I have watched alot of videos on this because mine need replacing and I have to tell you yours is the best. Very professional, you didn't miss a thing. Great job thanks.

I changed out my gaskets this weekend. It was a little tough but with a good plan you can get through it fairly well. I did each cover one at a time to not mix things up. I changed out one bolt at a time so they would not get mixed up. When putting the intake manifold back in place I taped the torx socket and an extension in place to the back of the intake so it was already attached to that hard-to-reach back bolt. I tightened that one down a little bit then used a second torx for the rest that I could easily reach then finished off the tightening the bolts. Too bad Ford wasn't smart enough to have an extension built into that manifold to reach that back bolt. I still have some work left but at least this part is done and hopefully never have to do it again. Thanks for the video. It was helpful.

Just have to say a giant thank you. Your video helped give me the confidence to try this myself and save my family $1200. I'm only about half done, but I never would have made it even this far without your great instruction. Thanks again!!

Forgot to thank you once again. Followed all your steps and completed this in about 7 hours.. I guess my best piece of advice to anyone else would be to just take your time and take pictures along the way.. No leaks and no issues after a 600 mile road trip.

I see that you are a real mechanic. Your attitude when you are fixing things up means a lot today’s video. Thank you for your maturity and your meticulous skills now I must finish my wife’s explorer

Very well done sir my explorer is starting to smoke and I see the oil barely leaking out of the valve cover made me feel much better about my situation watching you take your time and getting the job done correctly. Great tutorial. Will recommend your videos to anyone.

Thanks your video saved me hundreds of dollars. Saving lots of money made my wife happy. And, when my wife is happy, she suddenly remembers how to cook. Bon apatite!

Darn good instruction. Even showed parts BEFORE you covered them with your hands working on them. Thank you so much.

I'm glad you put a good, DIY video on replacing these gaskets . Out of six videos out there ,yours is by far the best . No impact tools or expensive shop equipment that the average home mechanic would not have access to .Thanks !

Wow I just bought an explorer last week and have been doing research into doing this myself instead of paying $500 in labor. I searched and searched and couldn't find any videos worth a damn.. Now here I am finding this gem of a video posted today... Thank you!!

I want to give a sincere THANK YOU to you buddy. I have been working on cars since 1994 but always as paint and body. Having to take that intake off made me a little nervous as to what all I was going to get into. This helps a TON. Bless you sir.

I just watched your video. Great job! It was so clear and easy to follow. I priced out the job with a local repair shop, and they said it would cost $500 to complete valve job. After watching your video I think I feel confident to do the job myself. Thank you.

Dude I know nothing about cars and this video helped me do valve cover gaskets all on my own. Mike you’re the best dude !

Very thorough step by step instructions. I like how you explain every step in detail and suggest extra tips on care and cleanliness during the process. I was confident from the start that this video would help me complete my task and it did. Thanks bro

Great video, the person that explain how what to do it is very professional and patient, his demonstration is very useful, he show a little the tools that we need t do it. The process of disassembly is complex but he showed it easy

Good video. Using this video as a reference as I do this repair on my '02 explorer

Great video man i followed along as i changed mine ,very detailed i get impatient and forget to make sure things are connected but you made sure i got everything your great 👍🏽

Thank you for this. I was wondering if there would be any surprises. You answered all my questions. Thank you again.

After listening to this guy's entire video while taking notes i knew i was going to be able to do this job. He has this calm confidence like Clint Eastwood under a hood. I saved over $300 just copying everything he did!

Great step by step video. Please post more. I have to change my head gasket in my 03 explorer. Don’t know about under the hood, but I’m sure gonna try and this video helped a lot.

Great video. Thank you for your work on this! I did the job on my 2006 Explorer. Slightly different but you were a big help.

Thanks for the video bud,,,, by far the best on YT for this job. Set aside the whole weekend to do the VCG's on my son's 2004,,,, now doesn't seem quite so scary, Cheers.

Epa Mike, eres de lo mejor explicando detalladamente el desarme y el armado del "tapavalvulas!, como decimos en Venezuela; una clase magistral para mí, de tu parte. Gracias por siempre, con un abrazo fraterno... Hugo

Thanks brother made it look so easy really helped me out. Got mine done from your video thank u

Very thorough and well explained. Been wrenching for 35plus years but not a pro just family and friends. Thanks for being clear and a job well done, I hope the people whose car you work on know they have a pro.

Dude you rock. Thanks for the video. Helped me save a bunch of time on my parents mountaineer, thank you!!

great vido you do an excellent job on instructions no overkill but just what I needed Yhanks Mike

Awesome vid!! Great footage, angles, explanation and audio!!

Nice video..I've been looking all over KZfaq for this..thanks..

Such a great step by step video, thank you for your time and effort in making it. It really helped me on my repair project.

Best video yet. Step by step explanation! I will try it soon. If it doesn’t work you can have the car for parts! Lol

I do a lot of my own wrenching and maintenance on my vehicles and have for most of my life, but this is something I feel is way over my 'expertise' and will pay someone else to do it. Great video and it tells me why they charge as much as they do to replace the gaskets...very labor intensive to say the least.

