You did a Taurus cover also? I changed my taurus cover and have a slight oil pan seam leak now. At least coolant does not leak onto serp belt and make it squeak anymore.
Cavell:
Yeah. Taurus is a '97 GL wagon 3.0L. 220,000 miles on it now. Did the oil pan gasket at same time. Nice thick blue rubber pan gasket by Felpro.
Well, thanks everyone for your support! Used the petroleum jelly and the injectors dropped right in. Only thing was: it seemed like 1 or 2 of them, while seating the O-ring, didn’t “stay down” like the others - even after the center bolts were tightened down. I decided that the manifold cover would finish the job, but I haven’t verified. I’ll have to look and sniff closely for fuel leaks after startup.
BTW: I re-used the O-rings. I’m convinced I’ll be back in there before long, and maybe sooner if it leaks
On my old Rabbit w/CIS, I tried using oil or vasoline as o-ring lubricants, and believe it or not I tried diesel fuel too, true enough they went in easier that way. But I had problems with the injectors then popping back out during driving. The only force that holds them in (in the VW Rabbit CIS configuration) is the friction of the o-ring.
GeorgeSanJose:
I hope that’s not the case with me, but I’ll find out, I guess…
In the meantime …
If it wasn’t for bad luck I wouldn’t have any luck at all…
Thought I’d have it all back together today in between the breaks in the rain, but turned out the alternator mounting backet cracked on me. Now I need to get a replacement at the junkyard.
The bracket’s “metal” reminds me of some of the tools from Harbor Freight. At first glance it seems very strong, but then it cracks and you realize it’s little more than compressed dust.
sounds like the pot metal used for the typical GM heater hose couplings
You know, the ones that screw into the intake manifold
The ones that break 100% of the time, when you attempt to remove them
@GeorgeinSanJose The reason the old Rabbit CIS injectors were popping out is that the plastic injector seats in the intake manifold probably needed to be replaced. This was an easy job to do but requires a special tool (doesn’t everything…) for removal and installation of the seats.
Now and then a seat would crumble and the task was a bit more difficult but that is rare.
Speaking of pot metal, I’ve had to replace both door handles on my Lincoln at various times.
Made out of pure 1/8" thick pot metal…
The driver side is an utter pain in the neck due to inaccessibility and all of the wiring related to the keypad. Lost a lot of patience and some blood doing that one.
Db4690, ok4450:
Yeah, I guess it’s “pot metal”. Was talking with some co-workers today and they mentioned that possibility, too. Never heard of that term…
Had to order at dealer. Not terrible: $24.74 + tax. Junkyards were no help. Crazy prices exceeding dealer. One guy even quoted $100, although I befriended him down to $20 with a funny routine he appreciated (but then I didn’t want to do business with him)…
Just wanted to report back that I finally got the car back together (about 3-4 weeks ago) and it seems to be holding coolant in the overflow tank. Runs smooth as glass (as good as when it was new, I’d say). The temp gauge does go slightly over mid-scale when sitting at a light (which is not normal), but otherwise it stays below mid-scale (say, on the interstate or just rolling along in town). Water pump was replaced just last June (2014), so maybe still be some air in there (or maybe air is getting back in?). I do have a check engine code of P0102, but I saw that one before all this coolant hemorrhaging started. Probably just need to clean the MAF sensor? Tried clearing the code, but it came back a day or two later. Think I’m done with this car for a little while. Now I’ll just observe and see if the coolant starts disappearing.