Thank you for tuning into this thread. Here I am going to step by step replace my lower intake manifold gasket. There will be lots of pics. And lots of questions. I know many of you can do this in a few hours, so I set aside a few weeks to do it myself. I have read the repair manual, multiple threads, and watched many videos over and over and I am ready to tackle this. I am fairly handy, not afraid to break things, cheap, and have lots of patience. So just to get you up to speed here is a summary of the story so for. I have a 2006 Grand Prix GT with 120K miles. For years always smelled coolant in the engine bay, but never lost coolant. And I was always have to rinse out the heater core because I was not getting heat at times. Also had the gurgling noise. This went on for years and everyone was happy. Then I started to actually loose coolant. Could not see a leak. So I took it to the shop and they pressure tested it and found a leak in the radiator. I replaced the radiator and all was good for 2 months, but then more smell and more coolant loss. I also smelled coolant in the car for the first time. At this point I saw coolant below the water pump. So armed with a little knowledge replaces the heater core, water pump, and thermostat with housing. Took a few weeks, but I felt good about myself. Then drove the car to test it and guess what. Still lost coolant and still had coolant smell in engine compartment. Bought a pressure tester and used this to diagnose a small leak somewhere but I could not find it. So I thought to myself, crap, its a head gasket. So I bought a block tester and no luck, head gasket was fine. Then I bought the dye and UV light. Armed with this I tested the cooling system. And found the leak. The side of the LIM gasket puts out coolant above the water pump. I could see it with the UV light. And I found that once the engine gets hot the coolant evaporates quickly. I could only see the leak while the car was warming up.


Car has always run perfect. Never overheated. The temp does fluctuate a little between the second and third mark on the gauge, but once it gets above halfway it cools down again.


Shops want $550 to do it. Plus parts.


So here is my plan. Start from the beginning and take a picture of every step so that when I go to put it back together I will have documentation. This is here and not in DIY because I know I will have many questions as I go.


So lets proceed...

Step 1 - disconnect the battery



Step 2 - disconnect tube from MAF housing to Supercharger - There is a vacuum line attached to it









Step 3 - start on wiring harness

disconnect this one first, pop up the grey thing and it comes off



Step 4 - undo the next wire in line



and the next



and the next



Step 5 - remove the wires connected to the injectors. And here is my first question. How so you get the wires off. I have pics of one in the front. I popped up the green tab, but now what? Just pull?





So I am going to continue my adventure. If anyone has pointers on how to get this off let me know.