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Old 10-11-2004, 11:21 PM
kzimmer30 kzimmer30 is offline
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Ugh. I am going through a similar situation with my 99. What I thought was a bad head gasket turned out to be a bad upper intake manifold. That's the plastic one. Coolant is routed through the upper manifold and zips through a small cavity in the throttle body. Between the intake/return passage in the manifold is port (vacuum/air?) Mine internally deteriorated and the coolant was forced into the incoming air. Flooding the cylinders and just about everything with coolant. Unfortunately there is so much coolant in my engine oil passages I am looking at a minor rebuild. Since your bonnie is still running, it may not be that bad yet. I would do a very thorough inspection of the upper manifold coolant passage. Try to force water through both sides and see if water comes out the air port. It is possible the gasket around these passage are bad and water is seeping into and out of the manifold. It could also end up being a bad head gasket. (Quoted 1500 bucks, parts alone is about 350-500). But if you remove the upper manifold and there is coolant everywhere, it is most likely that plastic manifold, or gasket. I bought a new manifold from the dealer (250) and guess what? They had 5 in stock, but they didn't stock a single head gasket kit, maybe that says something...
If this is the problem make sure to change the oil before start up, and I would let it get to operating temp. and change it again.
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