Thread: SF Bay Area assistance (LIM leak diagnosis)

hopefully someone can help you out..if i was closer i would

Hey man id help ya out but im in stockton Altho i do have a garage and tools
Im about 1.5-2 hours away
Its really not that bad of a fix if it is just the lim gaskets....

OK, so I figured I would go about this a different way. Here are some pictures of what things are looking like. I actually think the front valve cover gasket has failed also.

Appears to be coolant where there shouldn't be as indicated by the oil fill cap with nasty yellow gunk when the motor is cold.

There is also sludge in the valley between the intake manifold and both valve covers. It looks like the oil may actually be coming from the valve cover mostly but I couldn't get a good angle on that for a picture.

1. I found a garage to use but have to rely on my own tools. I watched the video, and it doesn't look like any special tools are needed. I have a decent mechanics toolset (ratchets, wrenches, etc) and a torque wrench. Is there anything special I might need that I missed in the video?

2. I'm obviously going to change the oil and coolant, but as there seems to have been some mixing of the two, should I do anything in particular to try to eliminate coolant from oil and oil from coolant?

3. Other than LIM and UIM gaskets, coolant elbows and valve cover gaskets, should I consider replacing anything else at this point? I've heard that the plenum lasts about 100K before it warps and causes problems and it was replaced at 100K on the car and I'm now at 161K. Should I consider swapping that out? Also, I'm assuming spark plugs will be more accessible with things torn down, so maybe I'll do plugs and wires as well now. What's the suggestion on those for a stock GT?

Thanks for the help!