Thats OK Bill, you don't need to apologize.

and motorhead you dont need to act like you know everything.....

and besides the fact out of 6000+ members we have seen one fail.....furthermore i dont believed that Paul ever before mentioned that he has had the leak in a prevoius post....

so your oringal post still isnt accurate as you are describing them as a consistant problem where as they are not

Let'* not get out of hand here guys... make suggestions and then debate the validity of them... but in a polite way.

Cough, cough, no I posted pics and it was a long thread..

I don't know what you guys are talking about but I am convinced that they will leak. I don't have many miles and the two times I've had my TB off, there were signs of leakage. Like I said, I now always use additional RTV.

Swallow your pride and respect others opinions guys

It'* not that they leak large amounts of coolant, they rarely "blow out". What happens is they will seep or sweat small amounts of coolant. Most of the time the coolant can't even make it to the bottom of the engine to form a drip because it cooks off the engine. But it can get to the point of producing that smell of burned coolant. If the guy has his intake off anyways for new LIM gaskets, why not just put a new gasket on the cover too and be done with it. It'* a very inexpensive gasket. I replace them on all the intake jobs I do.

To all you doubters out there, grab a small mirror and go out to your car. Take the air intake tube off and hold the mirror under the exhaust cross over pipe to see the reflection of the BOTTOM side of that cover plate. You will very likely see signs of coolant leaking, like white stains on the aluminum lower manifold, orange trails from the bottom of the cover plate or crusty orange fuzz gathering around the gasket of the cover plate.

Like I said, it’* usually not a big leak. Nothing detrimental, but if the guy has it apart anyway why not just replace the gasket?

Jeez, tough crowd here!

Yeah I just repaced mine when I pulled the intake apart for the parts cleaner.
Actually haven't put a gasket back in yet, but I ordered one from NAPA for $0.52 including tax.
I do remember Silverbullet'* thread....vaguely, but I do remember it.
For the cost I agree with Macdrive.... if the intake is off I'd definitely suggest replacing it knowing how hard it is to get at with the intake on the car and the exhaust crossover pipe in the way.

It has been a while since I have worked on an L67, but I'm pretty sure the part you are referring to is the same as the L36. If so, when you look at it closely, you will see that the cover is more than a plate. It is a convex casting viewed from the outside that forms a coolant passage. That cover allows coolant to flow from the interior chamber of the LIM, to the thermostat housing and thence out of the motor. There is actually more than just coolant underneath it, too. When it is removed, you will see two distinct coolant chambers divided vertically by the alumimum wall that isolates the thermostat housing. When a modification is made to block the coolant flow from the LIM through the throttle body, the passage created by the little cover becomes the sole path for coolant to travel out of the engine to the radiator.



A paper gasket with silicone beads for the cover is included in most UIM kits. I don't doubt that they can leak, but it is much more common for coolant to leak onto the cover from leaking gaskets above. This would give the appearance of a leaking cover, when, in fact, it was tight.