holy intake gaskets batman!

[tractorman]

Here's a picture of the new Fel-pro "problem saver" lower intake manifold gasket for a 3100. I had a hard time finding these- they were back ordered everywhere I checked except advance, and they had them in another store 90 miles away. I live out in BFE kansas, so these might be easier to come by elsewhere. They only come as a complete (sort of) set for about $100. Stuff I got that the set didn't come with include a thermostat, rear heater hose pipe o-ring, oil pump drive o-ring, egr gasket, throttle body gasket.

The gaskets on my 01 lumina are leaking a little externally. There's no sign of coolant in the oil, but the car has 150K miles on it, so I'm going to go ahead and get the job done. I did some research before I bought this set- there are three 'improved' gaskets that I know of for this engine. GM has an improved one that is mentioned on a thread on this board. Napa also has a similar improved gasket, which is also plastic with metal inserts. I went for these fel-pro's because they're not plastic.

Some people say these gasket failures are being caused by Dexcool. I think that's possible considering my experience with Cummins N14 head gaskets (dexcool made them leak like a sieve when some trucking companies switched to it several years back.) GM seems to think that the sealing bead material and excess gasket crush is causing the failures... since that's what they addressed with their new gaskets. I've replaced intake gaskets on two 3100's (a '94 corsica and a '96 achieva). In both cases, the plastic was cracked and starting to crumble. I figure that the thing to do is avoid plastic gaskets altogether. I'll also be flushing the cooling system and switching to good ole' reliable green John Deere antifreeze.[/img]

[matt_p]

They fail because the plastic can't take the torque where the material is to thin. It's not the dexcool.

GM's new gaskets have metal beads in the problerm areas so the gasket can handle the torque.

What you have there is kinda over kill. But atleast you wont have to worry.

[v6h.o.]

They fail because the plastic can't take the torque where the material is to thin. It's not the dexcool.

GM's new gaskets have metal beads in the problerm areas so the gasket can handle the torque.

What you have there is kinda over kill. But atleast you wont have to worry.

WRONG, They fail due to the Dexcool. However yes if the retard who does the gaskets with improper torque you will/can crack them. However If the gaskets were to fail due to overtorquing, You would have a leak as soon as you overtorque/crack it. Not the case its not untill the gasket is weaked and old that it cracks from the many miles of cycling the engine temp and the fact that dexcool eats away and weakens the plastic that causes the failures. It has an additive that does eat at the plastic in it. This is why the other manufacturers do not use "Dexcool" but a different style of Long life coolant.

We still do a dozen or so intakes a week at work even on vehicles which have had the the metal tab piece in them. The dexcool weakens the plastic. GM has switched to that style of Metal gasket for the 4.3L V6's in the 99+ body style trucks as well.

[mjf1212]

Used it too

I just used that new metal Fel-pro gasket a few days ago in my '97 3100. I actually feel 100% confident that it will never leak. Nice feeling.

Oh yeah, and they make it for both the VIN M and the J in separate kits. $100 is alot but you get the upper gaskets and valve cover gaskets too, as well as the water pump coolant pipe O ring and the RTV.

Mike

[geoffinbc]

GM has switched to that style of Metal gasket for the 4.3L V6's in the 99+ body style trucks as well.

Never saw that on my buddies 02 Sonoma with the 4.3L. It still had the all black plastic gasket.

[v6h.o.]

GM has switched to that style of Metal gasket for the 4.3L V6's in the 99+ body style trucks as well.

Never saw that on my buddies 02 Sonoma with the 4.3L. It still had the all black plastic gasket.

I just did one the other day on a 04 c/k truck.

The new 3500 and 3900's are using a metal gasket from GM too.

[geoffinbc]

Cool. Well we never had then avalible to us when we did his cam or when we did my bros intake. But if it ever comes apart again we will have to check em out..

What ever happened to fucking paper gaskets? They were the shit, never gave any weird issues. I have never had any leaks on my motor

[clean8485]

Hey Colin, I work in a GM dealer too, and I haven't seen a vehicle that has had the updated intake gaskets installed come back with a failure of the updated gaskets. I'm surprised that you're still having problems. I'm assuming that you're replacing the lower intake manifold bolts when you're changing the gaskets.

[tractorman]

How important is it to replace the bolts? The torque spec isn't all that tight... surely these bolts don't stretch much. I've been planning on just putting the bolts in with red locktite...

[onefastV6]

GM has switched to that style of Metal gasket for the 4.3L V6's in the 99+ body style trucks as well.

Never saw that on my buddies 02 Sonoma with the 4.3L. It still had the all black plastic gasket.

I just did one the other day on a 04 c/k truck.

The new 3500 and 3900's are using a metal gasket from GM too.

You sure about the 3500 LIM gasket being metal, because on the 3500 LIM that I have the gasket was most definately plastic. I think Ben still has part of the gasket.

[clean8485]

The main reason for replacing the lower intake manifold bolts is that the new bolts come with thread locking compound already applied. You can re-use the old bolts, but you should clean them up well, and I would only use the blue medium strength Loctite on the old bolts though.

[spacecadetz26]

can you give me the part number for that kit?

[clean8485]

To which kit are you referring?

[spacecadetz26]

Re: holy intake gaskets batman!

Here's a picture of the new Fel-pro "problem saver" lower intake manifold gasket for a 3100. I had a hard time finding these- they were back ordered everywhere I checked except advance, and they had them in another store 90 miles away. I live out in BFE kansas, so these might be easier to come by elsewhere. They only come as a complete (sort of) set for about $100. Stuff I got that the set didn't come with include a thermostat, rear heater hose pipe o-ring, oil pump drive o-ring, egr gasket, throttle body[/img]

the metal gasket kit.

[Juglenaut]

pre-mix dexcool is the only way to go with dex.

Chemicals in water or treated river water for general public consumtion contains caustics and acids that in time can lead to premature gasket failure, unfortunatly most times in alot of cases people just put tap water into thier radiators especially in times of a quick fix to last a day or two. Repeated tap off of the radiator with public water can add either acids or caustics depending on the region, this builds up over time and these chemicals will stay in the radiator even after a good flushing.

Tap water also contains chemicals such as chlorine, alum, and various other isotopes, these chemicals among naturally occuring minerals and other elements can and do react with the chemical compound ethylene glycol especially if it is carrying isotopes in covalent bonds or any other compond that can be bonded to ethylene, and also these chemicals change the way the formula is suspended in dexcool leaving the additive unattatched in the string and then is free compound. Tap water itself from any region does not break down ethylene glycol, however it can destory simple isotopic, and/or covalent bonds that can yield drastic changes in dexcools formula.

You should all know what chlorine does to aluminum.