Doing my first head gasket job. Do I need to remove the sa pipes to get the I'M off? If so any tips. I've been reading horor stories and they are $200 each.

 

Sorry. 04 DII 74k

 

soak them in PB Blaster several days in advance and rock the fitting back and forth.
Continue to rock the fitting back and forth untill it seperates from the pipe then you can unscrew them. You can you heat as a last resort but you have to use real heat a little propane tank is not going to do it.

 

I just went through this on a friends dII, SEVERAL PROBLEMS HERE.... you might bend or twist the fragile pipe, the fitting in the cylinder head may unscrew as you are attempting to remove the nut, so............yes -squirt them ahead of time, if you can find an 18mm crows foot wrench--you can hold the fitting while trying to loosen the nut.
good luck

 

Thanks, guys. Soaking them worked. One fitting came out, but she's back in now.