Lots of Gaskets...

[Sherman The Buick]

Lord, the 95 Regal had a water pump failure yesterday that was memorable enough. But when the mechanic got down into everything, the bill was horrifying.

I knew there were some problems...but the intake gasket, valve cover gasket and plenum (?) gasket had to be replaced.

It was leaking a lot of oil, but not using much coolant until the water pump peed all over the place.

My question is, what is the plenium or whatever gasket...and why is the car still idling so rough?

[1990lumina]

Cracked or warped heads? How hot did the motor get when the pump went out on you?

Do you have any smeet smell or white smoke at idle??

 

- Jeff L.

[Redwingvksm]

Man...this is one thing that I don't like about GM V-Style engines.

 

Intakes, intakes, intakes. Done so many of these I can do one in my sleep - one handed!

 

Dime a dozen for the intakes and they usually aren't cheap. DO NOT USE THE CHEAP GASKETS IF/WHEN YOU REPLACE IT. Fork out the 25-30 bucks or so and get the good ones - or you'll be payin' for it when you have to redo the gasket in 10,000 miles...

 

If you look where your head and intake meet - you can see coolant leaking all down the sides and when you open that intake up - it'll be 100x worse...

 

That's on thing about this vehicle that I'm nervious about. I know it's a Jasper engien - but they can't stop stupid engineering...

[Sherman The Buick]

Luckily, it didn't overheat. I caught it early enough. I'm looking at the work order sheet right now and the gaskets are pretty pricey. Thank God I knew enough to ask for the rubber valve cover gaskets and not those dang cork ones. I used those on my old Malibu and they stunk.

 

So I don't think I warped the heads...I drove the car 120 miles last night and kept a good eye on it. Coolant level stayed right on and oil didn't leak at all. It kept sounding better the more I drove it.

 

Yeah I don't know that I necessarily trust the engine. I had a Taurus 3.0 and liked that engine a lot except that it wasn't very powerful. It was the rest of the car I had problems with but I managed to sqeeze 230,000 miles out of it and someone's still driving it. But I like the looks and amenities the Buick has.

[1990lumina]

Yeah my Dad has a 3.0L in his 95 Taurus, in 100,000km nothing has happened other then a leaky coolant line. When it is leaking oil which it has been doing for 3 years and it is gradully getting worse but overall reliable engine. Now that 3.8 is a different story!

 

Glad to hear the car is running better now!

 

- Jeff L.

[Sherman The Buick]

Well...

I went out to start it and there's a puddle of coolant underneath. Looks like I've got a tighten-up job ahead.

qeufg;wjefb;kjfbh;

That's me throwing a fit!

[JW]

if you had a shop do the work they should be tightening or fixing what they missed

[Sherman The Buick]

Yeah, I'm kind of far from the shop right now. But they will be doing the tightening. I'm just going to baby it for the rest of the weekend and we'll see what happens.

[digitaloutsider]

I'm really suprised you're having this kind of trouble with a 3800...

[Sherman The Buick]

Don't be! It's a 3.1.

 

I had an 89 Regal coupe years ago and it threw a rod. But I bought it for 200 bucks and drove it for 6 months. Got my money's worth and loved the digital dash. It was also great in the snow.

[Redwingvksm]

Yeah, I'm kind of far from the shop right now. But they will be doing the tightening. I'm just going to baby it for the rest of the weekend and we'll see what happens.

 

?!

 

Hell - I know in my shop - if it leaks - it gets re-replaced free of charge.

 

Once sealed - shit shouldn't leak. I'd go and throw a fit. Demand a free oil change atleast.

 

Once sealed up - a properly put togther intake should NOT leak - no matter what... (Except for time, overheating for you wise-guys out there )

 

Can you say "RIPPED!"

[Sherman The Buick]

Yeah. I live in a nice city but it's hard to find a decent mechanic here. When I had a Ford I'd take it to a small dealership about 20 miles south and they'd do a great job with just about everything.

Funny thing is, the best mechanic in town is probably one of my co-workers. He's a weatherman but has owned a Z34 and is very good with these suckers. I just didn't have time to wait for him to get time to work on it.

At least I didn't take it to the place that services my work fleet. Wow, everytime I get mad about what I'm driving I just drive one of those clunkers. Especially the Hyundai. Yuck.