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Intake manifold leak on an '83 deville hearse

918 Views 6 Replies 5 Participants Last post by  cosmo, 
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So, I honestly don't know that much about cars or engines or whatever, but I don't like to believe that some ridiculous $$ amounts quoted by mechanics are always correct. I apologize in advance for how uninformed my terminology or questions are, but please bare with me.

This problem just sprung up randomly the other day. My coolant temperature light came on & steam was coming out from my hood. Upon further inspection, I found that it was coming out from back under where I put the oil in. I just had it looked at by some people at a shop that I usually take it to, and they said that after a pressure test they found that I had a leak in my intake manifold. Now, I did notice a teeny bit of coolant under my car, and if my understanding is correct then that's a big possibility. The quote, however, on how much it would cost for the 6 hours of work to replace/fix the gasket was $960.

Any suggestions or information that could help me right now would be very appreciated! I don't have that much money to spend on my car, sadly.
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C
Sounds like a proper diagnosis. I had an '83 Seville with a similar problem.
Now, here's your choices:
The 4100 is a fragile engine, do it wrong, and it'll be dead.
Cadillac have an upgrade for this intake that they state will solve the problem. It's not that cheap, if still available.
There is a lot of disassembly to this repair, as Cadillac chose to mount near everything on the intake.
You could choose to have a neighborhood hack do the repair, or a proper ASE mechanic who will back the repair.
I work at a dealership (not Cad.) and see a lot of stuff everyday that people tried to repair. It then costs more ($130/hr) to put it right. Your choice: pay once, or pay more twice.
My favorite: "I took it apart and it still doesn't work!" Actually stated by a customer.
T'were me, i'd fix it and get rid of it. From my experience, the 4100 is best as a boat anchor, and even then it's too light...

Cosmo
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