I just had my second plastic intake coolant leak failure in 112K miles. The first one was at about 70K. It'* my wifes car, and it died on her on the first failure. It fouled the plugs. I replaced the upper myself, saving about $300 labor. It was pathetic. The dealer started off wanting almost $700 to replace the upper. I said NO WAY, I'll do it myself. Then, the service manager calls me 3 different times, dropping the price everytime on the labor. I guess they've gotten so good at replacing them, they can probably do it in 30 minutes . Like I said, I repaired it myself.

Well, this time it did the same thing. Started running rough, wife made it home. I get home from work, go check it out. It won't turn over. Holy crap, the motor'* locked up!! Well, I start pulling plugs thinking maybe it'* "hydraulic'ed". Sure enough, coolant squirts out of the #3 cylinder when I pull the plug. Motor turns over now.

My concerned now is that I see what appears to be oil in the upper intake, even in the intake inlet near the MAF. I'm afraid that it has a blown head gasket. I grilled my wife asking if the temp gauge indicated it was overheating. She says no, but you know how that is..... Anyway, do you think I should just replace the gasket, and/or the upper and see if that fixes the problem. Or, should I pull the heads and check/replace the head gaskets. I'm so fustrated at this point, that I really just want to patch it together for it to run good enough to take it to a dealership and trade it in. I've talked to one guy that recommends replacing the upper saying they warp if they ever fail. Is that really necessary? I feel pretty confident it'* not cracked.

Oh, BTW, the same car has gone through 3 transmissions in the 112K miles also . I am totally disgusted and wished I had unloaded this car LONG ago.......

Sorry to hear about the frustrations. That upper intake on the Series II NA is a b!tch. You're one of the very few to complain overall about the car, so any ideas on what to get next?

My first tranny failure was at 50K. Dealer/GM refused to help any. Next failure at 80K, transmission guy fixed for free, even though his warranty was only 12,000 miles or 12 months (wow, that was nice of him!!). He said, "don't bring it back!". Failed again at 108K miles. It was the same failure every time, so there was obviously an internal problem with the tranny. Didn't repair it, had it removed and got one from a salvage yard. So, after repairing/replacing the tranny for the 3rd time, the motor dies 2000 miles later. ARGHHHHHHH. I can't win with this car. Obviously my wife is VERY ill. I have just been trying to avoid car payments, but it looks like car payments would be cheaper than owning that car!!

Nope, haven't decided what we are going to buy. My wife wants a SUV (Tahoe, etc), but I don't want a gas guzzler like that. I am seriously pushing my wife for a Toyota or Honda because I am so ticked-off at GM for this crappy design. I really don't like many of the Ford designs. Although, I wouldn't mind a Crown Vic or Mercury Grand Marquis (the Marauder would be nice, but not in the budget).

I really like this GM platform, but I think this car has spoiled me from ever buying another one. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. I'll never buy a product with a plastic intake on it, period....

We have had the following GM cars with basically the same drivetrain (except truck) with NO problems until this lemon:
1988 Olds Delta 88 - sold at 142K miles, no problems
1991 Olds 88 - my current daily driver, 114K miles, no problems
1992 Buick - sold at 167K miles, no problems.
1989 Chevy Truck 217K miles - rebuilt the motor at 160K, replaced tranny at 200K. Still going strong.

sounds like you just got ahold of a bad apple man. thats the first time ive heard that many problems with one of these cars.whats your driving style like? shift at 5900rpms in every gear?

Damn good 3800'* in there...no plastic....I agree. I know your opinion is soured on Bonnes, but the SSEi has no plastic upper...its an SC.

Well, my wife has been known to have a heavy foot, but........

Yeah, I know the supercharged ones do away with the plastic. I wouldn't mind having one. But, the transmission in ours has me concerned. It may just be a lemon though. I need to name that thing Christine.

I know what you mean. I can be hard on my tranny, but overall, I'm good to it. Generally, the transmissions on these cars are solid. Its far more common for a tranny to fail on a Ford then a GM car. Lemons do sux huh?

You need a nice SSEi wih a HD tranny to get you back on the bandwagon.

I agree. That'* one problem with GM. If you don't buy top of the line, you will have to accept less than Heavy Duty components.
They know how to maximize their profits.

It'* the same with most electronic toys too. Buy one step down from the best and get an inferior product with less than state of the art components.

You really do get what you pay for.