I have been chasing down a coolant leak for too long to mention on my 03 M/C SS. I suspected it was the water pump from where it was puddling on the garage floor. I was wrong I now believe its the intake manifold leaking. Has anyone had the intake off of their car? How difficult is it to replace the gaskets? I am pretty mechanically inclined. Thanks for all help

 

hey man, don't get bummed out if no one returns a post soon, a lot of people are on vacation/enjoying the holiday weekend with friends and family and are away from their computers, i don't know where to begin but don't give up someone will send info soon, i am sure of it! later

 

last summer i put in a ported lower intake manifold in probably about 3 hours and that was the first time i had ever taken off the lower intake and it was not that hard at all. You just have to take off alot of other random stuff to be able to get to the lower intake manifold and then to the gaskets.

just off the top of my head i think you have to take off the
-alternator
-over flow tank
-maybe water pump (not sure)

one word of advice is drain your radiator first before you take off the lower intake manifold.
Also you shoudl probably pick up two coolent elbows that you will see when you get to. Dont know really how to explain them. but i broke both of mine taking out the manifold.

hope this helps.

good luck

 

Thanks guys for the replies. giving serious looking at the car it dont seem too bad of a job I think I will do it. I am sure that the chevy house would want my life savings to do it.

 

took me bout an hour and 15 to do...not a difficult job and as 3831 said b careful with the coolant elbows it is easy to break them.

 

Well I found my coolant leak tonight. Removed everything in the way of the elbows and had good view of the lower manifold. I pressurized it with autozones test kit and found about 1 1/2 inch crack in my lower manifold. I put some good old JB Weld over the crack to see if it holds if not its off to the junk yard for a new manifold.

 

wnmech, at least you know what the problem with yours (which I am glad you got it fix). My coolant is leaking while driving and it stops leaking while its parked and the car is OFF. Things that make you go hmmmmmm....right! Even my oil is leaking as well. Now where could it be leaking from, I don't have the slightest idea. I know I need to get the leak repaired quick because I have to drive to work tomorrow. I see where the leak is coming from and its the drain plug from the radiator (over tightened or something). Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

Oh crap I hope it did not strip the stupid platic threads...that would seriously suck, and could send you in looking for a new radiator...Those drain plugs can only be firmly snugged, not much manpower can be put into them or they will strip.

 

Mamonte! Gosh darnit, I figured that as well. A mechanic who I know on the side told me that I can buy another drain plug and replace the old with the new one. I am thinking like "yeah right, that don't sound right"! For one, the drain plug won't come completely off the radiator and two, I had a thought of just buying a new or used radiator. Tomorrow is set up for to check the problem out. More than likely, I will have to purchase a radiator on how bad the leak is. I surely hope not though!

 

Yea, I think the threads on the radiator would strip before the actual drain plug...But I hope i'm wrong for your sake! If you do get a new one, just make sure not to over tighten the drain plug!