1997 Nissan 2.4L Intake Gasket Replacement (Part 2) -EricTheCarGuy 

I did this job and ended up with a leftover of 4 bolts, 1 bracket, 2 missing tools and a new Honda Civic. . I'm calling it a fix.

I just re-watched this again after doing this job a few years ago and just wanted to say thanks or I never would of tackled this. I went to another level of DIY after this thanks to you giving me the confidence to tackle this. I'm not a real mechanic so I had to buy a few new tools for this. The long telescopic magnets mostly for getting the bolts in and out and I also bought a couple swivel ratchets with 72 teeth plus some different length extensions and swivels because unlike you I could get my ratchet on all the bolts, but I didn't have enough swing to get a click after I bought the higher tooth ratchets I could manage a click or two and that's how I got my bolts in each with a different set of extensions etc. Of course it took me a whole weekend to do and then some because the first gasket was ruined because it slipped while putting together and I didn't see it until it was too late, so I bought another and did it again but used some gaskacinch to hold it in place and that did the trick. Also I picked up a couple new studs because a mangled a couple with the vise grips. The engine was working great for another 2 years until I wrecked the car - still ran fine but too much other damage after that. I don't fear any car problem now, well except I think a have a torque converter going out on my Sable - not sure about that one.

I have a 1993 GLE with 367,230-mi (yes, that's correct) on the original engine and transmission, and the head gasket (I hope) at the No. 4 cylinder final failed. Was trying to remove the intake to get to the head, and after watching your video, decided it's better to either replace the entire engine & keep it, or get rid of the entire thing! Amazing how difficult it is to remove this intake. Thanks for this video, really helped in my decision process.

You are an amazing mechanic! You said that was at a difficult level of 7, good grief!!! I would love to see what a 10 is.

This and the other video where you took apart the whole dash to get to the blower motor are two of your best ever videos, top dog!

Yeah, intake gaskets on the KA24DE are a real BEEEOOTCHHH!!! Been with Nissan for a decade or so... You'll be happy to know the 2.4L doesn't develope the #4 leak very often. Always #4. You missed the 3rd & 4th cross supports. Just take the bolts on all of them floppy loose & you can rock the whole Mary-Ann back after pulling the studs on either end. Real pain in the WHOOO-HOOO. Good Luck, Eric & stay dirty.

Wow, thanks for this video. It was a lesson in level-headed patience above all for me. My work isn't related, but there are enough analogies here that I'll be approaching my job a little differently after seeing this video.

how the heck do you stay so calm, and on top of this still make a video?? just amazes me.I just changed the trans pan gasket on my 72 camaro and had only 1 bolt give me a problem and it ended up being a 2 hour job.

I am a mechanic at a shop and I did one of these today, it is a beast for sure. This is the 3rd one I've done and it is no fun at all. Btw they put inverted torx ends on those studs on the one I did today. Thx for the vid 👍😁

My take away, beside Eric's consistent demonstration of patience and diligence, is the removal of those two upper studs to eliminate the binding of the upper manifold. I think if it where me I would have tried to fit vacuum caps on them to "avoid damage" and still have ended up carving my initials on the sealing surface while muscling it out. For me Eric's videos are all about working smart.

Next time someone says I am over charging and taking too long to get the job done they will be referred to this video. Much respect Eric from another knuckle buster!

eric I could feel your pain on this one, you have a lot of patience, thank you so much for this video, God bless!!!!!!!

Watching this video makes me miss my old 95 I just got rid of more and more:( But I am happy with my 07. Btw I had to do the same thing to my old Altima and it was not fun, especially for a beginner like me. Keep up the good work Eric.

Looks like I'm gonna be doing this on my 95 nissan altima im not looking forward to it after watching you work on this one but this will definitely help, great video thanks eric!

I couldn't believe that you'll be able to put these lower intake fasteners back with magnets. I was wrong. Another super cool video.

