| Re: Impala needs work |
Subject: Re: Impala needs work by CorvetteBob on 2009/8/30 5:44:38 It's pretty much done now. Just hafta flush the cooling system and get the junk dexcool out of this thing. A good friend manages at a store for a large local chain of parts stores. He's sold a ton of these gaskets for the 3.1's,3.4's, and 3.8's. The most common problem he's told of is that the dexcool, as it ages, attacks the gasket material and the intake ports drink the water, leaving no trace of water leaks. Since mine was losing water without a visible leak, I looked closely at the lower intake and head mating surfaces. There could very well have been some coolant suction going on here. One other part I had to chase was a "help" elbow for a bypass that runs from the lower intake to a port in the belt tensioner(?). My friend was out of them, so I had to track one down elsewhere. The only other objection is the crud that I found in this thing. My upper manifold was in good shape, but very encrusted with EGR crud. After cleaning out the lower aluminum 1/2 of the intake, I called my friend back and he got me a price on a new upper replacement. Including gaskets, upper intake, new antifreeze, elbow,and coolant system flush, I think I have about $160 to $175 in the job that would have cost nearly $1000 at my friendly dealer. Btw, the upper intake was $90+, and the fel-pro gasket set was $60+. Retail on these were $285 and, (I think) $85, repectively. That tells you how much markup in parts and labor cost is involved in the r+r of the intake halves plus a coolant system flush. The amount of time I have in it so far is about 8-9 hours, and that includes chasing some parts, and looking for a couple of misplaced items. And the best part, I got to take a day off work and do some peaceful wrenchin' WITH the approval of the, "home office". |
