I just had the lower intake manifold changed on my Pontiac Montana 3.4L. The leak was luckily mostly and exterior coolant leak. I was wondering how much crap can get into the engine while they are performing this repair(Old gasket material, dirt, coolant, RTV)? They did an oil change when they were done, but I was contemplating doing another quick change myself with a cheap oil like Trop Artic or something before running a full OCI. It has been about 500 miles since the repair. Does this make sense, or am I wasting my money? The oil looks very clean but I was concerned that they could have spilled coolant, or old gasket material into the engine when doing the repair.
GM Intake Manifold Gasket Changed
- Thread starter tmorris1
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My guess is that if you have run 500 miles, then the "crap" is now either in the filter, or caught somewhere that will not flush through the system.
The change won't hurt a thing and is cheap. If it will make you more comfortable, the have at it.
The change won't hurt a thing and is cheap. If it will make you more comfortable, the have at it.
JHZR2
Staff member
yes do it!!! UOA shows that it takes MANY oil changes for K and Na to get out of the system... he crud that might have made its way in either did its damage or got to the filter very early on... but nobody can be sure if coolant got inside...
JMH
JMH
The old gaskets don't have to be scraped off, they are rubber rings held in a plastic body. There could be small amounts of silicone sealer from the ends if they weren't careful. I can guarantee some coolant got in. It's impossible to drain the manifold completely, and most mechanics leave the rear valve cover on the head and tilt the manifold to get it out.
Changing the oil/filter is cheap insurance. I have changed the gasket out on several 3.1's and have changed the oil (and filter) at 500 and 1000 miles just to be sure. I just use the regular oil that I normally use.
BTW, TropArtic may be inexpensive but it is a very good oil. It's one of my normal preferred flavors to use along with Havoline/Kendall/MC.
BTW, TropArtic may be inexpensive but it is a very good oil. It's one of my normal preferred flavors to use along with Havoline/Kendall/MC.
I realize that Trop Artic is a great oil. By cheap, I was referring to cost. I may very well continue to use Trop Artic also. I stuck with the DuraBlend that I started using when Valvoline had all their rebates going just so the UOA would be consistant to check for coolant in the oil.
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