on these motors the valve cover gasket has a plug running through it for the injectors and glowplugs. over time these gaskets will fail. there are 2 different gaskets. one for the 94-98 and a different one for the 99-03 motors. these will not interchange. the R&R steps for each one are the same for the most part. 94-98 disregard the intercooler piping removal.

tools needed:

7/16" deepwell for t-bolt clamps on intercooler piping
13mm deep and shallow well sockets
13mm wrench, ratcheting is prefered
wobble
various length extentions
flat head screw driver for the intake tube to the turbo

to start off your engine should look like this


let your motor cool down as your hands will love you long time.....

start off loosening the t-bolt clamps on the intercooler pipes. i only loosened one on each end and left the other one and the boot attached. there will be 2 on the intake / outlet on top of the motor pictured above and one on each side of the radiator pictured here. use the 7/16 socket on these. once loose remove them from the truck. it takes a little wiggling but you can get them out relatively easy.

passenger side

driver side


also take the MAP sensor bracket loose, 3 nuts, with the 7/16 and unplug the harness from it and lay it across on the top of the motor


take loose the intake tube from the airbox to the turbo. there is an adapter in the middle that connects to the valve cover for crank case ventilation. this is held on by the valve cover bolts. take the 2 tubes off each side of it for now. use the flat head screwdriver for this


the motor should then look like this

 

next is to take the 13mm deep well and remove the 2 nuts on the passenger side valve cover. one holds down a ground and one holds down the oil dip stick. there are also 2 on the driver side holding the crank case vent intake adapter in place. remove these and pull up on the intake adapter thing it should pop out of the tube going into the valve cover.

after this start removing all the valve cover bolts. on the ones that the nut was removed use the deep well, on all others use the shallow well and the wobble and extensions to whatever combination that works well for you. on the passenger side where the A/C box is you might be able to get at those bolts better from through the wheel well with the 7/16 wrench easier than up top with a socket. on the driver side there is a bolt behind the breather extension that has the hose coming out of it. use the wrench there. a socket WON'T fit. after removing all the bolts (10 on each side) remove the valve covers from each side.



in this picture you can see in the middle of the gasket ( inbetween the 2nd and 3rd injector on that side) is the plug for the harness. unplug it, unplug the main harness from the outside and remove the gasket. BEWARE that the under valve cover harness is clipped to the gasket between the 1st and 2nd injector and between the 3rd and 4th injector. pull this loose and remove the gasket on a 94-98 truck there will be 2 plugs instead of one



re-install the new gasket and reverse the above steps.

if you want to replace the harness (99-03) it is only ~$25 from Advance Autoparts but is special order only

the VC gasket (99-03) is ~60 bux from Oriley's and $89 at Advance same part, Felpro VS50484R (95-98) is $83 at Advance Felpro part number VS50483R