Guardian_Saint

Ok, today I am giong to replace my knock sensor and I was just wondering if I really have to move the fuel chamber? in order for me to replace the KS? or I don't have to?

Chuki

fuel chamber?

if your talking about your fuel lines and stuff? Yes ya do... You gotta take off the lower intake manifold to get to the knock sensor out though. Pain in the ass if ya ask me. As you'll hafta drain the coolant, and damn near remove your tbelt. since one of the idlers bolts onto the lower intake manifold.

Guardian_Saint

Chuki, about the tbelt when I remove the idlers does the tbelt will get loose? if so I need TDC to 10 when I am done replacing the KS? this is my very first time diong this job, and you know what, went to the dealer today for the under intake gasket and it cost $50 each, I was surprise that it cost that much so I cancel the gasket and wonder if I can re-use the old gasket? other site offer cheaper gasket then those dealer charge so I cancel it and rather just buy it online, thanks for your input.

Chuki

go to Napa or something and get the gaskets...

The timing belt will come loose, but I have seen folks from this forum use vicegrips to hold the timing belt to each camshaft gear that way it doesn't skip any teeth. You could do that, before you button the timing cover back on though, I would start the rig just to make sure you know have your timing correct and all. Would suck to have it tear it all apart because you slipped a tooth.

TNRabbit

Did you get your knock sensor replaced?

How did you know for certain it was bad?

Bumpin' Yota

That's exactly what Im wondering right now is how do you know the KS is bad? Getting to it is a PITA if thats your only goal. You will have to pull the intake plenum, the fuel lines, the fuel rails, the fuel injectors, the timing cover, the fan pulley, loosen the Tbelt, unbolt the upper idler, then the lower intake. Since you are in that far you may as well replace the KS wire as well.

As far as gaskets go, just go get some gaskets from Napa, CarQuest, or Discount Auto Parts.

TNRabbit

...and get some permatex sealant to go with them!

Guardian_Saint

It is throwing a code 52, but my cylinder #1 I think is leaking coolant inside cause on the cross over pipe there is coolant driping from it, it always drip when cold start but when ever its warm up it will actually stop driping but I think it vaporize so I don't know if that is causing the code 52, I pretty not sure why the truck still run with that coolant leaking into cylinder #1, I already did a compressor test which cylinder #1 only get 150 PSI ( add oil to it, 170+ )and all has from 165 to 170 psi, I will try to use some head gasket formula to see if it will remedy the leakage.

TNRabbit

You have a blown head gasket. The code 52 COULD be a bad wire (common issue) instead of the actual knock sensor.

What kind of head gaske formula are you talking about?

Guardian_Saint

If I had a bad wire do I still have to dig into it? through the KS in order to remove the wire?

What? blown head gasket, then why is it still run fine, but anyway you think I can fix it myself? I'm very new to it but I just follow the FSM into the head gasket.

The formula I was talking about is from

I was thinking using red devil head gasket repair but those formula is costly and I don't know if they really work too...

TNRabbit

Head Gasket Repair by K&W Nanotechnology = Snake Oil. This stuff will screw up your engine Nothing will repair a head gasket except replacing the head gasket.

I don't know if anyone has had ay luck with replacing the wire to the knock sensor without removing the throttle body & plenum...anyone? Does anyone know a way to test the knock sensor withou removing anything?

Engines have been known to run without major indications of head gasket issues for up to 30k miles! But every mile you drive contributes to the ultimate demise of your engine (mixing of oil & coolant, resulting bearing wear & failure, etc.).

Bumpin' Yota

Agreed, my HG (as far as I know) started going out about 8 weeks ago. I came back from a trip and wow she was sputtering for a good 2 minutes. When she got all warmed up, she was purring like a kitten. This continued on cold starts for about 3 to 4 weeks. Then it started getting worse, sputting when hot started... Then one day I go to drive to Tae Kwon Do and she was sputtering and BILLOWING white sweet smelling smoke. I mean more smoke then our diesel running on no boost (just white not black smoke) So I promptly turned around and went home and pulled the plugs the next day. Plug #6 was wet and clean....HG let go!

But doing the oil test, and having compression PSI jump, doesnt that indicate the rings are bad? HG is a much easier fix than bad rings though...

TNRabbit

That depends on how much oil you squirt into the cylinder; if it's a lot, it will take up room and IS NOT COMPRESSIBLE LIKE AIR! (resulting in high PSI reading). GS should take his compression readings with a properly warmed up engine soon after shutdown. It would be unusual, but not unheard of, to have bad rings in one cylinder only. You'll be able to tell more after the head is pulled (duh). Have you tried a leak-down compression test?

yota_krazy

if you remove the intake plenum and lower intake manifold your already halfway done with the headgasket job, just do it then! The PITA part after getting the intake manifold out of the way is the cross over pipe, it took my buddy and I a good 2 hours to get that son of a bitch off, just use lots of PB blaster on the exhaust bolts and get a good service manual.

Bumpin' Yota

how did you two get the cross over off from the passenger's side? there is no way to reach any of those 3 bolts...

881OwnerRunner

From underneath the truck ... a good 6 point socket, universal/knuckle, 36" extention, air ratchet (3/8" drive). Pray for the studs to come out too!

yota_krazy

like he said either from under the truck or if i remember correctly there is a little plastic flap in the wheel well that i removed and was able to get at least 2 of the nuts with a wrench.

Bumpin' Yota

881, with that 36" extension, it more or less follows the frame rail down? Universal at the socket right?

Studs havent come out on anything...

Guardian_Saint

Hi Yota_krazy, since you said it is half way there then I think I will but can you list the tools that I need? if you can get the part # that be cool also and I will get the head gasket set later, and also the tools you use to remove the crossover pipe too, thanks in advance.

yota_krazy

i dont remember exactly what i had but i brought all of my metric sockets from work, deep and shallow. We had an air compressor with impact tools which made a few things easier(just remember to regulate up the air pressure to blast some bolts loose). You mainly just need to find the right tool for the job as you go along, just have metric wrenches and socket sets there for you. I also got into a few situations for removing the cross over pipe nuts that i needed to use 2 wrenches for some more leverage, so have some box end wrenches available. One easy way to get rid of the cross over pipe is to just buy headers that meet down and to the rear of the engine bay.

If i remember right what we did to remove the cross over pipe was to unbolt it from the drivers side exhaust manifold and then removed the passenger side exhaust manifold at the same time. So basically with the drivers side cross over pipe unbolted, pry it back off of the studs, then remove the entire pass side exhaust manifold to clear the heads.

My buddy's engine turned out to be trashed on the inside, probably due to driving with the BHG so we are in the process of replacing it with a reman unit. I didnt buy the head gasket kit parts but he got rock gaskets which are supposed to be pretty good.

Good luck bro!