Coolant smell, but no visible leak.

ChevMali99 · 09-08-2009, 11:45 AM

However, I sense there is one because the reservoir doesn't remain full after a week or two of driving. In one incident I saw smoke coming out of left driver side of the engine, but only for a few seconds. I pulled over and saw no visible leak of any kind, the engine wasn't overheating, the fans were on, and the reservoir was just below full with the hoses running full and hot. Any ideas?

Airjer_ · 09-08-2009, 11:54 AM

Year, engine, and mileage would help but I think based on the info you gave a fair hypothesis is you have the ever popular leaking Intake Gaskets.

ChevMali99 · 09-08-2009, 12:10 PM

oops sorry - Malibu 99 3.1L 140k

Airjer_ · 09-08-2009, 12:21 PM

Lower intake gasket, Almost 100% guaranteed! If you look under the throttle body you can sometimes see a build up of coolant or at least some signs of coolant leaking. This is the normal first place for the leaks to show up.

ChevMali99 · 09-08-2009, 12:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Airjer_

Lower intake gasket, Almost 100% guaranteed! If you look under the throttle body you can sometimes see a build up of coolant or at least some signs of coolant leaking. This is the normal first place for the leaks to show up.

Thank you for the quick reply. Any idea how much replacing that would cost? Also, I wonder if this could somehow affect engine temp?

Airjer_ · 09-08-2009, 01:19 PM

If your low on coolant absolutely!

You can expect $500 to $1000 depending on your market and what exactly is done. Its not bad idea to replace the oil pump drive o-ring which is probably leaking oil, the thermostat, a lot easier to do with the lower intake on the bench, Spark plugs if needed, way easier to change the back three with the intake off.

ChevMali99 · 09-12-2009, 01:15 PM

quick update - I checked in with Strauss in my area and they don't do that job on Malibus anymore because, apparently, they didn't do a good job on another malibu which caused it to catch fire. So they are out.

Pep Boys gave me a detailed quote that was just under $1000 ($956), which includes a charge for a complete coolant exchange, oil change, disposal fee's, and a A/C power sterring interferance charge.

Firestone told me over the phone $500+ but to bring the car in for a detailed quote. Clearly, a ploy to sell me stuff once I'm there. I've done business with this particular Firestone before because I have a guy there who services my car for inspection, so I have some sort of loyalty to them.

Airjer_ · 09-12-2009, 05:03 PM

There is no A/C, P/S interference charge! Nothing needs to be done to the A/C to do this job. The P/S pump needs to be removed to do the job but that is already built into the labor to do the job in the first place!

ChevMali99 · 09-12-2009, 05:41 PM

It is a weird charge but am I to do? That's the problem with mechanics and auto shops. I'm still going to check a few other places, but there are very few to begin with. Meineke... maybe Midas, though I'm almost certain they'll want close to $1500. Smaller independent shops might not be expensive but, in my experience, are less trust worthy. So, once again, when it comes to auto work, I might have to kiss the ring.

ChevMali99 · 09-22-2009, 10:36 AM

I had the lower intake manifold gasket replaced by Firestone. It cost me $880. So far, so good. I gotta now learn to trust the car and its high running temperatures. The Malibu does seem to run hotter than most cars I've owned.

dpalomaki · 09-22-2009, 11:20 AM

$880 sounds about right for a shop, maybe even fair for some higher cost regions like NYC.

Another symptom I was with mine was a gradual increase in oil dipstick level - leaking coolant going into oil sump.

Mark_Pacheco · 10-08-2009, 10:54 AM

I had the same problem with coolant smell, falling coolant level and no evidence of a leak. Turned out to be the intake gasket. Leak was located in an area where it would drip down onto or close to the exhaust manifold and evaporate. Don't hesitate and get this done. I'm getting ready to tear into my 3.1L because I just turn the oil into milk last night. fun stuff.

dpalomaki · 10-08-2009, 02:23 PM

A fun job (well, once it is done). If you have a digital camera, take a lot of photos as you work you way along. It helps sort out the routing and exact placement of things as you put it back together.

wafrederick · 10-09-2009, 07:12 PM

Buy the Dorman kit for the intake gaskets,made out of metal instead of plastic and come with new intake bolts.Also make sure you have the push rods in the right spots or the valves will bend if you do not.The pushrods are 2 differant lengths,long and short.

Mark_Pacheco · 10-13-2009, 11:52 AM

I'm taking plenty of pics as I'm not as comfortable as I'd like to be on the newer vehicles. Everything is laid out in order and labeled as well.

I decided to put in the extra time to pull the heads as well. It looks like the rear intake gasket around the lower water channel on the driver side failed (cork surrounded by rubber????). The block, heads and intake seem to be fine. I did notice that a couple of the water channels were blocked so I cleared them. Funny thing is that these were on the opposite side from the gasket failure.

I was going to upload a couple of pictures for the curious, but I keep getting upload failures (even after resizing pics to be below 100k). Well, if you're curious or need reference pics, please feel free to contact me directly.

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