Intake Gaskets already!?

[Silver SLP]

Well today I was pulling my car out of the garage, got out to close the door and I saw the puddle of coolant dripping... only 80,500 miles I popped the hood and there was a pool sitting on the transmission case too.

I had been filling the coolant reservoir a couple times a year (hardly lost any at all), but was hoping there was just some air in the cooling system. I would also hear some weird water sloshing sound during acceleration and could sometimes smell coolant, so I guess I knew it would happen sooner than later.

I had a '98 Lumina with the 3.1 do this during the same time of year about 4 years ago. That thing had 150,000 on it before it happened though.

Guess I'll put new plugs in too while I'm at it... it hasn't been above 0 degrees all week and it even got down to -50 with windchill!

[zzyzzx]

I think I did my LIM gasket at round the 25K miles mark.

[Silver SLP]

Wow that's crazy! I guess I'm lucky to have gotten this far!

[WIALERO]

did mine at 230,xxx

[Nas Escobar]

I might have to do this on my 3800 Camaro with 124K on it.... Not 100% sure if it is, because it keeps playing with my emotions, but knowing GM it's more or less gonna leave my car.

[03Alerosil]

I did mine at 142k and mine already had the fel pro gaskets. The previous mechanic of the car never used any loctite and bolts backed out. I did however fix the valve cover leak in the process along with the spark plugs, thermostat and wires cuz it's easy to get to then.

[Silver SLP]

Well I decided to bring my car into a shop to get new intake gaskets. Everything is great, except this whistling noise...

It seems to be on the upper intake gasket. There is a small piece of the gasket that hangs out and if I wiggle that, I can get the noise to fluctuate.

It only happens when starting the car, and once I give it gas it goes away and doesn't come back. If I shut the car off and wait about a minute, the noise returns until I give it gas.

[MMGT1]

Sounds like a warranty fix man, and its an easy one. Couple hours and they should have that all fixed up for you. I can do one in about 45mins myself.. hahaha

[Silver SLP]

Yeah man, hopefully it can go in tomorrow. Hopefully it's as simple as the gasket not seating properly.

[MMGT1]

Take a real close look at the intake and make sure they didn't crack it during install. If your not careful they will break, especially the rear tab on the passenger side, right next to the alt. The rest are pretty solid by design, but that one can easily be cracked during an install if they are not careful

[Silver SLP]

Would I be able to see the cracks without taking it off? And the sound seems to be coming right in the center of the front of the manifold.

I made a vid but I can't upload it.

[Silver SLP]

I just noticed somewhat of a low-spot on the front of the intake. I'm guessing the shop used a small surface grinder to remove some of the stubborn gasket material. Both the left and right surfaces look the same, but the low spot is in the middle, right where I would move the new gasket material and have the whistle sound fluctuate.

I very carefully tightened those front 3 bolts (30* at most) and I haven't heard the noise since. Tomorrow morning will be the real test.

[MMGT1]

Sounds like they did just that, if that works great... I guess. I would not be too pleased if that was done to me

[tw0123]

I'd be demanding a new upper intake ... that's bs if they damaged it... call them on it and demand some action!

[Silver SLP]

Fortunately, it was just that the front bolts were loose and never had a problem today. Crazy what a difference the small turn of a ratchet can make. Maybe running it for awhile yesterday also helped the gasket to seat. I had everything checked out and it was all to spec.