Many problems 95 pontiac bonneville 3.8

[bungea]

my bonneville has 156,000 miles on it. its a 1995 pontiac bonneville vin k 3.8 l. My check engine light stays on constantly but no difference has occured. The only difference is my coolant is going crazy, in about 2 weeks a full tank in teh resivor would be gone. Also my airbag light has came on, i havn't been in an accident and niether has the car. What can i do about this. The engine is out of a 96 oldmobile dealta 88, but was told it shouln't make a difference seeing it matches with the 95 vin k engine layout. Please, i need help!

[wafrederick]

Could be the upper plenium that is bad and a very common problem.Get the one from Dorman instead of the dealer,The one from Dorman is updated and the one from the dealer is not.

[oldguyhd]

Been there done that! There is a water passage in the plenum at the base of the throttle body. It likes to crack and allow coolant to get into the top of the engine. As the man said, very common problem.
Check under the dash by the steering colmumn for a large yellow wire. There should even be a tag on it that says airbag. Make sure it's plugged in. Should also be a fuse or relay for it as well, check them too. BE sure to disconnect the battery for 20 minutes or so before doing the airbag. Allows the system to power down so it doesn't go off accidently while you look at it.
Wouldn't worry too much about the check engine light. They are set to come on after so many miles to remind you to get serviced. As long as your fluids are all good and it runs well.

[Jrs3800]

Yes the Upper intake Plenum is bad... This is cause by the EGR gasses being passed through a stove pipe that touches the plenum which is made of a fiberglass reinforced Nylon 66... The heat from the EGR stove pipe over time erodes the nylon and almost in a manner turns it to ash... with the new dorman kit you will get the upper intake, upper to lower gasket, it will also have a new TB gasket installed and will include 2 different reduced diameter stove pipes, only one of which you will use depending on the stove pipe bore on the lower intake..

While you are there I highly recommend that you get a set of GM Aluminum lower gaskets... This will keep you from replacing the gaskets again..

You need to get the codes checked after you fix the car.... Change the oil now, use the cheapie stuff.... If you have been going through that much coolant, even though the oil doesn't look contaminated, it will be.. We have seen too many of the 3800's die an early death due to this..

Now the question is, will you be doing the work on your own?

[bungea]

took my car into the local garage, they said i was leaking oil and coolant due to the intake manifold gastket they say. They also said i have a bad cat seeing i failed my emissions last week also. I will behaving them do the work. I plan on changing my oil tomorrow but need to get teh supplies yet.

[notbonnie]

I'm new to this set up but hope am responding right. If you are not doing the work yourself, will the person(s) doing the work guarantee that you will pass state inspect?

[HotZ28]

Originally Posted by notbonnie

I'm new to this set up but hope am responding right. If you are not doing the work yourself, will the person(s) doing the work guarantee that you will pass state inspect?

Welcome to AF! No shop in their right mind would guarantee that a car would pass emissions if they only replace an intake gasket set! To the OP; read post #4 several times, then print it out and take it to your mechanic. They have misdiagnosed your problem!

[dugan50]

On most vehicles, the airbag light should come on for @6 seconds, and then go off if the system is working properly. If there is a fault or a problem in the system, the light will remain illuminated, or flash continuously. If the airbag light does not work properly, some vehicles have an audible tone that sounds indicating a problem with the airbag light system. When the light is on (or the tone is sounding), the airbag will NOT deploy, even in an accident. Most systems can only be diagnosed using a scanner designed for the airbag system, however some use flash codes to indicate the problem. The scanners at Auto Zone or the ones that sell for @ $50 will not access the airbag system, only the engine systems (check engine light).
This website gives you the procedure for diagnosing and resetting some systems without a scanner. Some vehicle manufacturers accommodate that (like Toyota, Lexus, Nissan, Infinity, Honda, Acura, Ford, Lincoln, Mazda & Mercury) and some require a scan tool. http://www.airbagsolutions.com/
Check out these websites also for more info on airbag systems and the light.
http://blog.airbagsolutions.com/arch...ould-i-do.aspx
http://www.airbagsolutions.com/resources.aspx
http://blog.airbagsolutions.com/
Check out this scanner for AIRBAG>>>It’s the cheapest one I’ve found!
http://www.airbagsolutions.com/scanner.aspx

[bungea]

so i changed my oil 3 days ago, i took a ride to the local store before i changed oil bought groceries and came home parked turned off teh car. unloaded the groceries. I then started doing the oil change like normal. took the drain plug off drained everything, then the oil filter. Put new cheap oil supertech oil in with a supertech oil filter. Car doesn't start. What is wrong with my car???