Eric your so awesome, mechanically and personality, good luck for the future

That engine looks pretty clean for a '97. I'm surprised something that clean needs this degree of work. Great video

I commend you Eric on a job well done. I'm about to tackle a head gasket job on the same motor. looks like the intake would be my hardest task. Great Video.

Wow mab... bow down to your patience and dedication.

Eric the car guy.... BIG RESPECT for this video

Crazy tricky job you've done! Well done! ))))

its nice to see so many parts on that car deliciously clean :) cars that i work on in the UK are seldom clean or rust free, simple things are struggles most often...good job though!

Really admire your honesty regarding that lower gasket. I would do the same thing. And yes, I would also replace it later for free if necessary.

This nissan seems to be like my old hyundai. Very solid built but a real pain to work on. As usual, a system is only as strong as its weakest link. In this case a $10 gasket. Respect for showing how to work on these.

When it comes to using a torque wrench, I have done enough auto repair where I just done t use a torque wrench at all, well except when doing heads that require multistep process of tightening. Great job once again

I did this same job on Friday. Removing the starter makes it waaaaaay easier to get to the bottom bolts. I didn't loosen the plenum at all. The old gasket was realllly stuck on, which sucked, I spent almost 3 hours carefully scraping and sanding it off. Cut the shit out of my hand. I was certainly happy to see stft go full negative after the repair.

great video as always!! thanks Eric!!!!!!

This video was great Eric, Thanks!!!!!

Awesome job! Very tedious but you handled it like a pro. Hopefully that car won't have that problem again.Nissan Atima's are known for that in that vintage.

I had a Nissan Bluebird - basically the identical car, but made in Japan, with the same 2.4L KA24E. My intake went - solution was to drop the engine from the car by unbolting the K frame - after removing all hose connections, exhaust and electrical connectors. Did both gaskets, and the clutch at the same time. :) Not very expensive in the end - about 8 hours to do the whole job.

Eric: whole day of PITA, car fixed. You: sell the car as it is.

first thing I did was take out the studs. they have a 4-5mm head. awesome series man!

Thanks Great video. I have the same car, same issue, same color. Except I get the misfire on cylinder 2. I was going to attempt to do this myself, until I watched your video. I am just going to pay to have it done. Thanks for saving me a day or two of aggravation!!

Very tight one but, good job. It gets the job done.

Great work enjoyed and thanks for heads up on headed bolts ill start on mine tomorrow probably later keep up absolutely great work Eric God bless

Eric God bless you man!

Good job Eric:)))

This really makes me appreciate my car's intake manifold design.

If I had done it, I would probably have about 6 left over bolts. Great job Eric.

I have a head gasket job on one of these tomorrow. Now I see most of my time will be on the intake lol. Good thing I invested in stud pullers.

Nice job, Eric! Wow that was a lot of work! It would be informative to take a minute of the video and look at the fuel trims on the scan tool, before and after the fix. After that much work, it would feel good to have extra confirmation! Another possible source for intake vacuum leaks are those rubber injector grommets. They get brittle from years of heat and don't seal very well once disturbed...

Great vid in detail

This was a big help

Thanks for the video, I think I'm about to start this tomorrow. No fun times await. Had to come back for the update. Got it out, new one is in, and the manifold bolts are all started. That lower one on the passenger side is almost impossible. I removed the axle and bracket to give me more room, but still not fun. I'm about 7 hours in, and hope to never do this one again.

4:18 i was waiting for this moment :D

you are god sent thanks Eric

You are the man, I wish I could do what you do.

This gasket failed on my mom's 1997 Altima in exactly the same spot. After looking at the PITA this job was gonna be, I just smeared some Ultra Black RTV around the intake port. It worked great and It's still holding after about 5 years.

what a hard job to do Eric well done tony/

Eric, another in the line of awesome videos. My question is how do you keep all the fasteners organized enough to put them where they go when you're putting everything back together?

