hope everything works out

OK so here'* the pics and the story of fixing it and what i learned! lol.

Start time: 11:00am
End time: 6:30pm
# of tools thrown: 1
# of obscenities: well over 100



Heres the picture of the problem. The dexcool was leaking from the intake manifold and puddling up here. When parked on the hill because of the horrible design of the valve cover and the worn gasket the dexcool would seep inside the valve cover.


Fuel rail, supercharger taken off. I learned that you need to relive the pressure in the fuel lines before removing them! wow was that interesting and kinda dangerous, I still can't get the smell of gas off of me.


Everything taken off. Looks kinda weird in there seeing as how i've never taken one of these apart before. Everything looked clean inside and a got to look around a little.


Clean up time! The gaskets were a pain in the *** to get off. Thank god for power tools.


All cleaned up ready to go back on.


Back together for the most part. Just need the fuel rail and all the plugs put back in.


So at 6:30 I try to start it. IT RUNS!! well for about 2 minutes then starts surging and DIES! WTF? check everything start it again, surging and boost gauge is right at 0 and it is sucking so much air in all you can hear is it whining. Now I'm pissed thinking I put something back in wrong and will have to start all over again. So i go back and check everything. Could it be a vacuum line i forgot under on the intake manifold? I plug it back in and check it. YUP! thank god. Can't believe something so small like that will make the car not run.

Found alot of carbon build up in the supercharger, cleaned that all out. I was very surprised at the amount actually. I was hoping to change the */c oil but they only had 1 bottle of it so had to order another and order the throttle body gasket so i can do that next week.

Overall not a bad experience, always love working on the engine. Everything came undone pretty OK too, no stubborn anything. It'* cured the leak so far. You could see where the gasket had eaten away and started leaking. I was not impressed at all with the gaskets they had in there. I also am not impressed with the valve covers AT ALL. The walls are very thin near the injectors and the heat makes them very brittle. Mine actually cracked and that is where the dexcool had come in from along with the poor gaskets on there. Anyways hope u guys enjoy the pics!

Good work, bud. Can't wait to see her back on the road. Not much difference in internals between Series 1 and 2 from the looks of things. The oil guides around your pushrods are slightlly different, and the balance shaft is also.

So did you replace the valve covers? And weren't your intake manifold gaskets the black plastic stuff with the silicone in them?

I did the front valve cover, the rear one has the mounting bracket for the altenator and all the idlers right on top of it!!! i couldn't have done it with out pulling the whole assembly. they were the black plastic but IMO the silicone they had on there wasn't nearly enough, almost every dexcool passage or block off spot had started to weep, but that'* just my opinion. She'* back on the road tonight, i've been taking it easy on her till everything sets and all the silicone drys good! theres much better throttle repsonse and accelartion on boost just from cleanign the carbon out of the */c.

Job well done had me on the edge of my seat for awhile
Nice pics also !

hmm. Very insightful! Wonder if this is where about 1" of my coolant goes from my overflow in about 3 months time. :?

Thats about how much I was loosing at first, and I honestly could not find any until i started loosing alot more than that. Take a flash light and look around, that'* how I found mine although sometimes i don't want to go looking cause this is what i find!

Funny, my gaskets and Jseabert'* as well looked fine after many more miles than that. 188,000 for Jseabert. Wonder if this is a dexcool issue again.