I know I have a coolant/oil leak in the upper area. it is such that you can smell it in the interior of the vehicle. Visibly it is not obvious where the whole problem is. I am going to replace all the upper and lower gaskets and valve cover gaskets.

Now from everything I have read it seems like it is not very easy to tell if you need a new upper intake until you have removed it and inspected it. I don't want to start fixing it and then realize I need one. Then I would have to leae the car apart for a week while i wait for the Dorman intake to show up from an ebay seller.

I guess if I can't tell before I remove it I will just order one. If I need it I will have it on hand ready to install. If I don't need it I might be able to sell it to someone here for what I paid for it since it will still be brand new.

You will most likely find that your upper is not leaking, but that the lower gaskets are the cause of your fluid loss. My upper hadn't failed either when I got into it on my 99. The lower gaskets were severly deformed, though.

Are you actually loosing coolant? If not, I still recommend doing the upper intake and lower gaskets as preventative maintenance (that'* why I did mine and found the lowers to be so bad). I also had the coolant smell in my car after the job was done. It ended up being the heater core. Check your heater core for possible leaks.

Also, check out the thread in 92-99 for an upgraded EGR port sleeve that will prevent the upper from melting...

Dam, I was so hung up on the intake leaks that I completely forgot that I could have a leaky heater core. :?

What is the best way to check the heater core?

I never really checked mine. I just knew that it had to be the heater core because the car would smell like coolant on the inside when the a/c was on!

I just took it to my friendly shop and had them replace it (too much work for me as the dash has to be removed to get access to it). $400 and a half day later it was done, and smell has never returned.

My shop told me it'* common for them to go out on H-Bodies. I don't know, though...everyone has their theories on what'* common to go wrong with these cars, so I take that with a grain of salt. There haven't been many heater core replacements here other than with my car, that I know of (and have an L36).

So to clarify, you do or don't get the smell with which settings? In one post you said it smelled with the heat on and then just now you said it smelled with the a/c on?

It would smell all the time. Regardless, it shouldn't smell on either setting. Sorry for the confusion!