a little update.

I haven't dug into the engine yet, Everyday I check the oil and I took a sharpie marker and drew a little line on the coolant tank to monitor coolant level.

I have not seen anymore leakage and the car has been driven about 4 miles a day.

The water around the t/b gasket seems to be drying up a bit except there is still a very small puddle on the exhaust manifold, but it seems to be coolant goo that coagulated there.

I plan to go to the car wash today with a can of degreaser and really clean up the top of the engine.

My hope is somehow the guys at the shop got coolant all over the engine somehow during the radiator flush and didn't completely clean it all off.

I check everything before she drives it and after and will continue to monitor this.

Very odd...

awesome, thanks!

Well, not good but not disaster yet either.

GF drove car around today, lost about an inch of coolant in tank.
Got wrenches out and went to work. Got t/b off and gasket looks fine. I also don't see any plastic degradation in the plenum either...

Bad news is the coolant appears to be coming from the gasket between plenum and intake manifold. Look at these pics and let me know what you think. In the last pic, the bottom right corner of the manifold is where i think the leak is the worst, as this is where the coolant was pooling up on the exhaust manifold.

What do you guys think????

http://www.billrae.com/car/car%20011.jpg
http://www.billrae.com/car/car%20012.jpg
http://www.billrae.com/car/leak.JPG

btw, the oil doesn't seem contaminated yet, but i will change it anyway when i am done.

that is what i looked like, the car has 55k miles.

also should i do lowers????

i really dont want to as really need to have it running tomorrow morning..

yes the sticker says delphi E, with a long number next to barcode

if you go to www.billrae.com/car
there are a few more pics of the engine, not much but might help.

I have an hour before advance auto opens, what do you suggest I get while I'm there??

upper and lower gaskets? t/b gasket?

please advise, thanks

I guess i have to remove the upper to replace the manifold gaskets....

can you use mspaint and draw some marks where i need to check for failure (not gasket failure but plastic failure)

thanks

awesome work, thanks.

will look at it in a few minutes as I yank it off

well, not cool, look what i found:

http://www.billrae.com/car/carfail%20001.jpg

the hole where the stove pipe goes thru the plenum is warped out of shape and has a deep gash in the side, it has this weird cardboard kind of coating on it, apparently as a feable attempt to insulate the plastic from the stove pipe heat. I cannot tell if it goes all the way through, as the cardboard coating is in the way. Should this hole be perfectly round?

So, you think that aftermarket plenum is the best answer? What about stove pipe mods.
I've read all the related threads and everyone has their own answer it seems.


Thanks for your help.

nevermind, got it.

everything off, just waiting for lower gasket to come in tomorrow