Hi everyone,
Quick story: had the right side upper radiator hose finally split the other day. Reason for this (I think) is due to a small leak somewhere in the cooling system such that the right side upper hose became compressed after the engine completely cooled-down. I think I finally found the small leak to be the blasted plastic thermostat housing....there should be a thread somewhere about this that I started.

Anyways, I am replacing the plastic thermostat tower with an aluminum one. But in order to get to those two rear bolts that are up against the metal plate on the front of intake, I removed the metal plate for a bit more space. I finally got those two bolts out....but in looking into the intake....wow!...lots of oil in there!! Of course I do have 107k miles on the XK8 now....so probably expected..??

Was thinking about removing the intake so I could clean it out.....what do you guys think? I will have to get new gaskets....do not know if they are even available at this time.
Are there things I need to know before I remove the intake?

Thanks,
LannyL81

 

I had mine off to replace the valley and octopus hoses, which you should consider. It's very difficult to access the manifold to elbow screws with the throttle body in place, another good reason to remove it all and replace the hoses.

 

Are you certain that alumiinum thermostat tower you ordered will fit the 4.2 engine? Reports always say that only the 4.0 engine has an aluminum replacement available....

 

Am I sure this aluminum thermostat tower kit from SNG Barratt will fit....Nope, they say it does, will see when it arrives and I will report. The diagram sure appears to be the same as the 4.2L tower.

I have had the throttle body off in the past as I replaced the TPS a year or so ago, so I will just remove the throttle body.

Replace the valley hose....yeah I should do that since I have gone this far.

Are the FelPro intake gaskets good to use?

 

What is SNG Barratt's part number for that aluminum thermostat tower?

 

AJ82217....and I just went back and looked again....this will not fit. Appears that the diagram has changed since I first looked at this some months ago and contacted them via email.
CRAP!!...guess I will be getting another plastic one.

 

My condolences

 

Thanks...will probably last two years like the last one did before starting to leak.

Not having good luck in getting the intake off. The elbow where the throttle body sits....how in the world does the EGR stuff come off??

I decided to remove the elbow that the throttle body sits on...thinking that would let the rest of the intake come off....nope....not yet. Have to get the fuel line apart first. I assume it just uses one of those slide-in tools to release...is this correct?

 

Yes, just use a release tool. There is a fastener at the bottom center of the elbow, not easy to locate. Be very careful with the egr tube if you decide to take the elbow out.

 

The elbow has a bottom center bolt!!...aaarrrgghhh!!!!.....that is not going to be easy to remove or put back!!
I was trying to remove the EGR stuff off of the elbow....no flippin' way!! Unable to get a wrench on two of the bolts....tried to just disconnect the various connections to the EGR stuff...again no flippin' way!....the electrical connector fo the EGR solenoid requires squeezing together plastic locks on both sides of the connector body and depress the normal locking tab all at the same time in order to separate....that is not going to happen. I did unbolt the solenoid from its base, but it does not just come off....something is holding it on and I am not going to pry or pull on it.

I must say I have never had an engine so difficult to work on.

I will see if I can find that elbow center bottom bolt this afternoon....ggeeezzzeee!!

 

I think when I took mine apart I unfastened the tube at the exhaust end and lifted it out with the manifold and elbow. That was a few years ago so I hope I'm not misleading you.

 

Well I did find that bottom center bolt. Took me about an hour to finally get a socket+extension onto it and get it out.....have no idea how I am ever going to get that bolt back in there....

Anyways the fuel line connection to the fuel rail does not require any special tool....just remove the metal clamp that holds the joint and it just wiggles out.

I will not be able to get the elbow out....not able to get all the electrical connectors to separate off the EGR stuff.....(stuff because I do not know what all the pieces are).

Anyways as you can see the intake is OFF!!!....fought me all the way with two clips holding a vacuum line under the intake.

Have I said that this is the most difficult engine I have ever, EVER....worked on!!!


Have the valley hoses on their way along with another plastic thermostat tower (outlet pipe), and intake gaskets.

 

I have replaced the two valley hoses; had to slice the ends in order to get them off.
I started cleaning the intake and was a bit surprised to find that the gaskets were metal, supposed to be some type of rubber coating on them, but could not feel anything.
I decided to replace these using a set from FelPro. Completely different of course, appear they will seal around the ports much better. No clips to hold in place so I used a very light coating of high temp RTV.
Going to get new bolts for the outlet pipe today, afterwards I can continue with re-assembly. Not looking forward to getting that bottom center bolt on the elbow back in place....

Later

 

Good luck and keep us posted....

 

Following this as I too was under the impression that the aluminum housing was only for the 4.0L engines.
If I can get an aluminum one for my 4.2, I am definitely going to swap. The spigot on the plastic ones that feeds the surge tank has cracked and leaked on the original unit as well as the replacement unit. Totally bogus part IMO and aluminum would stop that from happening for sure.

 

Still no aluminum thermostat tower for the 4.2 cars. If some company will finally make one, I doubt they could keep them in stock once we all find out about them....

 

Yeah...no aluminum thermostat housing for the 4.2L engines.

Got the intake back on....lesson learned to pass on...and that is, after sitting the intake in place, just start the 10 bolts, then get all the elbow bolts threaded in, but not torqued. Then torque the intake bolts, then the elbow bolts.

I got really lucky in getting that bottom center elbow bolt in....got it on the first try from the right side. Completely blind, used tape to hold the bolt in the socket, socket on a 6" extension and it just went into place, threaded-in using fingers. Was very pleasantly surprised at this!!

Today I will install the remainder of the plastic water outlet (thermostat housing), fill with coolant, start the engine and begin air bleeding.....hopefully that is.