1999 Jimmy SLT 4.3 V6, 75K miles, Coolant Leak

I have a jimmy as described above. It is leaking coolant out of the intake manifold gasket.

How hard, or impossible is this to replace on my own. A local shop wants about $100 for parts, and about $600 for labor.

Is this even possible for a garage mechanic like myself to do? I really dont want to throw any more money at this vehicle!!!

-Paul

It's possible. With a good repair manual and some patience I think it is doable!

Get the upgraded intake gaskets from Fel Pro,made out of metal instead of plastic which last longer.Also mark the distribitor before pulling out,ignition timing is not adjustable and is set with a scan tool.

Hi Paul:

I just finished mine (96 Jimmy) up yesterday. I used the excellent directions under the How-to section of this forum. http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=879228

They walk you through the whole process. I'm no mechanic but have worked on cars and was able to complete it. I did damage my EGR tube (it was seized to the nut that connects it to the intake. If the 99s are the same just soak that connection down with penetrating oil before proceeding.

Jimmy

I did mine about 2 months ago and i also used the felpro gaskets. It can be done by a do-it-yourselfer in about 5hours. Read through the how-to to get a good idea of whats involved. Before you start, flush the cooling system and heater core. While everything is apart, its a good idea to do a complete tune up if the truck is due for one.

i replaced the intake manifold gaskets on my 92 jimmy 4.3 CPI it took me roughly 10 hours 6 hours spent cleaning quick tip when doing this job put a towel that covers the whole valley when scraping of the old gasket material my truck had little over 190,000 miles on it when i replaced tham so the gaskets turned to concrete if felt like after removing all the old gasket material from the heads us 400 grit sand paper to sand the mating surfaces of the heads then use a rag and brake cleaner to clean the heads but spray the break clean on the rag and not the head its self and after change the oil no matter how cleay you try to be there will ALLWAYS be grit and dirt that gets into the engine oh and put paper towels in the intake and EGR ports on the heads but not to deep other wise you won't be able to get them out

one more thing that might be a factor i didn't replace the intake manifold gaskets because of a coolant leak it was an air leak my engine was sucking air between the intake manifold and the head