Hi all

I need some advice. WIth 40,000 miles on my 2002 3.1 engine. Ive started to
lose anti freeze. Its not a slow leak as I find a puddle every morning under
the car.
I spoke to a mechanic, taht used to work on GM cars and he said its the
Intake Valve Gasket. which will run me about $800. A lot of money for me.
Now the question. Why is GM still putting on poorly designed gaskets that
break in almost every car they sell. Can they be held responsible and
replace the gasket or at least be responsible for some part of the labor
cost?

Has anyone else dealt with this and what was the outcome?

Thanks

Larry

Larry,

I have heard that this has been a problem in the 3.1 and 3.4 engines.
However, I have owned three Chevys all with the 3.1 engine, and have never
had to deal with the Intake Manifold Gasket. These cars have 195,000K,
157,000K and 272,000K in them, and never had to do any work on the engines.
We still own and are driving the Chevy with the 272,000K on it. We drive it
every day in central Saskatchewan where we have 40 below in the winter and
40 above in the summer.

Newer Malibus have the 2.2L "Ecotec" or the 3.5 V6 which are, according to
my mechanic friends, significantly more durable.

Good luck!
David

"Larry P" <lpagano (AT) nyc (DOT) rr.com> wrote

On Feb 8, 12:02 pm, "Larry P" <lpag... (AT) nyc (DOT) rr.com> wrote:
LIM Gasket, had it, got it fixed, 600 dollars, 100 for parts, 25 for
oil change and 465 for labor, Why did they, because they did.

"Larry P" <lpagano (AT) nyc (DOT) rr.com> wrote in
news:45cb5ebb$0$28098$4c368faf (AT) roadrunner (DOT) com:

Larry, its the same reason they keep putting intermediate steering shafts
in they KNOW will start popping very quickly.......BECAUSE THEY CAN! OH,
and dont get me started about the piston slap theivery...........hate to
say it but i havent had ONE problem with my tundra in over 4 years. IOW,
have had no problems................zero........zilch........n aada. maybe
just luck?

the new gasket you get from gm is a updated part,it has metal inserts that
will help this from happening again. If you have a aftermarket part make
sure it is updated as well! some are not. russ

Oh ya, GM has fixed the coolant leaks on the newer models, they no
longer have coolant passeges in the intakes,if ya cant fix it, illiminate
the source!!

Or use normal antifreeze instead of the fancy GM long life antifreeze that
ate the gasket in the first place.

"glovemax5" <glovemax5 (AT) aol (DOT) com> wrote

Sure, if you want to invalidate your warranty if it's still under
warranty. After that point, you might be ok, but I would be concerned
about the coolant system not having problems with traditional coolant
(of course if it's not a problem, I might consider changing as soon as
my warranty is up).

Cy Welch
89 Camaro RS 5.0 TBI
98 Passport
03 Malibu


4newsgroups wrote:

I had the gasket replaced (not under warranty) and did not replace it with
GM long life stuff. We'll know if it was the right move in 5 or 10 years.


"Cy Welch" <cywelch (AT) yahoo (DOT) com> wrote

"4newsgroups" <4newsgroups (AT) mts (DOT) net> wrote in
news:GyXLh.34170$_R.26432 (AT) newsfe23 (DOT) lga:

dex-cool is a fine non silicate coolant. just dont depend on the 5 year
change. bump down to 3 yrs and all will be good.........as far as ethyl
glycol, also good coolant, except it has silicates and the smallest
amount of leakage into combustion chamber will react with 02 sensor
(quad4 02 failures ring a bell?)..........im a believer in dex-cool, just
at much shorter changes. before it turns to jelly.................kjun
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