well mines not leaking i took my car somewere else they tightened up the oil filter maybe that was probliem cause i dont see any more oil spots..u have watch some these places if u get oil change..they could charge u for something that u dont even have a probleim..either that or drain plug expanded from heat :metal:

on a 96 3100, had done at 88,000 miles and 176,000 miles. both times there was only external leakage of coolant, so the engine was not damaged. it did suck to loose my heater on a 4 hour drive when it was 15 degrees below zero.

2000 GA GT. 100,400 MI. Well, I think my LIM just went yesterday... My coolant temp jumped to about 230 while getting lunch, and I heard a ticking sound also. Stopped by my buds, and popped the hood. Coolant was sprayed around the serpentine belt, and up on hood, right in line with the belt. Inside the coolant reservoire tank, my coolant is like chocolate milk, but my engine oil shows no contamination, and the oil is just under the full mark, like I didnt really lose much.

Does it sound like the problem is the lower or upper intake manifold, or possibly a head gasket? And with the coolant sprayed along the serpentine belt, is my water pump junk? No warrenty, I'll be fixing myself. I dont want to fix one thing, and find the problem is something else! Thanks in advance...

been slowly seeping since last winter, will replace before this coming winter. ~27k miles

Sounds like the water pump went to me.

What about the coolant looking like gooey chocolate milk?

The Dexcool starts to look like that after a while. At 5 years old and over 100,000 miles, you're definitely due for a coolant flush and what a better time to do it when replacing your water pump and LIM??? :)

I just changed the coolant last summer, at like 90,000 miles...

Well just replaced all the gaskets at 118,000 miles, leaking like a sob. Did not put dexcool back in, refuse to. At 120,000 now and everything seems fine phew.

the leaking intake gasket issue is a leak of the water jackets into the valley area of coolant.. if its spraying around the belt area, check for pin hole in the hose or water pump... usuially the water pump leaking out the seep hole will just dribble down the housing, but not always and cometimes can sling the coolant around the engine bay

Oh and yes the sludge in the coolant resivour is sour dex cool... the wifes fan has this crap inside her rad cap and rad neck.... just flush it before you change the pump and you should be ok...

My 01 GT starting leaking at 85K miles. Had the LIM gasket replaced at 101K. Had the same brown stuff in coolant tank at 70K before the LIM leak. Dealer said gaskets were fine and it was just time to flush the system.

Just got my car (03 GT) back from the dealer earlier today. LIM gasket was replaced (38,000 miles) under extended warrenty. My "low coolant" light never came on but I did find that the reservoir would occationally need topping off. Plus the car seemed to run hotter than it used to. Hopefully this LIM gasket will hold for another year until my lease is up!

Well I cant believe I started this thread 2+ years ago and it is still going. I dont think you have anything to worry about, I keep checking my new LIM gasket like a mental patient even to this day. It looks like its holding up well and I got it replaced when I started this thread in May of 2003. So Its probably a good bet yours will last until your lease is up.

2 times.... at 145k miles now!

Just changed my LIM at 55k, leaked coolant for a while, got the "low coolant" when i went up or down hills. Got it fixed under warrenty though.

Hi I am new to the forums here. I bought mine off Ebay with Anti Freeze in the oil. Bad. I mean it was real bad. It took me several days to get all the oil/anti freeze mixture out. Anyways the guy I bought it from told me its not the head gasket..Its the lim gasket. Well it was. It had 162,000 on it. Had alot more problems with it then just that, but all is good now except the egr valve is now bad. Hopefully replacing tomorrow. Now it leaks on the passenger side when it rains. Found the problem though. The door valve for the ac/heater is slightly broke. and missing some of the stripping around where it is broke.

Just had my LIM replaced at 60K.... paid close to $900

$900.... ouch... too bad you all dont live closer to me, Id do it for halft that... :)

Looks like I'm leaking coolant again, just a slow leak though. Naturally it's just after 75K miles, so I'm out of extended warranty. Had the LIM replaced around 45K miles, then the water pump a couple weeks after.
Thing is I just had the coolant flushed about 2 months ago (when I was still under warranty) when it was in for inspection.
I had them replace the thermostat as my engine was running cold for a while, this fixed that. They even covered it under warranty. But I wonder if they screwed up something in the process that caused the leak.

Just had my tranny rebuilt a week ago, my wallet is now $2500 lighter.

Figure a new LIM should last longer than 30K miles. Question is did they screw up something reinstalling the tranny, or was it more likely the dealer?? You'd think they's notice the LIM leaking after a coolant flush. But then again they might not since I had less than 1000 miles left on my warranty.

Got my LIM replaced for the first time at 70k miles. I could swear it slowly started leaking before 36k mile warranty ended. I kicked myself for not getting it done under warranty. At 70k miles, it just started gushing out coolent, only externally. My engine never got hot though. I am lucky to have a friend in town who is a GM mechanic. He did for $300 including everything.

GAGT 2002, 80,000 miles - just diagnosed with this. Low Coolant light came on twice in the past week; slow leak near the LIM. The dealer quoted me $800 to repair.

