repair shop claims intake manifold leaks on 2005 saturn relay. any way to tell for sure.
Spray something like starting fluid/brake cleaner at the intake manifold gasket while the engine is idling.
If the engine RPM’s change the intake manifold is leaking.
Tester
It’s plastic. Might be warped. Replacement intakes are not real expensive.
Another test is to introduce propane, from a canister and maybe via a hose, moving it around the intake area while the engine is running, like Tester’s method above.
GM V6’s of this era had problems with the coolant used (dexcool) and poor gasket design causing the intake to leak. You can almost always visually see the leak on the lower intake gasket. If it’s not loosing a lot of coolant, I wouldn’t worry about getting it fixed.
Did they say what is leaking? Air? Coolant?
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You know, because if it’s only a little bit, it might get better on it’s own. And besides coolant leaks are always a good thing, sort of like a good omen. Right?
Are you a car dealer?
I lost 1 qt of oil in 5000 miles (synth blend)
Lost? As in used? It leaked externally? Or motor is clean and oil is gone somehow? So an internal leak? 1qt in 5k miles is quite good. I would say that is above avg for GM cars.
@PvtPublic if the manifold was leaking or seaping as I described, I wouldn’t consider it an urgent repair if the coolant loss was minimal. I would think toping off the coolant periodically would make more sense then a $500 repair on an older vehicle.
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