3100 lower intake leaking, tips needed.

[dodgerunner]

Skooter, does your service engine light ever come on? Usually (but not always) if you leak coolant into a cyl. it causes a SES light since the AntiFrz messes with the O2 sensor. Just passing that on. My original problems was a very small leak into the #1 cyl. when I changed all the gaskets the first time.

Of course I thought it might have been the head gasket but there is also a dead ended coolant gallery by cyl 1 and 2 in the intake gasket.

Sorry can't advise you on what the dealer woud do.

[skooterbum]

Skooter, does your service engine light ever come on? Usually (but not always) if you leak coolant into a cyl. it causes a SES light since the AntiFrz messes with the O2 sensor. Just passing that on. My original problems was a very small leak into the #1 cyl. when I changed all the gaskets the first time.

Of course I thought it might have been the head gasket but there is also a dead ended coolant gallery by cyl 1 and 2 in the intake gasket.

Sorry can't advise you on what the dealer woud do.

never have seen a check engine light come on with this thing. cant seem to locate it when i turn the key to the on position either. not to familliar with these engines yet. have a feeling i will be more than i care to real soon though. mine is leaking at the back of the intake on firewall side. looks like its the head gasket but its hard to tell as i cant get a good look with all that blocks my view.

[dodgerunner]

Would guess your engine is the same as the 3100, aluminum heads on a case Iron block. They can have problems with the heads creaping since the metals are different and expand at different rates.
But the intake gaskets can be a bigger problem as you have read.
It's not that bad of a job. Just takes time and hard on the back.
The first time I did mine I pulled the heads and had them decked so I made a angled frame from 2x4 and foam to lay on to save the back. Worked well.

[cardude225]

Tractor man, regarding an earlier reply you made to my post, I did try those coolant tabs directly from GM 3 years ago during the first failure. They didn't do squat, but that is just MY observation.

Anyway, I'm glad we are on the subject of do-it-yourself.

I was looking at my top end tonight (3100, 96 Olds Ciera) and it really doesn't look all that involved. What am I missing here?

Now I have never done engine work other than alternators, water pumps, tensioner, starter, oh and I rebuilt my 2-stroke 6cyl Yami boat motor which took 2 months, lol.

If I were to do this myself, i ask do the valves, lifters, etc, even need to come off? The dealer charged me $800 3 years ago. $800 seems like there was a lot more complication to the fix than what I am seeing looking under my hood.

I could shell out another $800 + inflation (grrrrrr), but I'm sure the dealer won't want to put on, much less WARRANTY the better gaskets that I expect I will decide on (forgot the name of those aftermarket gaskets at this moment).

The other thing is this: This failure is not exactly the same as the first failure 43000mi ago. I do have oily sludge in the coolant recovery tank, and there were water "seeds" in my oil during last oil change, but I am not finding sludge under the oil fill cap like last failure, AND there is a distinct smell of coolant noticed while engine running, which also wasn't present during last failure.

Coolant in the recovery tank is going down about a pint per 200 miles at this point.

[datura]

Many of you may be able to get money back from gm for your repairs.

http://www.dexcoolsettlement.com/

It seems there is a class action suit regarding this very problem, hope this helps some of you. Read the faq and or call that 1-866 number (toll free) I dont think you have to be the original owner. You need reciepts (for parts, mechanics bill, towing?, etc) and docs (title, lease aggrement, etc) that you had the engine to get $$$. You had better hurry though as the deadline date for filing is October 27, 2008.

datura

[talon2swords]

I've got two late model Luminas with the 3100 engines. I've put metal fel-pro lim gaskets in both of them. I don't notice any difference in performance before vs after (well, stock 3100's aren't exactly mega powerful in the first place, more like adequately powered).

Perhaps a statement from Fel-pro, GM or some scientific data would substantiate this issue of heat transfer either way (other than " I think it was more hot or less hot with XYZ gasket, etc."). Otherwise it's just conjecture.

[Rhedalert]

I wouldn't care anyway, this is the ONLY gasket out there besides the Dorman copy that is bulletproof. I had a set of GM's "revised" gaskets start to leak internally and could have taken out the motor!

[DRCZ24]

94 Pontiac Grand Am

Hello...I was wondering...I bought a 94' Grand Am off of people I didn't know. I assumed it would have problems..and it does. I'm already 100% sure I have an external leak coming from one of the manifold bolts right below the throttle body. I pumped the system up and watched it seep out. My real question is this...I was of the understanding that in '94 they didn't have the common problem of the leaking intake manifold gasket. I also didn't think they had roller rockers. I have both...I pulled the oil fill cap and saw that there were roller rockers on the front head. Also, I obviously have an external leak coming from a manifold bolt. I was told by the previous owners that they did put a motor in it a few years ago with 68K miles on it. I would assume that they probably found a newer 3100. Would everyone agree??? The real real question is...are the gaskets any different from a 94' to a 96', 97'?? Since I'm really not sure what year my motor is, I'm not sure what gaskets I need if there's a difference? Do I just tell autozone it's a '96? Any help would be appreciated. I already read through this thread and saw that FelPro should have a decent "problem solver" gasket.
Thanks,


Dan