It's nice to see how carefull you are with the maniffold after such a frustrating work, I would just freak out and use a lot of violence on that crap manifold :)

with the stud removal, could you file 2 opposite flats and use a spanner to loosen them?

GREAT video dude. Yeah, that looked intense, like heart surgery.

wow! nice work Eric. and I agree it's a test of tools, tenacity a talent. GG!

Very good mechanic. thanks for the video

Hats off to you,Eric. I can imagine what labor cost is. What a pain in the butt. Good job,Nissan. :p

Great job Eric, if I were there I'd buy you lunch!

Am I the only one who just loves watching people work on cars?

Love the magnet trick!

I've removed the trotle body and got my arm from the driver side all the way to that last bolt on the left side and that made it easy to get it

I've had the tick (rather knock) on KA24E too, but the KA24DE was great for over 200,000 miles befor it was sold. All the original gaskets except the valve cover gasket.

Eric you should definitely put a link in this video to your "Those Damn Engineers!" Video! Sometimes I just sit there with my hands on my head, thinking to myself "why the hell would they design it like this!?" Lol

Ho!!! Thank tou....great video....I have my project done for my selft

Truly advanced work, at least to my eyes.

My sentiments exactly. Eric defiantly earned his money on this one.

"Yes, i see the ripped CV boot" Aaaw shoot, my brain was screaming there for a moment!

What would the book time be to do both the upper and lower gaskets vs say a drive line re/re. Would it be worth removing the engine/transmission and doing the intake out of the car when everything is accessible?

Northstar head gasket and cylinder block head bolt repair.

You recomend a coolant and oil change? I might've missed it.

Removing the throttle body gains access from the side to the bottom bolt with a 1/4 inch wrench. Draining the radiator and disconnecting the heater hoses just below the throttle body allows the intake manifold to be moved back far enough to clear the studs. Thanks for the tip on the hidden bolts. I found that this manifold must have something wrong with it in that it eats gaskedt about every 90 miles. The second time I put aviation permatex in it to take up the slop in the plane job Nissan did. My car now has over 240 K with the same gasket.

His name is Eric and he works for his boss Eric that runs this here channel EricTheCarGuy. There is only one guy working this garage and that is Eric, there are not other Erics in this establishment.

Several days ago I performed this exact "procedure" on a Cali 1998 Altima w/AT at 96K miles. After removing all the hardware holding the intake manifold in place the only failure point of the old gasket was a 1/2" missing section at the same cylinder 4 lower runner spot. This area had discoloration around the head and manifold flange along with oil residue, which leads me to believe the problem of this hot spot location degrading the gasket is accelerated by oil leaking off the valve cover. I couldn't manage to remove the upper outer studs, which require a female E-Torx star socket 1/4 drive E7. Even after soaking the studs and trying a vice wrench on the smooth area, the star heads with use of the Torx socket basically started to rotate on the stud as I applied torque to the ratchet, so I stopped, left them in place, and did my best to pry the mani away from the head and remove the old gasket with about an inch gap between. Cleaning off the old gasket took almost 1.5 hours using a variety of scrapers to get all the sticky layers off. My #1 tip for this job, if you are head-to-head with it, is to pour a bucket of gasoline into the interior, light a match, and walk away. Honestly.....it's simple but a lengthy creative process. I broke it down into systems. Remove upper air box and hose, leave TB in place, remove throttle linkage/cables, remove fuel rail/injectors, remove rail harness going all the way back to the rear of the manifold, disconnect EGR pipe at EGR, remove all the manifold hardware you can from up top. Go under engine, remove oil filter (a small bit of oil will leak, nothing more), remove starter if you're so inclined (I didn't), remove driver/passenger side (drivers side is under TB, pass side is a thick black bar) intake manifold support points, remove three remaining studs from lower manifold (driver side are easier and only require a ratchet crescent wrench, pass side is the worst bolt in history to reach and will require a extra long combo wrench) which will require you to potentially go at them blind. Get a helper to spot you with a lamp from up top and you can manage to get them out. For the record, I backed out the pass side pita bolt with the looped end of the crescent and left it there dangling as it's the first bolt you'll want to work back in on the lower side once the uppers are secured. I didn't remove the TB, or the starter, or the IAC valve, or the PS pump assy like many have suggested in online tutorials. Like Eric stated, prepare for a battle, I have many forearm scars but walked away the victor!

