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What was GM'S intake seal problem?

I have seen many references in this discussion room to GM's intake manifold or gasket sealing failure ohe 60 degree engines.

My 81 year old mother has a '93 Gran Prix with a 3.1, which I've posted about in here before. As you might guess, at her age she isn't inclined to trade her car in favour of a newer model. She just wants to keep what she's used to from here on out.

The car has performed remarkaly well in terms of never needing any repairs, for about 11 years. However, it recently needed $1400 put into the transmission, and about a year ago another $700 for some new injectors and an ignition module, IIRC.

The car has about 130K miles and so I can't kick too much about the transmission needing overhauled (a drum inside it developed a problem, IIRC, and they just did a complete rebuild).

But I generally wouldn't expect a similar catatrophic failure with the engine, since it's common for most of them last to 200,000 miles and beyond. Hence, I would normally consider keeping this car since the transmission has been redone and meanwhile the engine should still have a lot of life in it -- EXCEPT for the fact that this is an engine design with some kind of inherent sealing problem. Also, I have noticed a vague smell of anti-freeze several times when I enter her garage after she's een driving it, but see nothing visibly wrong under the hood (so far).

  1. What specifically is the sealing problem?

  1. What engines, years?

  2. Are there preventative repairs to be made before hand?

  1. What is the typical result of the failure resulting from the manifold sealing design flaw?

  2. Any tell-tale signs that's about to happen? TIA
Reply to
James Goforth
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If you smell anti-freeze after the car is driven, you better have it checked for an intake, of possibly head gasket leak. If you leave it undone, you will probably be replacing the engine!

Reply to
Doug Adams

Poor engineering design. Due to expansion and contraction of the metal parts the gaskets squirm and deteriorate.

All GM 60 degree engines. They first came out around 1988?

You could replace the intake gaskets every two years. The new gaskets are better than the old ones.

Water in the oil. Destroys cam and crank and bearings.

Water in oil - emulsion. Disappearing coolant.

Reply to
« Paul »

Poor gasket design. The current gaskets are better than earlier sets.

Well... every two years is a bit off. Even a high mileage driver does not require them every two years. For the OP, hel'll probably never put another set in this car.

Often, no water in oil. Always - weeping at both ends of the engine where the intake mates. Usage of coolant. Smell of coolant.

Reply to
Mike Marlow

There is an aftermarket set that is much better than the GM. One local shop told me he as yet to see it fail, and it's not much more than just replacing with another factory original. He told me he had a couple cars come back again when he was using the factory gasket.

It can be worse. It can get into the intake manifold and hydrolock the engine. That can break/bend rods, bend the crank, and possibly even damage the block.

On my Grand Prix, the symptom was EGR. I pulled the thing and found a gel goo under it.

Reply to
Mike Y

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