makie

for the record... intake and plenum gaskets are the same, throttle body is not.

Thanks. From what I could I find they're the same part so I decided to just do it and hope for the best. Tear down is finished, I haven't held the new and old gaskets together to know for sure but they do all look the same.

Hi folks If you've noticed my other recent thread you know I have a coolant leak from somewhere under the intake manifold. I just received my gasket set and was getting ready to start working when I noticed the gaskets they sent me are for a VG33E (I have a '95, VG30E). I know there are some similarities between engines so any chance the intake, plenum and throttle body gaskets are the same for each? thanks

I think it's me, I'm not explaining it very well. What I believe is leaking is the metal hard line that Kingman referred to. The head of the bolts that go through the flange on that hard line face the back of the truck. Or so I think, it's REALLY hard to see anything back there. So i didn't mean to imply they were in backwards, just facing the back. Any better? It's a long weekend coming up so I'll pick up gaskets this week and hopefully get this solved. Slick, I haven't been able to find your write ups, if you have the links I'd appreciate it!

OK thanks, I think that's what I needed to know. I'll go through the how to's to find info on removing the manifold but is there anything i should know before starting it? Is it something I should even attempt? I was ok with changing the timing belt so that's about the the skill level I'm comfortable working at. Anything else I should replace while I'm in there?

I just want to clarify something that might be causing some confusion. I noticed the Haynes manual calls the t'stat cover the housing but when I said housing I was referring to the part the t'stat actually sits in, not the cover that holds it in place. The leak isn't coming from where the cover mates but rather from a joint at the very back of the whole t'stat assembly.

If I'm in Ottawa are you offering? You're off the hook, I'm just a little drive away in Victoria, BC.

When I changed the water pump I used a gasket and rtv, for the t'stat I only used rtv. At this point I'm about 90% sure the leak is from the backside of the t'stat housing where it attaches to the block (at least I think it's the block). The spot, which I'm not explaining very well, is in the same plane (front to back and side to side)as the where the return pipe (the one with the temp sensor in it) mates to the intake manifold but about 4 inches lower. When my wife gets home with the truck I think I'll be able to see coolant bubbling out from there to confirm. So Slick I'm guessing the whole t'stat housing has to come off but the bolt heads face backwards so I'm concerned that even with the cam covers off I wont be able to get at it. Let me ask this, with your engine (which has given me engine envy by the way) in the state it's in in the picture would you be able to get the t'stat housing off of it? Or would the intake manifold have to come off first? thanks again.

Thanks for the help folks! After I posted this I did more searching in the forums and came across threads about the bypass hose so thinking that was the issue I went and bought a thin wand light that I could stick back in there to have a look... unfortunately I don't think it's the bypass hose, but I wish it was. I'm pretty sure it's leaking from the very back of the thermostat housing, back and below the intake manifold. It's really hard to see back there though, I can only see one bolt but the area definitely looks like a leak is happening there. What does this attach to? Is it part of the heating circuit? And the question I'm afraid to ask, how on earth do you get to it? The one bolt I can see is facing backwards so even if I take the cam pulleys and rear timing cover off I still don't think I can get to it. Does this require taking the whole intake manifold off?

A little over a month ago I changed my timing belt, water pump and thermostat. Two weeks after that I developed a coolant leak and initially I thought it was the water pump gasket on the top right (passenger) side. A PIA but not a big deal to go back and fix. But I've been watching it because I wasn't totally sure where it was coming from and now I'm fairly certain it's not the water pump. It seems to be coming from a small metal tube below and behind the thermostat housing. Coolant appears to be leaking from back there and then running forward and down the water pump (which is why I initially thought it was the water pump). So my question is, what's back there and can it even leak coolant? thanks

Thanks for the info guys and Desert for the list of possible causes. I'll start going through it and report back if anything makes a difference.

I usually put in about 55 litres and that gets me right around 330 km, which if my math is right that's about 14 mpg. So not as horrible as I thought but definitely lower than 17-18 a lot of you are getting. Aranay, do you have a bigger tank (I'm assuming I have about a 60 litre)? I would kill to get 500km from a full tank but even at 17mpg I wouldn't get anywhere near that. Any ideas what could be causing the low mileage?

OK, so for the 3 years that I've owned my truck I've always had this feeling that my 95 (3.0L, 5sp, 200,00KM) is getting terrible mileage but I've never really looked into it. I always get between 320 and 350KM (~220 miles) on a full tank. How does this compare to what is expected? And if it is a lot lower than normal where do I start looking for the cause? It's totally stock, runs great, has new plugs (which made no difference to the mileage), has no check engine lights on... not sure what other info I can provide. thanks for any insight you can provide!

Thanks guys! I figured it was a flywheel issue but wasn't sure because of the intermittent chatter so I wanted to check before I talked to the garage. Right now it looks like they'll be covering it under warranty so I have my fingers crossed that it stays that way. To answer your questions, yes the pressure plate and throw out bearing were replaced and as far as I know the main seal is fine. It's not leaking oil (that I can tell) and they never mentioned it when they put in the new clutch.

About a month ago I had the clutch replaced in my 95 and shortly after that the clutch chatter started and is getting worse. I have to call the garage today to ask them to fix it but I thought I would try to get some opinions on the cause before I did that. It only shakes in 1st gear and from a dead stop. It's very slight first thing in the morning but after driving for a bit or later in the day it gets worse, to the point that I can barely get moving from a stop and the truck feels like it's going to shake itself apart. I don't think that the flywheel was surfaced when the clutch was replaced so could this be the cause or would the chatter be more constant? What else could cause this? thanks for your help!