i just recently bought a 97 bonneville sse, great looking car, high mileage, but it doesn't show on the body. The guy i bought it off of couldnt get it to start and the number six cylinder was getting coolant in it. lo and behold it was the lower intake gasket that was bad. since i was already there the head gaskets looked pretty bad so i replaced them, come thanksgiving i got everything back together and started her up. it ran great but then began to blow out white smoke, changed the oil again cuz it was still a little milky. started it up again and the smoke disappeared, then all the sudden after 10 minutes it dies. trying repeatedly to get it to fire i killed the battery, i tried to jump it but no success. I am going to buy a new battery, but in anyones experience could there be a problem internally that caused it to shut off?

thanks,
97BonnieSSE

While you were killing off the battery, was it turning over/cranking? Can you rotate the crank by hand (socket on the Harmonic Balancer bolt)?

(Looking to rule out hydrolock or seized motor.)

If it isn't turning over at all it could be hydrolocked; try pulling the plugs and then turn over by hand, and see if coolant pours out of a spark plug hole.

If no fluid comes out and it still won't turn over by hand, could be siezed.

it will crank, and i can turn the crank by hand. Its just that it will not fire.

When you fixed the LIM gaskets did you replace the upper intake manifold or reuse the same one?

If you reused, then your issue originally was most likely the UIM has a crack or hole in the EGR tube area that is filling the motor with coolant from the TB cooling passage that runs past the EGR tube. Yes the LIM gaskets looked like they were most likely the cause, they probably didn't contribute much to the coolant filling the cylinders.

I have also found that wet cylinders stay wet and soak plugs easily. Try hooking a vacuum hose to a compressor blow gun and blowing out all the cylinders as well as possible. Then ensure all the plugs are dry. If your problem was the LIM'* then your plugs may be getting moist. Although your description sounds like the UIM may not have been replaced.

well i researched more common problems with the 3.8 Series II engine design. I had no idea that the upper intake plenum had some issues with the metal sleeve coming up from the lower intak. Well i went and purchased the plenum, and drained the motor and all the other happy stuff. Wouldn't you know it she fired up on the first time without any hesitation. Thank you for all your input on my problem, it really helped me over look to see if there were any problems that i had missed.

Glad to hear it'* back up and running.