Hey guys, so I've been rebuilding my 95 jeep grand cherokee 5.2l auto.
So I'm finally at the point the motor is back in and I noticed the intake manifold was leaking coolant out of the front driver side of the motor.
that's problems my fault for not adding gasket sealer to the intake manifold metal gaskets.
I just replaced them again but added sealant to the water jets.
Put it all back together, started it and now it's just blowing a pretty good amount of white smoke.

What did I do wrong? Please help, I've been looking and searching to bo avail.

 

Sounds like it may be burning coolant.

What all did you do to the engine?

 

I was wondering that too.
pulled a running low mile motor out of another jeep. It wasn't blowing white and was actually in good condition internally.
all i did was change all the gaskets outside of the block.
oil pan, valve covers, plenum, intake manifold, throttle body. All those gaskets
New spark plugs, wires, rotor, cap.
new hoses
fresh oil change and new coolant.
So I ran it once before this with the other gaskets that where leaking, it wasn't blowing white then.
It's only after this 2nd intake manifold gasket change.

I don't mind changing it a 3rd time if that's what is actually wrong.

 

Welcome to the forum.

This reply has links to the intake plenum TSB document. The supersedes the FSM information.

Note that the intake plenum bolts are single-use, stretch to torque, so new bolts are required.

It is VERY common for the plenum pan to leak, so fix that problem while the manifold is off.

 

Thanks for the tip!
I did in fact replace the plenum bolts with the new ones in the kit along with new intake manifold bolts.

 

The issue w/ the plenum pan is that those are blind tapped holes. Even though those bolts are correctly tightened to the correct torque it is possible they are bottomed out into those holes w/ the torque wrench attaining the correct torque, those bolts might not be providing the correct clamping force onto the plenum pan.

This reply shows how I used a tap and a die, then verified screw fitment prior to assembly to ensure correct clamping force. Note that in my case chasing the treads was required to attain correct clamping force.

If removing / replacing the plenum to fix the coolant leak, new single-use stretch-to-torque plenum bolts are required.