Heater Control Valve Removal - While I'm in There

[jtehfreaks]

I'm about ready to start going after my heater control valve and the coolant hoses at the rear of the engine bay. Are there any tips anyone wants to pass on that might make this easier? There isn't a lot of room back there at all, and I'm thinking that I might as well pull the intake manifold to make my life that much easier.

With that in mind, should I go ahead and replace the intake gaskets? I've never pulled it before and figure that I might as well since it's the first time I've ever pulled the thing off (so at least 8 to 9 years since last removal). I'm also thinking about going after the large vacuum hoses down there too.

Anything else worth tackling while I'm in there beyond a much needed general clean up? I've already replaced the hard plastic vacuum lines with silicone, and there's a new water pump tube (that hard pipe that runs above the exhaust) sitting in my garage too.

[Derek C.]

The intake gaskets are cheap. It's a good idea to replace any gasketwhen you take it off. OO-rings you can sometimes get away with, but gaskets often leak if you try to reuse them so it's cheap insurance. Of course, since you have to have lots of stuff off, good time to clean and reseal the injectors.

This is an NA? How are your belts? If you're about due for a timing belt, and you're going to have the intake off, this might be a time to go ahead and do the belt and go after the rear balance shaft seal (at least the upper, but why not do the lower while you're in there ).

[jtehfreaks]

Yeah, it's a NA car; last I checked, the belts were good, though I am coming due for a swap out soon enough that I might just go ahead and do it after I've taken care of the hoses and valve.

I was thinking about resealing the injectors, but when I checked out the kit here on Pelican, reviews are saying that the kit doesn't have all the parts required; are there no kidding complete kits for our car's injectors out there, or should I just gamble with the one this site sells?

[Derek C.]

I think maybe people are talking about the little internal filter basket. I did not replace mine, but my local major auto parts store had a kit with the rest of the parts (I had one leaking so I needed to replace ASAP and couldn't wait for shipping).

The way I see it, if you take the injectors out, you should flush and reseal them. If you can't replace the filter basket, well, you're no worse off than you would be had you noy cleaned them at all. You can get the filter baskets on ebay, or if you have a local fuel injector shop they may sell you a few.

[Bukowski]

Clean ground on engine

Do a real good job of it. Get both terminals.

Ideally, replace battery cable too.

That valve and it’s hose are a significant but not insurmountable obstruction for the ground stud.

This is not just something to do - it will save tons of grief with sorta-starts sorta-doesn’t symptoms

Ask me how I know

I didn’t pay attention what car you have. Mines an 87 NA.