Eco-Tech 2.2 Cavalier Intake Manifold removal

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JOD

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I pulled an air intake tube in order to more easily access the oil filter on this car (a friend's kids car) and there was a significant amount of oil in the intake tube. Evidently this isn't a huge deal because of the location of the PCV port (though it freaked me out at first!), but I'm thinking I should clean out the PCV port just to make sure. The car had some questionable maintenance prior to the kid getting it, kid has been really diligent though and I want to help him out.

I don't have a manual for this car, but it looks pretty straightforward to pull this thing off so I was just going to dive in. Are there any gotchas on this job? I'm assuming the IM gasket needs to be replaced? Felpro gasket OK for this applications?

Any J-body folks or anyone familiar with this car please chime in.

Thanks!
 
The gasket will likely be fine for re-use. I pulled the top off my girls old cavalier years ago a few times to see just how well seafoam actually worked as far as the intake ports were concerned.
I never replaced the gasket and I removed it 4 times for inspection.
I did oil it though using my fingertip. Never had any gasket leaking issues.
And just in case you were going to ask seafoam did clean the intake ports except it took 4 treatments. The cooked oil from the pcv was tough to dissolve but eventually it lost its grip.
Buy the gasket just in case but once you see the shape of the original I'm sure you'll just re-use it.
Unless its been overheated. Then its going to be cooked on and you'll be scraping it off.
I suggest some mmo and soak the intake valves an piston tops while you've got it off. Easy to do while your in there.
 
Just adding my $.02 since we are talking ecotec manifolds here...

In the occasion you might have to replace the exhaust manifold on the 2.2l ecotec, be prepared to spend all of 15 minutes. I just replaced my nieces (cracked) and was very pleased at the ease of working on this engine.

Carry on.
 
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Right on, thanks! I can walk to the parts store, so I'll just plan on re-using the gasket and grab one if it looks too bad. I thought about going the seafoam route, but the IM looked pretty easy to remove so I just figured I'd do it. Plus, it's a good teaching moment for a kid who wants to learn to work on his own car.

Right now the car is consuming about a qt of oil in 5K, so it's not like we're at critical mass or anything, but at 150K it just seems like something that should be done. While the lack of a conventional PCV is a bit of a bummer, this looks nothing like the Volvo flame trap project. Good suggestion on the piston soak while we're at it.

Hopefully this won't involve exhaust manifold removal, but good to know! In general, this car seems pretty easy to work on, with the exception of that "no transmission drain plug" thing.
 
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