I may attempt it. Hitting people up for quotes now. Gonna have to search the forum for a tutorial and see if I think I can handle it. I have no garage and not the best collection of tools.

 

should really need any special tool, sockets with extensions

 

If you suspect that it is your Lower Intake Manifold (LIM) gasket. You don't want to run the engine anymore until you either determine definitely it isn't or until you change the gasket. Coolant in the oil tears the bearings up in the engine in the worst way. Then you'll have more of a major overhaul on your hands. What does your oil look like? If it is cloudy or looks like chocolate milk, drain the oil right away.

One other tool you'll need to change the LIM gasket is a torque wrench that measures in inch lbs. You have to torque the LIM down in three stages and in a specific order to prevent damage to your main bearings.

 

I had read all of that on a few DIY threads plus seen it on youtube DIY videos. I finally gave up and called my mechanic. I would need to buy a torque wrench that measured inch pounds and they aren't cheap plus I would have to do it out on my driveway. I have done a lot of repairs out there or off the side of the road but this one just seems like I could easily do something very wrong to the engine. Calling for a lot of rain/snow around here the next week or so, it's actually pouring outside right now. So I am putting it in the hands of the professionals who have the right tools, know how and working conditions to do it correctly and cleanly. My mechanic is very reasonable. I checked a lot of places that wanted $600 or more to do it, my mechanic is going to do it for around $450 including all parts and materials.

I priced out material and special tools and I was gonna be at around $200 just in that plus taxes so for a few hundo more I can have some peace of mind and not be worried I did something wrong I will regret when the engine blows.

I can not wait to buy a new house with a nice garage I can work on things in.

 

When you get the Blazer back and test drive it, please let us know what the shop did, how much, if it fixed the problem and so on. I appreciate your comments on the need for a garage , a heated and air conditioned garage. Maybe a lift, too.

 

I got the Blazer back last night. I had called around to different places before hand to shop prices. I have a few places I use depending on the problem. Everyone was at $600 or more plus taxes. So I called my main mechanic who is always more reasonable and he hit me with $450-$500. Final price w/taxes was $486. He saved me a good $150-$200 over the competition.

He pulled and replaced both intake gaskets, flushed the engine and cooling systems, changed the oil and filter and a few other items that he replaced while he was there like the PCV valve and some vacuum hoses that were worn and cracked. He allowed everything to drain overnight trying to ensure if there was any antifreeze in the oil that he got it out.

The gasket looked pretty worn. 150k miles and this was the first intake gasket replacement, guess I was lucky as I hear they are a common problem with the original plastic gaskets GM installed in them.

He did see a little coolant where it shouldn't be when he pulled the intake but he says that could have dripped off when he was removing it. He flushed it out and like I said he drained it overnight. No guarantees that I won't see an engine problem down the line because even if a little coolant got in and ran in there for any period of time it can/will cause bearing damage. I am hoping we got it in time.

I am not saying this is something that couldn't be done in your driveway. I just was not comfortable doing it with my limited tools and out in the elements(we had rain here this week) and even if I worked around the weather I didn't want the engine wide open if I got in a bad spot. Even with the hood down it is open to the heavy moisture in the air then. There are a few walk-thrus on this forum and a ton of youtube videos. You must remove or at least loosen a bunch of things like the distributor, alternator, power steering, fuel spider, all the brackets and connections on top of the motor and they even recommend on a lot of guides to remove the belt, fan and shroud to give better access. Not to mention you need a good torque wrench that measure inch pounds, not foot pounds and a crows foot socket and different knuckles and extensions.

I figure by the time I bought all the parts and materials and tools to do it myself I would have spent around $250-$300 anyway. So for an additional $180 I know it is done right and under good conditions. Worth the extra money to me but maybe not to a guy with the right tools and a nice garage to work in.

 

Oh yeah, it is running smoothly and sounds great! I am happy to have her back.

 

Good news, when you said steam coming from the exhaust it most often means only one thing

 

I had steam from the the intake area, nothing from my exhaust. My leak was from the front passenger side corner of my lower intake right below where the adapter is to connect the heater hose. So the steam was from that water/coolant hitting the hot motor and dripping to the back and hitting the exhaust when I pulled into my inclined driveway.

Reading Norteno's original post sounds like he has the exact same problem. The coolant runs down the crease in the motor and intake and pours down the back of the motor which would make it appear that you have a leak near the heater hoses/heater core. Which I didn't at all. I smelled the coolant when it happened but didn't see a leak when I got home. That same day I ran a few miles up the road and smelled it again but saw the leak when I parked it this time. I did not run it except for a minute after changing the hoses and thermostat and that is when I discovered the intake leak. I hope I caught it in time before I did any engine damage. I also hope Norteno isn't continuing to drive his because if the gasket is bad internally it is dumping coolant into the engine as well and dexcool is some nasty stuff in a motor, more so than regular antifreeze.

And my heater is working great again too. So a win/win so far.

 

oops wrong post Ha, someone else having that problem!