GM 3800 head gasket leak

[NMBurb02]

GreeCguy's Burp, or "motoring indigestion" and And the winner is, (burpy motor trouble) threads, in conjunction with a recently observed slow drop in coolant level in the absence of any obvious leaks, I believe I may have a leaking head gasket on the GP. There is no sign of coolant in the oil or oil in the coolant, the coolant level has only dropped slightly over time, and the engine has not overheated in the 13+ months I have owned it. I had a used oil analysis done following my previous OC (about 3,700 miles ago) and no coolant was found in that sample, but I believe my motor was burping prior to that change.

Now for my questions:
1. What can I do, short of pulling the heads, to verify it is a head gasket leak?
2. If it is not a head gasket leak, what else might it be?
3. How difficult is it to change the head gaskets on a supercharged GM 3800? I have a service manual and things seem pretty straightforward, but things are not always as they seem. If I do it myself, I will make sure the car can be out of service for the entire weekend to account for my slow work pace and possible delays.
4. What else should/could be done from a preventive maintenance/inexpensive mild performance upgrades perspective while I have the top end apart? I plan on replacing with new units any gaskets I remove during the process.
5. Is upgrading to a metal head gaskets worth the extra $100, or should the Felpro gaskets be fine?

Thanks in advance!

 

[zvm77us]

your sure its not the famous intake gasket problem (not head gasket)

 

[Revving2Redline]

I know what your problem is...its the orange dexcool coolant. I owned a w-body 3.1L and they flushed the orange dexcool and i went back to old green and never had a problem. The coolant they factory filled (orange) very aggressive on seals. Read around, thats whats going on.Go Green

 

[Revving2Redline]

When they bailed out gm they didnt bail out the consumers who put their hard earned money into this primitive car company who trashed and destroyed pontiac, oldsmobile, Hummer, saturn, SAAB, and whoever else they could. You'd think they would have told the truth and admitted that their coolant was causing these problems to the consumer. With the way their service/quality is going; I hope in 10 years all they make and sell is toilet paper because all they produce and know about is S#!T.

 

[bigt61]

Pop in a few of these and let it eat. They are the same as GM pellets available at the dealer but these are much cheaper at NAPA.

 

[NMBurb02]

Originally Posted By: zvm77us
your sure its not the famous intake gasket problem (not head gasket)

From what I have read, that was fixed in the Series III, which mine is, so if it is the intake gasket, it is not the normal failure seen in previous series.

 

[Revving2Redline]

If head gasket was really the issue, I think motor oil would look like mcdonald's milk shake. Only bright side,probably tastes better than mcdonald's.

 

[Chris142]

Some have a heated throttle body and it or its gasket can pass coolant into the intake.

 

[xxch4osxx]

Check to make sure the water pump isn't leaking. The '05 GP my other half had was losing coolant from the water pump right before it failed.

 

[NMBurb02]

Originally Posted By: Chris142
Some have a heated throttle body and it or its gasket can pass coolant into the intake.

Mine does and I replaced that gasket a little while ago, so I will check that out. Any idea what the proper torque is for the bolts holding the TB onto the supercharger intake?

 

[xxch4osxx]

Originally Posted By: Marco620
I know what your problem is...its the orange dexcool coolant. I owned a w-body 3.1L and they flushed the orange dexcool and i went back to old green and never had a problem. The coolant they factory filled (orange) very aggressive on seals. Read around, that's whats going on.Go Green
Like it has been stated here before, Dexcool is an excellent coolant, it was the wrong type of gaskets that were not compatible with it that caused the IMG failures.

 

[edwardh1]

wonder why GM changed whatever was working on the previous models?

 

[Trav]

Well it didn't take long for this thread to turn into a GM bash.
These engines are not prone to gasket issues, if the oil is not milky i would suspect either a hose weeping past a clamp especially if someone substituted a worm clamp somewhere or the plastic coolant elbow.

 

[Merkava_4]

Quote:
I may have a leaking head gasket on the GP.


Quote:
There is no sign of coolant in the oil or oil in the coolant, the coolant level has only dropped slightly over time, and the engine has not overheated in the 13+ months I have owned it.


What makes you think you have a head gasket leak? I don't see any evidence in the opening post.

Coolant level dropping slightly over time is due to evaporation out of the reservoir.

 

[ls1mike]

Is it supercharged? Check the coolant elbows. I had a bad elbow that would leak from time to time and I could not find it. Replaced it and good to go.

Trav is right again!

Edit: I see it is superchaged. It is not your headgasket. You are either losing it out the overflow, your waterpump is old, the radiator is seaping or you have a bad elbow.

 

[artificialist]

Look at ever coolant connection, and see if there is some white crusty stuff there. If there is, you need to replace that part.

I'm not used to seeing 3800 head gaskets leak, I am only used to seeing it on the 3100 and 3400.

 

[threeputtpar]

If you really want to rule out a headgasket problem, you should do a compression test and a leakdown test.

If you think that you're burning coolant, check some of the spark plugs. In the cylinders that are buring coolant, the plug will look like it has been steam cleaned.

OT: I always chuckle when in these type of threads that the first few posters neglect to answer any of the OP's questions and go straight to the bashing of whatever car company is being discussed.