Intake gasket or head gasket??

[mandymae104]

I have a couple of friends that worked as mechanics and they have taken a look at my car and say that the head gasket needs replaced. They tell me to call around for estimates, and everywhere I have called say it's more likely the intake gasket. I took it to one of the shops and they said it was the intake as well, but no tests were done. He only looked at each side of the engine. My friends are calling the mechanics stupid, and the mechanics are calling the friends stupid. How can I tell which it is, and how many opinions should I get, really. I am taking it to another shop tomorrow. I am a single woman with no engine knowledge at all, and low funds. It is less expensive to get the intake done, but if I do and it's the heads, then what?? Then I am stupid!!!! I am losing fluid, water because I can't afford to put coolant in it every coupla days, there is a little bit of water in the oil, there is some external leaking along the front of the engine, and there is a loss of pressure when the pressure test was done.
Please shed some light on this for me!!!!

[GTP Dad]

Welcome to AF!!

You didn't say what size engine you have but I am assuming that this is a V-6. Based on what you have said I believe that the intake gasket is bad. Generally if the car runs well otherwise and you don't see a plume of white smoke coming out the tailpipe the then the intake gasket is probably the culprit. Before doing anything have the shop do a compression check on the engine. This will give a good indication about the condition of the head gaskets and the rings.

Unfortunately to change a lower intake gasket you are looking at a several hundred dollar repair. It isn't the cost of the parts but the labor charges to do the work. If they try to charge you more than $600 find someone else to do the work.

Good Luck!!

[mandymae104]

Yes, it is a 3100. There is no white smoke, but have been told that the white smoke only comes out with coolant, but I have been using water, hence the absence of white smoke. I have a shop that said 600 will fix the intake gasket, but they didn't do the compression test. I will talk to the shop that I am going to tomorrow about that. They should be able to do that for me. Thanks for the input.

[richtazz]

There are basically three tell tale signs of intake gasket failure.
1. loss of coolant
2. oil level rising and the oil turning murky/cloudy looking with chocolate milk looking deposits in the oil cap and pcv valve. (this indicate an internal coolant leak)
3. wetness along the seam between the intake manifold and cylinder head (this indicates an external leak.

If let go too long, the common intake failure can and will lead to head gasket failure. As the coolant level drops, it allows hot spots to develop that will create steam in the colant passages which blows the head gaskets. This can happen even if the temp guage never rises too high. A compression test and or cylinder leak-down test will indicate whether you just need intake gaskets or head gaskets as well.