Very thorough presentation. Thanks!

Oops! You broke the EGR pressure sensor! Well, I did too. Problem is you need to get the one for the 2001 Explorer if you want it to fit on your '03! Great video, really helped me a lot! Thanks!

was stuck on mine the only thing i was missing was that egr line off to go try it now thanks all for your knowledge

Thank you, this was very easy to follow along and learn how to do this fix!

Im definitely having issues with coolant leaks and your video proves to me that i have to change all my gaskets...

I think it was very educational. Well done. Thank you.

That's a wonderful video, now I hope I can do it justice!

Awesome vid!!! You are working on my exact truck!!!! :-) Thanks for the detailed info!!! Mike in LA, Calif

Thumbs up straight away for that sweet intro!

Awesome video getting ready to do my today thank you for a very detailed video preciate it

Wow, hands down the best step by step video I have watched on car repair. After watching I decided this definitely is out of our sphere of DIY mechanics. I had an Integra and the Valve cover gasket was so easy to change as nothing but the cover is in the way. Thank you for being a great instructor, you would be a great shop teacher! (Do they still offer Autoshop in HS?)

Good video! 16.20 couldnt get this bolt off by two mechanics so only changed one side due to a oil leak

Phenomenal video but I'm not even gonna try doing this on my 05 explorer. Too labour intensive for me so I'm just gonna save and have a professional do it. For now I'm gonna have the engine cleaned just so I don't smell that burnt oil smell. My hats off to you sir,and again phenomenal video. 👍👍🖖

Good job, very professional.

2023…perfect explanation, thanks for the assist

Very helpful, thanks for the video!

Excellent instructional video thanks so much very helpful!

This is absolutely the very best instructional video ever made on how to get this job done! I’m working on doing this same job on my 02 explorer as I speak! The only problem I’m having is getting my 1 1/16 wrench on the nut to take off that line! Any suggestions?

3 years late here, but thank you for putting up this video! :) It helped me a lot while doing my mother's 2004 Explorer today. That being said, there must have been a number of changes made between 03 and 04, because some things were quite different. For example, her 04 has an electronic throttle, so there were no cables to deal with. It was just 2 electrical connectors. And there was also no cruise control module and cable to deal with, because that is electronic too. The other major thing that I noticed was the lack of a 'pan' in the valley between the heads. I'm not sure if that was a cover of some kind on the earlier 4.0's, or maybe an oil cooler? Either way, it didn't affect what I was working on. I also noticed a few other things, like the EGR tube being different, etc. Unfortunately, they didn't make any changes to give easier access to that last bolt in the back, on the driver's side. That was, without a doubt, the WORST part of this job! I think it took me almost 45 minutes to get that one out. I could barely reach my bare hand back there to feel for it in the first place, and then trying to guide the socket and extension down to it was ridiculous. Such a bad design. All of the other bolts are straightforward, though 2 of the other bolts on the driver's side require laying on the engine to get to properly. I suppose you could try to do it using a mirror, but that can be frustrating too. I know you pulled all of the bolts out completely from the intake manifold, but that's not necessary. You can just leave them in when you pull it out, as you did when you re-installed it. It's rather nice that they made them 'captive', so they are harder to lose. Also, the clip on the electrical connector on the driver's side valve cover does not need to be removed. You just push down on the clip, and the connector pulls free :) All in all, I spent exactly 8 hours doing it. But 15 minutes of that was me frantically looking for my T30 bit (the only one missing from my set,) half an hour to run to and from Harbor Freight for a set of Torx bits, and half an hour to eat dinner. I also took a few breaks here and there to have a drink of water, and snack on some chips. So it was probably 6.5 hours of actual work. One of the local shops wanted $850 to do it, and the other wanted $900, so I saved my mother quite a bit of money. I just charged her for the valve cover gasket set and the lower intake manifold gaskets from NAPA.

just ordered the right side cover bought to do it next weekend. hopefully i can do it without taking off intake

Great video and north of the Mason Dixon line the accent is great. Southern man don’t need them around anyhow

Awesome video sir.

Awesome video bro I’m doing my 09 ford explorer it’s similar

THANK YOU SO MUCH BUDDY 👍. YOUR VIDEO WAS VERY INFORMATIVE AND AS EASY AS 1-2-3 😉. I FOLLOWED YOUR STEP BY STEP AND TA/ DA , MADE THE JOB WORK ITSELF OUT. HAPPY TO SAY , YOU HAVE ANOTHER SUBSCRIBER TO YOUR CHANNEL. ✌️-OUT

Thank you your video was very helpful.

Thanks for this informative video.

Man I should have found this video sooner! Had to pay 350+ just to get a mechanic to do it, which is understandable. Was gonna do it myself with help of another but they were unable to guide. This will help hopefully get me to replace the seals of the injectors, which by the way you should do if your looking to replace the valve covers!

Great video man

Great video buddy.

very good video great detail THANKS

Good video. My friend. , Very specific. Nice job 👌. Big help for me !

Any tips on how to get the top right intake manifold bolt? I was able to get to the other 7, but I can’t find away to get to the last one. I spent about 2 hours today just trying to get that one bolt out. Please help before I lose my mind!

