Part 2 of the ongoing saga of the GF's 99 TH Magna Exec 3.5.

So I bodged the starter by reversing the field brushes, cleaning and refitting and presto it works.

I proceeded to flatten the battery trying to start the bugger, but nothing, I could smell fuel so that part seems ok, so decided to pull the plugs. The front caps came out covered in oil, there was at least 30mm depth of oil in each hole.

I pulled the rocker cover off and all looks fine, so the oil must be getting past the flared seals to the cover, anyone else seen this or able to offer a solution, I can't see how else the oil could have gotten in there.

Also, I'll probably chuck some new plugs in, will I need to pull the intake manifold to get to the back row? if so will I need any special tools? So far I've found this a particularly awkward motor to work on, it's so tighty shoehorned in.

spark plug tube seals go easily in these. they harden and allow oil to seep up the tube. they simply need replacing. you will need to pull the manifold off to get to the rear bank.

Cheers Dave for the info and woe is me needing to get to the back row.

I recently did mine, took about 7hrs doing things methodically. But mine's a TL with cruise and TCL, for each of those you don't have, it simplifies a great deal; quite a bit of the time was getting all the vac lines etc sorted and catalogued.

I had ripped the plenum off at a wreckers a few weeks before, all hoses etc were already gone so didn't have to contend with them, took me about 20mins to take the plenum off. So I guess it depends on the approach.

NB: the plenum and manifold etc are aluminium; one of the bolts holding the plenum on mine was unusually tight, my old man gradually worked it back and forth with WD40, took about 30mins to get it off; DO NOT FORCE A BOLT IN ALUMINIUM OR YOU'LL SCREW THE LOT! If it's showing resistance, back it off, and only work it the tiniest fraction, lubricating until it moves more freely, a tiny bit at a time.

And big tip, TAKE PHOTOS, so you have lots of reference for getting all of the bits and lines back together.

Or I think Ultratune quoted me $260 to do it. Personally, was good to do it once to get to know the engine better, but I don't think I'd do it again.

PS. Repco has the gasket and seal kit, ~$30 per bank. The good ACL brand ones.

We've all done it before. Its not THAT big of a job just can be a bit time consuming if its your first time. :) Nowadays I could probably remove the entire intake assembly within 30 minutes. :D My best advise is to take pictures & notes of EVERY bolt you undo and cover the open block with a rag to prevent anything falling into the engine. Other than that take care not to tighten the cover too much as they appear to be made of thin tin and bend incredibly easily. Do the usual cross-bolt method (tightening bolts opposite each other) and you should be fine. You shouldn't need to use a gasket sealant but its hard to know how hard to tighten it without crushing the cover or not tightening enough so the gasket sealant can be a good way to ensure it seals up. My recommendation is to use avaition grade gasket sealant.

Removing the intake plenum is the probably one of the easier bigger jobs on these cars. Try changing a clutch lol or maybe a water pump.

Cheers gents, I'm so looking forward to doing this. Already squashed the front cover doing up a bolt in the dark, reckon I can straighten it or need one from a wreck?

While I'm in there I'll change the plugs, but any other stuff to consider so I don't have to do it again?

I've got limited history on this car, apparently the ex husband stopped and it wouldn't start again, dunno if it was a click no start or a chugga chugga no start. By the looks of the starter it was a click.

I'll be back with more Q's I'm sure