Ok, I have both a 98 Bonnie and a 99 Park. Both have had the intakes chgd the Bonnie has a 2000 code and the Park a 2002 code other than that I dont know who did it or when. Now I have put over 150k on the Bonnie myself with excellent maintenance and it now has 212k miles. It doesn't use any coolant at all and runs great. I plan to only drive it thru this winter then sell it off, should I just leave it alone ?

Second and more important, the Park, I assume the repair was done at a GM dealer as the woman who owned this car took it to the same dealer she bought it from for everything. It appears the lower may have been done too as I notice a bright orange edge coming around the lower im. Now.. this car too seems to not go thru any coolant. I did chg it when I got the car and used the red coolant that I believe is Havoline or whatever. i put on a new cap and thermo drilled. Should I just keep an eye on this one too instead of changing it out ?

Now for the last of my long winded post..Can someone tell me blow by blow the changing procedure, what sockets or special tools are needed, and the best UIM and gasket set and elbow to buy and where to get them. Also I only see one elbow is that correct ? Thanks so much. I will save and print the instructions that way if I need to do it then im all set. Also anyone near Syracuse NY, lol, thanks guys !

Much of the decision depends on how much you want to play the odds. Even with them already being done, being the plastic gaskets, they will fail again. It'* like the hard drive in your computer. Not a question of if it will fail, but more when it will fail. Do you back up your filles? How often, etc. Same for the intake gaskets.

If you want to play the odds on the '98 that it will last the winter, then you may want to wait and not do those. The '98 will have only one coolant elbow.

The '99 - if you are going to keep that for a while, would be better to change again. All the information on part numbers are listed in the techinfo article. There have been a few part number changes for the LIM, the latest posted here...

http://www.bonnevilleclub.com/forum/...ic.php?t=61639

It also will have two coolant elbows in the tensioner as shown in this diagram..



They are available at the dealer (they may or may not have trouble finding the part number for the second elbow) or Dorman'* help 47065, available at PepBoys and some other parts stores

As for a step by step, if you are going to be doing work on this vehicle, a good manual for the car is the way to go. Get either a factory service manual, or a Chilton'* for the car (Look on ebay for the FSM.) If all else fails, when you're ready to do the work - we can help you out then, rather than clutter up the board now.

For now, if you want to get an idea - check out Bill Boosts post ..

http://www.bonnevilleclub.com/forum/...c.php?t=40654&

Keep in mind that is for a supercharged engine, and is an old post so some things (in particular the LIM gasket) has changed since then.

Here'* another topic that will give you a general idea:

http://www.bonnevilleclub.com/forum/...highlight=ek98

And Techinfo is still your friend, too.
NEBF might be a prime opportunity to do this work. At least on one of your cars. That will give you the confidence to tackle the other one yourself.

If I read your post correctly, and the most recent UIM in the '98 has 150K and 6 years on it, it is an internal coolant leak waiting to happen. I would not want to sell that car to someone knowing that a catastrophic engine failure, that I could have prevented, was imminent. If you don't want to invest much money in the '98, you could replace the LIM gaskets with plastic frames for $40, install a sleeve in your existing UIM for about $10, buy a reduced diameter stovepipe for $10, change out the coolant for $15 and install an new elbow for $5. That would give the next owner a decent chance of running the car 'til the tranny goes belly up, and you could get it done for $80. By doing the work yourself, you will learn how to do the fix on your '99 PA. You might choose to do a higher level fix on the PA with a new APN upper and GM aluminum frame LIM gaskets. The information on how to do all these fixes can be found here on BC by searching the archives. Start with the links in Techinfo article 38. http://www.bonnevilleclub.com/forum/...e=article&k=38

wow, I still can't believe these are that much a problem, I have had Lesabres and Grand Prix'* and NEVER had a problem, maybe im just lucky. I still feel that doing the PA may be overkill, I mean I do not know how many miles are on it since its been done and maybe it has the updated parts ?? What is NBEF and how could this help ? Thanks guys im really in a quagmier . If you do the chnage then this is something that needs to be done every couple years still ? I just remembered my neighbor has my old Gran Prix and it now has 180k and its the orignal UIM and LIM go figure

I read all the links but still unsure, is there a good place to buy EVERYTHING needed elbows,gaskets,UIM everything ? What is the best combo of stuff to use all dealer from GM ? How long will this last after doing it ?

oh one more thing, the one post said the 99 should have the smaller stovepipe, would my PA have the smaller one being as this was done in 2002 ?

The choice is yours. You can listen to the "experts" - the people who have torn the intakes down, and worked on them who tell you to do the repair, or you can wait until they do let loose on you and hope that it didn't do any damage to the bottom end your engine. Keep in mind that Murphy'* Law will likely come into play if you wait.

seems there is no clear cut choice as to what parts are best to use. I wonder if getting everything from a GM dealer or go to Advanced Auto or what, this is confusing to say the least..

There are only 2 GOOD upper manifolds available. The APN kit and the Dillon intake (available from Bob Dillon on this Forum).

where are the APN'* sold ? Where do you get the upper and lower gaskets ? Coolant elbows ?

What I may do is do the PA while it is stored in my garage for the winter.Do you think I should do that even though it has a 2002 UIM on it now and no signs of loosing coolant ? ? Do you need to remove the tensioner and alt to do it ? Do both elbows need to be changed or just the one ?Who on here has the most experiance doing these that I could ask for tips and pointers ?

There is a link to APN in the Techinfo article link in my previous post. (See above.) Every one of your questions above is answered in that article or in the references provided with it. All you need to do is read it.