99 3.4 lower intake, myself or dealership??

[97S10SS]

Just wondering what you guys would do. My mom's 1999 Grand Am is still leaking coolant from the lower intake manifold (I'm lazy). I'm wondering if I should take a crack at fixing it, or should I let the dealership do it. They have all the revised shit and I'm sure they have done it a million times?
For those that have paid for them to do it, what kind of discounts if any did they give you since the GM gaskets are JUNK. What was the total job cost?? I would really not like to get involved with it. I'd rather pay the dealer to do it as a present to my mom then do it myself haha.
What are your opinions?

Thanks

Chris

[kickarsgrdam01]

i personally wouldn't do it myself...there is a lot of time involved and there are many ways you can screw it up. i would rather just pay to have it done and i don't have to worry about it. also when me and my friend did his on his older car...not a ga, but anyway we had other stuff going on and it took us almost like 2 weeks to finish, to long for me

[mikem220153]

In a nutshell, the dealer will be expensive. Probably somewhere in the $600.00 to $800.00 range. It is a major repair and if you are mechanically inclined you should be able to do the job yourself.

I was going to be snide about GM engineers and thier family histories but, naw.....I'll be nice.

[RocketFast321]

We had our 3100 did at the dealer. $850. But it has a year warranty.

[mandi]

This is the advantage of work done by the dealership.....it comes with a 12 month/12k mile warranty!

My boyfriend works for a GM dealer and does them all the time......its not to hard to do it if its your first time, there are enough write ups around. Just take your time.

Remember.....the LONG pushrod is the exhaust pushrod. Do NOT fix them up.

[97S10SS]

I have read by some here that GM covered the cost of some of the repair, or at least gave some discount because their gasket/design is junk. Any truth to that?

[mandi]

If its under warranty!

Otherwise, nope. All of GM's intake gaskets leak.....5.7 Vortec....to the new Gen III V8s.

[99GrandAMSE]

Originally posted by mandi
If its under warranty!

Otherwise, nope ...

Not true ... never hurts to ask :)

[97S10SS]

Thanks for the help. I better call the dealer and get an estimate. $800+ is a little steep, I'd rather do it myself than pay that, or have my mom pay that. I work on cars so I think I could get it done without too much problems.

Thanks Ladies and gents.

[voyager]

i'd do it myself. it'd take most of a day, and cost you <$100 for all the gaskets, sealant, beer and other fluids neccessary. most of what you pay for is labour..

if you're not confident about your mechanical aptitude and reading comprehension, find an independent shop to do it. figure close to half of what it would cost at the dealer.

[97S10SS]

Ya I'm going to give it a try. I am a mechanic, not the best :p but I think I can do it. I bought the lower intake gaskets and valve cover gaskets today. What else do I need, gasket wise, I got silicone and coolant etc. Do you use silicone on the front and back sides of the intake? Thats how I did it on my S10.
Just trying to get the parts together before I dig into this thing. Thanks alot everyone.

[Colin]

Originally posted by 97S10SS
Do you use silicone on the front and back sides of the intake? Use sealer ( RTV ) on the areas marked in red ...

[97S10SS]

Thanks alot, thats a great pic.

[car audio dave]

my dealer charges $1000 for the job that includes flushing the coolant and oil. independent shops have quoted anywhee from $450 on up to $650, with a 6 hour job expected.

im doin it myself this time around. ive had it done twice on my GA at an independent shop, once on sandys GA at the dealer, and now once with my daily driver (olds eighty eight) at the dealer. the olds was the worst at $1700.

[97S10SS]

Thanks for the info. I ended up tearing it down to the lower intake last wednesday. All that took me 3 hours. The next day I took the lower intake and everything off, and then cleaned and reinstalled everything etc. I put the fuel rain back on and it all looked good, but I pulled it back up to reroute the harness and I think I may have tweaked it so one of the injectors aren't down all the way. Afer it was all back together I started it and it has a rolling idle, definetly a vaccum leak, but if you rev it to 2,000 it feels smooth. A buddy sprayed brake wash at the injectors and it messed with the idle pretty good. I also did a code scan, cyl 2 miss. So I got probably 9 hours into it so far.
I need to take the upper intake off this week and see whats going on. :mad:
Thanks everyone for the help, it was pretty straight forward until I messed that up.

[Pte Socks]

Knock on wood, ive never had this problem. My only wish is when it does come, that I will have enough time and be back in town to do it myself and not let the punks rip my girlfriend off. Im gonna miss my car!

[97S10SS]

Update, my moms car is fixed. I hope it stays fixed lol, I got the updated bolts at the dealer and GM gaskets. I ended up messing up the fuel rail O-ring and 1 injector O-ring going back in. But I got 2 new ones and got her buttoned up. Shes been driving it over a week now with no problems. Thanks everyone on this site, ever need S10 advice, S10forum.com is the place to go;) Thanks Yal.