Hello my name is kyle and im new here
we have a 2001 and 2003 monte carlo ss the 2001 is pace car editition and the 2003 is the jeff gordon edition
well my dad just checked the 2003 coolant and it is sludgey so does that mean headgaskets?
how hard and how much is it to do headgaskets on these? we will most liekly do it our selves so how much is it for new gaskets? thanks for the help i own a diesel so im hoping it would be no where near as much as it would cost to do a diesel

 

it is also a 3.8L

 

i just recently helped a buddy tear his engine down on his pontiac grand prix gtp comp g which is the same engine depending on wehter u have a supercharger or not but even with his supercharger it was pretty easy it takes some time but its easy

 

sludgy?? did you mix different antifreeze?

 

i belive dex-cool is a alchohal based coolant, and green is oil based. hence burning up gaskets after time. green is way better but gm owners are scared of switch, cause it voids the warranty.

you might just need a flush. this is recomended every 30-40 thousand miles.

ya and deffinatly dont mix the two. idk if it says it can be mixed on the bottle, it can't. this will cause it to foam and be useless.

 

I guess I would see how "Sludgy" is it? Is it still in liquid form or is it really thick? Or is there just some sludgy coolant mixed into the other coolant? The Dex-cool coolant because of how its made, does get sludgy after some miles. I just replaced mine at 100,000 miles and there were small amount of sludgy coolant in there. I would just get it drained out at a shop (If you don't feel comfortable doing it yourself) and have them put the green stuff in. If you are really worried about it take it in for a pressure test to see if there is a head gasket problem. Most any shop should be able to tell if its the head gasket by doing that.

 

nope no supercharger here!
no i have not
well this one has about 200k idk when it was last changed
the car has 200k miles so it might be due for a change
it is still liquidyish lol
but thanks for all your help guys!

 

I would get that dex cool out of there. The stuff is bad news. It will eat up your gaskets and plug things up that you don't want it to plug.

You may want to check the intake gasket as that is the most likely to leak. Head gaskets are known to go on the 3.8 but the intake is much more common.

If your only symptom is sludge in the coolant then I would flush it out good first and refill with a 50/50 green mix and see what happens over time.