Hi everyone, as the title says I have a questions about those gaskets. If they leak, how likely is it that coolant/antifreeze will mix with the oil in my engine? I ask because I spun a rod bearing and am wondering if mixed oil/coolant could have caused degradation of the oil causing my failure.

I have a '99 3.8l V6 by the way.

 

They're plastic, they fail all the time. They can indeed release coolant into the oil, is your oil discolored at all? Looks like a chocolate milkshake? If you replace them, hit up ZZ performance or the stealership for the later style aluminum lower intake gaskets, they're very much so worth the investment, the plastic ones are very well known for causing trouble.

 

I haven't checked the oil because as soon as I heard my engine knocking I had it taken to the mechanics. He said that I probably need a new motor and that I'm also leaking antifreeze. I'm wondering if it's coming from the gaskets again because he replaced them before when they went bad. It's quite possible that he didn't replace them with better gaskets or didnt do them right, causing them to leak into my oil again leading to the engine knock. I wanted to make sure before I confronted him about it because if so he might owe me a new engine.. The guy is reliable and stands by all his work so it's going to be a tough situation to approach. I just wanted to have as much information as possible before I talked to him about the issue.

By the way you've got a bad *** six man, can't wait to see what she can do after you get the tune sorted out.

 

Pull the oil drain plug and see what comes out. Oil floats on water, so if there's any antifreeze in the oil pan, it will come out first. But, then you'll have to disassemble the engine to see what failed to know if it's because of the work he did or if it's something else unrelated like a head gasket.