I was checking my fluid levels today during a fill-up, and all was well. I changed the oil last week, and the old oil came out looking alright, no signs of coolant or sludge buildup. The new oil is still viscous and honey-colored, tranny fluid still pink, power steering fluid ok, coolant level ok. Thermostat hadn't opened yet, so radiator was still cool, and I popped the radiator cap off, just to make sure the overflow tank wasn't lying to me. Coolant was a beautiful green color, like it had just come out of the bottle. I was curious what the coolant in the reservoir looked like, so I pulled the cap off it and took a look. Holy hell. The coolant in the reservoir looks nothing like the coolant in the radiator! It'* a chocolatey kinda green, and doesn't smell quite right. I'm off to get a flush 'n fill today (wanted to get it done anyway), but why in the world would there be such a disparity between the two colors?

FYI, I still have the original upper intake, but the only coolant losses I've had thus far I've attributed to the water pump and leaky connections.

-b

I've been keeping a close eye on the coolant level, and she hasn't made any coolant disappear for quite a while now. I'm dreading that upper intake failure, though -- currently shopping around on ebay and wreckers to see if I can find a nice one. That brings up another question -- what model years have upper intake manifolds that are compatible with the 95 vin K?

-b

The upper intake I'm currently looking at is from a 2002 Grand Prix with less than 21k miles, the part number the seller gave is correct, and he has a pretty good seller rating. Don't know if I can pass it up, the price is pretty damned good

-b

Just paid for it, hopefully should arrive in the next week or so. At least now I have a spring break project.

-b

Can do. Will get it posted and linked as soon as I get it, if the girlfriend lets me borrow her camera for ten seconds.

-b

Just needs a good cleaning, seen that before

Okay, so I had my radiator flushed and filled yesterday, then came home, siphoned out the nasty coolant sitting in the reservoir, cleaned and flushed it, and refilled it. Since yesterday I've driven her maybe 30 miles, and the coolant in the reservoir is already turning sort of a dingy brown-green color. Other than maybe just residual nastiness left in other parts of the cooling system that may not have gotten flushed (i.e., I don't know if they turned on the heater to flush out the heater core too, or even if they turned on the car during the flush -- I don't think I'll go back to them), are there any other things I should check for?

-b

If your bottle is still dirty a little it will dirtty new coolant, price a new one there not to bad thats the best way to deal with that, I've done that many times,because you'll never get that dirtty old one clean!

And equally as important: Please make sure you take a picture of the manufacture date!! If it is the improved intake, that will start narrowing down when GM started using the new design. As a 99 SE owner, I'm really interested in seeing that date

Thanks..

Got the upper intake by FedEx today. Here're the pics y'all wanted.

Stamp date: (kinda hard to read, maybe -- it says 2000 )



Throttle body mating surface:



Doesn't quite look like it'* got the heavy-duty reinforcements like the Dorman one, huh?

-b