I just got my oil analysis back and it shows sodium at 82ppm potassium at 33ppm with coolant present, I know I lost about a quart of coolant during this oil life. I cant find any external leaks which would seem to mean an intake gasket leak. How long will that gasket go before it really starts leaking and how difficult is that to change and recommendations?

 

A quart of coolant between oil changes is a significant amount and indicates sooner rather than later on the gasket change.
Who did you use for the used oil analysis and are you familiar with bobistheoilguy.com?

 

Yah I just posted over at bob the first post back was intake gasket due to the coolant. The water in the coolant vaporized since there wasn't water present in the sample only the sodium and potassium, it was tested by staveley services through the napa oil analysis program it took less than a week to get the results including time in the mail. Does any of the coolant sealers actually work or should I just invent the time and money into changing it, the oil was in the engine for nearly 6 months.

 

Wrong. It was coolant in the oil due to the gasket.

Change the gasket.

 

is there a particular brand of gasket that is better than the other, also any tips that make the install easier/quicker?

 

Felpro has an updated metal framed LIM gasket that is pretty much the best you'll find.

 

Is there a real difference between these two other than the more expensive one has valve cover gaskets for some reason.
FEL-PRO Part # MS95817 {Set}
Upper set incl.
$32.79

FEL-PRO Part # MS98002T {PermaDryPlus®; Set}
Valve cover gskts. & valve cover grommets incl.; Upper set incl.; int. manifold gskts. incl.
$60.79

 

Here's a quote from another thread:
Click on the link for pictures of the two sets of gaskets. I would DEFINITELY recommend getting the updated metal framed gaskets in the MS98002T set. The MS95817 kit has the plastic (nylon) stock type gaskets which will fail again from the same problem.

 

Change the intake gasket ASAP. I ended up replacing my radiator because the gasket failed and the gasket particles started plugging up the water ports and the radiator itself. Cost a couple of bucks!

 

okay I have all the parts and things I need to do the repair on my next days off. There is one question that isnt covered in any of the repair guides, how long does the rtv gasket for the front and rear of the manifold take to cure. Is it cured by the time I get everything put back or does it need to sit a day before running it?