Head Gasket Leaking?

I have a '99 Malibu with a bad coolant leak. I changed the intake manifold gaskets and had the water pump done as well. I have tried to pin-point the leaking and as far as I can tell it is coming from the firewall side of the engine and running down the side of the engine block. I suspect the head gasket. Can any body that has had this problem confirm this or give me any other possible reasons for this leak? Also any suggestions would be appriciated. I hate to tear into the engine without know exactly what I am fixing. Thanks.

I have a '99 Malibu with a bad coolant leak. I changed the intake manifold gaskets and had the water pump done as well. I have tried to pin-point the leaking and as far as I can tell it is coming from the firewall side of the engine and running down the side of the engine block. I suspect the head gasket. Can any body that has had this problem confirm this or give me any other possible reasons for this leak? Also any suggestions would be appriciated. I hate to tear into the engine without know exactly what I am fixing. Thanks.
Have you checked the heater hoses and all of the coolant hoses. Those have a tendancy to dry rot. How many miles on your bu?

Thank you for the reply. I have checked the hoses over and over again in the hope that it would just be a hose leak, but unfortunately, no sign of a leak from any of the hoses. My malibu is a '99 with appx. 115000 miles on it, I bought it with 89000 miles on it, so I am not sure what other problems this car has had, because it sounds like other are having these problems with much less mileage on there cars. I have also checked my dip stick several times to see if I could see any coolant in the oil, but didn't see anything that looked like coolant (although with my inexperience I can't rule out that there wasn't coolant there). If there is anyone out there with experience in changing a head gasket I need to know what parts I need to buy to be able to change a head gasket on the Malibu. As I stated above, I have already changed the intake manifold gaskets and have a receipt for all the parts I will need to get to redo those while I am digging through the engine, so I just need to know what additional part I will need (besides the head gasket) to do the job. Plus any additional info about doing a head gasket job would be welcome ( eg. Can I get to the head gasket without taking the engine out? Are there any special tools I will need?, etc.)

Another question. I have been looking for parts online to save some $. I have all the part numbers for the intake manifold gasket job and have been using them to find the parts, but sometimes I can locate the part using the exact part # but the description of the part will not include my year or engine type (3.1M). So my question is, are those part numbers supposed to be specific to the model, year, and engine type or can they varry? Thanks.

I haven't done a head gasket on a Malibu but I would think it is no differrent then any other head. A torque wrench and Hayes manual ( torques and sequence) should do you good unless you decide to machine the heads. When you replaced the intake gasket did you use the new torques? new bolts or added loctite? That may be part of the problem.
As for the on line ordering, I would personally just go to Auto Zone and pick up the parts being that they are all cheap items.

Thanks for the response. When I did the intake manifold gaskets I used the new bolts dirrectly from a GM dealer and used the new torqe specs. I did have a bit of a problem with one bolt, I didn't clean out the hole or use a tap set to clean up the threads like the Hayes manual suggests (don't own a tap set) so the bolt was reaching the specified torque before it had even sat all the way down, but I tightened it down to where I thought that it was effective. I guess that that could be a problem but that bolt is not where the leak seams to be originating from. Thanks for the info, if anyone else out there has some words of advice I would appriciate it.

go to the parts store and buy some dye.put the dye in your radiator and oil.drive it for a little while and check it out with a black light. you will find the exact source of your leak.

Another question. I have been looking for parts online to save some $. I have all the part numbers for the intake manifold gasket job and have been using them to find the parts, but sometimes I can locate the part using the exact part # but the description of the part will not include my year or engine type (3.1M). So my question is, are those part numbers supposed to be specific to the model, year, and engine type or can they varry? Thanks.

The intake manifiol gaskets are specific to engine code. There are two different types of gaskets. One set has followers for the lifters, and one type does not. If I remember correctly, I have an "M" 3.1, and it had the followers on the gaskets.

go to the parts store and buy some dye.put the dye in your radiator and oil.drive it for a little while and check it out with a black light. you will find the exact source of your leak.

Do this.

I noticed a water leak on my 1999. After replacing the water pump, I looked under the car and noticed the leak was flowing down onto the transaxle pan. I found out it originated near the oil pump housing on top of the engine block. It looks like its leaking near where the heads connect to the block; i.e. - I think the intake manifold gasket or the head gasket is leaking - - - AGAIN !. I heard there was a new gasket type out now - I last changed this in May 2003 and I assumed I used the last type of gasket. Can anyone provide me details??? :banghead: