The dreaded LIM problem

[knight03]

Well I'm completely stressed out now. I bought my 02 Alero (v6) less than 2 weeks ago. Coolant light came on and low and behold the resevoir was dry. I topped it back up and discovered the leak at the LIM. I've done my reading on this on this forum and understand what the problem is. I'll be taking the car back to the dealer ASAP. My question/concern is how much damage has been done, what do I need to make sure gets completely replaced or thoroughly flushed out to ensure no problems in the future. Has the life of the motor been affected once this is resolved? Yes I do have the "butterscotch pudding" crap around the pcv valve and the oil cap.
I bought this car with the obvious intention of getting many years out of it and am now quite concerned this may not be the case.

Thanks in advance......

[billytheman1188]

You had a few good questions in there, i would be interested in knowing if the engine life is shortened by this problem???? cause i did have the leak, then the guy tightened the bolts where the leak was, it stopped for a while, and now my car leaks A TINY bit, every few days, like it wont leak for a few days, then there might be a little puddle under the car.

but yea, does this affect the engine life? performance? and like he said, what else should be done after we get this fixed? is anything else affected or not?

[IRONDOG442]

It depends on if you got oil in the antifreeze or antifreeze in the oil, of course watering down the oil in the car greatly lessens its viscosity or (resistance to flow). If I knew I had a LIM gasket failing that was putting antifreeze in my oil I would stop driving the car immediately. The lower ends of 60 degree v6s are strong but they were meant to be ran with oil between the bearings, not dexcool. I have also heard that over time a slow leak will cause detrimental damage to your camshaft and other internals inside the valley of the engine e.g. lifters. I am not sure there is a study on overall internal wear and tear or excess damamge regarding this problem but common sense tells you that this is definitely not a good thing. to just continue driving the car while a LIM seal is failing. What does the oil on the dipstick look like? Definitely change the oil observe the color and texture of it. Also when the car is fixed of course you want to change the oil thats in the crank case now.

[knight03]

Thanks for the reply irondog.

It is coolant in the antifreeze, I'm trying to get the vehicle to the dealership today. (not sure how long this has been happening for becuase as I said I just got this car) Engine has been running fine. Oil on the dipstick looks okay, definitely not sludgy like the upper area of the engine block.

I realize the engine will need to be flushed and oil change performed, as well a coolant system flush and refill. I'm curious as to whether any sensors or other things (I don't know that much about engines) would have become contaminated from this problem. I'm thinking that if the pcv valve is coated in this stuff that it is likely to have allowed some contamination into the exhaust system (I maybe way off with that thinking).

[HazMatt24]

It is coolant in the antifreeze,

LMAO, I would hope this was the case

[knight03]

Thanks.....I meant coolant in the oil.....
Smart ass...LOL!

[AGT]

It is coolant in the antifreeze...

LMAO, I would hope this was the case


The dreaded coolant in the antifreeze leak. This is still a problem so much that all cars have it. haha :lol:

[knight03]

The dreaded coolant in the antifreeze leak. This is still a problem so much that all cars have it. haha :lol:

Great! Laugh it up guys!!!! One little slippage of the words and I'm going to read about it all day........:banghead:

[HazMatt24]

Great! Laugh it up guys!!!! One little slippage of the words and I'm going to read about it all day........:banghead:

don't feel bad, at least this isn't limited to GM cars

[Mr_Reed]

I topped my up with some stop leak and hasn't leaked a drop and that was about 4 months ago..

[knight03]

So you flushed the engine oil and the coolant and refilled and called it good?

[Vinalero]

If you just bought the car, is there any ressource you have against the guy/dealer that sold it to you? I mean, I suppose the LIM gasket doesnt fail in two weeks, maybe they knew about it and didn't tell you.

[knight03]

I personally know the sales guy, and I'm meeting with the owner of the dealership tonight. I'm pretty confident I'll get this problem resolved without any expense to myself, tehy have been very apologetic so we shall see how far that goes. I've also given the dealership a heads up on the pending gm class action lawsuit regarding this matter (as they are not a GM dealership) so hopefully the dealership will be able to recoup some if not all expenses.