1993 Camry LE 4cyl.

I had some head work done about 8 months ago...

recently, I changed the exhaust manifold gasket because it was leaking, causing the O2 sensor to malfuntion and dump fuel for bad gas mileage.

What I noticed is that the gasket used was cheap, thinner and in 2 parts, instead of one whole gasket like to OEM style. So, I bought a OEM gasket and replaced it with no problems! very easy, but time consuming to do it right with basic tools...

I still seem to have a vacuum leak somewhere with how it runs. I've already performed a whole list of things to this point.

But, assuming I find a vacuum leak in the intake manifold gasket. This deosn't look like near as easy a job as the exhaust manifold.

Is this a major task being that the intake is on the backside of the engine and harder to get to considering I would have to do this in my driveway?? will normal tools that I have be enough, or are there some special tools to mention??

just thinking aloud here...

 

I have never done an intake manifold on one of those, but honestly some can be a bit of a nightmare. I know with some that are on the back its easier to get some of the awkward bolts from underneath. However if you want to tackle it you never know it is possible to do, and if not you may just have to get it towed to mechanics shop. Sorry not much usefull info here just my opinion. Good luck with work if you do it.

 

I have a '98 Celica (auto) and this is what I did. Drive onto ramps. Disconnect the battery. Drain half a gallon of coolant. Get underneath. Remove manifold stay bar, unbolt egr solenoid and let it hang, transy kick-down cable bracket, completely remove PS idle-up valve vac lines, unplug knock sensor, unbolt vacuum rail and let it hang, unbolt ground wire. Crack open all eight fasteners holding the manifold in place. Remove only the four manifold bolts closest to the centerline. firm up the remaining two bolts and end nuts which must be removed during manifold detachment. you are done underneath. All eight fasteners will be replaced from the top and four of them can be torqued from the top ( 14 ft/lbs all) using an eleven inch torque wrench available at Advance AP for around thirty bucks. roll the car off the ramps now and we go up top. Lots of **** to detach obviously. Have fun with that. Cap all openings with masking tape. So much crap to remove. Air box with piping and pcv hoses, pcv valve, plug wires, intake temp sensor connector as well as connector for throttle position sensor, iac valve, unscrew throttle cables and detach their bracket (move transy cable to the firewall and move engine cable to the front, remove throttle body completely (now is a good time to replace the iac valve air hose, mine had a split, also check condition of water hoses to iac valve), unbolt egr pipe from head and manifold and remove the valve with pipe attached, remove engine wire case (two bolts up front (the lower bolt is out of sight and easy to forget on my car) one bolt at the timing cover and the rear portion has a bolt but that bolt does not need to come out. Pull up on the case and it pops off.), lift wire case up and rest it on the timing cover (tape it in place using painters masking tape, Remove cam cover, now you can remove the remaining two bolts holding the wire case to the manifold, pull the case forward off the brackets, detach injector connectors, unplug map sensor from it's filter, detach brake booster vac line and idle-up vac line from manifold, completely remove fuel pressure regulator vac line, detach banjo fitting from regulator and grab the two gasket washers, remove regulator (replace it's o-ring), remove fuel rail main fitting and grab the aluminum gasket washers. Unbolt fuel rail and grap the polymer spacers, lift rail off of injectors and remove return hose, remove rail, pull injectors out to replace seals (FRONT SEAL GETS INSERTED INTO ITS MANIFOLD SEAT AND INJECTOR IS PRESSED INTO IT), remove vacuum rail, manifold end nuts can be removed from the side, remaining left bolt can be reached by leaning in over the left fender, remaining right side bolt can be reached through the middle opening of runners. MANIFOLD CAN NOW BE POPPED OFF AND LOWERED TO A RESTING POSITION. PULL THE THREE WIRES THROUGH THE CENTER AND TRY NOT TO BEND THEM ANY MORE THAN NECESSARY. Lift the Manny out. I used a gallon of gasoline in a tote to clean about 90% of deposits. Let it rest overnight fully soaking in gasoline, during the next day rock the tote back and forth periodically. The agitation cleaning method using gasoline is the best do-it-yourself method. You will be amazed. Don't forget to replace coolant, also anytime the cam cover comes off I drain a quart of oil and just before putting the cover on I flush the cams with oil. I finished this job with the car back on ramps, driven up with the knock sensor connected, vacuum rail attached only by the hoses at the ends and rubber caps over the tubes for the steering idle-up valve. Underneath I torqued all the bolts again to 14. Attached the manifold stay bar, ground wire relocated from it's temporary mounting point, egr solenoid/bracket reattached, vac rail bolted up, vac line cluster and bracket reattached, cable snapped onto bracket and bolted on, idle-up lines reattached. This job is brutal and it is 80% cleaning. Took me a week.