I took off my CAI to paint it. While it was drying I happen to open the buterfly to notice a little bit of crap in the TB. So I unhooked all the electrical stuff and unscrewed/bolted the throttle body. The problem was worse than I thought. The build up seemed to be caked onto the inside of my TB. So I went to NAPA to get some cleaner. They only had two choices. Thier brand or GUNK. I bought the GUNK only to get minimal results. I figured because of the years of buildup. So that night I went to Home Depot got a scub brush and went to Pep Boys to see what they had for cleaner. After looking I bought some Valvoline TB Cleaner. When I went back to clean my TB I used the Valvoline cleaner and I must say this stuff works quickly. I didn't need the brush the sprayer was taking years of build-up away. After 5-10 minutes the inside of the TB looked brand new. I then decided to try the intake manifold. I carefully removed the FIs and rail the lines and nuts off the studs. However when I tried to take off the manifold it would slide almost all the way and then stop. It won't budge. I read the manual and says to remove the studs. I bought the external torx bit and started to remove the top studs. However I couldn't continue because had to go and take care of some things. My question is has anyone else had to take thier studs off? If so was it all of them or just the top row? I know the book said to remove the belt and power steering pump. However it didn't seem like it was in the way. Just want to make sure I am not overstepping something major. I also noticed alot of build up and some dirt in the gasket and around the holes. Which was another reason why I wanted to take it off. Any and all suggestions welcomed.

It's a 2.4L right

If it's an early 2.4L then it has an egr. You have to remove the egr valve and pipe that goes from the head to the manifold. And on the bottom of the manifold is a wire "holder". pull that off. It should pull off with some force and wiggling. Good luck


My cardomain

no studs need to be removed , there is 7bolts/nuts that hold the intake on the 2.4 , the 96-98 have a egr pipe on the back

and all 96-02 have wires are attached to the bottom on the intake


also the 2.4's you dont need to remove the injectors

if you do remove them i suggest getting your tap and die set out and cleaning all the threads off too... when i went to bolt my S/C on, all the holes had crap in them and it made it hard, so i cleaned all the threads out and she went in like a glove.


Supercharged 2.4L

Sorry I didn't mention that I have a 2.2 in any case everything that needs to be removed is. I checked over everything a bunch of times to make sure I wasn't binding on anything. It seems like the passenger side will comes off but the drivers side is what is giving me the trouble. I tried forcing is but I noticed I was starting to ruin the stud threads. I figured I was doing it all uneven. I tried to do it even but didn't fly. So I was going to remove the upper studs and slide from the bottom. From the looks the uppers are longer than the lowers but I could be wrong. I won't know for sure until I get back to the shop which won't be until later on in the afternoon :o( I am sure I will figure it out just wanted to see if anyone had a similar problem or if I was doing something wrong. Thanks again for any help or suggestions.

There's some bolts hidden down there. I've ran into the same thing, and just when we think we have them all, we find another. I just checked a picture of the 2.2 manifold, and there's 9 bolts, so if you haven't taken 9 off, look again. Otherwise, i dunno, gasket sealent?

Yeah I found the hidden one. It was from the Power Steering that bracket. That attaches at the bottom of the IM I guess I didn't see it because it was black and all the black wire covers hid it well. I noticed it after I took the top row of studs. So it is all clean just have to put it all back together. Thanks for the help guys.

Ok so I got everything cleaned and put back together. However the idle seems higher than it was before. I have no tach so I am not sure how high. I don't think it is that high. However when I start to go the speed seems a lot more. It has a lot of pep and really jumps through the gears. I am not sure if it's because of the idle or because the air is a lot cleaner due to the not spotless TB and IM. I double checked all the nuts and bolts and are tight. Any suggestions? It is a 96 2.2

if there was a gasket there,have you changed it ? if not, th cause of your higher iddle had just been found!

I changed both the IM to the block gasket and the IM to the TB gasket they come in a set at Napa. I also put some of that gasket seal on there as well.