1999 grand am 3400 intake anifold

[waibel]

I'm new here so I hope I'm in the right place. My Daughter bought a used Grand Am several months ago. It loses coolant and developed a lifter noise. I pulled the intake and found 2 colapsed lifters. The others are very stiff (good). the intake and heads have some pitting at the coolant surfaces. Should I use some RTV or another type of gasket sealant long with the new gasket? I worry about pitting letting coolant leak by again.
Can I re-use the rocker arm bolts or are they single use?
I Wiped out all of the goop I could. I plan on replacing the colapsed lifters, soaking the others in gas, then oil. replacing the intake gaskets, changing the oil & filter. start and run until warmed up then repeat oil & filter change. The cam looks good. This is my first time this far into an engine. Any advice is appreciated.

[xeroinfinity]

Welcome waibel. Sounds like you had your hands full. The coolant was surly in the oil if the lifters were bad. The bolts should be alright just clean them good. You did keep all the parts, where they can all go back where they came from?

The pits , they go from the center to the outside edge? or inside? If the pits dont run through the IT walls the gasket should seal it. If its badly pitted use very little RTV, if any. If you do use RTY, try to clean all the surfaces and maybe use some emory cloth to clean, that should insure the sealer bonds to the metal. If that gets in the coolant could plug the heatercore or the recurculator.
THis is a common thing with grand ams, make sure you buy a high quality intake gasket. Hope this helps.

[waibel]

Originally Posted by xeroinfinity

The pits , they go from the center to the outside edge? or inside? If the pits dont run through the IT walls the gasket should seal it. If its badly pitted use very little RTV, if any. If you do use RTY, try to clean all the surfaces and maybe use some emory cloth to clean, that should insure the sealer bonds to the metal. If that gets in the coolant could plug the heatercore or the recurculator.

The pits aren't very deep, but are visible. The angled bolts on the intake didn't seem to be very tight. Maybe this was a major contributor to the coolant leakage? Do you think I should emory the pits a little, maybe with a scotch brite pad? I plan on making this thing very clean. will use brake part cleaner or throttle body cleaner as last rinse.

[xeroinfinity]

Alot of engines loosen bolts due to vibration. After I do mine a week later i go back and make sure they are all still tight. I accually break the torque sequense into two torques. The lower is 115 in lbs. I split that in half say like 60 in lbs then go back and torque the rest of the way. I was blowing mine every year, till i did it this way.

The scotchbrite pad will work too. All intakes get a little pitting. The brake cleaner should work out well to. The cleaner the better. After you're done be sure to tell your daughter to take it easy on the throtle for a few weeks, till the gasket seats.

Why your in there Hav you considered changing the head gaskets? If the car has high(over 100k)miles it wouldnt hurt.Chances are its not bad, but I changed mine, figured since the engines already open'd. It would just be a week link, and I'd hated to take all apart just for a head gasket down the road. Hope this helps XI.

[waibel]

Thanks for the info. I will scotchbrite the pits a little. Don't want to make any irregularities in the surface. Also need to be carefull with the dust from those pads, I've heard if you get it in your oil you will have a "liquid lathe" instead of an engine. It doesn't look like the gasket sealing surface is anything more then 1/16" if that. The car has 110K on it. I'm not going to fool with the head gasket. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. My Daughter is always broke anyway (25 yr old).

[xeroinfinity]

"liquid lathe" I like the sound of that. I'm sure the debrea from the pads isnt any worse than the water in the oil. Try wetting the pad alittle to keep down dust. The scotchbrite shouldnt cause to much irregularities, do to the fact they are not to abrassive.

If youre sure the ITM was the leaker and not the headgasket I would just do the IMG then. I had just bought an intire gasket kit for my GA so I was just going(gasket happy) through everthing, including the oil pan gasket.