Question about changing Lower Intake man Gasket on 2000 Chevy C3500, 7.4 liter engine

Big Bubba

Senior Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Apr 11, 2007
Messages
746
Re: Question about changing Lower Intake man Gasket on 2000 Chevy C3500, 7.4 liter en

Guys, truck runs AWESOME!!! finished the truck up around lunch time today and topped/burped the coolant, changed the oil becuase it was that chocolate milkdshake looking stuff, and buttomed everything up cleaned and put all my tools away. Me and the wife took the truck for a ride and it ran flawlessly and no leaks noted except at first when I first cranked her up the bypass hose was dripping on the manifold side but I tightened up the hose clamp and the leak disappeared. Now, before I tore into this job and this is the first time it has ran crappy was this Past Friday after noon after work I cranked it up to move it off the grass into the driveway and she ran like crap and stalled on me twice and I got a check engine light of P0102 but that was before the job was started but after the gasket replacments no check engine lights and she runs like brand new. Boy, I was so bothered when my truck wasn't running right Friday afternoon and I had to wait and hope that the gasket replacement fixed my problems and it did and I am thankful. I will continue to monitor my oil for water/coolant contamination and check the level of my coolant to make sure that it is staying full when cold. So to recap my truck is running like brand new again and sounds great and idles at 600 rpms at idle. Will keep you posted if anything changes.
 

rockyrude

Lieutenant Junior Grade
Joined
Sep 10, 2007
Messages
1,120
Re: Question about changing Lower Intake man Gasket on 2000 Chevy C3500, 7.4 liter en

That's great news. On my 5.7, the way the coolant hoses are routed it takes a day of regular driving to blow all the bubbles out.
 

Big Bubba

Senior Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Apr 11, 2007
Messages
746
Re: Question about changing Lower Intake man Gasket on 2000 Chevy C3500, 7.4 liter en

RockyRude,
Yeap, I will monitor the coolant level and oil for contaminants religiously. Also on these 454's trucks I did notice that there is metal tabs with slits cut into them that allow the lower intake manifold gaskets to sit on them and not move or slip while your re-installing the lower inatke manifold for the new gasket repair. Hey, GM did something right there but dang!!! plastic intake manifold gaskets, I still cannot believe it. No wonder these gaskets fail after a while. Plastic just does not hold up under extreme temperature changes. I just thankful I am pretty handy and can accomplish alot of stuff without having to pay someone to do this for me. Hopefully the next time, hopefully not, when I have to swap the gaskets out again they have the updated metal gaskets and not the plastic. I did use Fel-Pro gasket set but they only had the metal inserts at the bolt hole locations. Thanks for all your help. I am surer I saved some money doing this job myself and it took me a day and a half to accomplish. I am extremely happy with the results and my truck is running Great!!! again. Good start to a short Thanksgiving week ahead.
 

Big Bubba

Senior Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Apr 11, 2007
Messages
746
Re: Question about changing Lower Intake man Gasket on 2000 Chevy C3500, 7.4 liter en

Yeap, I drove my truck alot today and seems to be running AWESOME. I haven't had to add any coolant/water to the overflow or radiator since I got it completed since last week. Still holding the same coolant/water level and haven't had to add any at all. I drove it alot today and she did good and in the morning I will check the fluid level in her again and if it is the same level I should be good to go. Glad it was not a head gasket issue that would have been more work to do.
 
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