leaking antifreze?

[lovefrom1977]

I have a 2000 v6 alero. i was looking at the engine yesterday and there was what looked to be antifreze to the right of the block of the engine? Does anyone one where it is coming from and or how to fix it? any help would be appreciated.

[AGT]

Lower intake manifold gasket.

Shop-500

Yourself- 50 bux

Finding out about the cancer of this car-priceless

[lovefrom1977]

is this something that is hard to fix or is it better to just get a shop to fix it?

[AGT]

It's definitely not a novice servicing but you can do it with time and patience. I would recommend getting a Haynes manual and you will need the gasket and antifreeze.

What happens is the gasket leaked and therefore you have oil and antifreeze mixed.

Not a good combination for either of the systems the original products were intended for.

[Redog]

Check your oil. If it looks like choclate milk, you got anti-freeze in the oil, not a good thing :(

[sofa]

could be the water pump

[Ryan from Ohio]

Check your oil. If it looks like choclate milk, you got anti-freeze in the oil, not a good thing :(

I see this a lot.

Here was my scenario. Oil leakage around this manifold with oil loss equating over 1Qt every 3K miles.

I changed mine out and solved all my problems. Just keep in mind, there could be more to it than just one fluid leaking, depending on where the leak is occurring.

Let me give you the best advice possible lovefrom, get the GOOD gasket set. There is three gasket sets available Ive found for our cars. A cheap $29 one, the normal $50ish one and the good one- $90ish.

If you get anything less that the good one, buy two. Cause you will be redoing it again eventually.

I prefer not to pay for info if I dont have to, so here:
http://autozone.com/az/cds/en_us/0900823d/80/14/7b/90/0900823d80147b90/repairInfoPages.htm

Its not for the Alero specifically, but if you scroll down to the 3.1 SFI section its pretty much the same as ours. Thats the guide I used to make sure I was taking proper steps.

I can report back now after doing mine about 12K ago or so, I have 0 leaks. I have 0 oil loss. I also replaced plugs/wires. My mileage went from 260-70 to 300-320 per tank (11.3 gallons religiously).

Good luck.

[alerored04]

here is the gagt walkthrough. its pretty helpful. Lists torque specs and stuff. I just finished my brothers actually. third time is cake compared with the first on my car and the second on a buddies.http://www.grandamgt.com/forum/showthread.php?t=60868&highlight=power+steering

[Bad99Olds]

Thanks to the wonder that is dex cool, my intake manifold blew, and i got to drop 900 bucks. that was not fun. evidently this is a real common problem on gm v6's?

[Ryan from Ohio]

Yes it is...

$900 is a steep price to pay, IMHO.

With patience and common hand tools this job is easy. You can do it with the good gaskets, coolant, and new oil/filter for under $110...

[Pacho]

what kind of coolant do you guys use after you replace your old gaskets w/new felpros b/c i assume from reading a bunch of complaints about dexcool that this is part of the reason for the leak

[alerored04]

after i did mine i took it in and had it powerflushed with superheated shit to clean all the passages and then had green coolant put back in it. When i asked the guy at the radiator shop if he would switch to green for me he told me that he would have done that anyway and would never put dexcool back in it. Im glad i had it flushed though, dexcool will react with different coolants if its all not out of there and could cause jello in your coolant passages.

[lovefrom1977]

does anyone know how much this would cost to get fixed from the dealer and also how long does it take them?

[billytheman1188]

DO NOT go to the dealer, they will charge you so much money. Go to a trusted mechanic..... i was charged a little over 400 bucks when i got mine done.

[Ryan from Ohio]

No dealer. They are always high priced, but sometimes necessary when others fail...

Your best bet is to call around. Tell them you will supply the gaskets for the LIM, and go get them.

I think you can save a few bucks by getting them at rockauto.com

[Pacho]

if your comfortable w/taking some parts of your engine apart, labeling them, taking some pictures, devoting some hours out of your own time, you can do this all yourself just for the price of: gaskets, coolant, oil and filters and save yourself $600-$750 in the long run.

here's some pics to show you what im talking about...i didn't have to take everything out of the engine u see in the pics for just a LIM gasket change but i was upgrading my exhaust and some other performance mods

good luck

[MixtapeMessiah]

Lower intake manifold gasket.

Shop-500

Yourself- 50 bux

Finding out about the cancer of this car-priceless

hahahaha classic

[Cliff8928]

Most of the problems people have with Dex-Cool are related to the cooling system going low. The dye precipitates out of the coolant and forms a grease like substance. If you keep your cooling system full there will be no problem. Dex-Cool is a silicate free coolant which avoids the scaly build up that can happen with the green stuff.

I've used Dex-Cool with NO problems in all the vehicles that I've had and/or worked on with no adverse effects. Anything from GM, Ford, Nissan, Volvo, Mercedes, etc... even tractors.

Oh, and my '99 3400 still has it's original intake gasket.

[lovefrom1977]

ok the other night i was at the gas station and i noticed a little bit of smoke coming from under the hood. when i lifted it up you could hear water sort of and it looked like all the antifreze was leaking on the ground. then when i got into the car and started driving the low coolant light went on? does this have anything to do with it?

also 3 different kinds of coolants have been in the radiator.

[p1mptress]

When my low coolant light started to come on i just kept filling it and then it started to make a clicking noise. I brought it to the mechanic to find out that my head gasket was blown, $1700 later it's fixed but I still have the clicking noise and it still shakes a little when stopped (not as bad as before). So when you get it fixed don't expect it to run like new.

[Ryan from Ohio]

If its leaking that bad your done.

Drain the oil immediately... Or potential risk your motor.

Its done and needs repaired NOW!

[Ortz]

so the felpro kit is the right way to go and not with a GM kit?

[Ryan from Ohio]

The Felpro with the metal deals and perma dry seals.

Why risk doing it again? Use the best the first time and be done with it :)