Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Duratec Maintenance Lim, Uim cleaning

OK so now I called the OTHER dealership that has it in stock, and they are charging 4.90 a piece, which comes out to be just under 30 dollars all together, still a rip off. I called the other place back and asked them about it, and actually the price went up, its now 9.40! This gets even funnier because I asked him if it was because the part is so rare in the area, and he mumbled out something about no set price B.S.

Do I really have to call Bill Jenkins and wait a week for this stuff to come in? Both of these dealerships are an hour away, and I dont get to borrow my mom's car very often.

Yes, Bill quotes are lower than that.

Well I took the FAQ over to ford.
They took a look at it and assumed that they were being served papers. LOL

More seriously they said that they did not have one standard tec that covers everything listed on that FAQ. They mentoned the chemical flushing of the IM, TB, EGR as being a cheaper option because once it was determined that the manifold had to be removed a price if $600+ was thrown into the air. Then they check the tec for manifold removal cleaning and seal replacement and found a price of $324. But the problem is that the faq requires more work. So I left the FAQ with them and I will be expecting a call mon or tues with an estimate on how much that FAQ would cost.

By the way he acted very suprized when I mentioned that a car groups exists and makes recommendations as to how to service a car.

One more thing he mentioned that an additional problem with removing a manifold for cleaning is that serveral sensors have to be unpluged and that during the unplugging those sensors could be damaged and no longer work properly and so possibly might have to be replaced as well. I will re read the FAQ to see how many and which sensors must be disconnected and then get a price on them just to be prepared to pay that additional cost.

So is the chemical wash out of the manifold a more appropriate and less costly tech that would give the same or similar effect of this FAQ?

I can host them

My thanks to Greatgonzo and MercuryMiskik99 in advance for putting up the pics. I need all the help I can get since I'm nervous about digging into my engine so deep.

Thanks guys

Thank you Greatgonzo for offering to host, but I got a month's trial from fototime that I can use for the time being. If anybody wants to use the pictures for reference (they arent that great) then I'd save them.

Here is the top of the LIM with the wiring harness still going down the middle.



A close-up...



Here's my partner in crime getting started on cleaning my LIM. (good guy, but didnt do much to that thing)



Here I have my LIM out and the ports in the head plugged up with shop towels. Wiring/injector harness still above it and fuel rail with injectors are sitting on the side.



A close up of dirty injectors with dirty seals (must replace those seals)





I dont remember if I posted it here, or somewhere else, but I had to drive around to find the new injector seals. I found out there the new seals are a revised version, and although it looks like it is worse... I must agree that they work much better (after inspecting how the fit).

I have the old ones and new ones sitting side-by-side.





Here is the newly cleaned fuel-rail (sitting on the side, you dont have to disconnect it). I cleaned it with injector cleaner and throttle body cleaner. I also put the new seals on the injectors. I have no pictures, but I also removed the injectors and put new o-rings (NOT MANDATORY).




Here is a picture of the top of the head all clean. I am positive I took a dirty picture of it, but for some reason it didnt stay on my POS camera. You gotta be careful when cleaning this part so as not to let anything fall into those ports. The ports inside look dirty, but it only goes for a few inches before the opening to the cylinder. Just plug up those holes and clean the surface are with TB cleaner and Berryman's B12 Chemtool.



If you look closely inside, you can see the cam where the air gets let into the cylinder. Kinda intimidating for a first-timer.



Place the new LIM gaskets on the head...


It was pretty-time consuming, but I got her clean. Lotsa rags, shop towels, BERRYMANS really helped here, and even Qtips for the hard to reach spots. Its a rewarding job.




This part of the LIM is where the injectors/fuel-rail end up. This is where those seals do their job.


LIM re-installed, fuel-rail and injectors back in place.


UIM gasket.


I replaced my PCV valve while I was in there. Its the round black thing in the tube in the middle of the picture. It has an attatchment to it with one hose on it and another spot where the hose from the UIM will go. To give you a better sense of it's location, the rusty thing cut off at the top of the picture is where the EGR valve is sitting (the wierd UFO in the back).


Here is the under-side of the UIM. I took the advice of a fellow CEG-er, and took it to the carwash. I sprayed the hell out of it after a lot of soaking with berryman's and throttle body cleaner. I just stuck the hose in there and sprayed, and washed off in all areas that I could. After it dried off I did finishing touches. I believe this is the hardest part to clean, and the carwash idea was awesome.


Wider shot of the underside of the UIM. Hasnt visited the carwash yet.


I apologize for the large pictures, the long download time, and the huge post. I hope this helps. It was fun to do, pretty easy and straightforward. Just follow the how-to, that was my main reference and I had it printed out. If you dont know what they are talking about in any parts of it, just PM me or ask anybody on the site.

The power re-gain I had is amazing. My idle is smooth as silk now, the CEL codes for misfiring, running lean in both banks, and IAC problem are now gone. I did change my spark plugs, so im sure that helped with the misfiring. The job was very rewarding and I am very happy with the response of power. Make sure you clean that throttle body too.

Before/after shot:

if they are damaging sensors when removing them, they are doing something wrong. do they change the oil pan too each time they do an oil change?

and what else would car clubs be for? arent they there for support at all levels?

Between the FAQ and how to for UIM/LIM cleaning and those pics you took... I'm going to tackle that this weekend. How much time did it take you to do all of this? Start to finish.

I had a week of down-time, but that is only because of shortage of supplies and parts (didnt buy everything before tearing down) and extra care in detail on cleaning. You only really have to clean the surfaces and get new gaskets to ensure no vacuum leaks, but i went a step further by cleaning everything. If I had everything I needed, then it would have taken me a weekend. If I didnt bother cleaning much, it would have taken me one day. Keep in mind I also waited around a while for my spark plugs, and I had to look for a day or two to find those seals. Chicago only had two dealerships in the entire area who carried them. I ended up taking up a last saturday morning to drive for an hour to a place in the middle of nowhere. My point is, get everything before you get in there. Big time-saver.