Could this be the problem? Describe what you felt before it
 

Well I really need some answers to this question.....
I posted a question the other day about a stumble or studder in another thread, here it is

I took the advice given and started to check on vacuum hoses first when I glanced over to the Overfill tank and I found it to be empty :shock: . I have been watching this very closely since I started reading the threads here. In the past I had noticed that it would drop at a miniscule rate over a period of time and I also had read somewhere in a thread here that during the summer months it is not uncommon to lose a little colant.
I checked the tank and it was dry, I took the cap off the rad and I could see colant about 5-6" down from the top. Because I haven't driven the car since I felt that almost unnoticable stumble It looks to me that I caught the failure just in time.
My question to all here is, Could the stumble be the seepage of colant because it was at low speed/rpm ?

Could this be the problem I had? Describe what you felt before your UIM went bye bye.....

i had just passed a big rig as i recall doing about 90( i was really pissed that night) and as i dropped back down from warped speed the car kinda lunged almost, from a massive loss of power, then it barely ran, then it somewhat smoothed back out and refused to rev over 2k, all the while with a "service engine soon" light blaring at me.

Your problem is most likely upper intake failure, but its not always that way.
Remove the spark plugs and check them for signs of burning coolant, drain your oil, if it is the sligtest bit "clumpy" with light brown in it, your burning coolant. DO not run the engine at all if it turns out this way as coolant in the lubrication system will eat up every bearing inside there.

My suspision is that the stumble may have been caused by drops of the coolant seeping into the intake but not large enough to effect the combustion to the point of being noticeable until the other day. I am asumeing that it has been duing this for a while but the seepage has been small enough to fizzle in the piston chamber during ignition and that it has been getting worse these last few days.
Does this make sense or am I just wacko thinking here, could I have caught it at just before the time of possible disaster hit?

I was only 1 or 2 miles from home and I quickly returned home and I haven't started the car since then, and I won't now that I found the overfill tank empty.

Get the oil out of the car ASAP....

If you are using that much coolant you most likely will need to replace the lower intake gaskets and the upper intake as well... I'll be you have the famous rupture... and I think you caught it in time... Just be quick about repairing the problem... ;)

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There is a lot of information here that you can search and read about upper and lower intake manifold failures. Since your car has the L-36 engine with a 3/4" EGR stovepipe, you can take this opportunity to install a reduced diameter stovepipe, (like GM did starting in '99), and even sleeve your plastic upper intake manifold to minimize the likelihood of a heat-related failure in the future.

i dont think you would need to install a different EGR stovepipe, just get the UIM from Dorman and you should be fine, i have yet to hear of one of these failing..and replace those lower gaskets as well..

I would check the oil. Even it you don't drive it could be damage the lower end bearings on the motor. Coolant could still be in the oil. I would at the minuanl if you coolant in your oil change the oil.

thank you all for responding....
As far as the oil goes, I checked it and it was not contaminated, I guess I got lucky.
Just as a peace of mind, I will drain it as soon as I get back from a business trip which will be next saturday. I don't think this was a major leak where the water had gushed down into the cylinders. I think it was a small leak that was growing as I said before.
I think the studder came when the leak grew ever so slightly and it was noticable at the low RPM that time. I am glad it didn't just burst.

I am unsure if I need to start another thread to ask about the parts and part numbers needed, please advise me on what I should do.