99 3.4L head gasket leak

[thenextguy]

I recently took my 1999 grand am se to the mechanic to get the intake manifold gasket fixed. Now I'm told my head gasket has a small leak which is causing one of the cylinders to misfire on occasion. Short of shelling out more money to have the gasket replaced (or the whole damn engine), anyone know of alternative route to go? Maybe some sort of liquid additive that plugs small leaks like this? Any help is much appreciated.

[xeroinfinity]

the only way to fix it is to remove the LIM and replace the head gaskets.

I changed the LIM 4 times before I firgured out my head gaskets were blown. So anytime I replace the LIM after 100k miles I recomend changing the head gaksets since your already down in there.

Good Luck

[thenextguy]

Since the car isn't worth much of anything due to a salvage title, I opted for fix in a can. Unfortunately, the stuff gummed up my thermostat (which I'm convinced was stuck open or otherwise screwed up beforehand), so I had to get a new one of those. Car is running very well right now. Perhaps if I'm feeling ambitious one of these weekends I'll replace the head gasket myself, but in the meantime, fix in a can seems to have done the trick.

[boug0752]

Originally Posted by thenextguy

Since the car isn't worth much of anything due to a salvage title, I opted for fix in a can. Unfortunately, the stuff gummed up my thermostat (which I'm convinced was stuck open or otherwise screwed up beforehand), so I had to get a new one of those. Car is running very well right now. Perhaps if I'm feeling ambitious one of these weekends I'll replace the head gasket myself, but in the meantime, fix in a can seems to have done the trick.

Unfortunately this is a VERY common problems for the GA. I wouldn't expect that the fix in a can will last all to long so certainly keep an eye on it!!

[78silverbird]

Well if you want, just for future reference, I can send you some fairly detailed instructions on how to take the engine down to the heads. I have done it twice now and the last time took me a day and a half from start to finish (first time took about twice that).

[xeroinfinity]

Originally Posted by thenextguy

Since the car isn't worth much of anything due to a salvage title, I opted for fix in a can. Unfortunately, the stuff gummed up my thermostat (which I'm convinced was stuck open or otherwise screwed up beforehand), so I had to get a new one of those. Car is running very well right now. Perhaps if I'm feeling ambitious one of these weekends I'll replace the head gasket myself, but in the meantime, fix in a can seems to have done the trick.

Good Luck with that. Like stated above dont expect it to last to long. You never know either.
Probley is best to have some sort of manual when doing this job, and of coarse the new(as 0f 2003) torque specs for the intake bolts.

I have that somewhere...