1988 Toyota Corolla Freeze plug on intake manifold

HONOLULU

MEMBER
1988 TOYOTA COROLLA
4 CYL
FWD
AUTOMATIC
131,000 MILES

Seems there are two freeze plugs on the bottom of the intake manifold. Naturally they are deeply buried and invisible unless from under the car. The smaller one seems to have developed a leak, no coolant=no driving=irked driver (who fortunately caught this in time so as not to burn things up).

Any suggestions about removing this thing without having to take off the manifold (supposedly a multi-hour job, with LOTS of hoses to deal with)?

I am thinking that if I can get a self-tapping screw in the plug, I can pull it out, then tap a new one in from below (maybe). Would like to avoid manifold removal.

TIA.

3 Replies

MMPRINCE4000

MECHANIC
8,549 POSTS

Use a selftapping screw and a slide hammer for pulling body dents.

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Sunday, March 28th, 2010 AT 8:22 AM

HONOLULU

MEMBER
12 POSTS

A slide hammer to remove the freeze plug on the underside of the intake manifold? Do you guys have any idea how constricted the space is behind the engine?

The slide hammer would have been my tool of choice fut I don't own one. Or just drill the center of the plug, screw in a self tapping screw, and use a claw hammer or ladyfinger to pull the plug out. In this case there was absolutely no room in there and the center of the plug was so rusted it couldn't hold a screw - I tried.

I got lucky in that I was able to reach in from below/behind and use a screwdriver to pry the plug out. The new one is 18mm, under 2 bucks retail, and was installed using several socket extensions and a hammer. Time will tell whether I got it in straight or cocked, and whether it will be snug enough to stay.