Hi All,

I found this great forum after searching a little bit online and thought I would post a question about my 99' Chevy Blazer. I have a pretty heavy coolant leak that seems to be coming from the top of my engine. I checked the usual suspect (Water Pump) and did not see anything coming from the little hole that is on top. Couldn't find the leak so I actually took it to a mechanic and he said that it was coming from the water pump gasket. So I took it home and replaced the gaskets between the pump and the engine. Same leak problem. I'm guessing that it is the head gasket.... but the oil does not appear milky or off color. Could this still be the head gasket? After looking a little closer.... the leak appears to be coming from where the intake manifold attaches to the engine. Is there an intake manifold gasket that could be leaking coolant? Any opinions would be helpful. I just don't want to tear it down to the head gasket if I don't have to.

Anyway, I appreciate your help!

Corey

 

Its a common issue on these engines..based on my own exp i would say you have an intake gasket failure. If you do it yourself get the fel pro gasket with a "T" in the part number. Gasket set was about 90 or so from rockauto.com the job itself took me about 12 hours. Its not terrible just intimidating...but it reads like you have some skills. Look around the forum...this has been covered alot...weak point on engine. Hope this helps ya out.

 

Yup. Lower intake gasket. Just did mine a month or so ago. Let me just say, that's the perfect time to do plugs, wires, cap and rotor if you're due. I can't remember what thread of mine it was, but Warthog posted an awesome "How To" that cleared up any question you could ever think of.

 

A third vote for LIM gaskets. Make sure to get the updated Felpro set with the metal frame.

 

and do it quick, i waited a couple days and now my engine knocks because coolant got into the oil ...

 

Thanks for the info guys. I have it all taken apart and will be installing the new gasket this weekend. The gasket that was in there was REALLY deteriorated. I read that there was some kind of lawsuit against GM a while back regarding the Dextron coolant that apparently had some impact on these gaskets. Anyway.....hope to have it done this weekend.

Thanks again!
Corey

 

Corey!!! Good that you broke the project in two parts
PLEASE read this.
https://blazerforum.com/forum/2nd-ge...p-66151/page2/
Guy did everything right but the most critical part.. and we're holding our breath for him

MUST DO THIS RIGHT!
Get that.. final torque is ELEVEN Foot Pounds!!
There can be drastic consequences if you just wrench the thing down.

 

My 2000 hasn't leaked in 2 years since i put stop leak in it.
just put the powder in a drove it around and hasnt leaked or plugged up. SO I am a happy customer

 

crunch691 we just removed the intake manifold on the 'new' 1998 119K mile engine we are using to replace the 1998 528K mile engine that developed a stuck valve.

The intake gasket was more like wet cardboard so it was nearing the failure point. Stop leak has its place in the world but gasket replacement is not one of them. When it gets hot some day or for some other reason the weak gasket mater 'melts' away due to several reasons you could get water dumping into the crankcase and kill a good engine.

 

Just an update..... I completed the fix on 12/26 and everything seems to be running fine. No leaks. It does take a minute to start, but that was an issue before the leaking gasket..... I need to look into that next. But she is running fine.

I appreciate all the info everyone has provided. This is a great site!

Thanks!
Corey