I wasn't sure where I should post this but this section seems fitting. I'm bringing up an old discussion here. I got the dreaded phone call friday night from my wife who said her car would not start. 1996 Regal w 3.8k.

I thought for sure it was a dead or weak battery so I told her to go and turn the lights on and call me back to let me know. When she called back she said the car just started but a huge amount of white smoke was coming from the back and it had a sweet smell to it. I told her not to drive it or start it again.

Oh no. I had changed the lower intake and upper plenum gaskets at 83,000 miles. Now it has 168,000 miles on it. It was running like a top, then all of a sudden this happens. I figured for sure it was the plenum or the gasket as I had sold a lot of them when I was working at a GM dealership. I was right. But what I did not know was the fact that all these 3800 seem to do this. the EGR stove pipe burns through the plenum. What a stupid design. I always thought the problem was with the gaskets. This blows. I must have spent 2 hours perusing this site and was totally amazed by all the knowledge on this site on just this topic alone. Thank you gentlemen.

I like the idea of the repair kit that'* offered but I don't want to wait so I purchased a new one from the dealer. $88.00 plus $21.00 for the gasket. It'* nice to know people. Now this new plenum looks exactly like the old. No new design. And yes the old one was the original with a date code of 10- 15- 95. What a shame.

Now what I propose to do is grind off some material on the EGR stove pipe in order to give some added clearance between the pipe and the plastic plenum. Hopefully this will aid in it'* longjevity by keeping some extreme heat away from the plastic surface.

I also retourqed the lower intake and was surprised at how loose a few were. Even though I used locktite previously. I know I should replace the lower while I'm in there but the car is 32 miles away in a driveway. It'* tough remembering to bring every little tool needed to do a job.

It should be good to go as it doesn't appear to have any coolant in the crankcase and all the spark plugs look good. Thank god she called me and did not drive it.

I just felt like bringing this old topic up as I found it very interesting.

Wouldn't it be nice if cars didn't have EGR valves. I've always hated those things.

a member here, Bob Dillon, has started repairing broken UIMs by putting a metal sleeve inside the stovepipe, the pictures explain it better so here are a couple links:

http://www.bonnevilleclub.com/forum/...=340444#340444
http://bonnevilleclub.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=50711

There are several members here running them with no problems at all, even though you just bought a new part, he could still do it to that.

Or you could return the part you just bought (since you know people) and get your old intake sleeved for half the price.

Or if nothing else you can send Bob Dillon your old UIM so he can fix it up and help someone else out later.

ALSO IF YOU HAVENT ALREADY GET THAT OIL OUT OF THAT ENGINE!!! the oil/coolant mix is eating away at your lower end bearings, so if you dont get it out of there pronto its going to be bad bad bad.

Sorry to hear it happened. Glad to hear you were able to fix it in a parking lot? That'* a good thing there.

On the oil, it is suggested that you change it a couple of times in tne next week or so.

I've pulled a pan before and there is about 1/4" of fluid below the oil plug. When we think about that and that any water or moisture would sink..that leaves the possibility that some is in the crankcase.

From what I understand, the Dorman UIM'* are supposed to have the revised EGR tube.

I finally got it fixesd and was able to drive it home. It took a good 15 - 20 minutes before the white smoke finally cleared out after start up. I guess it was all in the exhaust and cat. What a stressfull 20 minutes. I mean white smoke continued to billow out like there was no tomorrow. After the fisrt minute though, it was purring nicely. Big sigh of relief. Oil in crankcase looked good. I had just changed it only 5 days prior to this failure.

Ready for another hundred thousand miles? I hope.

I need Bill boosts address so I can send him my old one.

Yes I did just the upper. I Know I should do the lower but it was a pain to do any work to it because of where it was and time wise. I did retourque the lower while I was in there and was surprised how a few bolts were loose. I guess loctite is a waste of time for this application.

I changed the oil and did not find a hint of water in it. I let the oil sit in a clear plastic bottle overnite and found no water in it. Wicked cool.

This thing runs so sweet it'* as if nothing ever happened. I feel confident in letting my wife commute with it again. I've already shippid the oold UIM to Bob Dillon.

Bob Dillon the Musicion????

Dumb question..........

Has anyone ever experienced a vacuum leak instead of a water leak with this condition? ....or even a vacuum leak at the EGR with the distortion of the manifold?

I'm convinced my '95 should have more b@ll5.

Not personally, but looking at some of those throttle body seals, some of them must be suckin' air.

However...one of the longest running posts ever ended up to be a vacuum leak at the lower intake manifold gasket. This was not on a Series II, but an L27 92 olds 88.

http://www.bonnevilleclub.com/forum/...487&highlight=

Have recently finished the process of having the upper intake replaced (Dorman/97 Park/120k)(btw, 3rd one on this car). Also, Ken-Co kit installed and lower intake gasket replaced (about a month later following advice found on this site). Car running best since my ownership at 75k. Mechanic said that maybe a vacuum leak had been fixed. And for more good news...32mpg on a tank that was mostly (but not all) highway miles. But...a downside....Mechanic showed me the sludge forming in the intake valley...and his prognosis was 20k or so left on the engine. I'm getting ready to try the "Auto RX" additive.