I hope you made money on this job, Eric. That was pure hell.

doing that right now, yahhhhh, so much fun

I did the intake gasket on my lil honda civic it was a tough one too. Limited space and lots of fasteners!! But I got it done

Eric, i just had an aha moment! You could've wrapped some string around the bolt head a couple times then lowered the bolt down with the magnet, holding only onto the outer part of the head, helped it near the bolt hole then applied pressure with the magnet (again on the outer bolt head) then pulled the string up towards you and through the runner to try and get it threaded in the most, kind of like another viewer said before like using a belt to thread it in, just some food for thought.

How on earth do you stay so calm? Jobs like that cause my language to descend steadily towards the gutter...

wonder if that is like a series 2 or 3 3800 where you can rotate the engine forward a few inches, and it give a lot more room in the back.

That's a pretty intense intake manifold gasket job,,

would loosening some engine mounts and rocking the motor help any ?

service manual says to remove the head with the intake attached...seems maybe that's a good idea. either way its like 7 hours on the book.

Hi Eric, I like your videos and have suggestion for you . If you could please show all tools used at the end of this or any other job , it would be very educational. Thanks much 👍

curious to know how much would you charge on labor for a job like that. hours charged vs hours quoted through the computer??

how much more pain and cost to pull the head, ex, and intake as an assembly,,,thanks for the videos

I have been having issues with my 97 Altima for years. Always surging Idle on cold start, once warm runs better but has too low idle when warm, exactly the opposite of when cold. I have also noticed quite an increase in oil consumption. The oil consumption is what caused me to think it possibly wasn't an intake manifold leak and instead was a PCV valve malfunction. What are the proper diagnostic tests I can perform to figure out what is my problem based on the listed symptoms? Thanks.

I would love to see one of those :D

Hello just did this job yesterday it was very challenging But got it done same problem The manifold to cylinder head was the problem

Eric ... You are a superman.

god bless your patience

So did it fix the misfire

What a pain in the ass. Makes me love how easy it is to replace the IM gasket and head gasket on my car compared to this nightmare. This is why mechanics get paid. You deal with the nightmare scenarios so that the owner of the vehicle doesn't have to. Great job and great result. Thumbs up.

Great video. I don't feel too bad now since my mechanic is charging me $220 for labor!

Eric do you think in hindsight it would be easier to lift and remove the engine?

5.5 is book time. 3.1 warranty, if anyone is curious. Rather insane amount of work for an intake gasket.

was it necessary to separate the lower intake ? To get to the upper gasket ?

Have you heard of occam's razor? The extreme pressures and heat that an engine produces mean things will wear out over time, no matter the quality. Gaskets are there to ensure a tight seal, I'm sure some brands are junk but for the most part I've seen most types of Gaskets hold up quite well as long as a vehicle is maintained and not overheated. So your choice of what to believe is: conspiracy for planned obsolescence, or, the fact that gaskets just wear down over time.

Stuff like this is why I love my 02 civic ex. Metal intake and exhaust gaskets and way easier to get to than this Nissan. The only reason I had to take mine apart was to replace my head gasket. It was probably a 3 on a scale of 1 to 10 for difficulty as far as removing the intake gasket.

so do you need to torque the intake manifold or its not required to ?

You should get a set of what I know as crows feet, they are an open ended wrench that you can attach to a socket wrench I use them all the time with extensions and universals to get around to where I need to get

Eric mine is sucking air like yours, does coolant flow through this or cause this cause im wondering before i change gasket could i use that bars leak sealant that you pour in radiator?