Long day today (mechanical work)

[CharlesinGA]

I bought hoses last fall for the Vibe, both radiator, both heater, and the two tiny throttle body water hoses. Today I went and bought the new type intake gasket, Toyota red antifreeze, a serpentine belt, and hose clamps.

Pulled the fan/shroud to get it out of the way, and to allow for draining and flushing the overflow bottle. Drained the radiator, antifreeze was perfect, and as far as I know, original to the car (Sept '03 build). Pulled the throttle body heater hoses and everything else necessary to get the manifold and TB off as a unit, and pulled the manifold. Cleaned it up. Old seal is black, new p/n intake seal is orange. You can see two tabs of the gasket with everything installed if you want to check to see if the new one is already installed.

Anyhow, with the manifold off, the lower radiator hose was easier. The squeeze clamps were a real bear to get slid down the hose and the hoses broken loose and off. Did the lower rad hose first, then the two heater hoses, then fitted the two small throttle body hoses, installed the upper rad hose, then the manifold, then finished up the small hoses, the throttle cable and everything else that came off. Reinstalled the fan and shroud, and filled it with antifreeze and distilled water.

The red antifreeze is straight, so you dilute it 50-50 with water. Filled it up filled up the overflow bottle and ran it and took it off the lift and drove it. After eating dinner, I pulled it back in and put it on the lift and did the serpentine belt. It is kinda tricky, and you had better have a picture of how it goes (I have the factory manuals) as you will forget in a heartbeat. 19mm socket and 3/8 dr breaker bar with cheater pipe made pivoting the belt tensioner fairly easy, so the belt only took a few minutes. Verified routing and that it was properly on all the pulleys all the way around, and started it. Done. Put everything away.

Didn't take any pics, but will try to get one of the manifold seal tabs so you can see where to look to verify what is installed in your car.

Long day.

Charles