3.4 litre V6 G.M. intake gasket

Message from David Simpson written on 2/6/2006 9:24 PM:

Unless the vehicles are still under factory warranty, last I heard, the repair is on the owner's dime. You can try for "goodwill", which

*might* knock the cost down some.

Do a Google search for: gm intake gasket leak

There is a lot of info available. You might want to consider changing the intake gaskets every

3 years or 36,000 miles as routine maintenance.

Welcome to the club, now please bend over and accept your treatment :(.

This is a chronic problem with the GM 3.4L engines and GM generally says up yours if the car is out of warranty.

Millions of these POS intakes have been made and GM seems to have no intention of taking care of a problem which never should have happened.

You will find a few GM-syncophants ranting that it is because the EPA wouldn't let GM use asbestos or some such rot, but those excuses are just excuses.

Do get them fixed ASAP, because if the coolant concentration in the oil gets high enough then the whole engine can self destruct.

Routine oil analysis for $20 should be part of every 3.4l owner's routine at least once a year, but almost nobody knows about this test or gets it done.

is the place I get mine done.

Advice? Fix it and get a Toyota!

John

Holy Cow Mister - have you ever actually changed an intake gasket? Every three years? That'd be a cold day in hell for me. That's a 3-4 hour job even after you've done a couple of them. Lots of take-em-apart, put-em-together stuff involved in that job. Just wait until they start to leak again. The warning signs are obvious and innocuous in the early stages.

Odds are they are correct.

Yes.

Nope.

Fel-Pro makes a problem solver gasket for this engine, IIRC the part number is MS 98003 (VIN "J" and "E") If you have a dealership perform the repair, you probably will NOT get the Fel-pro gaskets.

Delaying the repair may cost you [them] the entire engine.

Where's the intake gasket located, and what's involved with this change? I know a previous poster mentioning a bunch of stuff to take off to get to. Also, is this problem year specific? I have a 98 3.4l.

Thanks.

Do a Google search for: gm intake gasket leak There is a lot of info available.

There are two - an upper and a lower. If you have to ask where they're located, you probably don't want to tackle the job. I'm not trying to be insulting, but it's like anything else, there's a certain amount of general knowledge and experience you should have before undertaking some things. The job of replacing the gaskets is not a killer for a motor-head, but the neophyte needs to be cognizant of such things as not mixing push rods (and why), the manner in which things can or cannot be man-handled around under the hood, proper application of silicone sealers, torque specs and procedures, how to remove, inspect and replace fuel injectors, etc. Again - nothing that's rocket science, but if you're not experienced it's not a wise DIY job.

How about tools? Do you have a good selection of tools for working on a car? From 10mm deep sockets, to shallow, to ASE sockets, to the right size to remove the engine mount, to a good jack to support the engine with the motor mount removed? How fond of reaching into impossibly tight spaces on the back side of that engine and taking things off/putting things on, that you can't even see?

Do you know what to look at/for when you have an engine in varying stages of disassembly?

You ask a good question when you ask what's involved. You are disassembling your engine. A few more bolts and you could take a peek at your pistons. For the first timer, it's often an 8 hour job. The book pays something like

5.5 hours and most guys that have done it a couple of times can pretty well do it in 3-4 hours if there are no interruptions.

The problem is not year specific, nor is it engine specific. Most of the GM engines besides the 4 cylinders suffer this. I've done my 350 V8 in my truck, and I've done the 6 cylinders in my cars (3.1L and 3.4L).

In your case I'd suggest taking the vehicle to a mechanic. Depending on where you live the job can be done for as little as $350 in labor and another $100 in parts. Or... even in the same locale it can be double that.

Just before Christmas had mine done on my '01 GrandAm which is a low mileage car with then 40,300 miles on it. Pontiac paid for half as a "goodwill" gesture. They also replaced the burned out heater blower resistor pack for no charge after I said I would not pay the quoted price of $100 parts and labor.

When I called Pontiac Customer Service about this, they asked some interesting questions about whether I recently owned, or currently owned any other any GM cars. Answering no to those questions, in truth, I think they wanted to keep me pleased so I would stay interested in their products.

Howard

The intake (or rather intake gasket) issue. Is it a 3.4 issue or does it happen to the same degree on the 3.1 and 3.8? This issue worries me as I know somoen with a 2002 GM car with a 3.1 in it.

They all leak (not just GM either) but are caused by different things. Do a Google search for: gm intake gasket leak There is a lot of info available. At least on the 90 degree engines, once it's fixed, you won't have to do it again.

This is a GM problem that has been going on for almost 20 years that GM has refused to fix. The intake gasket problem happens to just about everyone who owns a 3.1, 3.4, 3.8 v6s and even some of the V8 have the problem has been sticking there customers with the bill for the known defect for almost 20 years. No wonder they have lost customers and sinking like a brick. All I can say is welcome to the club.

=

I meant the 60 degree engines and the 3.8 with wet intakes. The LS1 has a dry intake. Antifreeze getting into the oil via a leaking intake gasket on the LS1 is not a problem.

Thanks Mike. Appreciate your input. I do have most of the tools you've mentioned, but once you talk about undoing an engine mount, I'm out.

I sell lots of those Fel-pro gaskets to Gm dealers in my area..... another thing that I recomend when the gasket is replaced is a good ol coolant flush and then put the green stuff in. There is no problems with changing the coolant over, however you cannot mix em.