Great video buddy!!!

What size nut is at the bottom of that pipe? And what do I use to get it off?

Questions Mike---------is it recommended to tighten loose bolts before installing a new valve cover gasket ? When only tightening the bolts can you work around some of the parts that would be in the way with a gasket replacement? I have not found a video for only checking the bolt tightness. Thanks for the video .

With all the other problems with the first generation explorer, oil leak at valve covers is least of my worries. Especially if it takes 6-7 hours.

I have a 2001 explorer 4.0 couple weeks ago it started spitting and sputtering one day ( loosing power during acceleration) figured it needed a tune up and I noticed valve cover leak so I changed the valve cover gaskets and changed plugs/ wires/ fuel&air filter/ oil change & filter and the vehicle idles great just has no power when excelerating to take off. It will gain speed eventually and maintain speed until climbing a hill and needing more exceleration and it's starts to spit and sputter again. We did a pressure test to check cats no back pressure fuel pump is new maf sensor readings are good any ideas what could be causing the problem

Thank you for your help.

Great job 👍

Car doesn’t start after replacing. There was a piece of plastic inside the valve when we opened it up on the driver side. Could this be the reason it doesn’t start?

Thank you. I learned enough to know that I don't have the patience to do that job. I would like to know how long this job actually took.

Big Mike, Jack n Baton Rouge, 2002 Explorer XLT 4 wheel drive V6 4.0 L I didn't know you could ck trouble codes on the Ford trucks at the digital odometer on dash. It has alot of functions as u click the reset button . B4 u turn key to on push and hold reset down turn key to on not starting vehicle. Then when u see ftc illuminate let up on button. Then push to each function that u want to ck. It does give you trouble codes 1st thing and so on. Comes n handy when you hook battery back up drive your 20 odd miles to 50 usually and see if you have any new codes. Jack

Wow great vid Mike, Helped a lot! new subscriber here

Very helpful thank you 👍

Mike, can I just tighten the valve cover bolts a little bit, to stop the leak? Thanks

Bro my other explorer friend said this is a partial engine out and I was like that’s some bullshit thank you for the video

Thxs Mike

Can you do upper oil pan gasket w engine still in vehicle.

I have to replace both of mine on my 02 explorer, only 151k on the dash, it's been leaking slowly but got bad on the driver side. Probably need to change the pcv valve which could have caused the valve covers to start leaking to begin with. I'm just curious if you can actually see the intake valves with the intake manifold off, like maybe use a mirror to see in it so I can see if there's carbon build up. Might as well try getting those cleaned off as well

You can use black RTV and seal the leak instead of replacing the gasket.........IF the leak is coming from the bottom side, since there's Lots of room to work.....just clean it with brake cleaner, then use black RTV.... I've done it before, and it will Seal pretty permanently, and buy Lots of time at the worst case scenario.....but it always depends on How bad it's leaking, if you do it correctly, etc.....it's really just simple physics.

Does anyone know where the long versus short valve cover bolts go? I mixed mine up and cannot find the answer anywhere. Thank u!

Thanks for sharing, however the hardest part you omit. Back bolts for the intake and removing the pipe over the left valve cover as well as the left valve cover. If would be great to inform your audience those points so one can say i will do it or pay someone to do it.

Great video

W🥳W , I HIGHLY APPRECIATE THIS VIDEO. IT HELPED ME SO MUCH AND SAVED ME ALOT BY DOING THE JOB MYSELF 👍 WAS REALLY EASY, ESPECIALLY HOW YOU WENT THUR THIS STEP BY STEP 🔧. THANK YOU SO MUCH FRIEND. MY UTMOST RESPECTS TO YOU 💯

I am currently doing this on a 2004 Mercury Mountaineer. This video is very helpful. Quick question, I’m positive that I have the valve cover torqued down, more would probably break a bolt. I am able to see the Orange of the new gasket. Should I be worried? I haven’t finished install yet, and don’t want to put everything back together for it to be spewing oil out upon restart. Any help would be appreciated.

good job . thankz . whats real time book time ?? know whey 25 minutes . nice vid thanks one just came in the dor . need to get intakeorings

Thanks very helpful

Can you torque the bolts without a torque wrench??

Your video has been immensely helpful! Still having one hellavua time getting the passenger side valve cover out. Removed the egr tube but have all kinds of things tying me up in the back. Any tips? Looks like it came our relatively easy on your vid.

I'm finding extra difficult to remove passenger side cover

List of tools needed for the job?

It should be the same for the 2006/10 Explorer, right ?

greatvideo,bearofaob laying on top of thatengine!!!!!

I took my Explorer to the shop and after they replaced the gaskets and put everything back in,, the engine is not starting! I think that the guy there didnt unplugged the battery and damaged one of the sensors.... what do you guys think that might be the error?

In real time how long did it take to complete the job

Im absolutely using this as a guide to doing mine. But I need to ask, where is the pcv valve on a 2004 Ford Explorer 4L V6?

habra algun tutorial de explorer en español

Thanks for sharing. It’s a great video. How many hours of work?