Intake gasket fixed by '04?

[maven]

The current 3500's use metal LI gaskets.

[talon2swords]

Its not the dexcool that leads to the failure of intake gaskets. I was running prestone anti-freeze with distilled water and mine went after about 80k miles.

when I built my 3400... I used the felpro metal gasket. It is a very nice design!

Well I guess several seem to believe that the dex-cool somehow reacts with the gasket over time. I'm thinking it is more the fact that it's a plastic gasket that makes it fail, but the above hypothesis is plausible. Haven't seen any research data on dex cool reactions with the plastic.

From the below it appears the 2002 4.3l is not included.

http://www.girardgibbs.com/dexcool.html

A tentative nationwide settlement has been reached with General Motors in the Dex-Cool/ Intake Manifold Gasket class action lawsuits. The lawsuits were filed on behalf of owners of General Motors vehicles, which were factory-filled with "Dex-Cool" coolant. In summary, the lawsuits alleged that Dex-Cool degraded certain vehicles’ intake manifold gaskets and other engine sealability components, and that in certain other vehicles, Dex-Cool formed a rusty sludge, clogging the vehicles’ cooling systems and causing vehicles to overheat.

Terms of the Settlement:

GM automobile owners and lessees will have the option to be included in this class action settlement if they incurred out-of-pocket expenses for any of the following repairs:

1. A replacement of the nylon/silicone lower intake manifold gasket, made within the earlier of 7 years or 150,000 miles of the date of initial delivery for 1995-2003.5 Model Year vehicles with 3.1-liter V6 and 3.4-liter V6 engines that were originally equipped with Dex-Cool coolant.

2. A coolant sealability repair (including, but not limited to, throttle body gasket, upper intake manifold gasket, lower intake manifold gasket, etc.), made within the earlier of 7 years or 150,000 miles of the date of initial delivery for 1995 - 2004 model year 3.8-liter V6 engines (RPO L36) that were originally equipped with Dex-Cool coolant.

3. A Dex-Cool sludge repair, made within the earlier of 7 years or 150,000 miles for 1995 - 2000 model year S/T light trucks and sport utility vehicles with 4.3-liter V6 engines that were originally equipped with Dex-Cool coolant.

[ForcedFirebird]

I know this is a 60 degree forum, but in addition to my two 3.1L cars, I have a 2002 S-10 with the 4.3L 90 degree engine.

I am thinking it too has an infamous plastic intake manifold gasket. I will be getting the dex cool outta it when I can get to it, but I don't know how long that thing is gonna last. Anyone here know if they go out too on the 4.3L like they do on the 60 degree engines?

Hell, even my Ford 4.6 has the same kind of plastic/silicone gaskets - with crush tabs. Seems like all the newer cars I have worked on use the same design with AL heads.

The current 3500's use metal LI gaskets.

None that I have dissasembled, at least the non-VVT's didn't. If the VVT's do have them, they won't work on the 4.4" bore spacing. The upper intake gasket is metal. Believe me, I would be using the metal ones on the 3500's but FelPro says available in March.

[tractorman]

Lots of folks think that Dexcool causes that gasket problems, but I'm not so sure. I think the main problem is the use of plastic gaskets.

The problem with Dexcool is that it turns to sludge. Other types of antifreeze simply don't do that.

[ForcedFirebird]

The problem with Dexcool is that it turns to sludge. Other types of antifreeze simply don't do that.

The stuff that Ford recomends for my 4.6 F150 does the same thing. Turns to a thick brown/orange sludge after a period of time.