Whats up. I just joined the forum because im planning on buying 1 of 2 2000 Bonnevilles either Thursday or Friday this week. Both are black SSEi'*, one has 48,000 miles and the other has 85,000 miles. Question: Do the supercharged 3800'* have the same amount of intake manifold problems as the NA 3800'*? I only get a 3month warranty with either car and dont really have alot of DIY know-how when it comes to engines, so whats the deal with these things? Are these supercharged versions "known" for going 75,000+ miles with no LIM or UIM problems? The SSEi with 85,000 miles is only $7,750 as opposed to $8,995 for the one with 48,000 miles, so would I have better luck of having the previous owner having already replaced the Intake Manifold gaskets on the higher mileage Bonne? I owned a 93 Bonne "SE" before back in the day and it was pretty sweet, so I "was" ready and willing to go ahead and finance one of these 2000'* but the intake manifold gasket problems everybody is talking about on here is making me not want to touch one. Any info would be cool....

the ssei does suffer from the lower intake gasket problems just like every other 3800 series 2, the new aluminum framed gaskets from gm seem to have fixed the problem tho. I wouldnt let the lim scare you away from the car if i were you, its not that big of a deal if they go, hell i bought a 00 alero with the 3400 which is even more common for the problem and i havent had a peep from it.

Hey, welcome to the club...

I just had my LIM gaskets replaced a few weeks ago. I've owned my NA 3800 (2001 SE) for almost 3 years now. I wouldn't shy away from any 3800 powered car because of the problem. I would buy my car all over again, if I had to.

You won't have to worry about the UIM having problems, as with the SSEi'* the composite UIM (the problem part) is replaced with the supercharger.

My car had 67,000 miles on it when mine went. So, if you go by mileage the 48k one probably is fine for now, and the 85k will probably need it soon if not done already. I'd say your chances are a lot better that the work was already done on the 85k one, though.

I had my LIM gaskets done by the dealer. It is a pretty substantial bill if you have them do it. I would guess your bill would be around $800-ish if you don't do it yourself. Mine was about $700 for the labor, and the new aluminum gaskets are around $60.

Hope that helps your decision... Good luck with your car hunt either way.

Moved to General Chat. We reserve the 2000-2005 section for mechanical problems only (on a car you already own). Non-mechanical Bville chat lives here.

I wouldn't shy away from either of the two cars.

Being supercharged, you don't have the upper intake worries of filling the motor with coolant. There is still the lower intake gasket issue though and we've seen people well into the 150'* w/o changing them. Now..that doesn't mean that if they were changed, that they wouldn't have looked bad.

Another thing to consider, depending where you live...there are usually plenty of local club members willing to help DIY and change out the gaskets. A case of beer and a pizza will get you a heck of a discount on labor. For example....if you are in the north east.. don't worry about it and send me a pm to schedule a date once you buy the car. Then we'll plan a meet, have about 5010 members there and get it done in record time for about $60-$80 in parts.