So late last fall my kid ran his Blazer out of coolant and blew the engine. After we dollied it home it did start and blow lots of white smoke and would not come off idle.

Yesterday after the winter hiatus we charged the battery and it started immediately and idles pretty well. after a minute or so it started to blow a small amount of white smoke and again it stumbled hard coming off idle.

So I have cruised the boards a bit and I want to plan for an intake manifold and head gasket change.

Does anyone have a complete parts/consumable list for this job? With the lockdown I am going to order on-line and would like to get the parts list as complete and accurate as possible. It's the 4.3L V6.

Also tech thought - I am thinking to tear it down to the point that the accessories are off down to the manifold and then do the compression check - this will make doing the comp check a lot easier and if the check is good I would not pull the heads.

Thoughts?

 

First off, you want the Felpro lower intake manifold (LIM) gaskets that have the metal carrier. Go to their website and look at the options. You can get a whole gasket set that includes everything for the intake plenum too.

Someone posted a really good write-up from a GM service bulletin but I have attached one that I also found that helped.

You might also consider getting new bolts for the intake manifold and a 1/4" torque wrench if you do not already have one.

Something I wish I had one when I replaced mine was create some guide rods out of old bolts to help lower the intake manifold into position.

 

Brilliant - Many thanks!

 

I finally cleared out all the other projects and got started on the Blazer - the two documents above were brilliant and saved me a lot of head scratching. The good news is that everything came apart pretty easily - no frozen bolts or anything like that.

I got the intake manifold off and unfortunately I don't see any smoking gun. In fact I suspect someone already did this job. The gaskets are Felpro and look aftermarket and one manifold bolt was the wrong type. One fuel injector supply line nut was barely wrench tight :-(

To recap the Blazer was starting but would not accelerate off idle. I was looking for a coolant leak into the intake but by my eye I don't see evidence of anything like that. I had planned on doing a compression check but I also bought head gaskets on spec just in case. Looking at spark plug access I am totally leaning towards just carrying on and changing the head gaskets as I now think no accel and plenty of white smoke probably indicates a blow head gasket.

Welcome any thoughts. Also any tips from here on getting exhaust manifolds off etc.

 

Your "blown head gasket" could just as easily be a cracked block or head. You might be doing all that work for nothing. Every time I've torn down a severely overheated engine, there has been loads of hidden damage (piston rings stuck in melted ring grooves, for example). Personally, I think it would be a lot safer to replace the whole engine with a remanufactured or used one.

 

Could come to that - OTOH I am only $200 into it in parts. If it is a blown engine it's gonna get some parts removed and flatbedded to a wrecker. I only paif $1500 for it.

 

So took a break on the Blazer while I contemplate the next phase of getting the heads off. I have searched a lot for YouTube vids but nothing great found.

My concern (and reason for delay) is the procedure to get the exhaust manifolds off. Access, especially driver's side next to steering shaft looks terrible. I am presuming I have to pull the wheels off and go through the wheel wells and even at that it's gonna be a bear.

Any tips on exhaust manifold disassy would be appreciated or links to a video on exhaust gasket replacement or head replacement. Not looking forward to this.

 

I would put it together with the new intake gaskets and try it out. You don't want to try to do the heads with the engine in the vehicle.

One comment on the intake gasket replacement writeup - as good as it seems..... NEVER - REPEAT NEVER use abrasive disks or pads or sandpaper to clean off old gasket material unless you can thoroughly wash the resulting grit off every inch of the part being cleaned. Nothing works like a good old single edge razor blade or a putty knife sharpened to a razor's edge with a file.

 

@lesMyer - Thanks for the tip. I reckon I wouldn't put it back together without a compression check at least. The problem there is the current matchmark for the dizzy would be off and I'd have to time it from scratch. Not a terrible problem but I can't even imagine at this point how to even get the middle plug out of the driver's side due to the steering column.

In for a penny, in for a pound. It's on hold again until I restock my supply of cuss words... Go the bike fixed and a couple of RV jobs done. I am cherry picking the easy stuff - LOL...

There has to be a way to get the exhaust manifolds done. I can't believe on would have to pull the engine for an exhaust leak. Once the manifolds are loose it's pretty much the head bolts. Having found no YouTubes on this I might video the next phase.

 

If you just want to replace the exhaust gaskets, most new ones have slotted holes so you don't need to completely remove the bolts.