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Intake Manifold or Head Gasket????

hammerline81

hammerline81

New member
hey there,

I own a 2004 GTP, just bought it in February and it all was working well until Good Friday, i was driving and i saw that my car was running really hot. so i pulled over into a parking lot and saw that the engine was smoking (thinking it was just from going through a lot of puddles) well it turns out that my coolent has been pouring out. i found out where it has kind of been leaking from and its around where the top 90 degree elbow is. i know what to do to fix that, my problem is that i smelt a sweet smell from my exhaust...

i have been reaserching the hell out of this car and i can not come down to the conclusion if its a head gasket or a intake manifold. i dont have any coolent in my oil, there was no lack of power because i had to pour a bunch of coolent in the rad to get to a better location so i was moving pretty good. i've started the car cold with coolent in it and waited a while to see if it would smoke white, there was nothing of that. the car seems 100% just that i can smell the sweet smell.

i talked to a mechanic and explained what was going wrong and he said that he never worked with a 3.8L S/C but he said it could be both. He told me to drain all that Dexcool crap and put the green coolent in, thats the only help he gave me.
 


well the coolant elbow probably gave out to cause the over heating as for the other problem if the lim gaskets are the aluminum ones i'd do a lim job and put the aluminum coolant elbows on. then go from there. how many miles are on the car?
 
I agree with you about the leaking, they shouldnt have went with plastic for elbows. I'll try that for sure, just im getting told that a LIM wont make the car smell sweet from the exhaust?? 215,000km so around 133miles.

would this be best bang for my buck? where im from the kit will cost me $500.00

ZZPerformance - Engine Gasket Kit #ZZ-ENGK
 
honestly I'd start with the lim gasket job and make the switch to aluminum elbows. first time a lim job could take three or so hours to do it yourself depending on how fast you work. if you don't know what you are doing there are people on here who could give you some advice or you can always buy the haynes manual.

you will also need oil for at least two oil changes, coolant and oil filters, thread sealant for the s/c bolts

this is where to go for the lim kit Felpro MS 98014 T Intake Manifold Gasket : Amazon.com : Automotive

if that doesn't fix your problem i'd look at other options but eventually the lim would have to be done anyway
 
right on, thanks for the help. this is my first 3.8L, im used to V8's obviously without a S/C, so i may have to jump on here once and a while for help. is there anything i should switch out while i have this apart like this? thermostat, throttle body gasket, etc?

** i dont think this guy i bought it from really did maintenance work to it, thats why i asked.
 


FYI hammerline, the headgaskets rarely if EVER go bad on these motors, even if overheated. Methinks the above advice is a good place to start. The only other part that could be dumping coolant into the cylinders is the UIM itself, as they have been known to crack. Might be worth replacing it along with the LIM gaskets for piece of mind.
 
Thanks for the info! Like I said, this is my first V6 so I don't know what is the week points in the GTP. But was just talking to a few people (that aren't a fan of the supercharged V6) and they were saying that if I can smell it burning antifreeze, then it's the head gasket. But with some research it made me second guess. So i really hope you guys are right. Is the supercharger gasket classified as the UIM? ZZP was telling me that my car doesn't have a UIM? Lol.. But what ever I'm taking off to get down to the LIM I'll probably check over and replace if needed. I just put new wires and spark plugs a week of owning this car, I wonder if this situation would effect the plugs?
 
04+ Grand Prixs have metal upper intakes so they dont crack and leak like the ones on the l36 did, that and he has a GTP so no upper intake manifold to worry about.
 
Okay, I kind of figured that about the UIM. I'll probably just buy a supercharger gasket anyways, it's coming off so may as well do it. Would it be a bad idea to change the thermostat to a 180?
 


slick2500 said:
04+ Grand Prixs have metal upper intakes so they dont crack and leak like the ones on the l36 did, that and he has a GTP so no upper intake manifold to worry about.
Click to expand...


Yea, just realized he said GTP, so the UIM is technically the blower. Carry on...:th_thumbsup-wink:

Unless you are tuned for the 180* stat, then just leave the stocker in there. Dropping to a lower temp stat will not help since the fan turn-on temps are still set at stock.
 
well when you redo the lim gaskets you will need a s/c gasket anyway. parts stores call it a intake plenum gasket.
 
Hey guys! I finally got to work on my car. For a first timer doing a LIM job, it was a crap ton of work but it all worked out in the end. I put the new aluminum elbows on and the felpro gasket and its holding up so far. I just wanted to thank you all for the advice, it was well needed.
 


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