2000 grand am intake gasket

[tjh132]

I have a 2000 grand am with a a 3.4 v6 automatic. for the last few month i have been losing coolant very slowly,I have to refill the resivoir every 2 or 3 months. I can't find a leak, there is no leakage under my car when parked, nothing in the oil when i changed it.the other day my temp spiked to 230 so i changed my thermostat, that didn't help. I was told by a mechanic that the intake gasket for that engine is known for going bad. I have bought the new gasket and am going to change it, I am pretty mechanically inclined and am confident i can do it, seems easy enough just time consuming. any suggestions on what the problem could be if it isn't that and how to make changing the gasket as painless as possible

[crazy Jim]

did the temp spike occur before you topped up the radiator? Sometimes the T'stat will stick for a fes minutes. My 3.4s temp would spike when the water pump was crapping out. Intake gasket can leak to a variety of places. Mine would leak very slowly onto the top of the engine and evaporate.

[xeroinfinity]

Welcome to AF tjh132.

Any intake gaskets prior to 2003 have the old terrible gaskets.
I have even seen 2003 models with them and blown.

If you dont have a manual for this here is a link that'll help you out a lot !
3.4 LIM gasket

Good Luck

[tjh132]

thanks for the link it will help alot, any other advise would be greatly appreciated I'd rather be over perpared than under perpared