I called Pontiac (1.800.762.2737) to inquire about how common the issue is. They said they obtain information about the frequency of the repairs from dealers but they don't have aggregate data about how widespread this problem is. Pontiac expects the dealers to provide credits to customers in my situation.

Pontiac could only offer me a loyalty credit if I purchase a new vehicle in the next 1 year and will extend it another year if I haven't purchased within that time.

Just got mine done before the warranty went out....

had mine done at around 20k. I think, somewhere around there.

I hope mine has allready been replaced before I bought the car, but I dont have any way to know. I have about 89,000 on a 2000 GT and bought the car at 84,500.

Can anyone tell me, are they more likely to be an external leak or internal into the oil? The reason I ask is, If there ia a better gasket out, I thought about replacing mine myself before I end up with a serious leak into my oil or something.

had it on a 01 gt w/ about 38,000 miles. when i replaced the heads i took care of that though. we should have them recall it!

Just got mine back from the dealer for going in for this exact problem. Mine has 75,000km (~47000 miles).My coolant was low (never topped it off at all) and no leakage anywhere that I could see on the ground/engine - but my temp.gauge was just starting to slightly travel above 200. It would gradually increase a notch or 2 when idling in traffic, but once traffic started it would return back to the normal level (exactly 200). I've had 2 gaskets go on a recent cavalier I had, so I tend to watch the thermostat like a hawk. Anything above 200, and I worry now. So I played a hunch, knowing that gaskets are a common problem, and brought it in (having a $0 deductible helps too).

Sure enough, there was a coolant leak and the heads had to be redone (not quite sure of the terminology) as well as the gasket. Everything was covered under extended warranty tho, cept for a new thermostat - so cost me $19.75 after tax. Thank god I opted for the ext.warranty... :boogie:

and as a bonus, I got to drive an '06 Grand Prix while I waited the 3 days for my car! Smoooth ridin...altho the chrome on the steering wheel made me watch myself when I was driving quite abit, the slightest movement by my arm and I'd see the reflection on the steering wheel posts - I would think that would be a major distraction for some people :)

$800 sounds about right as the going dealer rate, my warranty repair total was $830 the problem was verywidespread as you can read from this thread. I really cant believe this tread is still going as its been a couple of years since my first post. On a side note my engine still seems fine from the repair, no leaks seen and I still check for them every couple of weeks. The redesign gasket and bolts seem to be working from what I hear from my GM tech so you can get those parts at the dealer.

I replaced mine at 55,000 on my 2000 GAGT. Again at 73,000 miles (I guess I didnt get the bolts torqued right). Now everything has loctite on them. And the improved GM gasket.

.

Yep gonna be 2x for me in the near future. As per this thread:
http://www.grandamgt.com/forum/showthread.php?t=55936

Have a 1997 GA with 3100 (L82) the first time they were replaced under extd. warranty ($100 deductible) at around 70,000km in 2001; and now it looks like it is leaking again at nearly 160,000km :mad:

Certainly not going to pay ~$800 for the replacement, so I'm either going to do it myself or just swap a 3400 in (because honestly it will be cheaper to do that I think than paying crazy labour to replace the LIM gaskets). Right now it seems to be only an external leak and fairly slow at that; I just hope it will go through the winter without getting any worse 'cause I don't want to deal with this until next spring...

Edit: Also why isn't this "poll" a real poll? I'd be really interested in seeing the sheer number of people, on this forum alone, that have had this problem. Honestly GM needs a beating. Yes every car has its problems but this problem affects MANY vehicles over MANY platforms and MANY years and not only that, it is an expensive repair as well.

.

i had 150,000 on my '97 gagt when i started having a leak and finally replaced it at 174,000 and is still going strong at 206,000.

i have a 2000 gagt with 90,000 and i replaced the LIM at 70,000 but this time i have it flushed completely so i could put the "Green" coolant in.

OT: mt vernon is beautiful country.

I started a thread with my reoccuring issue:

http://www.grandamgt.com/forum/showthread.php?t=58494

It seems as though mine is leaking into the oil and leaking pretty bad. The smell is strong. Even my cousin noticed it when he was riding with me and asked if it was my car that smells. I'm pretty sure it's the LIM again because I can smell the oil in addition to a sweet aroma.

97,000 miles had LIM replaced on my 2000 GAGT. It was a slow leak for many thousand miles but finally started to leak too much to live with...

97,000 miles had LIM replaced on my 2000 GAGT. It was a slow leak for many thousand miles but finally started to leak too much to live with...

I have a case open with the BBB....

I had to replace the LIM gasket on my 99GAGT at about 30,000 kilometers.
Not sure what that converts to in miles.

2000 Grand Am GT coupe. Had mine done over the summer. I think it had been leaking for a while but I never had coolant in my oil. Cost me just under $500.00 to have it done by my local mechanic. He completely flushed the system and did an oil change just to be sure everything was ok. Oh yeah, 46,000 miles on the car.

later,
KrustyTC

Had it done at 64,000 ... thankfully before coolant got into the oil.