there will be minor tweaks to parts that have early failure, or there is a known issue. (for example I believe in '98 they changed something in the trans for the v8 models) in the case of the 4th gen iirc the 06/7 ones had wiring deterioration issues, but that was fixed for later years. I also believe the early 4th gens used the 6r60 with the v8 and later ones had the 6r80 (dont quote me on this one but thats my understanding)

here is all 6 generations, yours is a 4th (4th from the left, 3rd from right) generations usually refer to a year range in which the design stayed largely the same, but there may be slight changes year to year

 

[San Hill]

Oh okay, thank you. I can breathe again. One design per year is all my brain can take. Now, I've been watching videos on YouTube that say they are showing me how to do work on a Ford Explorer 2006 and I look at the design of their engines and I'm like, "The hell you say son!" It doesn't match up with mine. For instance, the air-hose on my Ford Explorer connects to the throttle body from the left-side. I seen another video where the air-hose connects from the front of the intake-manifold. Now, I do need to go back and see if there's something I have missed personally that explains these variations. Because I do get things wrong quite a bit from first impressions.
So, I'm taking it all in, and learning. Enjoying the journey.

.One thing that I noticed was that you used the word "truck". Is that the same as my SUV? I have a 2006 Ford Explorer SUV and I'm not sure if those two descriptions are considered equivalent or not. Just by looking at how low all those vehicles sit to the ground I'm assuming their the same thing I have. A truck would probably sit much higher off the ground.

 

[Fix4Dirt]

Oh okay, thank you. I can breathe again. One design per year is all my brain can take. Now, I've been watching videos on YouTube that say they are showing me how to do work on a Ford Explorer 2006 and I look at the design of their engines and I'm like, "The hell you say son!" It doesn't match up with mine. For instance, the air-hose on my Ford Explorer connects to the throttle body from the left-side. I seen another video where the air-hose connects from the front of the intake-manifold. Now, I do need to go back and see if there's something I have missed personally that explains these variations. Because I do get things wrong quite a bit from first impressions.
So, I'm taking it all in, and learning. Enjoying the journey.

.One thing that I noticed was that you used the word "truck". Is that the same as my SUV? I have a 2006 Ford Explorer SUV and I'm not sure if those two descriptions are considered equivalent or not. Just by looking at how low all those vehicles sit to the ground I'm assuming their the same thing I have. A truck would probably sit much higher off the ground.

yes there will be minor changes over the years.

yes they are used interchangeably. the explorer (1991-2010) was body on frame, thus making it a truck based SUV. hence truck. but both are the same! they did make an explorer sport trac pickup truck, but alll 91-10 explorers are a truck, just not a pickup truck.

 

[Blackhawkxx]

It doesn't match up with mine. For instance, the air-hose on my Ford Explorer connects to the throttle body from the left-side.

You have to make sure it is the same engine as there is the 4.0 V-6 and the 4.6 V-8. That can trip people up watching videos if not paying attention.

 

[San Hill]

You have to make sure it is the same engine as there is the 4.0 V-6 and the 4.6 V-8. That can trip people up watching videos if not paying attention.

I went back and looked at the video. You're 100% right. It's a 4.6L V8 so that's where I was getting confused about being the same model/year but different engine designs. Thank You!

 

[Blackhawkxx]

I went back and looked at the video. You're 100% right. It's a 4.6L V8 so that's where I was getting confused about being the same model/year but different engine designs. Thank You!

It probably happened to all of us at one time or another.