looks like i have the dreaded lim leak
 

only had the car 2 months :-( and i found coolant leaking out on the valley between cylinders 1 and 3. planning on driving it a couple more weeks before i get it fixed that way i can shop around as its not leaking internally (i will be keeping a eye on the oil till then). was sure hoping it would hold out till about 70k but guess it couldn't. looks like it was actually leaking when i bought it but the deal just cleaned it up. seems to only leak about a tsp of coolant every 100 miles mabey less

anyways what is a good price to have these changed ive heard everything from 400-1400 so idk

You could do it just for the cost of the parts. It's pretty much a simple task to do. If you have common tools, it can be done. And with the support here, its much easier!

Have you ruled out doing it on your own? It's really not that bad of a process. I've done it three times now. First time took me around 8 hours, I think the last time we cranked it out in around 4.

Otherwise figure around $200-$250 in parts, and 4 or so hours of dealer labor at $135 or whatever they charge.

im sure i could probably do it but i just dont trust myself enough. everytime i worked on the ga i was tracking down problems i created for the next month. also since i still live at home i would never hear the end of it from my mother if i did this myself

What engine is this on?

L67 supercharged 3800

At autozone....

Lower intake manifold gasket-$75
Upper intake manifold gasket-$9
If you want, replace the throttle body gasket-$4.99.

About $100 in parts. Oh, 1 gallon of 50/50 coolant. and an oil change. So, $110 and change. Done. And you have the satisfaction that you done it yourself. Priceless.

id need to buy a decent amount of tools also. also the 2 biggest things i have ever done are suspension and a radiator. so im just not sure if i have a high enough skill level then its back to me not trusting myself


i do have a question for you and im sure it will sound strange its from my neighbor that works at a gm dealer

everytime i mention doing intake gaskets. he startes going off on a rant saying that anyone other than a gm dealership will ruin the engine as "they dont know that you have to scrape the lim by hand or stuff will fall in and seize the engine" wtf is he talking about makes no since to me?

Just called my mechanic does 600 sound reasonable with him using all gm parts?

When you remove the LIM, gasket material tends to get stuck to the heads. You have to scrape off any remaining material prior to the installation of new gaskets. Otherwise it wont seal.

As far as destroying the engine...huh. That's what filters are for. Its recommended when doing the LIM to change the oil right after completing the task. Coolant will get into the lifter valley and "spoil" the oil. Really, you have 2 filters. The oil pickup screen will grab the big stuff, and the normal filter does its job filtering out the small things.

No worries. Hundreds of mom-and-pop shops do this task all the time.

I don't know what it typically costs to do one of these jobs besides what it costs for parts. But, $500 seems a bit steep. Like I said, I have never had my car in a "shop" besides my own. Only thing I'm not able to do is NYS inspections and alignments.

My mechanic is a bit on the high side but you pay for quality work and a trustworthy shop my aunt met him at her church and the reason he has his own independent shop now is because he didn't like how his employers operated telling him to break stuff to get people back in


Also az is a bit expensive also gm wanted 600 reusing the old gaskets wtf

Reusing the old gaskets? Is he MAD?!!! Take your business somewhere else.

That was the gm dealership that said that not my guy lol

Go tell your guy that, and see what he says. This outta be interesting.

I flat out laughed at the guy at the gm dealer when he said that

I'm almost half tempted to ask you what dealership this was, but we are not allowed to.

Find another dealer and get another quote. Besides that, the only other option is doing it yourself.

Like I said I will take it to my favorite independent shop I normally use they were the ones that did the engine In the cutty. They also worked on the ga multiple times he never has screwed us over hell he told me to not fix something once because it didn't need it, and put 20 hours into looking for a problem on the ga and when he finally found t only charged for the labor of fixing it but not for the diagnosing

So I'm not going to even bother checking another dealership as when I walke into my mechanics shop today he immediately told me he only uses gm parts and only uses the revised metal intake gaskets

That's good to know.

Remember, you have the right to ask for any, and all old parts that he replaces. Make sure you tell them that BEFORE they do the work.

Guy in my local car club offered 120+ parts so I may be going this route

nope looks like back to the shop just talked to my mom she told me that I'm not allowed to take it to him as she thinks he is the reason my grand am went to hell because he installed headers on it

You don't have any other shops to choose from?

still up in the air right now whats happening. basically she told me that i can take it anywhere i want, but if something goes wrong in the next year she is holding me accountable for it. so i guess it looks like its going to go to premier like in the first place

INSIST that they replace any and all gaskets. Use thread sealer on lower manifold bolts.

AND TELL THEM YOU WANT THE OLD LIM GASKETS. It's not their business why you want them. You paid for them, you have the right to keep them.

I'm only telling you this to CYA. When you get the old gaskets, we want pictures.

i already discussed gaskets with him he said all will be replaced from the lim up

i will ask him about threadsealer, and will ask for the parts back


thanks jake

Just gently remind them to use thread sealer on the LIM bolts.

Just had this done on my Park Ave Ultra - it's the "mightaswells" that'll kill ya.

Mightaswell replace coolant elbows, valve cover gaskets, injector o-rings. Oil change (pretty much mandatory), supercharger gasket. The dealer also found a broken swaybar link while inspecting the car (yeah, it was "clunking" on bumps now that ya mention it)

$1100.. ouch.

well just got the car back dropped it off at the shop yesterday. had all the upper gaskets replaced and the coolant elbows replaced. stupid me forgot to ask about thread sealer (oops). i have the old gaskets in the car and will post up pics soon. my mechanic said i caught it very early as there were a lot of areas about to go on the limg soon, but nothing had a chance yet to leak internally

Good!! Glad you got it fixed early on.

Hey I was driving it today. And I felt te car was a bit sluggish in second gear and I noticed the boost guage was 2 notches off full?(i never really look at it so indont know if this is where it useually sits) First gear feels the same (still can roast the tires at a 15mph roll) is there anyway this could from replacing the intake. Or have I just gotten used to driving a equally fast car with 6 gears in the last to weeks

Talked to the mechanic he said they took the supercharger off in one unit so nothing would have gotten adjusted. He told me I could bring it back and he would scan and check the boost.

I think he got lazy. He left the supercharger mounted to the lower manifold. He should of seperated the 2 and replaced the $9 gasket.

No he did I have the sc gasket laying in the garage

Check the arm that the boost control actuator controls. With the engine at idle observe the position of the arm. Remove the vacuum hose and observe for full travel in the opposite direction.

I couldn't get the hose off but idle location was strait up and down and when I revved it it moved left to a 45 * angle some times till it almost touches the supercharger base

I have even less boost than this morning guage is now going just 2 bars past half on the guage

Could this just be a fluke that this happened right after having the limg done or do you thinks it's related

Start checking for vacuum leaks at all vac lines.

How do I check the leaks?

Start the engine, and just listen for anything that sounds like a hissing noise at all the line connections.

There is a hissing noise but i can't seem to pinpoint it it sounds like its coming from the firewall area

I could be wrong on this cause your car is different than mine, on top of your supercharger you have 2 small lines and 1 big line. The big one is your brake booster line, the other small one should goto your boost vacuum thingy, and the 3rd one, should go inside of a wire loom bundle then into the firewall. Me thinks with the mechanic moving stuff around, he might have broke the coupler inside the wire loom.