I just joined MCF. I have a 2004 Monte SS in black that I bought new. I have 72K on her. All babied miles. When I first bought the car about a month into ownership the low engine oil light came on. Very strange. Brought it to my dealer who put oil in. I questioned it and was told sent like that from factory. Ok. There was no visible leak. So I was told to check the oil level about once a month. Well there was no loss. They determined that it was internal and that under warentee they would replace the lower intake manifold gasket which was done. Well a couple of months ago I brought the car in for my oil change and was told I needed to replace the gasket again. I know there was a tsb on it but the dealer won't follow it. I don't have $700 to drop on my car but I love my Monte SS. Anyone have any suggestions?

 

Sorry to read about your problem..Check back on your thread question to see what our expert tech's suggest/advise..

Check out the below link that has a kit ?
Do you work & have tools to do it yourself ? Good Luck

https://montecarloforum.com/forum/ge...ovepipe-42422/

 

So, let me see if I follow.... Over a period of a few months, you check the dipstick and no noticeable oil loss? So they replaced the LIM gaskets??? First that is goofy. LIM gasket failure results in two noticeable items:
- Loss of coolant (either into the oil or out of the car)
- Loss of oil

3100/3400 is more an oil loss I think then the 3800. So if you were not losing coolant and the oil level never changed, that is not a LIM issue. If the car is reporting low oil and it's not low, then my next thought is to check the oil level switch and it's wiring (I believe that switch is mounted to the outside of the pan.

Now during your oil change, you were told the LIM gaskets need changed again??? Why??? Even the crappy nylon ones last about 80,000-150,000 miles.

 

I would say either get a friend who knows mechanics to swap the LIM gaskets or get the tools to do it yourself. I read online that the charge around 400-800$ to replace them which is BS if it's true. My friend did it for 50$ for me and the Fel-Pro kit was only about 80$. I suggest you also swap to green coolant and change the elbow pipes to aluminum ones because the plastic ones go out easily. Just my 2¢.

 

If someone is willing to jump in, the LIM gaskets are not too bad to do, the 3800 is much easier in my opinion.

I know nothing of shop costs to do jobs, but $50 labor is dirt cheap. Even though the work is easy, it takes a couple hours to complete. Depending on the hourly rate, I could see the job being about $400+. Plus, keep in mind, if that's just an estimate, they are probably leaving room in that estimate to cover random issues like bolts breaking and other odd situations.

Old green coolant or DEX, today, it does not matter. If you concern is the law suits of the past about DEX, here are two questions to ask yourself:
- Why would GM continue to use DEX?
- If DEX is to blame for LIM gasket failures, why is it cars, like the early/mid-90's 3100's, that ran green coolant since they left the factory also share the same LIM gasket failures. The answer, nylon was a horrible gasket material for LIM gaskets.

But I think we need more info from the OP. There is something missing in this story.

 

Ohh I say switch to green because it's less acidic and has less potential to ruin your motor if something does go wrong. *knock on wood*

 

Other than that I have a guy who would do some work for people in the bay area, he's pretty good. I won't say he will charge 50$ for gaskets but probably won't be 400 maybe 100-200 because of the time it takes.