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Blown Intake Gasket?

F

Fahrenheit

New member
Man I can't catch a break. I'm sitting at a red light I start to smell something sweet. By the time I'm half way home smoke is pouring out. I put some water it it and right around where the intake meets the block on the accessory side of the motor is smoking and sizzling. Also inside the rad it looks like mud caked in there. It's an 03 with 80,000 on it if it matters. What am I looking at here?



I just started it up with some water in it and water was shooting out around this elbow.



What is it and how do I replace it?
 
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Alot more than you your gonna get, you say coolant is slugged I say your screwed, there are others hear that will help
 
That is your coolant elbow! Sounds pretty simple, cause it is!

Good news is, you can probably flush all that gunk out, and be plenty fine. Refill with yellow or green antifreeze after repairs, and you'll be good to go.

STAY AWAY FROM DEXCOOL (GM coolant) ITS THE ****ING DEVIL...hence the sludge.

You will need to replace the 2 coolant elbows, should only be $10 or so. It's fairly straightforward too. If the engine is all stock, then i'd be a great idea to replace the intake manifold gasket, before it fails too (extremely common on Grand Prixs)

Then, you'll flush the hell out of the system, with the heater on max, so everything flushes, then once it's not leaking, take it to a shop that can pressure flush it, to make sure any bits/chunks are all gone.
 


matt5112 said:
Really?

I ran ethylene glycol for six months and had severe pitting in my LIM and supercharger case which were fine with I installed them.
Click to expand...

Well that's a Canada thing.

Every engine I've had with Dexcool, has had gunked up coolant passages. Do a good flush, and refill with a 60water/40coolant mix, and never had any issues.

But I have seen the pitting you speak of, but not on a personal car.


Also, the flush is straighforward.
Grab a tee kit from anyplace that has automotive stuff.
Install the tee kit, and put the little radiator flow thingy on, with a hose in it, so it doesnt just spew everywhere.
Turn the heater on full blast, and turn the hose on, and let it flush.


Now you can also pull the knock sensor from under the motor to get a better flush, but that's a PITA to do without the exact size socket/wrench.
 
Hrm..I wonder if the block really would crack....I drove mine in -10degree mountain snow in NC for a whole winter with no issues...and that was with 0 coolant, straight water. (Im retarded, i know)

But yes, listen to 5finger, since you're in a colder climate than my toasty Florida.
 
Dex clogs when unmaintained.

Take care of your car, and you'll be okay.

To be frank this entire car will rot away unless you take care of it.

They're known for it.
 


AHAHA! It was the coolant elbow. When taking of the tensioner both of them broke right in half. Toke longer to get the sockets good and clean then take it all apart. I think this happened to this car before being the old ones had china stamped on them. Also seems there was a little burr on the inside of the tensioner on the lower elbow. Its not leaking now but I might just replace the tensioner and use the GM eblows with new heater core and rad hoses. Might do this all with the LIM gasket upgrade in the future.




This might be a silly question. So im flushing it now with 100% distilled water. As in I fill the rad then run it till hot then let it cool off then drain. So my dad told me what to do is keep flushing till clean then draint he rad then top off with pure anti freeze. With whats left in the hoses and heads mixed with the rads it come out around 50/50. Sound right?
 
btw when you replace the lim gaskets, pleaase dont skimp out, buy the new dorman upper intake manifold cuz with the n/a motors you dont know which is bad (i found out the hard way) i replaced the lim gaskets thinking that was the problem. well i started it up after it was back together and it hydrolocked. that ****ing egr stovepipe melts the plastic where it comes through and breaks through to the coolant passages. the dorman uim comes with a smaller diameter egr pipe.
 
Fivefingerdeathpunch said:
yeah it should come out to around 60/40ish mix with the water thats left in the block.
Click to expand...

When you say 60/40ish does that mean 60%coolant and 40% water?

I am going to flush my system then replace the LIM. With how much water is left in the engine after the LIM, how do I determine how much coolant to add?

Thanks.
 
TDgrand said:
When you say 60/40ish does that mean 60%coolant and 40% water?

I am going to flush my system then replace the LIM. With how much water is left in the engine after the LIM, how do I determine how much coolant to add?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

All depends on where you live. You need to mix your coolant so it will not freeze at the lowest temperature in your area. You should buy something like this:

Amazon.com: Prestone AF1420 Professional Antifreeze / Coolant Tester: Automotive

and test the coolant when you mix it before you put it in your engine. I mix mine to around -30 to -40°F. That is safe for my area. If I lived farther north, I would probably have to adjust that a little. I think most will tell you not to go over 70%coolant/30% water.
 


Thanks guys. Right now I got 100% water. I'm on my 4th flush. What I do is drain and fill with 100% water drive for a few days and repete. Now that we got snow on the ground I better get some green stuff in there! Ill drain the rad and fill with coolant then test it. Ill shoot for -20.



Thanks for the help guys. All is well :)
 
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