Thank you gentlemen,

I feel well-prepared now in my quest. I think to make things easier I will definitely remove the intake manifold partially, just to allow some freedom of access.

Wish me luck in my brickin' and hopefully it all turns out fine and dandy.

I too took teh Intake Manifold Off.

MOST of teh stuff does not have to come off at all. The Intake Bellows and that basic stuff does come off But then you can unbolt the manifold with Gas lines intact and just rock it up and out of the way.

The hurdle with getting the Separator out with the Intake in place is the Brass fitting for the Heater core. It is Right where it shouldn't be. With the Intake off, it gives you some freedom to move the Separator to the side as you lift it up and off.

I cleaned my Separator with Home heating oil.. A great Crud softener without being harmful to plastic. And for the Top opening I had a 3/8th threaded rod that i used, basically, as a saw to cut through the crud. I sat the separator in a bucket of Home heating oil (Diesel or kerosene is just as good) took it out from time to time and spilled out the fluid. then submerged it again.


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'75 Jeep CJ5 345Hp ChevyPwrd, two motorcycles, '85 Pickup: The '89 Volvo is the newest vehicle I own. it wasn't Volvos safety , it was Longevity that sold me http://home.lyse.net/brox/TonyPage4.html http://cleanflametrap.com/tony/

I have done it without removing the manifold but only because I was several hundred miles from home on a "service call" to rescue my son's car. I vote for removing the manifold.

I would suggest removing as much crud as possible by striking all over the outside of the case to knock as much stuff loose as possible and shake it out. Run a 3/8" drill bit in the top hole (by hand) to ream it clean.

Then plug the top hole and fill it with gasoline. Tilt it several times to defeat an air lock that might prevent a complete fill up. Let it soak over night before pouring some of the gas out. Cover the bottom hole and agitate it to loosen the accumulated sludge before pouring out the rest of the gasoline out. Reinstall with a new Oring

Randy

I just did this job and I removed the intake. this way you can really get in there and clean things up and prepare the mating surfaces properly. Also if you cant remember the last time you changed the intake gasket its a great time to do that.

It can be a bit scary to remove that much stuff from the engine your first time. But just take your time, take some pictures, stay organized and it can be very satisfying.

It is possible to do it w/o removing the intake but probably need to remove the throttle body, idle control valve and some other stuff.

whatever you do make sure you use a new O-ring with the cleaned or new breather box. Stay away from aftermarket breather boxes, they suck.
Matt


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'90 245 290k, '93 945 296k

You can leave Intake in place(tho its a fine time to r/r intake manifold gasket as part of the job). Remove intake bellows and IAC and loosen IAC mounting bracket. A foot long socket extension to reach down and thru intake viola. If you have EGR that must be removed also. Dig dig dig. I always "waste" a can of brake clean to clean behind and around the breather prior to removal..buts that just me.
Oh and lotsa paper towels.