Antifreeze leak on 2001 Chevy Lumina???

Question

I took it to a friend who said he thought it was the intake. Anyone had this problem, if so how much was it to repair? Is DexCool actually needed for this car or can the regular (green)antifreeze work?

Answer 1

either one but do not mix coolant. Yes the intake gasket will leak. Buy your gaskets at Chevy dealer. But get ready 3.8 liter engine two intake seals with or with out holes depending on Vin # and two intake gaskets. There is a special fuel line release tool but clever mechanics take the entire fuel rail off in one piece. And you will also need valve cover seals too. 3.1 or 3.4 liter engine will need a complete intake gasket set. Intake gaskets (2) and two intake seals and two valve cover gaskets

Answer 2

yep. chev had trouble mateing the alum. intake manifold to the cyl head. seems like always the front right but no reason why any of the end ones couldn't leak. i replaced the gasket on my 1500 4+4 and still had to use stop leak and i've been a mechanic for years. i didn't want to spend the bucks to get the manifold shaved. At 70 and 80 $ anhour its still going to cost a chunck. about $300 i would think. No don't mix antifreeze. Its cheaper to drain and refill than to buy the dexcool from the dealer but if they do the job you can bet you'll be buying a gallon or so.

Answer 3

All (Chrysler, Ford, and GM v6s) cars appear to have this problem usually starting at the left lower front of the intake manifold. For an inexpensive repair, try Aluma Seal or go to www.crcindustries.com and click on K and W Nanotechnology Permanent Head Gasket and Block Repair. Both work if used as directed. Green or yellow anti freeze coolant can be used as a complete change over. In the early years of Dex Cool there was a problem but this is not so today. Abuse the cooling system of any automotive and there will be problems.

Answer 4

If it's the intake gasket figure close to a $500 bill if you have it fixed and you can use either type of antifreeze as long as you don't mix the two together, just make sure you also drain the block of the antifreeze also before you switch.

Answer 5

if its leaking at the ends of the intake manifold, its most likely intake gasket.There are improved replacement gaskets available . Repair cost is around 400.00 dollars. Don`t switch to the green antifreeze.

Answer 6

you have to use dexcool other wise you will sludge up your cooling system mixing the 2. the intake gasket leaking is very common on GM cars. it is also not a real hard fix. call around to different shops see how much it will cost unless you know someone who can fix cars and will do it for you.

Answer 7

need a little more info like engine size would help, but yes they had manifold problems, if you don't want to use dexcool change all the coolant don't mix it. If itt has a plastic intake it can cost some big bucks.

Answer 8

Check the oil and see if you have a discoloration, head gaskets are spendy, did it get hot?You can use reagular types of antifreeze, all depends on how much you want to spend, also is it smoking or wet tailpipe, thats a indication of headgasket, good luck, also to find a cooling system diagram for that check Alldata.com

Answer 9

If you look on the top of the water pump you should see a hole about the size of a pencil and there's another hole on the bottomas well , take a look at those hole's and you should by able to tell if there leaking. if so then you need to replace the pump. You might also check to see if a heater hose is leaking

Answer 10

You can also try Stop leak made for the cooling system. I had a freezeplug leaking on my 94 camaro and it worked perfectly!