I have a 2000 chevy blazer LS 4x4 4.3L v6 vortec and I noticed something leaking from the front of my intake does that mean the gaskets are bad? And I've lost coolant out of the reservoir and the radiator both and I had a drip but I'm not sure if it's coming from the weep hole of the water pump? Any suggestions?

 

2000 could still be in the year range with the poor quality intake manifold gaskets. Mine were about to fail at the front water passages when I preemptively changed mine.

Have you seen any evidence of coolant in the oil? Sometimes when these fail they can dump coolant into the lifter valley which can ruin the engine.

To test fir leaks you can borrow a coolant system pressure tester from a local auto parts store. This will allow you to pressurize the system when its cold and with the engine off.

 

My 2000 Astro Van 4.3 was leaking enough to make the alternator slip on the belt --- that --- and the smell of hot coolant from "somewhere" I couldn't find, was the biggest clue.

4.3 manifold gaskets in a van are not fun to change.

 

Very common problem on the 2000's. Had to change mine out around 140K miles if I recall correctly. Mine son's 2000 was close to the same mileage, too, when his went. We were both lucky as they both blew out rather than in.

 

I third this.

My 2000 had to have them changed at 110,000 miles and now at 186,000 they are seeping coolant at the front again.

Just make sure to top off the coolant and they should probably be changed sooner rather than later if you confirm they are indeed leaking.

Also make sure to check every once in a while that there is no coolant in the oil as that can destroy your engine if left alone.

 

There's no water or coolant in the oil. I haven't been driving it mainly just starting it petting it run for a minute and shutting it back off. BTW I'm new on here. So HI everyone and thanks to those who have replied back to try to help me. So the intake gaskets if their bad could that possibly run down and drip from somewhere close to the weep hole?

 

There are a few places that the lower intake manifold gasket can fail. Mine started weeping at the front edge, which made it quite easy to diagnose.

If you know you're losing coolant, and have found it on the outside of the engine, then planning on replacing the gaskets is highly recommended. If you haven't found it in the engine oil, you should replace it before it fails further and leaks internally contaminating the engine oil because that will destroy the engine.

 

In my experience, and yours may be different --- I only use Fel-Pro gaskets as they seem to have the whole problem fixed with their really good engineering.

I've tried Detroit and Mahle and Victor Reinz and there was another that looked like stamped cardboard.

 

In particular the gaskets people like to use are the ones with the metal frames.

This kit has them:
https://www.drivparts.com/part-detai...20Gasket%20Set

Something I wish I had done was use the old LIM bolts with their heads cut off as guide pins for aligning the intake as I lowered it into place.

 

Thank you all for your help... thats my next thing to do is get the intake gaskets changed and see if thatll fix my problem. Im sure hoping so. Is it a headache changing the gaskets or a pretty simple just time consuming job?