2000 Pontiac Grand Am intake gasket

LIV2RIDE

MEMBER
2000 PONTIAC GRAND AM
6 CYL
2WD
AUTOMATIC
132,000 MILES

I have a GA with the infamous intake gasket leaking problem. I have it tore down but have been thinking about things to help so this dont happen again. I thought about smearing around the water jackets on both sides of the plastic gasket with a thin coat of permatex and permatex on the bolts. Would this be OK? Do they make a better gasket kit? Any suggestions? Also I would like to use something other than dexcool, I dont like the orange rust color. Any suggestions?

3 Replies

JAMES W.

MECHANIC
2,394 POSTS

Most replacement intake gaskets now are designed to compensate for the known problem with the original gaskets. GLUING the gasket isn't the answer, in fact, it will make it worse. New gaskets are disigned so the expansion of the intake versis the head, allows the few thousandths of an inch movement without destroying the gasket. When you buy the new intake set, you may want to ask if it's the "new" design.
On the coolant color. Prestone and most private label antifreeze is still green in color.

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Sunday, April 5th, 2009 AT 10:54 PM

LIV2RIDE

MEMBER
20 POSTS

Thx for the info

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Monday, April 6th, 2009 AT 2:26 PM

MRS. DEVIL DOG

MEMBER
3 POSTS

I had the same problem, I had a leak in the intake gasket on my 99 grand am gt. My husband replaced it for me with the help if the neighbor. It was fine after that. I have other problems now that I am trying to figure out. The seal that came with the car was faulty, so they had to redeisgn them to fit. If you compare the new and old pieces, you will see the difference. The only difference in the two is a tiny notch and a little bit of the design of the red rubber lines.

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Tuesday, April 7th, 2009 AT 1:52 PM