Help me Learn

The intake manifold is how the air and fuel get into the engine. Between it and then engine block is a gasket the stops coolant from leaking out. If that gasket wears out you will end up with a coolant leak, either outside the engine or worse into the oil. If it was leaking inside I would expect you to see foamy oil under the filler cap.

Wheel cylinder is part of the brakes. They're found in drum brakes, so that would be the right rear wheel unless your car is 30+ years old. A little seepage is normal around the rubber seals. If they show you the brakes and pull the rubber parts back and say "See! A leak!" they ARE trying to rip you off.

The oil pan gasket it just what keeps the oil from leaking out around your oil pan. Do you end up with oil spots in your driveway under the engine? If not I wouldn't worry too much about it.

Front crank seal is what stops the oil from getting out of then engine around that pulley wheel at the bottom of the engine. Again, do you have lots of oil leaking onto the ground or spraying the parts under the engine compartment? If not, I wouldn't worry too much.

You didn't say what year or model car, so no idea how difficult any of these jobs are. The only serious issue is the manifold leak. The brakes could be serious too, but if you don't have the brake light coming on and the brakes feel fine you probably don't need to worry.

...Now, I'll just bite my tongue about the screw job.

: )

Get a second opinion from a different shop. Those items may be bad, or they may be trying to run up a bill on you.

Some of those items, if really bad, could make the car dangerous and undependable to drive, so I would have it checked sooner than later.

The oil pan gasket is a gasket between the bottom of the engine block and the "pan" (stamped steel piece, actually) that keeps the oil in the engine. The gasket is NOT pressurized, so any leak is probably more like a "seep." Its a fairly major task to repair the gasket, so I'd probably just ignore this one. Does it leave big oily spots in the driveway? Do you have to add oil often? If not, don't worry.

The front crank seal keeps oil from leaking out past the crankshaft at the front of the engine. Again, some "weeping" is normal, and if you're not leaving big oily spots where you park, don't worry too much or wait until you can afford it.

The right wheel cylinder is part of the braking system. You don't say if its front (disk brake) or rear (drum brake?). BTW- it would be helpful to know what kind of car this is!!!! At any rate, drum brake wheel cylinders often weep a little fluid and that's normal, but if they drip enough to show on the back of the wheel or to get the lining wet, then its very important that this be fixed.

The lower intake gasket leaking coolant is VERY important, because it can lead to engine failure, oil mixing with water, all sorts of bad things. Again, it would REALLY help to know what engine this is. Several manufacturers have had intake leak problems and some of them have offered extended warranty coverage, so you might not have to pay for all of this repair if the car is covered.

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' '[image:' '[image:' ThankYou EVERYONE for the information! Your the best, and I'm that much moreknowledgeable. My car is a Chevy Malibu 2002 LS. I had NO signs ofleakage from the car, oil or otherwise, so it caused me to think I wasbeing misinformed. The maintence guy told me it was because I had morethan 60+ miles. I have always prided myself on keeping up with themaintenence work and with no leakage on the driveway....Well I thinkyou know where this is going. I will get a second opinion...Thank YouAgan PS Do any of you live around here? (Glendale Az. :)

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Cars leak. That's just life. Occasionally there are problem leaks, but most leaks are just ordinary everyday leaks.

Get an MG, and then you won't ever have to worry about leaks again, because it will just be a normal part of life.

--scott

It's quite possible that you have an intake manifold gasket leak. Very common on this car. Often, if the intake is leaking oil from the front or rear silicone gasket....oil will leak down and appear to be coming from the front cover/seal area and also appear to be leaking from the oil pan gasket. So if you actually need a new intake gasket, I would have that done first, have the engine cleaned off and then rechecked later to see if the leaks were simply coming from the intake gasket.

You should also check at a dealership. These intake manifold gaskets are being covered by GM under a goodwill policy. You may end up getting it fixed for free. If you have dealt with a particular dealership....I would go back there. It helps if you have some history with them.

Ian

I hope you saw Shinden Kai's message, it could save you some bucks. As to Sun Devil, I have been to them in the past and felt they over charged and found stuff that really wasn't needed. They replaced a transmission part and charged me almost three times the normal price for the part and for two hours labor and it was at most a half hours worth of work. And then they threw away the tranny heat shield instead of reinstalling it. I won't go to them again. Unfortunately, it's hard to find an honest shop, the name of the game is UPSELL so they will look for just about anything and try and convince you the wheels will fall off if you don't let them work on it.

Ah, then its VERY likely that you do have a problem with the intake manifold gasket. The Chevy v6 had a lot of trouble with that, and you really should check to see if GM will repair it at reduced cost or for free. It IS a very dangerous thing for the engine, because if the leak gets big enough then coolant gets into the oil and causes the camshaft bearings to seize, which then breaks the camshaft. That's BAD (tm) in case you didn't guess!

Like someone said,you can check under the radiator cap for signs of oil.Don't do that if the engine coolant is still hot,let it cool down first.And you can check the oil dipstick for signs of water. Drive Safely. cuhulin