5.4l Coolant Manifold crossover leak

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Al Steel

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The other day I was headed to work and the ol expy started to hesitate a bit at highway speeds. Didn't think much of it, I was low on gas so maybe some bad gas or something. On the way home I put in a few bucks but the problem got worse, no time to work on it so let it go. Next day I took it to fill up in the morning with no hesitation but then noticed a big puddle of coolant under the truck (!!). Topped off with coolant and limped home keeping a very close eye on the temp but it never overheated. Checked it out later to find it's gushing coolant from the union of the coolant crossover and the manifold. So bad I can put my finger over it to stop it (not a long term solution especially once the engine gets hot :) ). It's so bad under high rpms that coolant sprays all over the injectors/coils and even the computer, which is why I'm getting the hesitation and misses.

I tried to open it up to see if there was a gasket, a cracked plastic riser or metal, or something and quickly saw that I was getting into a job that might be more than an hour or two fix. I did some searching and it is starting to look like the entire intake manifold will need to come off (WTF?!). A couple or questions here to that end.

1 - Could this be a gasket failure between the coolant crossover and the intake manifold?
2 - If it's not the gasket where does it likely fail, plastic manifold or old aluminum crossover pipe?
3 - Is this an easy fix or am I looking at tearing apart the intake and replacing it, the gasket, and or the pipe? Can someone direct me to an online procedure for this?

To save a few thousand words, here are some pics:

Crossover with heater hose removed. Notice coolant pooled everywhere.
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This is where it's leaking.. back side of the crossover pipe, union of the pipe and manifold, dead center.
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I knew I was in over my head when it started to look like the union wasn't a plastic riser, but part of the entire intake manifold. Plus I can't figure out how to remove this bolt (blurry screwdriver in lower frame points to it).
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Wide shot to show how bad it is. Notice coolant pooled on top of coils and injectors.
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Thoughts, suggestions, ideas? Strike a match and collect insurance?

Thanks!

UPDATE - Yeah that was fast... I just spoke with my neighbor, a Ford master mechanic and shop supervisor, and he confirmed that the manifold will have to go. Fun.. and he also suggested all the O-Rings, seals, and some other gotchas (like the EGR system connections) that I should be mindful of. Said it would be $1500-$2000 in labor if there were no issues + parts at the $tealership. Well I'm not spending that much. So I will probably tackle this myself. Will likely do a writeup with parts/tools list etc in another thread if it hasn't already been done. Any tips or links to "how-tos" are appreciated!
 
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Vincent Vega

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@Al Steel It is not a terrible job. A few nights after work. Yeah change out those o-rings - they are cheap. Clean your throttle body while it is off the manifold. Slight possibility its just the gasket, but these plastic manifolds get brittle and crack after thousands of heating and cooling cycles. I don't have any photos handy but mine had a big chunk broken off on the pass side of the coolant crossover. Also a good time to replace or inspect alot of the heater, coolant and vacuum hoses and thermostat while you have access. If you are due for spark plugs, you will have good access. be careful with the injector and coil connectors - I had so many crack that I had to solder/replace about 3 of them. Don't use the Dorman manifold - get motorcraft unless you want to make this an annual tradition. Good luck.
 
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Al Steel

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Thanks for the advice, especially on the connectors. I already had one break the retaining clip replacing a coil. They get so brittle. Yeah I am planning on a few other things while it's all opened up. I have a leaky valve cover on the pax side that will get done and the plugs. I just replaced the t-stat a few months ago so I doubt I'll get me one of those. PCV valve and some old vac lines also. I think my tensioner pulley is going bad. It's been making that "power steering pump but it's not the power steering" noise for a long time so maybe tackle that as well. It's 1-2 bolts to fix it and access doesn't get any better.

I agree with the Motorcraft intake if I need it. It's gushing too much coolant to be a gasket. I'm pretty sure it's a crack. Looking at a little over $300 unless someone has a repitable supplier for less.

Thanks!
 

SlivaRich

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It's the plastic intake. They deteriate and and crumble to pieces over time. Had to replace mine, intake was about $300 and was a Ford replacement.
Read that some of the after markets were noisier if that makes since. You will want to change your plugs and some other stuff while you have the manifold off. Fordtechmakeyouloco has a great video on this and walks you through it step by step.
 

Dustin Gebhardt

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If you are replacing the tensioner pulley, you might want to consider the other idler pulleys, too. I think Gates makes a master kit will all of the individual pulleys and the tensioner, plus a belt. This fixed a lot of my belt noises, although it looks like my alternator bearings are making noise now, which probably requires a while new alternator . . . .

I replaced the crossover gasket on my '07 without pulling the intake manifold, but it did require loosening some (intake?) bolts and squeezing the new gasket in between. It's been a while since I did the job, but it was fairly quick (about 2 hours) in my case.

I also second the idea of replacing the pigtails for the coils and injectors. I had replaced a couple here and there over the years, but when I did my timing job last year, I replaced them all, using good solder-seal weather-proof connectors.
 

Broncoholic

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The plastic intake delaminates at the crossover tube due to heat cycles. The pic below is mine 2 years ago at 150k miles. If you plan on keeping your truck, buy Motorcraft only, too many people have had to replace their Dorman replacement. I replaced the injector o-rings, plugs, coil boots and springs, gaskets, thermostat, and coolant flush. I wish I would've done valve cover gaskets while I was that deep. I'm dragging my feet on those.
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My radiator blew last month, so I replaced it along with upper and lower hoses. The upper radiator tank cracked at the MADE IN USA embossing...go figure.
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Broncoholic

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Here's a snapshot of my Rockauto order. I think the radiator I picked was the "prefered" or "popular" one. I remember 1 of the images shows the side brackets, but those weren't included. My brackets were perfect, so I didn't care. Fit was good, packaging was good. Completed the job in 2 hours, so I was happy.
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Al Steel

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UPDATE: Finally found a day to dig into this job. Sure enough the intake manifold was the culprit. Pics tell the story:

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You can see where the plastic degraded leading to the failure of the gasket.

Leaving this mess behind:

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At least now I know where all my coolant and oil was going! Any idea what that submerged electrical component in the center front is? Knock sensor perhaps?

Cleaning this mess up will be no easy task. Also going to tackle the valve cover gaskets while everything is open since they are obviously leaking. I'll also inspect the valve cam followers. Doing an injector clean/o-ring replacement, spark plug change, vacuum hose replacement, etc as well.

One question, the intake manifold had a plastic "heat shield" attached to the bottom that just disintegrated when I took the manifold off. It was soaked with oil, dirt, and coolant and it just fell into a broken, gooey mess. Will the new manifold come with this already installed or will I need to replace it as well?

Thanks for the replies and the parts list btw. Cheers!
 
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