Thread: coolant leak

so tonight after beating on my car a little bit i parked it and let it idle while i grabbed a Gatorade from the gas station, walked out and talked to a guy for a minute and the whole time i could smell the smell of hot coolant,

my car was the only car there so i watched my track as i backed up and saw no puddles but i looked at the temp gauge and its running a lil warm, (a little past the middle mark, drove home and it stayed there,

got out of the car and could smell the coolant so i grabbed a light and sure enough there was coolant between the valve covers and the intake manifold/ supercharger

my cars build date is 12/2003 and i heard something about the early 04 gps having intake gasket problems, not sure if this is true but i would appreciate some comments

also how hard/long does it to do intake gaskets on a gtp (i do engine swaps and have more then enough tools to get it done)

Lower intake manifold gaskets go bad every couple of years.

Its not hard to do and can take 2-4 hours start to finish.

ok, my valve cover gaskets look a little messy so i figured i would do those aswell, also any point in replacing the water pump at the same time?

i am planning to do headers, i would guess this would make header install easier..


i plan to go with gm parts as i work for a dealership and get stupid good discounts on gm parts

let me see if i am missing anything

supercharger gasket
lower intake gaskets
tb gasket
valve cover gasket / grommet
injector o rings
coolant elbows
pcv valve
and maybe a few vac lines as mine look a lil too cracked
coolant/oil

am i missing anything?

Yarp, Silicone RTV...you can get it at GM too, but it's hella expensive...it's needed for the LIM gaskets, just 4 little spots...but without it, you'll chance having another leak.

Permatex Ultra copper. Lay down a blob in all four lim corners before and after the gaskets. Pipe sealant with ptfe for all LIM bolts. Use either the FelPro aluminum gaskets for the GM aluminum gaskets.

Couple cans of brake cleaner to do a final wipe on gasket surfaces and a can of TB cleaner, because..you have it off.

sweet guys, i went to gm and ordered the supercharger gasket, lim gaskets and valve cover gaskets and only cost me $50

i just gotta go back and order the little stuff

That's below employee pricing... you got family at the dealer?

um, i just work for an awesome dealership... i looked up the pric for the special edition front valance and i can get it for just over $300

i have already cleaned the MAF and TB, i dont understand why pulling of the tb would have any affect on the MAF...

driving my dads beater 95 grand am while the GP waits for parts and i get a speeding ticket!! grrr i never get speeding tickets i didnt even realize i was speeding and it doesnt help the the speedo on the car is all messed up

i already dearly miss my car!! and HUD!! that thing has saved my butt!

Or, just dont remove the TB....just pull the SC from the LIM with the TB on!

Originally Posted by NR92

sweet guys, i went to gm and ordered the supercharger gasket, lim gaskets and valve cover gaskets and only cost me $50

i just gotta go back and order the little stuff

did you order the metal LIM gaskets?? not sure if GM even offers those, but if you want to keep the car for a few years you're just asking for the same problem to occur again with the plastic design.

Originally Posted by FordMan77

It won't, but since most people don't even know to clean the MAF it is suggested to do so since you have 95% of the intake system loose already. If you're cleaning the rest of the intake system you may as well take the extra time to do the rest.

oh ok that makes since


made some progress, got everything torn apart, i did in fact get the metal lim gaskets, got the lower intake back on, cleaned everything up with a razer blade to insure a clean seal

i also cleaned the valve covers in the parts washer really well and painted them so i am waiting to put the supercharger back on until the valve covers are done, i figure it will be easy that way! over all the insides of the engine look really healthy and shows that its been taken care of

still waiting on the injector seal kit and valve cover grommets to come in other wise i have everything else!

cant wait to get my GP back im tired of driving my dads old grand am with 250k miles on it!

you made sure you used some rtv on each corner of the LIM right

Originally Posted by Fivefingerdeathpunch

you made sure you used some rtv on each corner of the LIM right

yess sir