2000 3.1l Malibu Help!!

[natehale88]

Here is the deal.. I bought a 2000 Malibu a few weeks ago for $350 because it was leaking coolant into the oil. Famous intake gasket of course.. Same with the $200 300kmile 95 Grand Am haha which I already fixed and my Girlfriend is driving.. Anywho I get it all torn down and buy the Felpro metal gasket from AutoZone for a 2000 Malibu and what do you know.. it doesn't fit!! I have no idea why but no matter what way I put it the damn thing wont line up with the holes.

I even took it back and got the 98 and younger year gasket and tried that still nothing.. Its almost as if the gasket(2000 one) is too long and it cant slide down far enough to line up with the holes.. Has anyone had this problem? It seems to only be that middle peg that isn't down far enough .

Help meeeeeee.. Girlfriend needs an upgraded 3100 hehe!

[pocket-rocket]

Strange... Pictures would help. I know what I am reading, but maybe they gave you the wrong gaskets or something...

[natehale88]

Exactly what I thought... But I tried both the 2000 gasket and the 98 Gasket.. neither of them would fit. The 2000 one had an extra random nipple and the center nipple wont fit because the gasket bottoms out. I'll try and get some pics up here soon.

[natehale88]

Here are some pics. head,vin,gasket, upper intake(yellow writing says 2000 malibu)

[pocket-rocket]

Don't take this as me thinking you don't know what you are doing, it's just a simple guess on my part and with you already having one of these fixed not knowing what you are doing doesn't cross my mind at this point. I'm just trying to rule things out. I've edited your pics to try to help out here. Now in yellow, I've circled a tab in the gasket pic that mates to a hole marked in yellow in the head pic. Also use the angled walls in the ports (marked in green) as a reference as to which way to flip the gasket. From the way you have the gasket facing right now, it would have to be flipped (left to right) to fit the head correctly.





I hope this helps, and I hope you don't take offense to it. Like I said, I'm just trying to rule things out because those look like the right gaskets.

[natehale88]

Thank you for the illustrations, I'm not thaaat dumb tho haha.. I don't take any offense to it at all haha. :P.
Its not a problem of not knowing where the holes go its a problem of the gasket seeming almost too tall and the nipples don't match up with the hole. The middle of the gasket seems too long or something and it bottoms out before seating all the way and letting it plug in. Its really pissing me off. I'm about to cut part of the bottom middle out.

[86FieroSEv6]

And you used a pick to clean out the guide holes, right? I've never had the problem you are experiencing and I have done literally hundreds of these with both O.E. and aftermarket gaskets. About the only other possibility would be the that the gasket carrier was damaged somehow. Failing all else, go to the parts store and see if they will bust one out to match up and check for defects.

[natehale88]

Got it all figured out guys!! Autozone just so happened to give me the wrong gasket 2 god damn times... Thats just insane. I took the old one in and had them match it too lmao.. What idiots. Putting it back as we speak.. should run forever now :P.

[pocket-rocket]

What exactly did they give you gaskets for then? I ask because those look like 3100/3400 gaskets. Yeah, our Autozone people around here aren't too bright either... Rumor has it there are some with some knowledgeable people though.

[3400-95-Modified]

Could have been the 3500 gaskets... Depending on which Malibu they looked up.

What was the part number of the original set they sold you