LIM gasket change walkthrough

well it matches the connector on mine and i found it by searching 1999 pontiac grand am gt 3.4 liter so im guessing its the right one..

i dont have a soldering gun so ill have to figure out another way to connect it.

[alerored04]

A cheap soldering iron goes for like $4 at a hardware store. Best way to connect it, most reliable, and cheap. Just make sure you done apply too much heat.

[drumking1721]

K guys a have a HUGE question....this morning i woke up and had a bad feeling about the car.so i popped the hood after it had been running for about 15min. Always noticed a little bit of coolant leak on the side of the head where the gasket meets. So i took off the oil cap and on the top there was the milky substance.So i basically **** a brick. Drive a half hour to class on the highway,temp and everything is fine. Got to the aiport(where my classes are) and took off the oil cap and the oil was fine...smelled and looked like the oil.Now i noticed my PCV valve was cracked,gotta get a new one after class. Is this my lim going? or was the white substance just bc the car was cold. If it is the case,what are the best LIMs i can get,when i say that which ones will last the longest....please help me

If there is coolant leakage in between the heads then its the LIM leak. My suggestion is before even bothering with saying "yea i can probably drive on this for another few months" just go and fix it. It's bound to happen to you sooner or later anyway, and better to do it now then before it gets worse.


The parts and everything you need can be purchased for under $100 then do all the work yourself using this walkthrough...just, DONT take the fuel rail off when you remove the LIM and it makes everything a whole lot easier. Just buy the felpro gaskets they are metal instead of plastic and much more durable. $70 package gives you everything you need except egr gaskets and throttle body gaskets. some say not to use the rtv they give you in the package but thats up to you. Then buy threadlock for the LIM bolts as well. You'll also need a torque wrench and a U-Joint or swivel socket. you should be set.

[drumking1721]

k sweet thanks dude....where can i order that from? My spring break is next week,i may do it then

I ordered mine from rockauto.com

There is the part numbers and prices for each part. The rest of the stuff you can buy at a auto store. Go to rockauto and do part number search, the manufacturer is fel-pro for all of those items and type in each part number and it should come to 70 something

Fel-pro LIM Gasket set MS98003T $68.79
Throttle Body Gasket 61053 $1.10
EGR Valve Gasket 70804 $6.70

[drumking1721]

sweet tits........this about a day long job? because i have a whole week to be home with my parents :/

[drumking1721]

K i ordered the gaskets....Do you recommend the High temp RTV? or the blue kinda....i just dont want this to happen for a long time,so im gonna take every measure to avoid it for a while

It's stated it takes 8 hours if you follow directions...but since i took the fuel rail off of mine and encountered some problems it took me about 10 hours spread out over a weeks time. You're definately not going to want to do this all in one shot because you'll either get lazy or your back will start to kill you from bending over in the friggin engine for so long.


I used the RTV that came with the felpro set but some people say to go purchase a better one. im not sure but if you go to a auto store and ask for the best rtv they have theyll show you.

Just read the walkthrough completely a few times to get a glimpse of exactly what you'll be doing. Then start with step one and slowly follow the directions. One of the most important things is the pushrod order. Good luck

[Robotix]

The instructions are perfect and you can follow them to the "T", if you remove the bracket alternator which takes 2 minutes you save your self 10 minutes trying to figure out and failing how to remove that last bolt of the valve cover gasket hidden behind the alternator bracket bolt.

I would suggest that you also look into replacing your serpentine belt if you have more than 50k or notice any type of chaffing or cracking this is a very good time to do this. To do this just jack the engine up enough to relive the pressure from the engine mounting block and remove the three remaining bolts and then just pull out the old and put in the new and continue with step #24.

TAKE YOUR TIME!!!! I gave myself two days and did not rush, I printed out the instructions and used a highlighter to mark the steps I completed and I came inside several times to look at the pictures that corresponded with the steps if I needed clarification. I used the black RTV in the kit as well and it worked fine and still is good after 3 days.....

You CANT go wrong if you follow the steps and yes you do have a leak and spring break is a good tiime to fix it. Dont forget the swivel adapter for the socket.

Good lucka nd any question let us know

[drumking1721]

umm yea thats a negative,i canceled the order...i forgot i had rent due today eeeekkkkkkkkkkkkk. I think there ok for now.Low coolant or anything has been giving me problems,just the little but of residue on the side of the block,but its been there since i bought the car in 05....

[BHermis]

I am almost positive that you do have this problem. Almost every GA out there is going to get it atleast once. However you should have some extra cash on hand before you start because it can quickly turn into a much more expensive job if you break stuff like I did.

yea you stated that you saw a milky substance on the oil cap. thats how it starts and then i finally looked at the oil cap not even a week or two later and it was even worse. thats when i decided to do the job and im glad i got it over with and you should really get it done ASAP before you have worse problems.

[polo77]

Yup your deffinatly going to want to get it done. I just got mine done, switched over to the green stuff. I noticed it when i was putting winshield washer fluid in. Didnt drive it untill I got it fixed Monday. $325 for my trusty garage to do the whole shabang.

[eric99gt]

Milky white substance on the oil cap is not necessarily indicative of a LIM gasket failure. You mentioned you drove and checked it again and it appeared to be normal. This to me means that you just had some condensation on the oil cap and it heated up enough driving to the airport to evaporate it off. You also mentioned the leak externally Now this is probably a LIM gasket but with it being external you may be able to hold out a bit. Also if you're not loosing coolant then are you sure the "moisture" you're seeing is really moisture?

That is odd. I've never heard of there being milky substance on the cap and then it disaspearing? As soon as I noticed it I saw that there was more a week later and knew I had a problem...not to mention the loss of coolant. I actually barely had a coolant leak problem until i flushed my coolant out and filled it again. That's what was wierd but it triggered the LIM problem to get 10x worse.

Even so, I wouldnt even wait till it gets really bad to do this work. Just get it over with unless your completely strapped for the cash, just get it done otherwise. It's a pain in the ass to do but such a relief to get out of the way.

Too bad I still need to fork over $400 for new tires now...my money problems never end

[KhellendrosxS]

Exactly what eric99gt said.

Milky stuff on the cap does not mean you have a LIM leak. My LIM was just replaced and I have milky 'winter condensation' on my cap. Just keep checking your oil for the choclatey milkshake stuff and you will be fine. All it means is that you arent heating the engine long enough to burn off the condensation. My condensation actually steamed off so bad it warped the oil cap (too many short trips with lots of buildup).

but he said he noticed dripping coolant from in between the heads as well?

[eric99gt]

The LIM can seep a bit of coolant over time and not necessarily have a leak. May leave a residue that looks like a leak but you could hold out on doing the gasket. Best way to tell if you have a leak is either coolant loss or if you get the milkshake on the dipstick (sounds perverted) .

[Sprucegagt]

Originally Posted by khellendrosxs

Exactly what eric99gt said.

Milky stuff on the cap does not mean you have a LIM leak. My LIM was just replaced and I have milky 'winter condensation' on my cap. Just keep checking your oil for the choclatey milkshake stuff and you will be fine. All it means is that you arent heating the engine long enough to burn off the condensation. My condensation actually steamed off so bad it warped the oil cap (too many short trips with lots of buildup).

It's nice to see that some people here aren't just jumping to conclusions.