Plenum Gasket Fix: DONE (pics)

[EMTimZJ]

The weekend of the 14th (Jan ’06) I decided to tackle the Plenum Gasket for the 5.2L. Others and I noticed the bluish tint of burning oil in my exhaust especially during wheeling. You can see what I’m talking about in the second badlands video. I also noticed some oil comsumption based on level. Reading up on it revealed that is it a common issue with higher mileage Dodge/Jeep magnum engines. (I have 174,xxx on the clock right now) The write up by Dr. Righteous on JU (http://www.jeepsunlimited.com/forums/showthread.php?t=674648) helped tremendously! I’m not sure I would have attempted it without it. The Haynes leaves some areas that are important a little fuzzy. Yes this was difficult. I am by no means a mechanic so this might very well be a breeze for the seasoned professional. Would I do it again? I hope I don’t have too, but I would always lend a hand to someone who wants to wrench.

Some tools / supplies that you want to get your hands on:
(not pictured)
-You will need a basic socket wrench set, SAE and metric, deepwell and shallowwell sockets, extensions etc.
(pictured below)
-Torque Wrench in INCH-POUNDS (in-lbs) very important!
-RTV gasket (I used Napa “Right Stuff” it was what I had on the shelf)
-Air nozzle attachment
-Fuel line disconnect tool (the small plastic circle sets work well too)
-Air hammer
-Magnetic extension (for fishing out the things you drop into the smallest of places)
-Stubby 22mm wrench for EGR tube (any longer and it will not fit!)
-Nice small, yet bright flashlight to compliment any other overhead light source
-Wire wheel (to clean mating surfaces)
-Compressor to run the air tools



The fan has to come off. There is a big 36mm nut (1 7/16) that needs to be loosened while holding the pulley still. I didn’t have a 36mm wrench so I used a vise grip. I also didn’t have a spanner wrench that you can use to hold the pulley still (thinking you can hold it still with the belt and apply the force needed to break the nut loose is a joke!). Unfortunately I didn’t get a picture of this but I removed the four bolts that held the pulley to the mount (the mount freely rotates with the pulley) and was able to get the air-hammer on the mount. I held the vise grip tight and feathered the trigger on the air-hammer until I broke it loose.

[EMTimZJ]

Some Tips:


When removing the accessory bracket in front, there is one bolt hiding behind the idler pulley. Use different zip-lock bags to store all your bolts.

Once the fan and fan shroud were removed I put a piece of cardboard up against the radiator. I’m known to drop tools and other things and I didn’t want anything to gouge the fins. Yeah I know radiators can be tough, but it was something that took me 3 seconds to do and it gave me some security incase I did something dumb.

Label your injectors. They look identical and need to be put back in the correct configuration. I used a silver and black sharpie marker to label items, you can use whatever method works.

I strung a bungee cord low across the underside of the hood near the engine. I used some wire to string up the main wiring harness while working under there.

I did a tune up while the intake was off. It will be the easiest tune up you will ever do. The distributor cap / rotor are EASILY accessible during this part of the procedure. I removed the rest of the oil-pressure sensor I broke when I was wrenching off the EGR tube.

I strung a bungee cord low across the underside of the hood near the engine. I used some wire to string up the main wiring harness while working under there.

Once you remove all 12 bolts holding the intake on, make sure everything is disconnected and you can pull the intake off. I stuffed shop towel in the cylinder intakes and over the holes over the camshaft in the bottom of the lifter gallery once I cleaned it out. Dropping something down in there could ruin your day, whether you knew about it then or if you didn’t know and it damaged things later. When you are starting to reassemble, make sure you put the lifter guide retainer on the outside of the lifter guides.

Here is a picture of most of the things I replaced just because or because I broke them!



Top is the heater bypass hose. (Napa P/N = 8722 )
Below is the throttle body gasket. (Napa P/N = G31527 )
Top right is the 195* thermostat and gasket (Napa P/N = 269)
Middle is the temperature switch (Napa P/N =TS6682 ) Make sure they give you the one with only one terminal pin inside, in the Napa computer the temp switch and temp sensor had the same part number, however the boxes they come in are correct. The temp sensor has two terminal pins.
Right is the Oil Pressure sensor. They DO break easy! (Napa P/N = OP6695SB )

I lost the P/N for the actual gasket set. I used the Felpro gaskets from Autozone. It comes with the plenum pan gasket, the front and rear cork gaskets, and the two manifold / intake gaskets.

I also replaced my PCV valve when I broke that off by accident.

When you are at the parts store, grab some ¼” ID (inside diameter) rubber vacuum hose. Helps when some of the old lines break.

[EMTimZJ]

Use proper torque specs, tightening order, and tightening steps! This is very important, if you do not follow it correctly it, the gasket will not properly seal, vacuum leaks could occur, and your can warp the mating surfaces. So get yourself a quality torque wrench and get to work! The Haynes was a little unclear here, but my mechanic friend Dave helped me out with the proper torque, pattern, and steps. (if you cannot read it there is the larger version in the photobucket account) The numbers in bold print are in-lbs. The numbers in blue hand writing are in ft-lbs.



Here are legible pictures of the torque specs! Sorry! You can put away your microscopes!





When reinstalling the intake it is helpful to have some extra hands. Thankfully my friends Blaine and Aron were available to help position, hold wires, and direct, to ensure that the intake was set straight down without moving the pre-places gaskets.

As you can see, I stuffed shop towel into the intake holes where the throttle body sits. I also stuffed some inside the thermostat housing. I just didn’t want to take the chance of something falling in there!






Torque the throttle body bolts to 200 in-lbs.


PLUG IN YOUR CPS!



Here is my new bling bling CCV breather. +50.94lbs-ft torque and +35.56 HP (at the wheels!)

[EMTimZJ]

About wrenching on the EGR tube: This was the hardest part by far. A standard length wrench will not fit because of the firewall. I needed to run to the store and buy a stubby 22mm wrench (about 6 inches long) just to be able to get a wrench on the nut. The nut is VERY stubborn and less than 6 inches of leverage crammed into a tight space makes things very difficult. With the open end of the wrench on the nut, I was able to put the blunt tip of the air-hammer in the boxed end. I held the wrench with my left hand and feathered the trigger on the hammer with my right.. This method was very controlled and as soon as the nut started to break lose I let off with the hammer and proceeded by hand with the wrench. It still takes a LONG time since you can only get about a 6th of a turn in each time. I didn’t get a picture of this exact method, but I set up the wrench in the vise to illustrate what I am talking about.



Change your oil!

Hope this helps anyone in conjunction with Dr. Righteous’ write up for fixing the plenum gasket. It was such a relief to finally drive her on the third weekend!


Note that I did not reinstall the factory fan and shroud. I replaced it with a ford Taurus 2-speed E-fan, look for the details on that later

[10achik]

Your that man, nice job...doesn't look like the easiest thing to do.

The rest of us future Badlands wheelers thank you

[SilverTSi]

What's the photobucket account? I'm doing my intake right now in my long block swap. Thanks for posting up the torque sequence for us to see. I need a larger pic of it though. If you could show me where to find it I'd appreciate it. Thanks!

Oh, did your intake look like this when you took it off?
http://www.horsepowered.com/imagehost/Snydaleid/DVC00248.jpg

[10achik]

Originally Posted by SilverTSi

Oh, did your intake look like this when you took it off?
http://www.horsepowered.com/imagehost/Snydaleid/DVC00248.jpg

That's a lot of sludge,

[EMTimZJ]

Silver, fixed the pictures! I thought if you went to the photobucket account the pictures were bigger, thanks for bringing that to my attention

Yes mine was pretty bad, but it didn't seem as thick as the picture you posted. Mine looked identical to this: (photos from Dr. Righteous) Either way, it was nasty!





Good luck!

HTH

[SilverTSi]

Ok cool! Thanks for the larger pic.

[Texas ZJ1]

If mine weren't a DD, I'd follow that tomorrow. But, because it is, I'd drop a bb or hundreds of BBs in the intake and be screwed.


Hunter

[EMTimZJ]

Mine is still a DD, but the thing is I don't drive every day. Once I am at school I pretty much walk everywhere. My Dad picked me up and dropped me off last weekend, Ashley did the same the weekend before. I'm glad she is up and running now!

I had the fear of droping something in there too, I stuffed all the holes with shop towel just to make sure.

[Texas ZJ1]

I'd have to stuff all the openings with diapers....oops, I typed too much again.


Hunter

[Dr. Righteous]

HEY,
Nice writeup. Good work on covering some of the things I didn't touch on like torque sequence, ect.
I'm working on another writeup on common transmission problems with Grand Cherokees.
The thought crossed my mind to do my own website because I invest so much time in doing a clear concise writeup.
What do you guys think?

[EMTimZJ]

Your write up helped a TON, like I said, I'm not sure if I would have attempted it without it. I couldn't find the digi-cam for the first weekend with the tear down, you notice I didn't get any pictures of that. My mechanic friend Dave supplied me with the torque spec and sequence pages.

I would say go for building up your own website, it would be fun and a great way to save your work

[Dr. Righteous]

My wife is a web designer, so creating a site wouldn't be a big deal.
I noticed my other 2 writeups are not stickied so they don't show up unless you do a 'show from beginning'.
I PMed the moderators to sticky my writeups but they seem to be kind of lazy.
I didn't get any pix of my front track bar install because my garage camera died. The battery charger bit the dust, but since then I replaced the charger and am back in business.