I had a leak in which I thought it was an intake gasket and it turned out to be the plastic elbow coming out of the intake. I am now still loosing coolant and can not seem to see where. It does not run rough and I do not have water in the oil. I still notice a antifreeze smell when I get out of the car. I notice a little condensation at the top of the oil fill cap. Any Ideas. car is as 96 3.8. Thanks........1SG

 

Are you seeing any coolant anywhere on the engine or under the car when it is parked? Did you change the intake gasket or just the elbow? A couple things to check, the radiator cap, neck of the radiator for cracks or rough edges, orings that go around the connectors of the heater hoses, weep hole on the water pump. Look closely at the color of the aluminum around the intake manifold for yellow discoloration.

 

If all of that passes, you might want to pick up one of the dye kits or pressure test to see if you have a head gasket that may be beginning to leak.

 

It ended up being the intake gasket, thanks for all the help........1SG

 

Glad you found out what it was. Was it leaking externally or internally?

 

it has been external, I have it in the garage and started working on it yesterday. I am going to take my time and do a few other things while I am in there........1SG

 

The lower intake manifold gaskets on the 3800 are problematic. If they haven't been done on your car they should be done. I owned a 97 LeSabre with the 3800 and first did the upper intake. I drove it another year after doing that and it constantly consumed a small amount of coolant. After learning more about the 3800 Series II problems I decided to pull the lower intake. Yep, the seals were wasted and leak points were very obvious. I should have done upper and lower intake work at the beginning. After that the car didn't take any coolant at all.

 

really at my wits end, the car is still overheating, It has never gone above the middle mark on the gauge, but this is starting to drive me crazy. changed the thermostat and same thing. I had to pick up the belt tension assembly from a junk yard. Would a bad idler pull case some overheating? Any help would be great, hate to take it to a shop........1SG

 

Have you flushed your radiator? You could have a clogged radiator not allowing the coolant to flow through all of it allowing it to cool effectively. Another thing would be the water pump fins broken off the inside of the water pump. Assuming you are not loosing any more coolant and have bleed the system with the heater turned to max and car warm enough for the thermo to be open.

 

I did the system bleed and it seemed to help. so far, It kinda goes back and forth. I noticed what looked like a little oil in the antifreeze, head gasket? At least I know how to tear it down........1SG