It looks as if the '00 Impala our daughter drives is gonna need a new intake manifold gasket(s). I've done my TPI unit, I think this'n will be easier. Any hot tips floatin' around out there.....
Thanks in advance for the help

WAY easier than a TPI

make sure to let the RTV on the china wall cure otherwise you'll get a leak.

I'd use "The RightStuff", then you don't have to let it cure and you can drive the car right away.

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".

Bob, glad you got it taken care of. I had the exact same problem on my 03 monte carlo. Due to dexcool, IMHO, and my car was well maintained. Went bad around 69,000 miles if I recall correctly. Very common issue. GM had a recall on it for a while, but of course my vin didn't fall into those numbers.

Flush that system really, really well if you are changing over from dexcool to standard antifreeze - when they mix together it gums up even worse.

Matthew

Use the new Prestone... compatible with both types.