[pepper_95134]

Hey Folks!

I am a home hobbyist … I am an electrical engineer by profession, but I always like to get my hands dirty with home repair/improvements whenever possible since I think in today’s day and age, people simply don’t do things for themselves anymore.

2 years ago, my 1994 Ford Mustang 3.8L V-6 blew a head gasket. Since I needed a bigger car anyways (since I have 4 young kids), I decided to go ahead and buy a new car…but I decided that I would replace the head gasket myself as a side project. I know nothing about cars, but I figured there’s only one way to change that!

I procrastinated in fixing my mustang for 2 years (again I have 4 kids, so please give me a break J ) but I finally got down to starting the quest last weekend. I am equipped with the Haynes Repair Manual as well as a Ford Mechanics CD that I bought off EBAY.

So far, I’ve gotten the upper intake manifold off and am working on the lower intake manifold. I ran into a couple problems:

1. In trying to remove the EGR valve, I noticed there was a little torx-head screw that was screwed into the valve from the back side of the engine compartment…. It was fairly rusted. When I tried to remove this, the screw head came off due to the rust. So the bolt is still inside the EGR valve. Did I need to remove this screw to get the EGR valve off? It seems like the EGR valve has threads that screws into a metal hose coming from the backside of the engine compartment … do I simple rotate the EGR valve along with the threads to remove it? Or can I not remove the EGR valve without having removed the rusted out screw? What do I do now? I tried to unscrew the EGR valve along the threads with a little force, but I didn't want to use too much force in case this wasn't right. I proceeded with trying to remove everything else to get to the head gasket hoping that maybe I could leave the EGR valve in place … do I need to actually remove the EGR valve?

2. The Heater Water Outlet Tube is a metal tube that crosses over my lower intake manifold from the water pump at the front of the engine to the back of the engine compartment. I unscrewed the single bolt that holds the Y-shaped heater water outlet stem to the water pump. But after removing the bolt, I can’t get the Y-shaped heater water outlet stem to come out … How do I get this out? I tried pulling on the stem, which has a little movement after I removed the single bolt, but it simple won’t come out. What’s the trick to get this out? I did not remove the serpentine belt … do I need to?

So with the 2 problems above, I can’t get get my lower intake manifold out. I have removed all 14 bolts holding the lower intake manifold and the manifold is loose from the engine block. But because of the heater Water Outlet Tube and the EGR valve unremoved, I can’t lift the Lower Intake Manifold off.

For those with the know-how, please advise on the 2 problems above. How do I get the EGR valve and the heater water outlet tube out?

Thanks in advanced for the help!

[shinerstang]

There are 2 bolts holding on your EGR valve. If you cannot get them out there, then get a pipe wrench to take it off from either the back of the EGR, or your headers.

The coolant pipe is pressed in, you need to wiggle it out......

[pepper_95134]

Shinerstang: Thanks for the response. I do see the connection of the EGR valve pipe to the headers....I guess I'll have to remove that later when I remove the passenger side exhaust manifolds.

I did finally get the heater water outlet tube disconnected from the water pump. I ended up using a crowbar propped against the water pump pulley, and then banged the near side of the prybar with a hammer. Eventually I was able to work out the heater water outlet tube out of the water pump. But there is no way I could have pulled this out manually....it was in there real good.

Thanks for the help! I'm sure I will have further questions later on my project. Now I'm on to the exhaust manifolds.....