I Need Head ... Gasket But Hate Thought Of Doing It Myself

Got a '99 3.4 Silhouette - 140k miles - my dogs love this car.

"Coolant Low" light comes & goes, but plenty of fluid in radiator. Temperature gauge swings from cold-hot-cold. Haven't seen any smoke from exhaust & no fluids anywhere.

Took it to the "dealer" and for $100 the fix 'em up folks told "head gasket right side LEAKING. Intake Leaking." They also said $900 parts & $1500 labor.

I'm a regular suburb handy-man type - can follow Haines directions well & need to figure out if this is a fix I can do or simply bite the bullet & go find the best deal. Suggestions welcome.

It's kinda hard to assess your mechanical ability from here. But I would not attempt to do this kind of repair if you have never taken apart and put together an engine. I know you can replace the intake manifold gaskets without dropping the engine,but can you also take the heads off.

Good Luck.

It can be done (boy do I know). I started by paying my dealer $1800 to do the job, he wanted to sell me a new engine, but when we looked at the cylinder it was OK, and I told him to just do the gasket. He was miffed, and left one of the head bolts only finger tight, so 5000 miles later it blew again, right next to the loose bolt. I didn't make a fuss, my work finding the bolt voided my warrantee and would have proven to him I really needed that new motor.
Aluminum heads have a tendency to blow head gaskets, especially when they are on cast iron blocks. The difference in the expansion rates makes the head slip back and forth on the gasket as it heats and cools, and it eventually fails, mine failed the first time at about 110,000 mi.
It's not that difficult to do, you'll need a good set of sockets, extensions and some experience working on cars. You will need to remove the top of the engine, intake and exhaust manifolds, the alternator, loosen the AC and PS Pumps, the EGR valve, coils, and cooling hoses. If none of this scares you your set to go. Oh by the way you have to remove the engine stabilizers, the things running to the front by the radiator cross member. You will then have to put a small block and tackle or winch tie down strap between the engine and cross member and rotate the engine forward so you can get at the back of the engine.
It's really not that tough, it's time consuming and complex but not that hard. Take lots of pictures, lable the wiring you take off and follow the Haynes manual. If you really plan to do it get back to us and we can help you through it.
good luck
94

Just reviewing my post, I really need to use my spell checker. From your description, you probably have a combustion chamber to water jacket leak. When the cylinder with the leak fires, the high pressure gasses leak into the coolent passages through the broken gasket. This displaces the coolent and empties the radiator into the overflow tank. This uncovers the low coolent sensor in the radiator and gives you a low coolent warning, it also fills the area around the thermostat with gas and shows a high temp reading, when water does cover the sensor from time to time the temp comes down only to shoot up again.
Check the recovery tank, are there bubbles comming out of the overflow tube, if so these are combustion gasses from the blown cylinder. Smell the coolent in the tank, if it smells like gasolene thats a sure sign.
Check the dip stick, if there is water on it or if the oil has a creamy color like dirty mayonase, that's water in your oil, and your about to do major damage to your engine, park it until you make a decision.
Again, good luck
94

Your problem with the coolant leak may be due to a faulty intake manifold gasket that is documented under GM's TSB 03-06-01-010. That happened to me around 70K miles. I also had a faulty head gasket replaced at 100K which also required the warped heads to be replaced and it was very difficult to find good ones. There's several class action lawsuits against GM started in several states and Canada about the intake manifold gasket. In your case its nice that the dealer is at least addressing both defects at the same time.

I stumbled on your post trying to find an easy solution for my current problem that just started where my tail lights and license plate lights don't work and the instrument panel doesn't light up and the lamps on chime chimes when the door is opened even though the lights aren't on.