Well it's been a few weeks since I finally got the car running again after tearing the motor down so I thought I should put together the write-up I said I'd do before I forgot everything. For the record this is the first time that I have ever torn into a motor before and pretty much the most advanced thing I've done to my car so far. If you're considering doing this yourself but aren't sure if you can do it, it is a very easy, although intimidating, task. Just do as much research as possible before hand so there are no surprises and then just take your time as you go through it. It took me about 10 hours spread through about a week to complete the gasket replacement along with a lot of other stuff. I ran out of time over the weekend and couldn't really work on it during the week because of school and then I had to wait for parts once I broke my tensioner. I have no doubt that I could have this done in a full day with no distractions or mishaps. Alright enough of my babbling, on to the good stuff.
What I replaced:
- LIM Gaskets
- Water Pump (Gasket)
- Engine Coolant Temperature Sensor
- Thermostat
- Upper and Lower Radiator Hoses
- Tensioner Assembly
- Injector O-Rings
- Spark Plugs
- Plug Wires
- Valve Cover Gaskets and Grommets
- Throttle Body Gasket
Here we go:
1) Drain coolant (I used the radiator drain on the driver's side of the car instead of pulling the lower hose but either will work the petcock just makes less mess, and then filled with distilled water and drove around for about 30 minutes)
2) Pull fuel pump fuse from the underhood fuse block and start the car and let it die from no fuel, this will relieve the fuel pressure
3) Disconnect negative battery cable and drain both oil and coolant from the car
4) Disconnect dogbone motor mounts
5) Disconnect all sensors, injectors, alternator, plug wires, etc.
6) Remove coil pack bracket
7) Remove belt *If replacing water pump, loosen bolts on water pump pulley before removing belt*
8) Remove air box, CAI, etc. and get it out of the way
9) Remove alternator and tensioner assembly (Note: it is not necessary to remove the tensioner but it will make it easier to replace the coolant elbow(s) as well as access the power steering and water pumps)
10) Unbolt power steering pump from the block (2 bolts) and move it out of the way, this will allow you to access all water pump bolts
11) Remove water pump pulley
12) Remove water pump by unbolting from the block (Note: Coolant will come out of bolt holes and the block once the pump is off)
13) Clean old gasket off of mounting surface and prepare new water pump to be put on, put thin line of RTV of both sides of new gasket and match it to the pump outside the car (I went with a stock ACDelco pump and used the gasket it came with, I'd recommend using a Fel-Pro gasket instead, the ACDelco one is a little cheap IMO)
14) Mount pump to clean surface and torque bolts down to spec and in sequence using blue Loc-Tite
15) Reinstall power steering pump and hand start bolts on water pump pulley
16)Next disconnect the fuel lines from the fuel rail using the quick connectors (Some fuel may spill out of lines so be ready with a towel)
17)Unbolt fuel rail from LIM and pull up on the fuel rail gently, taking care not to damage any injectors
18) Remove the UIM by unbolting it (forgot how many bolts there are but there are quite a few, don't forget the two by the TB)
19) Remove TB bracket and lift UIM off the LIM
20) Unbolt TB from UIM using 3 bolts (I kept TB connected to the throttle linkage as I did not need the TB out of the car)
21) Use a paper towel to soak up all the oil that is pooling in the LIM and disconnect EGR from the LIM
22) Unbolt LIM, don't forget the two hidden bolts in the LIM itself
23) At this point it's time to remove the LIM from the car, there is still coolant in it so it must be kept level as to not spill any coolant. Removing the tensioner bracket and elbows will make it much easier to avoid getting coolant in the oil
24) Remove old gaskets and clean surfaces with brake cleaner and paper towel and also scrape away any old gasket material using a razor blade but taking care not to gouge the metal
25) I cleaned the LIM, UIM and TB outside of the car using brake cleaner and TB cleaner but it's not necessary to do all of them, only the LIM gasket surfaces need to be clean and free of old material (again razor blade and brake cleaner). I also poured about a quart of oil down the lifter valleys to wash out any coolant I might have spilled and let it drain into my catch can with the drain plug off
26) Once clean apply a dab of grey RTV where the heads meet the block (4 corners)
27) Install new gaskets and put 4 dabs of grey RTV in the same spots but on top of the gaskets now
28) Reinstall LIM using correct torque spec and sequence and with blue Loc-Tite on the bolts (All bolts should be cleaned while out of the car before reinstalling for any part), take care to line up the intake openings in the gasket with openings in the LIM
29) Reconnect EGR to LIM
30) Reattach TB to the UIM using a new gasket
31) Reinstall UIM (gasket can be reused) and torque bolts down to spec and in sequence, also reconnect TB bracket
32) To replace the injector o-rings I removed the injectors from the rail, the top ones came off with no problem and I cut the lower ones out with a razor
33) To reinstall the lower ones I dipped them in clean motor oil and used a small, flat screwdriver to roll them over the tip of the injectors
34) Clip the injectors back into the rail and reinstall the rail in the car taking care not to break an injector or overtighten the fuel rail bolts (which I did and broke 2 of the studs off the LIM)
35) Reinstall tensioner bracket with new coolant elbow(s), apply a little coolant to the o-rings on the elbows so they don't roll over when you push the elbows in, also don't push them in too far
36) If you're doing valve cover gaskets and grommets now is a good time to do them, they're pretty self explanatory and there are other write-ups so I won't cover them here
37) Reinstall alternator and coil pack bracket
38) Reinstall intake assembly and dog bone mounts
39) Reconnect all sensors, injectors, alternator, plug wires, etc.
40) Reinstall belt and torque bolts on water pump pulley (Don't forget this, I had a chattering that I could not diagnose until I remembered that I had neglected to torque the water pump pulley bolts)
41) Reinstall fuel pump fuse and reconnect battery cable
42) Reinstall oil drain plug and close radiator drain plug and fill to spec with oil and coolant
43) Remove ignition fuse and turn car to on but don't crank allowing the fuel pump to prime and check for fuel leaks on the rails and injectors
44) Crank the motor for 10-15 seconds 2 or 3 times and again check for any leaks or other issues
45) Reinstall ignition fuse and crank and allow the car to run and visually check the engine for any problems (I ran into a misfire and realized I had switched 2 plug wires)
46) Allow car to run and warm up and bleed the coolant system
47) Take the car out for about a 15 minute drive and take it easy on it
48) Come home, do an oil change, finish bleeding the coolant system and you're done! Congratulations!
After completing this I noticed the car ran a lot smoother and had better throttle response due to the cleaner throttle body and UIM as well as new plugs and wires. I also noticed it warmed up a lot faster and stayed at operating temperature now that I replaced the fault thermostat, before the car would never reach 175 degrees let alone 195. The only problems I ran into were the misfire (switched wires), rattling from pulleys (didn't torque WP) and breaking two fuel rail studs, which I have yet to repair, aside from those everything went smoothly. The feeling of accomplishment you get backing the car out of the driveway after you tore the motor down has to be one of the greatest feelings in the world.
If anyone wants to add anything let me know, I'm sure I missed something important. Pics are being uploaded right now and will be up shortly.
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