New here but old Olds fan

[GL2Alero]

Hey I'm new to this forum but I have been part of the Cadillac Owners forum for a couple of years and it has helped me a ton so I hope to get the same helpful info here for my Alero.

I have inherited my parents '01 Alero GL2 3.4 V6 130,000. I was looking at it for them because they were having some trouble. It seems it has the failed intake manifold gasket. It is leaking coolant on the outside of the engine and the inside with the white gunk under the oil cap. So I know it need a total overhaul and I am very mechanically inclined so I'm going to fix it myself. I have built engines in the past but always with the help of books such as "how to rebuild your small block chevy" with such valueble info such as torque specs, piston rings orientations, bolt patters, etc.

My question is does anybody know of any publication on the guidance to rebuild these chevy 60deg V6's other than the original service manual?

I would greatly appreciate any info on this to help me bring my Alero back to life.

[[ion] C2]

It's the lower intake manifold gasket, by the way. Factory made crap gaskets, so ALL of them leak eventually (many under 80,000 mi), but they still don't recall them.

Haynes manual?

[Daytona]

Welcome aboard!

And, yeah, Lower intake Manifold. It is covered under warranty for those still under warranty (like I was when mine went). You? Well... try Haynes...

[CBLOHM3400]

welcome

[lonnie]

Welcome! Don't just clear your corners, clear your whole car....lol Have fun here!

[nickbain]

I used to have the gm tech manual for the 3400, it was pretty good but any time it suggested any thing it was gm part # this and gm specialty tool # that. It was a little more step by step than a haynes manual but if you already got mechanical know how then a haynes is good enough.

[Oldsnut]

Welcome GL2! I think your the 3rd person from Salt Lake City.

[GL2Alero]

Thanks for the replies everyone. Seems like a very helpful site. I don't have the haynes manual but I have seen it before. I think I'll go pick it up. It should be good enough for my grease monkey ability. I just know haynes are usually pretty thin but it is probably the best thing next to the service manual and this forum.

I'll keep you posted on the rebuild.

[Onewing91]

Hey welcome to the forum, and good luck man!

[CharleyO99Alero]

***

Welcome to the forum, GL2Alero.

Keep us informed as the rebuilt goes along.


***

[GL2Alero]

Well I finally got around to working on my Alero. I decided to just do the LIM instead of the whole engine because it was still running fine, it just had lots of water in the oil, and to save money I thought I could get some more miles out of it without the expense of a new engine.

I replaced the LIM with the new metal one by Felpro. I started on it Satuday morning and finished that evening a week ago and it is doing just great. I flushed out the oil with some AT fluid and new filter right away and changed the filter again and with new oil. The white gunk is gone and I'm not losing any coolant and I only spent just over $100 for the gasket kit, themostat, oil, and coolant.

It runs cool for the most part. It does still creep past the half mark if I sit in traffic for a long time but hasn't got higher than just past the half mark. So we will see this summer how it high it gets.

Thanks for the help. The Haynes manual and the posts on this board helped me out alot. If you could have just helped with the aches and pains I had for 2 days afterwards.

[cavaliers60]

Good to see it's running fine. That's the normal place for the coolant gauge to be. Mine runs at the half way mark and just slightly above most of the time. When driving on the highway, she usually runs just under the half mark. So you are fine.

[zoL]

Yeah, mine runs at the half way or a little over it. I just through the heat on and open the windows when driving on the high way and it goes down a shit load.