My mom has a 97 Malibu with 37K miles on it. Runs good. Noticed today that
the coolant level was low. Pulled the cap off of the reservoir to add
coolant and noticed a milky looking paste on the underside of the cap. Not a
lot. But it's still there. Pulled the oil dip stick and filler cap and found
no indication of water in the engine. Should I just wipe the stuff off of
the coolant reservoir cap or is the likely to be a more serious problem
lurking?

--

Fred.
Sometimes you just go with the flow and enjoy the ride!!!

More than likely your intake manifold gasket is shot. You won't find any
indication of water/coolant in the engine because it is being burned up.
This settlement will help pay for some of the repair, but not nearly enough,
IMO. http://www.gmcanadiansettlement.ca/english/eng_home.htm. Tell the
mechanic that does the repair to flush the Dexcool completely out and
replace with something better, like Prestone.

"Fred Mayfield" <> wrote in message news:
It mostly leaks to the outside of the engine, not
in the intake/combustion canals, nor into the
crankcase. If your Mom's car doesn't need coolant
very often, just fill it, not fill the resevoir, fill to
couple inches from the top.
The way I fixed it on my Malibu is with 'Bars Leaks
Heavy Duty', which you can get from any auto store.
I disconnected my top radiator hose and poured a little
out and then added the Bars Leaks. I had been topping
off my resevoir, as the other poster says, with regular
antifreeze, not the Dexcool stuff, but that became
worrisome, so I fixed it.
Some will insist to have the intake gasket replaced, but
that will just result in the same problem over time.
The Bars Leaks is a very old, but good fix for minor
coolant leaks. It doesn't clog the system, it only hardens
where it hits air.
A more complete job would be to drain the coolant
entirely and then add coolant and Bars Leaks, I guess.

Wonder if anyone in the US has used the link to recover repair costs? Or,
maybe there's a related recall?


--

Fred.
Sometimes you just go with the flow and enjoy the ride!!!

"Sharky" <cl_8ball (AT) hotmail (DOT) com> wrote

I got a check from the settlement for $400 that partly covered the repair cost. As far as I know there was no recall.

Ron

Fred Mayfield wrote:

No, they did not issue a recall . This pretty much sums up why GM is in the
situation they face today. Mass producing vehicles with engine problems
they have absolutely no intention of recalling to fix. I guess they figured
if they sold enough Cadillacs or Hummers, it didn't matter anyway.

Sharky