Intake manifold replacement, I think.. couple questions

sarmikgar · Oct 20, 2011

Hey all, looking for some help with this one. 03 GT auto 85k on it, stock form right now, tuner and cai but they arent on the car.

Car has been running a little rough and sometimes has a slight stutter/miss in D at idle(wont do it in N it seems) and while cruising 40+mph for about a week now, been looking under the hood but didnt see anything till today.

I found some coolant in the valley, and it appears to be coming from under the crossover somewhere, coolant tank was empty.

Can this problem cause my crappy running and miss/stutter by allowing coolant or air into the intake air passages?

Should I check the seal and replace the orings(if this can be done) or just order a new unit from AM?

I have done some searching and was just left with these two questions.

Thanks guys.

Night Shifter · Oct 20, 2011

If any collaboration has gotten into your spark plug wells then that is your problem....pull the cop's and check for liquid...if there is any liquid on any of them then you will need to figure out where the leak is coming from, fix it, and replace all plugs and just the boots of the cop

GDawg · Oct 20, 2011

Is the crossover plastic or aluminum?

See my link below for replacement...

sarmikgar · Oct 20, 2011

GDawg said:
Is the crossover plastic or aluminum?

See my link below for replacement...

Its aluminum.

Thanks for link.

sarmikgar · Oct 20, 2011

Found leak, thermostat "housing" area, on the back side by first cop, right where the aluminum is meeting the plastic.

No coolant has reached the cop yet, still dry, and dry on all the rest. Valley has a small pool and signs of light coolant spray on lower part of the manifold. Some light spraying on top reaching back to egr.. not wet, just that white, dry, spotty evidence of a leak.

Where crossover meets the plastic on the other side(pass side), there is what looks like corrosion, but it is dry(almost flakey like).

New unit? :shrug:

sarmikgar · Oct 21, 2011

Pulled the cop nearest to the leak today, was wet up top for sure but nothing down by the plug, cleaned it all up and put a good coat of electric grease on the top area of the boot, maybe will keep the coolant out for a bit. Didnt pull the second one down, but Im sure it could be wet as well.

On a side note I put in another iac yesterday(both from AZ) just to check if it caused the problem at idle and cruise, took batt off while doing it, car runs ok, sorta surging like feeling at times, at startup it revs high and was kicking the a/c on and off with the idle jumping around. Still in p1000, maybe it will learn and even out the startup and idle with a/c. The design inside and out is also different than the last I got from the same place.

Going to order new manifold and plugs from AM, and new Ford iac. If missing problem continues after that Ill put 4 new boots on that side.

sarmikgar · Nov 7, 2011

Just wanted to say thanks for the help I got here, and finish this thread up.

Took me a little longer than I would have liked, but I was trying to get everything right. Got some pics while working I thought Id share here. Was very dirty, apparently a rat or mouse decided to make the car a home last winter I believe, the valley was 2.5" of coolant, and 1.5" of rat poop, which made the job take alot longer, along with rat poop wanting to fall into every hole.. a vacuum and air can helped alot.

I got a new manifold and plugs from AM, used fel pro gaskets, new oem iac and the idler pulley was going so I replaced that too while in there.