EGon10psi

One of my company trucks have been running like crap. Hesitation on idle and under heavy load going up a hill especially. Also my coolant level keeps dropping. I took it to a local mechanic "friend" who says that I have an Intake Manifold leak. Now I dont know if its the manifold or the gasket or both.

Basically I have 2 options as it is a 94 Ford E350 Box Truck

1. Replace the manifold and gasket with a huge chance that the bolts will break off inside the head because its 17 year old truck which requires pulling the motor from what I have been reading. So a lot of money in other words.

2. He said he could weld it up. But I am scared that if that doesnt fix the problem we will never the get the manifold off or it will only be a temp fix.


So what would you guys do. Are the symptoms I am having ( hesitation, bad gas mileage, runs like crap under load) related to the intake manifold? And should I weld or replace the manifold and gasket?

srt4dev

take out our wires and see if theres coolant sround the plugs in the head, the intakes are known for warping and gaskets go out.. ase ford tech by the way

Fabrik8

Even if you verify that its a cracked manifold, which sounds far fetched, I would get another manifold instead of welding that one. It would have to be removed for welding anyway, so a manifold from a junkyard would be a more logical thing to use. Welding would tend to warp the manifold and welding with the manifold mounted to the engine could introduce a lot of crap into the engine that obviously shouldn't be there.

I'm skeptical about a diagnosis like that though, and unless you've seen a physical crack then I would assume that the problem is a much more common vacuum or gasket sealing failure, or sensor problem.

HatefulMechanic

You were not specific with the engine, but being an 94 E cutaway its likely a 5.8, which are notorious for lower intakes having issues. Granted, that may not be all of the problem, but the diagnosis does sound somewhat correct. When the bolts break off in the head during removal, they are not bad to remove if you know what you are doing. Note I did not say if, but when. I always quote a few extra hours on these jobs because of the failure rate, in addition to charging for new intake bolts.

Myself, while it is apart, I would advise doing upper and lower gaskets, Valve covers, plugs wires cap and rotor also. These are labor intensive, but easy to work on. Easier than a 6.0 in an E cutaway at least.....

The whole welding comment scares me, along with the comment about the engine needing to come out. I do head gaskets on these often, and have never had to pull the engine for that work.


Don't think this was the early mod engine, at least it shouldn't be. Some of these had 7.5, but the majority had a 5.8 or 4.9.

83Stang5.0

Hateful hit it dead on, I use to work on these all the time for my old boss. If its a 94 it's most likely the 5.8

HatefulMechanic

I smile when they have a 5.8. I cry inside when they have a 4.9, cause them bitches have to come out the side door on a regular van and a cube box is a motherfucker.


I slit my wrists when I have a 6.0 E cutaway come in, cause 98% of them are ambulances and have 3hrs of teardown on the doghouse due to the extra wiring and controls. Thankfully most ambulance builders realized the need to pull the cab after the 6.0 came out and made quick connects at the bulkhead passthru.

83Stang5.0

Ya know I've never worked on a 6.0 but I've checked out a couple and I think I remember seeing those connects now that you mention them.

The 5.8 are cakework, but they're also a decent motor.

HatefulMechanic

The Mod engine was one of the worst decisions to put in them, IMO. I have had to put so many fucking cam followers and blown plug repairs on them in E vans it aint funny.

They are the reason I am so goddamn hateful.

EGon10psi

This is a Gas 7.5L motor. The big one. Does this change anything???

How much should i be looking to pay on average to get the manifold replaced?

Also i forgot to mention that you can hear the leak right at the dog box as it is very loud. Obviouslly it gets a lot louder under load.

srt4dev

doesnt change anything, manifold and gasket will be around 500.. plus another 200-400 for labor