Hello, I am new here. I need to change my intake manifold gaskets, I have a few questions.
Fel-pro vs OEM (dealer) do they matter? I ask because a few years ago I had to replace IMT gaskets, I bought fel-pro. Only lasted 6 months. I went to dealer and bought new ones, still in the car fixed the problem. I hate to believe that oem is far more better than fel-pro, I have been buying fel-pro for other cars for 20 yrs now, and never had an issue until that moment.

Does it really matter what brand of spark plugs I use? A few years back I put in new plugs on 1,3,5 cyl since one fouled, I used Bosch double platinum. Got engine light few days ago for P0300, P0301, P0303, and P0305, rough Idle on cold start!! So I replaced bosch with Bosch Iridium plugs 9606 and it ran even worst, better off with old plugs. I later found out intake manifold gaskets have a leak, I used MAF sensor cleaner near gaskets and it would rev up.

Since I have to do upper and lower gaskets, might as well do coils and plugs. Again, do brands matter, for plugs, gaskets, and coils??? I already bought Standard UF435 coils, any experiences with them? I hate to obsess with oem parts, but I do not want to do this job twice. Thanks

 

Welcome to the forums 2Tonejag,

I've copied your Intro post to the S-Type forum for advice from members with the same model.

Graham

 

Mahle is oem. You can get them on rockauto. I do believe they are better. All i use on my car. Autozone can order them also. Used a felpro for a pan gasket and it leaked. Replaced with mahle and fixed. Dont know why but mahle for me

 

Based on my personal experience, I only use Jaguar seals and gaskets as others fail prematurely.

You can use NGK 4968 TR6AP-13E spark plugs as they and Denso were used by Jaguar in the 3.0 litre unit.

 

Great thank you very much!

 

I'm surprised you and others have had poor results with Fel-Pro gaskets. I've had good results with them in many applications. Sounds like Mahle or Jaguar is a good bet, especially for jobs you don't want to have to redo.

As far as coils and plugs and other similar bits, I've had good results by sticking with the major name brands such as NGK, Denso, Bosch. Not sure why some of those gave you trouble. One thing I can say with certainty is to avoid bargain Chinese specials on ebay, etc., such as a complete set of coils for $30. Many forum members have learned the hard way to avoid them like the plague. Same goes for the house brand from the discount chains.

 

Would Standard brand coils be safe to use?

 

No personal experience, so I can't answer that one for you. They aren't one of the white box no-name brands, so that is a plus.

Myself, I've just run the coils until they fail. They are not all going to fail simultaneously and leave you stranded. The only downside to this tactic is difficult access on the US passenger side on the V6. I've had my car 12 years and have had three coils fail, all conveniently located on the easy side. Now had one failed on the difficult side, I'd probably sing a different tune and tell you to change them preemptively...

With that said, I've never changed the three difficult coils and believe they are original OEM. On the easy side, I've got one Carquest, one Beck-Arnley, and one NGK.

 

I replaced upper and lower manifold gaskets , plugs (NGK 4968), and Standard Coils. Big improvement. However, on a cold start in morning, 10 sec after running, it idles low, feels lumpy, and heard a pop. I give it a little gas, and idles normal. Runs like great, like it never happened. It does this in the morning.

I am getting P0300 AND P1316 sometimes.

What is going on? Are the new coils an issue?

PS I am the second owner bought at 36,000 miles, found SP 459 motorcraft plugs in car. I believe these are not correct plugs but been running with those forever, and been running fine.

 

i think I posted this on the wrong thread
I’ll try to send this back
ill just copy and paste

So what worries me, besides everything else, is this new P0661 error.
it says: Internal Control Module Memory Check Sum Error
Internal Manifold Tuning Valve Control Circuit Low
which I thinks means the reading to the ECM/PCM from the Manifold Tuning Control Valve is too low
so I thought maybe I need to replace the lower Manifold Tuning Control Valve or can there still be other reasons for having that error.

i think trading the ignition coils on the driver side would be easy enough just to see if there’s a difference. But that #4 and #6 errors just showed up when I started last, together with that P0661
The P0316 error may be related to the Crank Position Sensor which could be due to vacuum leaks or faulty PCM

I just want to say, I don’t know what all this means! I just reading from the complete service manual I got a hold of. But I’m learning the lingo.

 

I know you are new around here, so 1) please do not start multiple threads dealing with your issues and 2) it is not a good idea to tack your issues on the end of an archival thread.

The above makes it difficult for those who are attempting to help you.

Woth reference to your P0661 code: You removed the manifold when you changed the ignition components on the right bank, no? So, yep, you could have damaged the wiring, connector, or tuning valve in the process.

You are going to have to be a bit methodical here, if you want to get your S-type sorted.