Small oolant leak from where MAF sensor mounts to manifold 1996 3800 SE II. Has anyone had this problem? Does MAF have coolant passages in it and is it as simple as changing this gasket or is this more?

Jeb Stuart
Palatine, IL

Yes, the intake manifold passes some coolant through the MAF. It'* a small hole so that it warms up the TB if you are in cold weather basically. This is one of the mods Grand Prix'* are doing is plugging up the hole in the throttle body so no coolant goes through and warms it up. This is so that the throttle body stays at the same temperature as the incoming air. After I took my throttle body off for the first time, it would not seal right and would leak too much. So I took epoxy and filled up the throttle body coolant passage and that worked perfectly. Now it never leaks since its contoured exactly to the passage and pushes a little into the coolant hole in the intake manifold for a water tight fit. It'* the perfect gasket since I have taken my throttle body off at least 10 times in one week and it has never leaked again. Hope that helps.

-Hector

Thx Hector for the info . I feel more at ease my car has 63000 and had upper and lower intake gaskets, valve cover gaskets, oil pan gasket done at 55,000. After looking at where the TB mounts to intake it looks funny No gap at top or bottom but gap near middle of TB. Like it leaked and mechanic just kept tightening it. Also noticed a bolt missing on TB support bracket. I am going to get a 180 t stat to keep it cooler.