jus had the same prob wit my 97 se... i saw a bad gasket but the mechanic said it wasnt jus that.. it was water pump :( crappy deal! o well....

Ok, now I'm really confused! :(

I just replaced a broken PLASTIC bypass fitting on my '92 SE.

But, the upper intake manifold is definitely ALUMINUM!

Could the '92 models have come out with either plastic or aluminum
upper intakes, depending on time of manufacture?

My 92 SE was US built & has a metal coolant fitting change-up now. My upper Intake IS cheap pot metal too. If I remember right, the plastic uppers came out in 93/94.

The new Series III 3800 upper intake WILL NOT WORK due to the Series III'* "Drive -by-wire" system. "Drive-by-wire" means it is all electronic with zero mechanical assisted parts. Believe me, I've already looked into this as soon as I saw the first 04 GP hit our lot last month.

I got to say, Im a big fan of the Buick V6 and its offspring and own most of them, but upon hearing about this problem with the L36 this past summer I became quite disgusted with GM. A plastic intake manifold and manifold gasket ? Its a no brainer, plastic always shrinks and contorts its a long well known fact. Thats why weather stripping becomes inches to short for windows, steering wheels crack and split, plastic left in the sun turns to dust, its BS. How much did they save making manifolds and gaskets out of plastic ? Did they pass this savings on to the consumer ? Yea right ! Remember back in the early 90'* when the buzz was about why new cars prices were so high and that it was because manufactures were using more high tec materials, this must be some of that high tec coming through.

My point ?

GM should be held responsible for this and proper repairs made. Look at all the unsuspecting used car buyers getting stuck with this major engine failure and Im sure many of them have fried their engines. What will be the end result of word of this problem getting all over to the buying public. Bad for GM and bad for the people that have 3800 powered cars they want to sell.

Plastic in engines you got to be kidding me ????????

Thank goodness the L67 is alum. I found out about the series 2 plastic after buying the LSS got imeadiatly paronoid but found a post on this forum that identified the problem. It would have been a topic current last summer. I was ready to go back to the Olds dealer and tell them give me my money back.

Plastic engine parts ?????????? Get a life engineers the gains arent worth the cost.

I got lucky. It turned out to be the plastic fitting for the coolant bypass. I removed the alternator. I just touched the hose and it broke off the rest of the way. I am amazed that the leak wasn't much worse.
Thanks to all for your great suggestions. I think my manifold is aluminum. So knock on wood....
BTW, the new waterpump and serpentine belt run much quieter, so the engine seems to run smoother.