Hi all,

I have a 2002 Montero Limited that has a vacuum leak. I did a smoke check, and it looks like it has a leak at the intake manifold. I'm hoping that replacing the intake manifold gaskets will fix the problem.

Question 1: The service manual says I need to relieve the pressure in the fuel line and disconnect the high pressure fuel hose from the fuel rail, and then remove the fuel rail before removing the intake manifold. Is there a correct way to relieve the pressure in the fuel line?

TIA

Ed M.

 

If you have to dig all the way to the bottom of the V (intake manifold to cylinder head gaskets), you might have to disconnect the fuel lines. One way to bleed the pressure in the fuel system is to pull the fuel pump relay, start the engine and run it until it stalls. You may want to do this anyway and then see if you can move the intake manifold far enough out of the way to replace the gaskets without disconnecting the fuel lines. Fuel line has a short rubber section which should allow it to move a bit.

 

Thanks HunterD. I pulled the fuel pump relay, and ran the engine until it stalled.

I dug in all the way down to the V to get at the cylinder head gaskets. I really couldn't find any evidence of where the vacuum leak was.

But I did find a broken fuel injector seal, and it was in the right vicinity of where the smoke was coming from when I did the smoke check (#5 cylinder). But could that cause a vacuum leak?

 

Yes, the vacuum leaks can occur at the injector seals. Looking at the picture - you are missing a big chunk of rubber on that injector. It is very likely that this is your vacuum leak source.