frost plug location question

[Rileysowner]

I seem to remember that Zam did his. Maybe if we could find a good time and location we could all get together to do the gaskets, not that I have any idea on how long that would take, certainly less time with someone who has done it before. I don't know much about it, but would love to help although this is my busy season as a pastor.

[Cobra]

i think Zam only did the intake manifold and did an interesting write up with pics of his missing seats

[crash]

well, a tech friend of mine just stopped in the store, without even looking at it he quickly stated it was the intake gasket.... describing exactly where and how it's leaking. nice #-o

sadly, I am very confident that you guys are all right...

being that I don't have a garage .... or a crap load of time/daylight. I'm going to ask my neighbour if I can use his garage for a day (he owes me for a few computer repair jobs I've done for him). I've ordered in the intake and valve cover gaskets as well going to to a thermostat and quite possibly the waterpump (I have a new spare in my basement) and may even change the EGR valve gasket for one of the mesh screen ones. going to do the plugs and wires too. being that he's in there..... yes, I said he. the tech said he'd probably be able to do it for me on monday if I can have use of the garage.

thank the Lord I work at a parts store!!! [-o<

man.. I hate spending anything on this thing, as I was only hoping for it to get me through to the spring and look for another 99 - 00

[crash]

talked to the service mgr at another shop we sell to on my way home when dropping off some parts he'd ordered. he seems to think that the intake gasket going is a bit rare of an occurrence on the 4.3L ... mentioning it can happen but would seem more likely to him that it'd be one of the heater hose quick connects on the intake. nonetheless, nothing get's checked out any further until I can get in somewhere warm. curses to my boss for not finishing the power steering/disc brake/tilt polished column swap on his 56 bel air. it's about about 50% done with no end in site. he hasn't laid a finger on it in at least 2 months. guess the shop bay will be winter storage again this year. last year before the tear down at least I could pull it out for a few hours if i needed to work on mine.

[Smiliesafari]

Not trying to be a "know it all" but I think the service manager is mistaken. Several people here have done theirs. Including me. In time the intake gaskets just deteriorate. Mine literally crumbled into pieces when I removed the manifold. Here's a tip to make it a little easier. Remove both seats so you have more room to work. You'll be in and out of the van several times while doing this repair. It's really not that bad. Just time consuming. I had everything removed and cleaned ready for assembly in one day. And everything put back together the next. And no beer breaks. Total focus and work.

[Kidhauler]

I had a leak in the same area and thought it could be a frost plug. Turned out to be a gasket on the water pump. I pressurised the system by removing the overflow tube and blowing compressed air into the system. I had to remove the whole powersteering bracket and A/C unit to see the spraying coolant coming out of the water pump. It was coming out on a angle that went right behind the bracket so it looked like a frost plug. Water pumps are only around $60 i would try that first and see if it stops the leak before you start tearing the intake off.

[crash]

thanks again guys. I'd be VERY happy if it was only the waterpump. I have a spare sitting in the basement that I bought about a 18mths ago. I also have confirmed use of the neighbours garage for monday. until then it's all speculation. I'll have everything on hand we'll go from there once we get a better look. whatever it is.. I'm just hoping that it holds out until monday before completely letting go. yesterday when I got to work, there was no green puddle at the end of the day. this morning again, no green puddle. both going to and coming home from work is about a 10min run including a stop for a coffee (each way). either time the van didn't get a chance to get up to temp and there was no leak.

if it was the intake wouldn't that leak constantly as opposed to leaking once the system gets hot and builds pressure? (just trying to speculate on the side of optimism LOL)

[Smiliesafari]

My intake gasket never leaked to the outside. The indicator of a leak was I had to fill the radiator overflow bottle twice a week. There never was a detectable leak from the outside anywhere.

[astrozam]

if it was the intake wouldn't that leak constantly as opposed to leaking once the system gets hot and builds pressure? (just trying to speculate on the side of optimism LOL)

My intake seeped ( it was never a huge leak, and never left a puddle under the van ) and unlike Skip's it seeped out the drivers front corner of the gasket and down the block under the Tstat. This would be preferable to a leak which put the coolant down into the lifter valley mixing with the oil, but we don't get to pick where they leak so you are gonna have to do some exploratory surgery...lol

You mention it didn't get up to temp, so I can only assume you mean the tstat did not open? if so, there would not have been any coolant flowing thru the tstat into the top rad hose and back into the rad, maybe you will get lucky and find a pin hole leak in that top hose where it connects to your tstat's water outlet ( thanks Cobra,lol ) those pieces of metal are made of aluminum ( mine is ) and have the tendency to corrode ( in fact I think I bought a new one off you way back when I did all my work ) Anyhoo, keep us informed... and take pics.

[Cobra]

You mean the water outlet zam? now that i think about it mine was all white when i did the tstat



that's it i'm not posting anymore from work this network is messed up

[astrozam]

You mean the water outlet zam? now that i think about it mine was all white when i did the tstat

Thanks Cobra, I believe thats what they are called... original post now edited.

[crash]

also grabbed an upper rad hose, one of those heater hose quick connects and new housing

and get this.. a customer comes in today offering his wifes car for sale, his father past away and he's inheriting his 05 impala. a very clean 98 lumina ltz 3.8L (black on grey) saftied and emmisions tested at a VERY reasonable price.... decisions decisions

I told him that i'd wait and see what's wrong with the van .. LOL ](*,)

[crash]

well.. here's the outcome. after trying to track this leak down with no success again. scraping dirt/grease off the block, heads, intake etc .. off to a rad shop (a customer of my parts store) and borrowed a pressure tester. pumped it up and waited...... trickle trickle... jackpot!!! right side of the thermostat housing!!! a previous owner repair, the bolt on the passenger side was broken off in the manifold. instead of drilling it out and removing it properly they tapped another hole, on an angle no less. the housing itself was broken and macgyver'd up with a whack load of silicone. the bolt on the left side wasn't really even tight. there was probably about 3mm of housing actually making contact with the gasket and it just finally started to leak. i guess all in all they'd have called it a successful repair considering it held as long as it did. i've had the van for over 3yrs.

total parts used: gasket, new stat, coolant, some speedy dry and a new housing

I took pics

based on the coolant stains on the front of the block behind/below the water pump, this is where we thought it was coming from. you can see where we cleaned off the grease and found nothing


after filling the system with pressure .. you can see the leak. it was so hard to trace simply because of where it was leaking from. it'd dribble down on the top (dead centre) of the timing cover and sometimes would run down the right hand side, sometimes the left of the cover. from under the van there were coolant stains on the block down either side and of course once it hit the cross members... it went anywhere, then would drip to the ground


we still had to notch out the new housing to accommodate the angle of the hole. the only proper complete repair would have been to replace the intake itself. with the age of the van, for me, not an option. at least now the housing is centred on the intake and not sitting off to one side more than the other. there's only a thin thin layer of gasket maker and a gasket as well as the rubber stat seal. it should be good for at least another 5yrs

[astrozam]

Whats my prize?? lol

[crash]

Whats my prize?? lol

LOL.. a good deal on parts whenever you need them and a timmies whenever you are in the neighborhood