forum newbie - bad intake manifold gasket?
 

Good Evening,
First, thank you for taking the time to read this.

I have a 2001 SC2 with about 205K on it. I drive about 50 miles each way to work, pretty much all highway. About 6-8 months ago I notice that I had a small coolant leak on the back side of the block, but coud never find where exactly it was coming from. The leak did not seem to be too bad, just a few drops when parked all day, so i wasn't horribly concerned. Recently I have noticed that my coolant level was dropping a bit, and my mileage was dropping a little (I keep rough tabs on my mileage every tank full).

I am getting very close to needing another oil change, and peeked inside the oil fill opening and saw water (coolant) sitting up there in a small puddle. Now I am quite concerned. I have not noticed any pronounced performance degradation yet.

Does this sound like a bad intake manifold gasket leak?
I reviewed my Haynes repair manual and removing the intake manifold to change the gasket sounds like a whole lot of not fun. Does anyone have experience doing this and would perhaps share any hints?

Many thanks!

Is there oil in your coolant reservoir? does it look like a milkshake?

You seem to be watching the coolant level pretty regularly so I would think you would have mentioned if things looked wrong in there -- but you didn't. Not sure I've ever read a post where someone said they removed the oil cap and found coolant......

Anyway, it sounds more like the beginnings of a head gasket issue
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Sounds like the start of a head gasket issue to me.

Thank you for the quick replies! I am not sure I like the news though...
I have not seen any signs of oil in the coolant reservoir (yet). coolant color has been looking good when I am checking the coolant levels. I will check the color again this morning though to see if there is any change.
I have not seen any of the tell-tale milkshake stuff when I change the oil either. I will be changing the oil within the next week or so so I will check very carefully then. The oil change light is not on yet, but based on the mileage, I am expecting it to come on soon.

Agreed! I cant say I had ever heard of that either. Which is why I got so concerned about it immediately.

Now speaking of the oil cap... I dont want to highjack my own thread, but this is my first Saturn, and maybe it is normal for them. When I am adding oil after an oil change, I have to add it slowly, or the oil backs up into the oil fill opening and would spill over if I am not paying attention. I would have expected it to drain down quicker...

All I can say is...welcome to the Saturn family...........When you said you said you saw water/coolant sitting "up there" upon opening the oil filler cap, specifically where is "up there"? And is it clear and colorless, clear and orange, etc? You cannot be too specific. Want to be sure we are all on the same page.

Alright. I re-checked some things this morning.
Good news: The coolant in the reservoir looks to be as pristine as when it was first put in.
Bad news: When I removed the oil cap, more coolant was 'up there' directly under the opening, but on top of the cylinder head. The first time I saw coolant up there, it was pretty much clear. this morning it is has some of the chocolate milkshake look in sections of it. I am trying to attach a photo of it.

head gasket is my unfortunate vote

Thank you for the unfortunate vote Derf.
A follow up question then, as I have as of yet never broken an engine down to that point. How long should I expect the dis-assembly, cleaning and reassembly to take me? Are there any hints or suggestions that might make the process go a bit smoother?

I expect to have all of the necessary tools and have been doing my own minor wrenching on my vehicles. Never really had the need to do anything very major like this before.

Thanks again!

Just curious here, and trying to learn more.

What things are you looking for to determine if it is a bad head head gasket or a bad intake manifold gasket? If the head gasket is bad, what path does the coolant typically use to get to the top of the head?