I would loke to see this become a sticky once CharlieMax gets this mess resolved. There'* a lot of good info here from the UIM/LIM to legal advice and all revolving around the same thing - the L36

Charlie, I don't know what has kept you from going postal with the dealership. I hope everything work out for you in this and I could only see it being a good thing that this dealer makes it into the paper or the 6 o'clock news, but not for anything good

Right you can be. When an intake ruptures.. the coolant in dumped into the air intake, not the oil pan. Some may push past the rings into the pan..typically it would be burning though.

And that would be at least a little bit of good news for CharlieMax here. If his oil volume was unchanged, with no signs of coolant in his oil, then the bulk of his coolant loss was indeed going out his tailpipes, and he has some indication that his cylinders and rings are in good shape, with (hopefully) less likelihood of premature bearing failure. Hopefully there'* a long life left in that L36! (Presuming his LIM gasket gets some attention soon, for good measure.)

I'll take any good news I can get.

I'll be changing the oil again in a couple of weeks, and i think I'm going to bag the DexCool for the universal coolant. It looks like the uppers are stable, the coolant level has been perfect. Stopped by the Pontiac dealer for an estimate for aluminum frame lowers. I was suprised. If my calcs are right, it is for a few hours of labor and gaskets. After my prior guess, I thought about it and figured 5 or 6 hours, as everything has to come off. First week in January probably.

Meanwhile, I have gone hypersensitive with the car. Every squeek or tiny shake and I'm "What was that!?". Neurotic, after 2 major crapouts of the engine.. I have to chill out and let the car settle back in.

I do have to tend to the steering pump. The power "assist" is just not as good as my '95. I'm kind of looking forward to that. I've never done work on the drive belt side of the engine and I'll get to learn about the tensioner, swapping a pulley etc. You can get ready for yells for help on the maintenance board. On the neurotic side, I'm not sure if the first trans shift is crisp enough. All the shifts were crappy when I was burning big coolant. I'll stop by a local trans shop and see if I'm right or just my abnormal self.

Otherwise, it'* good to have her back, movin' and smoothin'' like only a Bonne can.