[zBeeble]

So I think that I've reached the end of the story. I'm probably going to blog about a bunch. There's things that were hard that were not well explained here or elsewhere.

The YouTube video was quite helpful, but skips a lot of detail.

There is little help on the installation of the injectors --- which is quite tricky, but I managed on the 4th try to get it right.

In the end, originally, I had a problem with loss of power ... so bad that the car had trouble climbing a hill (and this was in the middle of a 5 hour trip). The most likely cause was spark plugs. Maintenance schedule says 200k km, but they were quite bad (chipped, etc) at 180k km.

But changing the spark plugs required removing the pleanum... which either didn't get back on right or ended up disturbing the already deteriorated lower intake gaskets.

Repairing the lower intake gaskets required removing the fuel rail and injectors --- which is a pain in the a** assembly that is tricky to reinstall correctly --- my first 3 attempts resulted in leaking gas. Not good.

So after 4 days of practice, I'm really good at stripping and redoing my intake system.

Takeaway: the people who design these infernal machines should have to work on them once in awhile.

 

[wjc]

Maintenance schedule says 200k km, but they were quite bad (chipped, etc) at 180k km.

I've never seen a 150K mile plug interval. 100K is always the maximum.

Congratulations on getting it done.

 

[zBeeble]

200k km. ~160k miles.

 

[gvk]

So I think that I've reached the end of the story. I'm probably going to blog about a bunch. There's things that were hard that were not well explained here or elsewhere.

The YouTube video was quite helpful, but skips a lot of detail.

There is little help on the installation of the injectors --- which is quite tricky, but I managed on the 4th try to get it right.

In the end, originally, I had a problem with loss of power ... so bad that the car had trouble climbing a hill (and this was in the middle of a 5 hour trip). The most likely cause was spark plugs. Maintenance schedule says 200k km, but they were quite bad (chipped, etc) at 180k km.

But changing the spark plugs required removing the pleanum... which either didn't get back on right or ended up disturbing the already deteriorated lower intake gaskets.

Repairing the lower intake gaskets required removing the fuel rail and injectors --- which is a pain in the a** assembly that is tricky to reinstall correctly --- my first 3 attempts resulted in leaking gas. Not good.

So after 4 days of practice, I'm really good at stripping and redoing my intake system.

Takeaway: the people who design these infernal machines should have to work on them once in awhile.

You done need to take out the upper intake manifold in order to change the spark plugs.Just remove the cowl.Also I don't see how removing the upper intake manifold gasket can disturb the lower intake gasket.And finally replacing the lower intake gasket doesn't require removal of the injectors, just disconnect the fuel rail from fuel line and remove the lower intake together with the fuel rail.

 

[zBeeble]

1st. Spark plugs. My Duratech doesn't have coil-on-plug. The coil pack is tucked under the upper intake at the back. Even if you can contrive to access plugs 1 and 3, 2 is not accessible without removing the upper intake. My partner has a 2001 Taurus with the duratech and COP. His plugs can be changed using the ratchet + u-joints instructions, mine cannot.

2nd... the lower intake gaskets were fairly worn out. They may have been part of the original problem, but messing around with all this may have shifted something, or may not have. Regardless... at some point, they became necessary to fix.

3rd, the injectors seat into the lower intakes. I suppose you could leave some in if they didn't come out when the fuel rail is pulled, but replacing the fuel rail is the hard part --- and on my engine the fuel rail bolts through and sits on top of the lower intake. I suppose you could try moving all components at once, but nothing is attached any longer --- so the chances of error become very high.

 

[gvk]

Believe me, I have 2001 Duratec that doesn't have coil-on-plug(the same as yours) I have done the spark plugs 2 times without removing the upper intake.But you must remove the COWL.Without cowl removal it is impossible.Check the Wiki -Link

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About injectors gaskets it is always good idea to replace their gaskets when you get down to the lower intake.