99 Intrigue 3.8 Liter Poor Idle Leaking AntiFreeze

I started my Intrigue in the Garage, and ran back in the house to get something. I came back out, and there was smoke coming from the hood. It smelled like antifreeze. I ran in the car and checked the temperature gauge, and it was just above Cold. The car was idling horribly. I popped the hood to see where the steam was coming from. It was behind the motor by the firewall. I immediately shut off the car. I looked underneath, and could not see any noticeable leaks. The tail pipe had a ton of water underneath, and still dripping after the car was off. I called my brother who is a Master Tech at Tunex. He said it sounds like a head gasket. He lives to far away, so I have to try and repair this my self. The car has 155k miles on it, and it has almost over heated a few times. I have only had to replace the MAF sensor since I bought the car. I drive the car with care at all times. I have read into the 3.8, and I noticed there are a ton of complaints on the manifold gasket. This was my first thought until I called my brother. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thank you,

you'll probly have to crawl around under the hood to find the leak.
It sounds like your heater hose or something leaking onto the engine causing the steam.

Or your thermostat could be stuck closed and the pressure built until it blew a hose or out the overflow. :dunno:

Good Hunting

Well, that sounds alot better, but what would explain the poor idling? I forgot to mention that I tried to start the car again so I can find a leak, and it made a big bang (Backfire). I just checked the fluid in the tail pipe and it was just water, not antifreeze. I checked the hoses in the back of the engine where the steam was coming from and there was nothing loose, and the hoses looked ok. I don't want to make it worse, so I attempted to start the car only once. It backfired, and it did not start. The engine was running horrible before I turned it off. However, I do have good news. My brother is taking the day off work and coming up to help me solve the issue. I will keep everyone posted on what we find out. Thanks for your reply xeroinfinity.

Well I can tell you its not a blown head gasket, Ive been hanging around 3800 related forums for about 4-5 years now and Ive never seen a single head gasket failure.

If its a gasket failure of some sort, its your upper and lower intake manifold gaskets, i would recommend you change them both anyway as preventive maintenance. If/when you do change them, do a coolant flush and get that Dex-Cool out of there, it is known to cause gasket problems, and will continue to do the same thing to your brand new gaskets.

Im not saying this is whats causing your problem, you should definetely check out the other things first, Im just saying that the 3.8 doesnt blow head gaskets, so dont change it.

Well, after my brother came over we tried to turn the car over and it wouldn't crank. He initially thought it might be seized. We charged the battery, and tried again. We were able to get one rotation, and that convinced him it was not seized. We took one of my batteries out of my Chevy diesel and tried again. It turned over just fine, but no fire. We did compression tests on all plugs, and it had great compression. He then diagnosed a blown upper intake manifold gasket. We stripped the motor, and found a small tear in the upper gasket where the antifreeze runs in, and the entire manifold was filled to the top in anti-freeze. For precaution, we are changing the lower gasket as well. He took the manifold and cover to Tunex and cleaned it. He recommended draining the oil and changing the filter 2 times, before we can do the final change. He recommended after 500 miles to change the oil and filter again to make sure all water was out of the engine. So far, I have put 60 miles on it and have had no problems. It actually runs 100 times better. I am lucky to have someone in the automotive industry, and it is nice to have this forum available as well. I read that 3.8's in this forum never blow head gaskets, and I told him that as well. At least I sounded smart for a while. Thanks for all your input, and I hope this post will help people with the same problem in the future.

Thanks,

Wait, are you putting the old upper intake manifold back on? Thats what I got from your thread and I would highly advise against that, I would almost guarantee the EGR stovepipe has warped your intake in the area around it, its made of a plastic composite material and its too close to the EGR stovepipe.

If you can wait a bit to fix it, the kit from APN comes with a new manifold that has a metal sleeve in the area around the EGR stovepipe, but they usually have to be shipped in, its also a bit cheaper than the Dorman kit that you will find on the shelves at the auto parts stores, and the Dorman kit does not come with a sleeved manifold, just a regular one.

Hi everyone. Here is the link to a new and improved INTAKE MANIFOLD for Intrigue 3.8.

http://www.autopn.com/store/pc/viewPrd.asp?idproduct=229679

It comes with all parts you need. Gaskets, shielded EGR passage new stove pipe. After installing this thing you can forget of those internal Dex Cool leaks on that beautiful engine! I installed it on my last fall. Pretty easy to do. Just remember and mark everything you unscrew and unplug from the motor to put back again correctly. Pay attention to a small white plastic pipe inside manifold. Line it up well with hole on the PCV valve side! Takes approx. 2- 3 hours. Dig the net for installation manual. Yo'll find it with pics and good description.
:licka:
Torque spec:
UIM/Plenum bolts = 89 in-lbs
Lower Intake (LIM) bolts = 11 ft-lbs
Throttle Body nuts = 89 in-lbs
Fuel Rail nuts = 89 in-lbs
Valve Cover bolts = 89 in-lbs

Good explanation of the problem: http://www.bonnevilleclub.com/forum/kb.php?mode=article&k=38

Good luck!!