Hello,
My van was running in limp mode on my last drive (no power/barely could get above 50), check engine light came on P0306 (cylinder 6). I went to change the spark plugs and found cylinder 5 filled with coolant, and 6-8 with coolant leaking in but not that bad. I did some research and found that the intake gasket failing is common. I just wanted to get some sanity checks before I jumped into this. First, I assume I should look around and make sure that its not a hose. I was planning on doing a leak down check and make sure its not the heads. Assuming it is the intake, I have to get the upper and lower gasket set and the plenum one. Does it matter which one I get? I assume OEM or FEL-PRO is fine? Any suggestions/comments would be welcome.

 

Does your engine have a black plastic intake manifold ?

 

@hanky Yes it does

 

Get another opinion, but I suspect your plastic manifold has a crack in it..

If that is verified, the only fix is to replace the manifold.

A cooling system pressure test might help verify that suspicion..

If the cooling system is pressurized up to no more than 15 psi , you should be able to see the coolant leaking into the spark plug cavity.

 

I have access to a pressure tester so I will do that. Would you happen to know if there are any upgraded (perhaps metal) intakes available that work with this vehicle?

 

I just replaced a defective manifold with another new one, don't know if metal manifold is available.

 

I just tried to do a pressure test on the coolant system and couldn't get any pressure to build at all. Not sure that is because there is a big leak or there is some kind of pressure valve I don't know about.. No fluid came out on around the intake at all. Doing a visual inspection I found all the hoses looked good. The gasket directly below the thermostat seemed to be the wettest. I will try to find time to do a compression test/leak down test in the next couple days. Thanks for your time and help.

 

Ok, well this is going just horribly. I would appreciate any help.

My spark plug socket got stuck in cylinder #8, I guess there is too much gunk in there even though I blew it all out. So I have to remove the fuel rail, I searched for 30 minutes and couldn't find a tutorial for the design I have. Well I tried anyway and of course broke something. And it still won't come out so I guess I'm stopping for today. Any ideas how to get this thing off / if they sell replacement plastic parts?

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.for...521ba70dd8.jpg

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.for...0c5475bb1a.jpg

 

Just use a screw extractor to remove, you just need to be careful and don't drop anything down.


Something like should work, just don't get from harbor freight.

 

It's my entire socket that is stuck in cylinder #8. If I had access I can try to fish it out somewhere. So I need to pull the fuel rails...which I can't do because I can't get the fuel line off (and I broke a part trying).