The infamous intake gasket problem, HELP!!!!

[loudel]

Hello group, I just joined the site. I recenlty had my intake gasket start leaking on my 1999 Grand Am GT. After doing some research, Im very suprprised that my car has made it to 140,000 without any leaks. But, then again, I do all my own preventative meaintanence with great care. Im no auto technitian, but I got brave and dug into it myself. So far so good, but there is only one problem... As I was pulling the lower intake and a small brown o-ring about the size of a nickel, seemed to fall out from under the lower intake, on the side of the thermostat housing. I looked and looked to see where it might have come from, but I could not figure it out. Im not even sure if it belongs to anything having to do with the intake, it may just be a stray to something else. Im kinda curios if it belongs to the fuel rail line, maybe? Any help of suggestions would be nice.

[geoffinbc]

Sounds like it would be a seal for one of the coolant pipes.

[loudel]

Thanks

I checked all the coolant lines, but they all seem to still have their o-ring intact.

[loudel]

Mainly

Mainly I hope that it does not belong somewhere on the intake sealing surfaces, because I would really screw myself over putting it all back together, lol.

[tractorman]

There are only a few o-rings in that engine, and none have anything to do with the intake sealing surfaces. You'll have an o-ring for each heater hose pipe. Two o-rings per injector. You should also change the oil pump drive o-ring, though you won't neccesarily have removed the oil pump drive to do a LIM job. There are a few o-rings in the fuel rail- you don't have to take that apart to remove it, but some people do. I don't know of any other o-rings in the top of that engine.

How big is the o-ring? I'm guessing it's a fuel injector o-ring- they're either small and fat or small and thin depending on which style of injectors you have.

[loudel]

o ring

the reason i suspect the fuel rail connection is because I did not see an oring on the line tip or inside the sealing surface of the fuel rail. the rail in question is the one without the pressure regulator. Is this a self sealing metal type connector? I left all of the injectors intact on the rail. the oring is about the size and thickness of a nickel. sorry i can't post an exact size of the oring.

[loudel]

oil pump oring???

what and where is the oil pump drive oring? please advise...

[tractorman]

The oil pump drive is located more or less under where your throttle body was- it's a round thingy held down by one bolt and a clamp. It's basically the bottom part of a distributor- it has a gear that runs off the cam, and a little shaft sticking down that drives the oil pump... and that o-ring is a common leak on these engines. It's best to change it when you do the LIM job- go to a GM dealer and get their o-ring- it's made out of better material than what you'll get at a parts store. It's brown.

To remove the oil pump drive, remove that clamp, then attach vice-grips, and/or pry with screwdrivers. Sometimes they're a pain, sometimes they come out easy. When you go back in, the shaft won't neccesarily be lined up, so it might take several attempts in several positions before things line up and it drops in all the way. I didn't have too much trouble with it. Also, the oil pump drive shaft may stay in the pump, or it may come out with the drive. If it stays in the pump, you're good to go- no problems. If it comes out with the drive, then make sure it's wedged in there tight. If not, pull it out, squish the hex hole in the drive full of grease, and force the shaft back in- this way it won't fall out into the nether-regions of the engine when you try multiple times to reinsert it.

Did you just disconnect the the two fuel lines and removed both rails as one piece? Or did you disconnect the crossover and fuel pressure regulator and remove the fuel rails separetly? The two fuel hose connections themselves don't take o-rings, but the fuel pressure regulator, crossover pipe, and injectors all have o-rings.

If you haven't been messing with the fuel rails, then based on the size, color, and thickness you've described about you mystery o-ring, I suspect you're looking at the o-ring for the rear heater pipe- it goes in a hole near the thermostat housing. There's a groove in that hole, and an o-ring goes in that groove. Have a look. It's also possible that at some point somebody just dropped an o-ring down on the intake.