i have a 2004 buick lesabre v-6 3800 series. 47000 mi. For quite a while I’ve had the smell of coolant.( Dex cool) the upper intake manifold has been leaking every so slightly --it is not going in the engine. in the last year and a half I put in a half gallon of Dex cool. so it"s the constant smell that"s getting to me. the upper intake is famous for this leak. I looked into seeing if I could get it fixed through recall but no luck plus the G.M. mess. I talked to my mechanic about it he didn"t seem too concerned, just when your ready bring it in. I can"T visualize what is inside this upper intake . my question is should i put in silver seal and see if that stops it or get it fixed??? i"m retired and money is a little tight. the upper intake with the gasket is 129.95 on line. My mechanic charges 80 an hour. he is trust worthy. i would like some advice. i can see where it"s leaking, by the occasional spots I clean up once a month— thanks for any advice. i have used silver seal on my other older cars( now gone) for radiator leaks and water pump leaks but with the newer car i don"t know if I trust it or if it will work thanks again
Your car has low mileage, and can potentially serve you for many more years. If this were my car I’d spend the money to fix it PROPERLY. The GM mess has nothing to do with your mechanic. Let him or her replace the manifold, or the gasket, or whatever it is they do with these cars (there are LOTS of them), and then you can drive the car for many more years.
The cost may seem high, but it’s nothing compared to the cost of a new car. You have a late-model car with low mileage. Fix it, drive it, and enjoy it.
Thanks-- you are right. I was leaning that way but I needed to hear it from someone else thanks again for your input
You’re welcome.
Others may have a different opinion. Please check back for more posts.
O.K. but i hope it doesn"t get too confusing. thanks again
Personally, I’m not a fan of stop leak products and I agree with mcparadise that you should get it fixed properly.
The Buicks are good cars and the 3.8 is one of the best engines GM has ever built. Taken care of, it should go hundreds of thousands of miles.
My oldest son has a 1996 Camaro and those models of Chevrolet use the Buick 3800 in them. A month ago while doing some routine maintenance I decided to perform a compression test and that engine was still carrying 190 PSI on every cylinder.
The engine has a shade under a quarter of a million miles on it and the compression is still right at where it was the day it rolled off the assembly line brand new.
thanks o.k.— nice to hear from you. i will get it fixed next month when it"s time for me to bring it in for yearly state inspection thanks again
just a quick question should i stick with DEX- cool or not- i"ve heard pro and cons about DEX cool-- what do you think???
Just my opinion, but I don’t care for DexCool and don’t use it.
My son’s Camaro was a DC car originally but after continued sludging problems and 2 premature water pump failures I did the Mother of All Flushes on it, converted it to green, and the car has not suffered a pump failure, or one iota of sludging, ever since. And that’s been close to 8 years since this was done.
thanks o.k. i will probably do the same. i"ve read so much on the computer and car talk on this subject it is mind boggling. thanks to all again for your opinions.