Took my car to a local Good Year dealer for an oil change & tire rotation today. He told me that my intake manifold is leaking oil, and pointed out where it was leaking on the engine.

Unfortunately, I come from a family that has never worked on cars, so I don't know much about engines and I don't know whether what the guy says is true, or he's just trying to ring up a nice repair bill for himself. I haven't noticed any oil loss yet, but my driveway already has stains from when the coolant was leaking, and then the power steering was leaking.

My car is an '06 with the 3.9L V6 engine, and only has 54,000 miles on it. Have anyone else with the '06 Monte had this problem yet? I feel like I've picked a lemon with this car with all the engine problems I'm having. Thought I was doing the right thing by buying American this time, but now I'm beginning to wonder.

 

Hmmmm that sucks. Sorry to hear that man!

If you do infact have a intake gasket problem, you are the first one i've heard of with the newer V6. Where was the coolant leaking from???

It was a very common problem on the 3.1L, 3.4L, and 3.8L V6 usued in earlier models...but I heard that GM fixed the problem with the new engines.

 

I'm looking at the repair order for the coolant leak... it says that they removed and replaced the front and rear cylinder head gaskets. That was in October, 2008. Apparently it was covered under the powertrain warranty, so it didn't cost me anything.

Then in February of this year, the return line for the power steering ruptured (a common problem on the '06 Montes and Impalas and the '05-'06 Pontiac Grand Prix GXP) and cost just under $200 to repair.

The guy at the shop I was at this morning said the leaking intake manifold will cost around $600-700 to repair. Well, I guess I'll have to put off those mods to my exhaust system yet again.

 

It almost makes me wonder if something got compromised when the dealer fixed the original leak, because it has not been very long since you had it fixed...

 

Just an update for anybody else on the board with the 3900 V6 engine...
I had the problem repaired at my local Chevy dealer today. It was the lower intake manifold gasket that was leaking. Parts & labor for the job were covered under the powertrain warranty, so it didn't cost me anything. The dealer even offered to get me a rental car at his expense so I wouldn't have to miss work (I took the day off anyway). I think they even fixed one of my tire sensors that wasn't working, without my asking them to and at no charge!

 

Good, glad to hear they fixed it up no questions asked! I'm still puzzled that the intake was leaking to begin with. I was told by my dealer that the new engines (3500 and 3900) did not have the gasket problems that the older generation of engines had...but then again, all engines have a few that have a problem here and there, so maybe yours was just a fluke, and now that its fixed your good to go.

 

glad to hear it went smoothly! Mine has the leak and is a 3400... other than doing the whole surgery on it, I had my mechanic put something in to stop it from the inside. how he explained it was metallic flakes that block it, yet dont damage the car. I have to redo it every year, but they only charge me $15 or so because I do something else when im there (tires, oil change, something)