Hole in Chevy Intake Manifold

[JB]

Damn.

I drove my Tahoe down the road to get something to eat and the temp gauge went high very fast. It has never gone higher than 200. Smoke was everywhere and I lost all coolant. It was full when I checked it yesterday.

After investigating, I found a hole in the intake manifold just below where teh upper hose goes in. It is about the diameter of a pencil and when filling the radiator back up, coolant just kept coming out of that hole. So needless to say, I need a new intake manifold. ANy suggestions on aftermarket ones? I will proabbly just buy a new from GM. I have a feeling I am goign to spend a lot of money.

ANy ideas as to what would have caused this? Maybe a stuck t-stat?

Advice would be appreciated.

[BigRedFord04]

if a new intake it expensive, might check just getting it welded back up. i know john vilas can weld aluminum, as can the guy who does all the head work at Vilas, Mark. that might be kinda canadian, but i'm pretty sure thats this club's motto.

[Sharpe]

What year is it? If its a 95 or earlier, Edelbrock makes a kickass aluminum intake for the Chevy TBI 350. If its a Vortec, fix the ***** those parts are expensive :gigem:

[JB]

It is a 98 model Tahoe w/ 108k. I thought about somehow patching it, but do not want to go ghetto with my daily transportation.

I'll get a pic tomorrow b/c I know it is hard to understand what I am talking about.

Out to fix the Bronco so I can get to work and school for the next couple of days

[Sharpe]

Actually I just had a brainstorm. Just JB Weld the bastard. I've heard extremely good thing about the stuff being used to repair smashed tranny pans and other metal parts. Its made specifically to bond metal to metal. Just put some over the hole, or if its too big, glue a little metal patch over it. You wont even have to take it out of the vehicle for that. That's deffinately what I'd do.

[JB]

That is alot of pressure that I do not think jb weld could hold

[Fredo]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=7923228949&category=36474

there ya go

[BigRedFord04]

isnt the avg cooling system only 13-16 psi? thats what most radiator caps are rated at. JB weld should be able to withstand at least that much with the right surface prep (i.e. giving it a good coarse surface to bond to). it'd be worth a shot to try a $3 fix while its down anyway and you're looking into replacing parts.

[mudtoy67]

JB weld is probably not a good idea on a daily driven vehicle. It might hold, but then again it might come loose or leak going down the highway and then you're stuck. Best bet on something like this would be to fix it right and get that one off of ebay or get a new one. Is it leaking on the upper manifold or the lower. I think the upper is plastic and replacements are not that expensive.

[JB]

Lower intake manifold came from GM and I got it for $471. Found a leaking AC line and so I got an entire new assembly from GM for $70 Spend about $25 on all gaskets.

It is still a mess, and I have not pryed the old one off yet, but there is nothing else holding it on. Just need to take it off, transfer over teh uppermanifold and hope to God I can put everything back together.

[jerryg79]

I hope you didnt pay $71 for that line, I got that one for like $30 from napa

[JB]

it is both the high and low side, it is one(or two) big pieces. I havent opened that box yet

[jerryg79]

it is both the high and low side, it is one(or two) big pieces. I havent opened that box yet

yeah i know it is one big piece that goes across the top of the engine and sits on top of the compressor

[mudtoy67]

Another thing that you might look in to is GM has coolant supplement pellets that are supposed to seal aluminum parts from the inside and keep the coolant from eating away at them. Might keep this from happening again.

[Violentv8toy]

jeez...that was a small hole to be 500.

[Fredo]

another thing to think of.....I don't know if you've ever seen the lines that run from the injector pod to the intake runners inside that upper manifold before, but they are little black plastic lines that become somewhat brittle over time. I'd be very careful transferring those over.

[JB]

I transfer them over today. I cleaned them up and they are in good shape, but I see what you mean.

Looks at the back ports :eek:

[JB]

I got it all back together, but I now have a nasty tick. Hopefully can diagnose it tomorrow. It took me all day to get it back together.

[uglyota]

new chevys are harder to work on than a damn honda
what'd you do about those corroded water passages?

[fbronco86]

:flipoff2:

[jerryg79]

Maybe you gotta leaky intake gasket, mine and fred's both started ticking when the gasket was letting coolant in the oil

[uglyota]

what's this tick sound like?
You guys have got me freaked out on that damn intake gasket. I wish I would have done it when I did my water pump...I'll have to get around to it as soon as the ugly truck's legal.

[fbronco86]

Maybe you gotta leaky intake gasket, mine and fred's both started ticking when the gasket was letting coolant in the oil

what about the piston slap your truck did jerry?

does it still happen when its warmed up?

[JB]

new chevys are harder to work on than a damn honda
what'd you do about those corroded water passages?

I cleaned it all out pretty well before installing the new intake. I cut an inch or so out of a smaller coolant hose and put in a T-fitting. THen I hooked up a water hose to it and used special radiator cap thing with a hose coming out of it to flush out all the bad crap.

It runs cooler now, power is still great, and the tick is gone, but it starts up slower now. Weird.

[JB]

what's this tick sound like?
You guys have got me freaked out on that damn intake gasket. I wish I would have done it when I did my water pump...I'll have to get around to it as soon as the ugly truck's legal.

Forgot to answer.

Apparently the lower intake gasket(silicone on the front/back) are very common problems with these 5.7s. I looked at my records, and mine was fixed at like 35k under warranty, as well as teh water pump.

I changed the oil again, and noticed light brown for the first second or so of draining, then darker gold. So I suppose, it still had a little in it. Stills runs good. Starts better once I tightned up the loose positive cable.

[uglyota]

so what's the tick sound like?
I hate side-terminal batteries...I drilled my cables out and bolted them to some top-terminal clamps