I wanted to thank everyone here
http://www.bonnevilleclub.com/forum/...ic.php?t=68592

and here

http://www.bonnevilleclub.com/forum/...134&highlight=

and especially here

http://www.bonnevilleclub.com/forum/...548&highlight=

for helping me get my UIM/LIM fixed this weekend. It took me a while (9 hours) since this is the first time I have done this and I was being as clean as possible. The step by step instructions here http://www.bonnevilleclub.com/forum/...e=article&k=38 and especially the photos on the thread http://www.bonnevilleclub.com/forum/...86&highlight=A were indispensible. I knew that I was progressing along the right path by looking at Willwrens photos.

Here'* what my LIM gaskets looked like:


Having not done this before I don't know how bad these look, but they didn't look good to me. UIM was fine, but I replaced it anyway. There was a ton of carbon built up by the EGR port, almost completely blocked.

I was so happy when I got to this point.



Just seeing the aluminum and green made me feel like I'd be keeping my Bonnie for alot longer now. I did go with the 180 thermostat. No flame war, please.

Hardest part: Getting all the crap out of the way, e.g. fuel rail, alternator, throttle body.
Also my draincock was cocked up so I had to drain the coolant from the bottom of the radiator at the return hose. The valve cover gaskets were both leaking so got them done too. The back was fun to get to.

Most annoying part: My local auto parts store. They told me on the phone they had everything and would hold it. Went in and they didn't have to right parts. Gave me the valve cover kit for an L67 instead of L36 and didn't have the Help coolant elbow. Had to drive to next town south to get other parts. I learned that lesson. Get everything the day before starting work!

Started up and everything was fine. My tensioner is squealing and has been going bad for a while so it'll need replaced, but the top of the engine is dry, dry, dry. Ran it outside for 45 minutes. drove it a while, no liquid anywhere...wooo hoooo!

I'm a noob and definetly NOT a gearhead, so if I can do this a blind dog with broken legs and no fur could do it. But I would read everything about it on this site first.

I really want to thank everyone here. I would NOT have attempted this without all the knowledge I gained from this site.

ROCK ON!

WHOA!

Those are the worse LIM gaskets I have ever seen on here since I joined. I am very surprised at how bad they are.

As I recall... 9 hours is a good time. I did my first in about that and had air tools.

The gaskets were "ready".

If I can suggest something. You seem to have a slight buildup happening in the top end. Change your oil about 3,000 miles and consider swapping over to Mobil 1. We have seen where this buildup/sludging will disapate over about a year of good oil and changes.

I'll remember to ask for Mobil 1. I get the oil changed religiously at 3,000 miles, but once I saw that I too wondered why there was so much build up in there.

Is it worth getting the "oil system cleaner"? I've avoided them since I'm not sure whether or not they work.

I'm not a fan of system cleaners like that. My feeling is it can loosen up too much and clog another area or cause issues.

Odd that it'* doing that with the constant oil changes. Makes a person wonder what'* "in" that oil.

Glad we were able to help you get it done!

Crap. If I'd have known, we could have done it here in a couple hours with my air tools. Including commute time for you, it would have been 4-5 hours tops!

That awesome you got it done yourself. This site is invaluable to us self proclaimed 'non-gearheads.' I wanna tackle shielding my UIM this summer... Something I'd never think about doing before BC...

Anyways, great job.

I love that reaction I laughed when I saw the supersized "whoa". Its like "man how'* that thing still running?"

The crazy thing is with them looking that bad I had no sign of coolant in the oil. Either I really missed the signs or the coolant was leaking out and down the block.