Drew:quote:
Originally posted by Drew99GT:
It is absolutelly a flawed design. Find some pictures of one of those motors opened up; you'll see how the pushrods have to go through the gasket/up the side of the heads (instead of through the cylinder heads, which makes it tougher to lay the lower manifild in place and not disturb the gasket. Also, the gaskets were cheaply made, and the location of the fastners won't place an equal clamping load on the gasket. The spot where the load is least is on the ends of the heads; right where the cooling jacket goes from the heads into the intake manifold.quote:
Originally posted by jthorner:
I would have to say that it is indeed a flawed design. GM vehicles with the 3.1/3.4 family of engine have had this problem for over 10 years with at least three different gasket designs.
John
I'm not doubting you but I don't recall these problems with the 2.8 from which these engines were spawned. Does the new 3.5 in the Malibu have these same flaws?