Well I finally replaced that DAMN intake gasket on my caprice. Took me 8 hours with a break and I still have not changed the oil or added coolant. Whos great idea was it to use both standard and metric hardware on the same car

Anyways I had ahell of time, car got stuck in the muddy yard while trying to pull it into the barn, took me over an hour to get it free. In the process I learned that my back brakes still do not grab. Made getting it unstuck even funner.

I ended up not being able to get it all the way into the barn so I was stuck out in the drizzle working on it.

I forgot about the intake holding collant in low spots and dumped a large amount of water into my engine

I also learned I need more tools. Not having the right size wrench is a PITA, a distributor wrench would have been a big help and some friggin torx bits would be nice. My tools suck, mostly second hand crap. A nice dry concrete floor building would be a godsend to any home mechanic.

Anyway I got the damned thing on there and it starts up, still dont know if I fixed the surging and high idle.

Total cost... about 50 bucks once I get the new oil and coolant.

 

I had an intake gasket go out on an older car I had. The water in the engine isn't that big of a deal as long as you didn't get much in the cylinders. You shouldn't really have started it, but since you did, you'll probably want to change the oil 2 or 3 times. You'll notice a milky build up on the oil cap and the oil will look milky, but it'll be OK.

PS. I don't know who thought it was a good idea to use standard and metric, but that man should be shot. I've owned 5 Chevys in my life and they were all that way.

 

Make sure you set the timing correctly.

Also, a few points to add to all those people swapping intakes.


Make sure all your mating surfaces are clean and that there aren't any tiny bits of gasket left behind.

Put a little bead of RTV around each coolant port.

Use a small dab of RTV or thread sealant on the front intake bolts (common sport for coolant to work its way up the bolts).

Overlap at least 1/2" of RTV onto the feet of the intake gaskets in order to prevent leaks at the china wall where the two meet.

When sitting the intake onto the new gaskets use two small pieces of broken pencil (or anything else of that diameter) and stick them in the bolt holes on the first and last bolt location. Do this on both sides and then when you slide the intake on the pencil stubs will pass through the intake but your gasket will be held in place and will not slide down into the lifter valley. Install two middle bolts and then remove the pencil pieces.

It helps to have the engine at TDC for #1 which helps in getting the distributor aligned correctly and makes your initial timing adjustment simple.

Take the time to clean off the timing tab so that you can read it with your strobe. Also, it helps to put a little white paint in the harmonic balancer groove so that it is easier to see when you put your timing light on it.

 

Well, I did all that work. All that time and effort and there is no differance. The car still idles around 1000 rpms and the rpms fluctuate while warming up.

I did accidentally pour quite a bit of water down into the intake port But the valve was closed and I sopped up as much as I could with a rag and sprayed a ton of seafoam in there. The car did smoke a bit on start up... seafoam and water... I bet the insides pretty clean now. I also poured about half a quart of marvels mystery oil I had laying around through the oil filler hole and let it drain out through the oil pan plug, hopefully helping flush out some of the nasty milking oil. Although I did not see ANY traces of water when I emptied the old oil.

I didnt have a timing light so I just brought up TDC and aimed the rotor at where the head and the intake meet on the drivers side. Having to walk the distributor around is usually what leads to people getting the timing off.

I used the highest temp copper colored RTV I could find for the china walls.

Maybe I should go ahead and gouge out the seal on the idle set screw and see if I can lower the idle the old fasioned way or see if it will want to die and the comp. rev the motor up to save it.


Standard and metric on the same car.... Absolutely rediculous.

 

Don't mess with the idle screw. That would be a band aid and would not fix the real problem. You still need to get a timing light and set the base timing with the EST unplugged. No matter how careful you put everything back together you will still be a few degrees off. Has the car seen a good tune up lately?

 

Thats why I havent touched the idle screw so far... Here is the things I have replaced within the last 5000 miles

Oil changes... 4 of them always use a puralator pure one filter and 5w 30 dino oil.

Spark plugs

Wires

dist. cap and rotor

TBI rebuilt, new AC delco IAC, new GP sorenson TPS

fuel filter

fuel pump

Tightend up the exhaust manifold bolts and have a new set and new gaskets I still need to install (only a slight leak you can only hear when its really cold out)

The vaccum lines look good, although while doing the intake gasket I did accidentally slip one of the lines out of the rubber elbow but it slipped back in fine and didnt seem like it would leak.

I still think its vaccum related, Im beginning to think maybe one of the sensors that a vaccum line plugs into could be messed up and allowing a leak through it. Maybe a cracked plastic housing or something letting the air leak in.

Any thoughts?

 

Your IAC and or TPS may be out of adjustment seeing how they are new. They are not always plug and play and sometimes a new IAC requries a little adjustment of the pintle. Refer to the "new to TBI" sticky up top and scroll down to the bottom where Dimented has some detailed steps on adjusting those two items. Do you have your old IAC? You may want to toss that one back in and see what happens.

 

There was no noticable idle differance after installing the new TPS and IAC. I still have both the old ones.

 

There is a procedure for resetting the IAC. If you haven't done it, that might be your problem. The IAC passages also need to be cleaned before you can be sure that the new IAC is or is not the problem. I also agree with Shifty --- don't mess with the adjustment until you find the REAL problem.

As for sniffing out a vacuum leak ---- use an unlit propane torch; when the engine speeds up it's because it's burning the propane that's getting sucked into the engine. That will help you find a vacuum leak, if you have one. HTH.