Originally Posted By: JimPghPA
Originally Posted By: terminaldegree
benjamming,
I'm not a mechanic, so take what I say with a grain of salt.
The leak is, to my knowledge, the only real weakness of this engine. I base this on a lot of reading around on the 'net, as well as discussions that I have with a couple of GM mechanics who work on them frequently.
One thing that these mechanics advised me about [which may answer your 'repeat problem' question] is at one point, GM had a backorder on the "improved" replacement gasket, and many cars were fitted with the same, inferior one just to get them back on the road. Both of these mechanics said that they had ZERO comebacks on gasket replacements when the improved part was used. I honestly have not read of people having to get this problem fixed more than once. Hope this helps. Yes, it's all second-hand info, but I can assure you these guys have no reason to lie to me about it.
We had the intake gasket go twice on our 2001 Impala with the 3.4 L. The first time it was done by the stealership under warranty. They said they put an improved gasket on it. The second time two years later, it was out of warranty and we had a local mechanic do it, he said that there is a second generation of improved gasket. One year after that the cam position sensor leaked antifreeze and we had that replaced, it seams that it is common for the plastic of the seal for that sensor to get brittle and crack and then leak from the crack. So look for antifreeze on the starter motor. If you find some, check around the cam position sensor for a leak. The intake gasket leak showed a very small drip on the top side of the engine.
If you do an intake gasket, remember to retorque it once after driving for a month or so.
Opps, now that I had time to remember, it was oil that leaked on-to the starter, when the cam position sensor cracked, and leaked. Sorry about that. The mechanic did say it was a common problem for those engines, so look for it anyhow.
