So lately I have had an anti-freeze burning smell coming from the car. I have also been loosing the DEX-Cool like crazy. I had some time today and found it puddled up under the supercharger in the valley'* near the fuel injectors. Now from what I've heard only the non */c cars were having problems with cracked intake manifolds. Has anyone heard of the */c bonnie'* cracking intakes? Could it be just a gasket? I'd really just trade it in if it was for the $2500 i've spent between the lightning strike and the new struts. Does anyone kno how hard it is to change out the manifold or gaskets if they are bad? Any suggestions would be greatly, greatly appreciated. I am SO frustrated with this car again.

Have you looked in your valve covers (oil cap) to see if its milky or not?

The intake is not that bad, take off the fuel rail (few nuts) move it out of the way (dont need to disconnect it), unbolt the SC, unbolt the manifold, reverse.

I haven't taken off the valve covers to see what it looks like under there. I did check the oil today and it wasn't milky at all, looked really clean. It was also pretty clean (as in not milky) last oil change.

I had this happen to my old SSE and thought my manifold had gone south. I believe the SSEi intake manifold may still contain a black plastic nipple on the passenger side. A coolent recirculating hose is attached to it. These nipples are prone to cracking where they screw into the manifold. This cause all heck to break loose with the coolant. You might take a mirror and light and look for this hose and nipple to see if that is the source of your leak.

thanx for the idea. I took the mirror and light to look under there. It seems that it is coming from side of the intake manifold right above one of the bolts, right above the #3 cylinder i believe it is. It looks like it has been leaking for a while and running down into the valley that is formed near the fuel injector. It is puddling up, the puddle was about 1" deep? Soaked about 1/2 the rag. I"m going to see what it looks like after I take it to get gas. Since it is right above the bolt is it worth trying to tighten the bolt? And if so does anyone kno the torque setting? thanx!

It may be worth retorqing the bolt, however I would clean up the threads real good first and coat the threads with high temp silicone to see if that stems the flow.

Does anyone know if there was a recall on the 2000'* for the intake manifold leaking?? I thought I read somewhere that there was.

Check the throttle body first. Mine started leaking last year until I sealed it and replaced the gasket. Cheap and easy to do. Also the small 1" x 3" plate just below the throttle body that acts as a crossover cover for the manifold was leaking.

If I ever have to take off my intake manifold, I'll install an intercooler.

Torque specs are in Techinfo, Specifications.

Be advised that re-torquing can intensify the leak 50% of the time. Sometimes works, sometimes doesn't. This is NOT a common problem on SSEi'*.