HOW TO: Change gaskets to Valve Covers and Intake Manifold on v6

[boostedbatman]

Removal of Intake Manifold and Valve Covers
Tools required: 10mm socket, 12mm socket, 14 mm socket, socket wrench, socket extension, Torque Wrench
Phillips and flat head screwdriver, pliers, piece of rag but preferably 2x 8mm thread width bolts (for plugging fuel lines), Torch, Magnetic pickup tool (recommended for those moments when you drop a bolt )Masking Tape and Marker pen. If your not too confidant you could also have little zip lock bags or containers of sorts for keeping nuts and bolts together for their respective parts so no losses or mix ups occur.

Front valve cover removal

Remove the 3 plug leads from the spark plug wells (you will note that the other end attaches to the distributor and its here that they are numbered on the dizzy cap)
Pull the breather hose from the PCV at the top-rear right of the valve cover and the rubber/plastic hose from the rear of the return breather hose which looks like a silver tube that follows the valve cover from the right side around to the front left

Take a 10mm socket and wrench or spanner and remove the 2 bolts at the left of cover (top of timing cover)....simple

Now you will see another 12 bolts holding down the top of the valve cover
Starting at the front left you will need to loosen them 1/2 turn and follow this procedure from front right --> front left then from centre left --> centre right and finally from rear right --> rear left
You can now remove these bolts (take note as to the position of the longer bolts and maybe mark their placing)

Guess what??
You should be able to grab the cover by the oil cap and with a slight bit of gusto, pull it from the head

Now you must pull out the Gasket slowly and remove any sealant from the furrow.
It wouldn't hurt at this point to clean the residue from the underside completely

Now in order to replace the new gasket you must apply some silicone sealant to the groove in the valve cover but be sparing, a little bit goes a long way. You can now press the gasket marked 'L' or 'LHS' into the channel taking care not to twist or stretch it. viola
Now apply a small amount of silicone sealant to the corners and curves on the flat edges of the head itself (you wont need a lot as it will press out once you bolt the cover on )

Reposition the valve cover in place

Then follow the reverse of the loosening bolt procedure and tighten the bolts in a number of steps until they are 6.9-9.8Nm (oops that’s where a torque wrench will come in handy)
Alternatively you can thread them in till they are appearing to show resistance and then tighten in the described order again a further 1/3-1/2 turn. They should not be over-tightened
Reinstall the other 2 bolts to the timing belt cover (again don’t over-tighten, its only a dust cover)
Plug the PCV back in and the breather hose on the RHS
Reconnect plug leads to their original location


Intake Manifold Removal

For this task you will need to remove the strut brace at the towers, from memory they are 14mm nuts, so go ahead and remove them….
Remove spark plug leads at engine (taking note as to which came from where)
Pull breather hose (to PCV valve) from the Intake Manifold [IM] plus disconnect the small vacuum hose from IM at top of Throttle body [TB](has a corrugated cover on hose).
Disconnect the air intake tubing from the throttle body

With 10 mm socket, unbolt both bolts holding throttle cable from just behind throttle body on rearward side (has a squarish L shaped bracket) you can then pull the cable forward and with a small twist you will be able to align its catch so that you can slide the cable free from the TB

There is a brake booster hose attached to the rear-left of the IM and with a small pinch of the pliers you should be able to slide the hose clamp back. Then use the pliers clamped around the end of the hose and squeeze and rotate forward and back to ‘break the seal’. Take care not to squish or damage the hose ends, and don’t try to take it off at both ends as it has a one way valve inside and you may put it on backwards when reinstalling. You should then be able to pull the booster hose from its guide but be aware it’s a short stubby hose and will require some pullin’.

Disconnect the wiring loom from fuel rails, and from bottom of Throttle Position Sensor [TPS] which is located on the driver side of the TB. Feel free to use a bit of masking tape with numbers or letters, and mark both parts to the clips to make reinstallation simpler.

Now I would remove the 2 fuel hoses from the fuel rails and take note that the rear one comes directly from the fuel filter (which is located at the bottom of the rear of the engine bay) and the front one goes straight back under the car. With these you will require the 2 bolts (from the parts list) which are used to plug the fuel lines after you pull them the same way as the brake booster hose, or some other form of plugging device tyo avoid excessive fuel spillage. You will lose some fuel onto the engine but don’t fret as this will evaporate fairly quickly.You will find also there are 2 coolant hoses about 10mm in diameter connected to the bottom of the TB, you may find access to these a bit better by removing a small piece of the air intake tubing to gain access but this is entirely up to you as you have already disconnected it from the TB itself (how small are your hands?). You can either disconnect them at the TB or follow them to the engine block and release them there (it makes no difference), but also expect a small bit of coolant to expel from these, again no biggie.

You will now see a breather hose on the front valve cover (not to the PCV) that runs along the front and toward the rear, it will reach a ‘T’ junction and here you will need to remove the hoseclamp at the rear hose to the ‘T’. This hose will then follow its way underneath the IM neck (you will need to follow it along with your hand ) and across the back of the IM. Here you will find that it has a small bracket with a 10mm bolt that attaches to the rear of the IM, remove the bolt.
Nearly there, you will see the VRIS actuators at the rear of the IM (the 2 little spherical objects, from memory these may have a section of loom attached ( I am now guessing as I don’t have the KF engine anymore and the KL I do have, has these loom clips but both IM are a different setup) if it is present you will need to feel underneath them and unclip them the difficult way. While there have a feel across the back along the loom and be sure there are no other parts attached (damn brain is blank atm). The actuators will have vacuum hoses attached to the actuators as well , you can follow them to where the timing belt cover is and disconnect them there (saves having to feed them through the IM runners during removal and install). Make sure to tag the VRIS loom clips and the vacuum hoses as well.
Oops! I think the disconnection of the vacuum hose from the FPR would be a good idea as well. Tag it.

You have one bracket to disconnect and that’s the one at the back of the IM and connects to the head. You will find 2 10mm bolts attached to the top, once you undo them you’re almost there

Now, last of all you have the 8 bolts and 4 nuts attaching the IM runners to the heads These should all be 10 or 12mm and are accessible with a socket and extension (you wont get a spanner down there. Loosen them in two or 3 stages. Undo them in a staggered fashion, top-bottom-top-bottom, starting on the inside and working to the outside

You should now be able to lift the IM free from the heads.
It would also be wise but not absolutely necessary to replace the gaskets for the IM at this point also. If re-using the old ones just apply a small bit of sealant on both sides to ensure a neat fit once you have scraped the contact surfaces of the ports and IM free of any paint (if a lot of paint comes off the gasket then you will need to replace the item).

And I am not going to write the reversal of this for re-installation so you will need to learn to read backwards

But make sure that the IM bolts and nuts are tightened in 2 or 3 stages again in the same pattern as the removal to a maximum torque of 19-25Nm


Rear Valve Cover

Is now a simple job
You only have 11 bolts this time and they are in the same removal pattern as the front cover
Plus you still have the 2 10mm bolts to the timing cover to remove
Re-installation is again just a reversal of the procedure