Mel87 Posted January 11, 2013 Report Share Posted January 11, 2013 Well apparently the GM 3.1 and the GM 350 are notorious for bad intake manifold gaskets. Well the time came for me, at 81,000 miles she started leaking oil pretty bad, and my coolant system was polluted with the oil mixing in the antifreeze. Took it to the shop and they said the intake manifold gasket went up... I kinda laughed when they told me that. But it was an $1100 repair, along with a complete coolant system flush and fresh oil. GM should have recalled the shitty design of the gaskets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
urbex Posted January 11, 2013 Report Share Posted January 11, 2013 I hear ya... Spencer and I are in the process of repairing mine right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
19Cutlass94 Posted January 11, 2013 Report Share Posted January 11, 2013 $1100 is pretty damn steep man. What are they charging for labor nowadays? Sent from my iPhone in some random spot of Texas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
virtuetovice Posted January 11, 2013 Report Share Posted January 11, 2013 FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU over a grand?!?!!? I have full confidence that if you know how to use hand tools and follow instructions, you can grab a factory service manual and the supplies to do this yourself! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LumiLTZ Posted January 11, 2013 Report Share Posted January 11, 2013 $1100 is pretty damn steep man. What are they charging for labor nowadays? Yep, labor is ridiculous where I am in the DC area if you have to take your car in for something major. Been a few years since I've set foot in a shop needing work other than tires/alignment/inspection now that I have a place to work on my cars so I can't recall offhand what hourly rates are these days... but I'll guess at probably somewhere around $90-100/hr at an independent shop, dealer of course a bit higher. I had some pretty expensive repair bills back when I was in a situation of living in an apartment where parking-lot-wrenching was highly frowned upon. What sucked more was everyone I knew down here was pretty much in the same situation, so I had no place to do my own wrenching. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j_mezz Posted January 11, 2013 Report Share Posted January 11, 2013 (edited) Sounds like you got a bargain though, my dealer wanted $2500! FFFFUUUUU was my response and I was able to work my way through it no problem. There's a lot of info about this repair on this site (and on the web in general) since it's so common. Kicking myself now for not going with the 3400 top end swap but I had never been in that deep before. Edited January 11, 2013 by j_mezz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
94 olds vert Posted January 11, 2013 Report Share Posted January 11, 2013 Intake manifolds are easy to do especially on. 3.1l. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel87 Posted January 11, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 11, 2013 Labor in MD is $86 an hour, they claimed it was a 9 hour job, and since im restoring my truck still I couldn't drive it as a backup, and working full time I didn't have the free time to attempt the fix. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
urbex Posted January 11, 2013 Report Share Posted January 11, 2013 9 hour? I thought it was a lot less than that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhatTheFehl Posted January 11, 2013 Report Share Posted January 11, 2013 I'm pretty sure my dad paid less than $250 to have the intake and gaskets done on his 3800. And I didn't think it was much more difficult to do a 3100. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
White93z34 Posted January 11, 2013 Report Share Posted January 11, 2013 I think is a slightly more time consuming job then a 3800, last 3100 intake gasket job I did took me 2 sittings to do where 3800s are a 3-4 hour affair for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GtpKo Posted January 11, 2013 Report Share Posted January 11, 2013 I hear ya, I can't even change my own oil where I'm at now. Landlord has one of those driveways painted to look like stone. He's very fussy about keeping it pristine. First time I did an intake gasket(LIM) on my 3800, it took me 18 hours. Mostly due to the fact that it was about 20 deg out, my hands were freezing, and I cleaned meticulously with a Q-tip. So I paid myself about $60/hr....? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Euro Posted January 11, 2013 Report Share Posted January 11, 2013 Well apparently the GM 3.1 and the GM 350 are notorious for bad intake manifold gaskets. . As well as the 3400, 3500, 3800, 4.3 That's a crazy price though, but I guess it makes sense with inflation and shit. When I had my GP's LIM done probably 6 years ago I think the invoice was $800 something. But I paid $100 with my GM warranty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rich17 Posted January 12, 2013 Report Share Posted January 12, 2013 Fick I did my 3100 in 4 hours. In the cold. Drinking beer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rich_e777 Posted January 12, 2013 Report Share Posted January 12, 2013 Hardest part i see about the job is getting all the push rods and rocker arms back into the right place, and the manuals probably make this simple task into something more difficult than what it really is. I cant wait to get my LIM off and clean that SOB out real good. When i had my injectors out i could see alll kinds of crap in there. 3100 top swaps require OBDII conversion correct? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jake91 Posted January 12, 2013 Report Share Posted January 12, 2013 Paid $1,200 to do head gaskets up on the ga but that was through a private mechanic I know. Paid $700 to do the intake gaskets at a shop on the gp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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