Q: 3800 series 2 gm motor does the rwd aluminium intake manifold suffer the same famous coolant leak as the fwd cars my car is 1999

asked by on May 30, 2017

I am worried my car will need to do head gasket because I know them 3800 series 2 GM motor are famous for it but my engine does not have the plastic manifold which is fed mines is aluminum and rwd.

My car has 186000 miles.
My car has an automatic transmission.

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Hi there. Well, to be honest, the biggest reason why these intakes are famous for failing is due to consumers pushing the edge on overheating issues. Although the plastic (polymer) intake tends to be susceptible to causing head gasket damage, it tends to happen when a cooling system component fails, or people make the mistake of not correctly bleeding the coolant system when they add fresh coolant to the radiator. As long as you stay on top of radiator service, flushing the coolant as recommended by GM and diagnosing a cooling system issue quickly, you shouldn’t have problems with the intake.

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