Intake Leak - 2002 Monte Carlo 3.4L

[BBuzecky]

My girlfriend recently went to have her oil changed at a local Chevy dealership today. It's a 2002 Monte Carlo, 3400 engine series, about 90,000 on the clock. The engine burns oil quite a bit, I'd say at least 2 quarts per 3,000 miles at least. The coolant has been flushed twice, but has always been more of a brown sludge thanks to Dex-cool.

At any rate, they called her back saying that the intake is leaking, and it will cost just north of $1,000 to fix. A few pictures...

An engine shot of the Monte Carlo...

Shot of the leak, center in picture..

Closer shot of the leak...

The mechanic who changed the oil said that the oil he drained was fine, no sign of coolant, and while not promising anything he thought the problem had just developed recently. The coolant hoses were just changed on her last service, which is right by that area, and nothing was mentioned at that time.

Upon coming home and snapping some pictures, I took this picture of the left side of the engine...

While not as bad as the right side, which the mechanic showed us, it still seems that side could be bad as well.


The question I have for the community, how long is it possible to go before this becomes a serious issue? I have been told these intakes are notorious leakers, and the mechanic agreed with that statement, saying he has seen leaks on cars with much less than 90k on the clock. Ideally, my girlfriend is looking to drive the car over the winter and dump it for something new. It certainly doesn't make sense to dump over $1,000 into it, although having a blown engine is not a great idea either. What do you think, please give your opinion!

 

[FL_Rob]

They really knew right where to look, didnt they? How this never made it to class action / recall IDK.
Are you ready for my quick fix suggestion?...Flush the dex,put in old fashioned green coolant,with one bottle of Bars Leaks liquid copper block seal(there's no pellets and it wont clog the heater core) ,I use it,and it works on leaks WAY bigger than yours.$1000 bucks ,no thanks.

 

[mechtech2]

FL _Rob has given sound advice.^^
Well worth a shot, at a minimum.

 

[HTSS_TR]

I would follow FL_Rob's advices, at most your girlfriend will be out of her pocket about $15-20 if you do the flush yourself with Prestone T-Flush.

 

[BBuzecky]

Well I haven't done any coolant work on this car, it has had 2 flushes at the dealership in it's lifetime. I do coolant work on my car (2004 Mazda 3), but that's merely a simple drain and fill. Can anyone give me pointers on how to flush the coolant yourself on this Monte Carlo?

Also, let's say we just leave things as is. Anyone have (even a rough guess) of when this leak will really start to become a problem for the engine?

 

[The_Eric]

Take the by-pass hose loose (little hose on the front left of the engine) and plug the water pump end of the stand off tube. Hook a garden hose up to the hose and disconnect the upper radiator hose. Plug the water neck at the engine and let the discharge drain from the upper radiator hose.

 

[Colt45ws]

You could probably DIY it for like $400 if you wanted to actually fix it.

There are also two block drains, one on the front is easy to reach, its like a 3/8" pipe plug, iirc. One on the back is in the same position mirrored over, so you have to figure out how to get over the transmission. If you have a swivel and a couple long extensions, its not too bad. Though, if you drop the plug it becomes a PITA as it will lodge between the engine and the trans.
At least you can drain the front real easy though.

Do a UOA if you want to find out if its going into the engine.

 

[Scienceman]

If she is going to dump it, I'd do not one thing to it.

 

[Colt45ws]

Originally Posted By: Troy_Built
If she is going to dump it, I'd do not one thing to it.


Oh, I didnt see that.
Yeah, change the oil every 3k with SuperTech and dump it at the first opprotunity.

 

[Trav]

Stop leak may work for a short time.These sealer's work pretty good on regular gaskets and small holes/cracks in metal but these are soft seals on a plastic frame.The seals are deteriorated badly and soggy so there isn't much there for the sealer to hang on to.

The leak will get worse and engine damage will occur fairly quickly,probably main and rod bearing damage first.Changing coolant type and flushing dexcool out is useless at this point,its closing the barn door after the horse already got out.

IMHO Fix it now (quickly) or dump it.

 

[BBuzecky]

Thanks guys for the posts. Like I said, at this point she is looking to dump it at a certain point, but was hoping to get through winter with it. It's obviously a problem that is going to get worse with time, I was just unsure if it's something that should be done right away, or a situation that could be left alone for 6 months and sold off to Carmax or the car dealer.

It seems the dice may be rolled on this one, hopefully the engine doesn't [censored] out.

 

[WishIhadatruck]

I've had 2 leakers in the past, a 3100 and a 3800, and both get creamy junk under the oil fill cap when coolant gets in there. I'd keep watching for that. Don't go past 3000 miles on an oil change and change it sooner (1-2000 miles if necessary) if the leak seems to get worse. It will most likely make it till spring with no issues. I'd probably put in some bars stop leak as well, don't bother with a flush at this point or just do some drain and refills before the stop leak.

On my 3100 I had a pretty good leak, here is the UOA of before, when first caught, and a UOA with a very short <1000 mile change. It still looked fine while leaking with 887 miles on the oil. I just switched to a very cheap oil, Trop Artic, and it was no big deal just to change it regularly until I got rid of the car. At least for me it was a worthless '94 Grand Prix with 208k miles on it and all rusted out. My original intention was to run it until the next spring but a gas tank leak caused me to get rid of it earlier in Oct. I already owned its replacment, my '01 GP, so it was no big deal to me.

 

[firefighter]

Originally Posted By: Trav
Stop leak may work for a short time.These sealer's work pretty good on regular gaskets and small holes/cracks in metal but these are soft seals on a plastic frame.The seals are deteriorated badly and soggy so there isn't much there for the sealer to hang on to.

The leak will get worse and engine damage will occur fairly quickly,probably main and rod bearing damage first.Changing coolant type and flushing dexcool out is useless at this point,its closing the barn door after the horse already got out.

IMHO Fix it now (quickly) or dump it.








I agree at this point sealer will do nothing, and changing coolant is not going to do anything at this point either. I've had to many of these apart and see how they fail. Fix it right or sell it.

 

[dwcopple]

shop around too. Most independent shops will do these intake fixes for around $475-500. Well worth it. And just so we are all clear, it did make it to a class action suit which is now closed. My parents and sister each got a measly 65 bucks for a several hundred dollar fix.

 

[BIGJ552000]

Class Action lawsuits are a joke. All they really do is make $$$$$ for lawyers, the people who really need the help from these "class actions" rarely get much. GM themselves should have just stepped up to the plate and took care of their mistake in the first place. They deserve to be where they are right now.

 

[onion]

Those GM stopleak pellets work amazingly well. I wouldn't consider them a permanent fix, but they'd probably get her through the winter.

If that was my girlfriend, I'd put in the GM stopleak pellets, keep an eye out for sludge under the oil cap, external leaks, and coolant loss... and then dump the vehicle at the first opportunity.

 

[dwcopple]

Originally Posted By: BIGJ552000
Class Action lawsuits are a joke. All they really do is make $$$$$ for lawyers, the people who really need the help from these "class actions" rarely get much. GM themselves should have just stepped up to the plate and took care of their mistake in the first place. They deserve to be where they are right now.
+1

 

[Jakegday]

wow!! $1000!!! how can they justify that?? i just did mine on my grand prix. $43 for the gaskets and it took me about 3 hours