Coolent leak
Question:
"Bomber" wrote > Needless to say I’m having a local shop do it this time. Time on the books > they use to quote jobs is 5.7 hours. This shop charges $60 per hour. I > asked how long would it really take, 4 hours. I’m still paying for 6. > $440 was the quote with oil, coolant and gasket set.
I need to get those books they use….5.7 hrs???? Give me a break. About the most you can get out of any of the books for this job is about 4.5 hrs. I’ll tell you a little scam that I’ve seen some techs use on this job. When you do an intake gasket on a Vortec v-8 you have to remove one valve cover in order to get the manifold out. This is "part" of the job, but I’ve seen tech’s go to the time book and add the valve cover R & R time to the intake manifold gasket time. That’s not really fair to the customer. I just had a peek in the Mitchell time guide, lower intake pays 4.1 hrs with A/C and cruise control, add perhaps .4 for changing the oil and you are up to 4.5 hrs. One valve cover pays 1.2 hrs…bingo…there is your 5.7 hr job. You might want to just nicely discuss this with them when you get the bill. Armed with a little bit of knowledge you ought to be able to get that 1.2 hrs removed as you can correctly tell them that at least one valve cover "has" to be removed (either one, doesn’t matter) in order to get the manifold out. Oh, and it only takes about 2 hrs to do the job and do it correctly. Sorry about your luck with the RTV at the rear of the intake. That’s one of the reasons that I get paid the big bucks, I can do the job in 2 hrs and not have it leak. That is quite a normal mistake for a newbie doing one of these for the first time. Ian
Response:
Price of gaskets, and about 4hrs for the pre-vortec. Most of the time was devoted to cleaning the gasket surfaces. Gaskets were brittle and hard as a rock. Cheers – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – > I believe this has been mentioned before. > I have what appears to be coolant leaking out the front of my intake on the > driver side of my 1999 GMC PU with a 350. > There is no evidence of any coolant getting into the oil or combustion areas > yet. > Can anybody tell me if I have sometime to get this fixed or does the gasket > all of a suddenly completely fail? > To those of you who have had this repair what were you generally paying. > Thank you
Response:
"Martin Riddle" wrote > Price of gaskets, and about 4hrs for the pre-vortec. Most of the time was
devoted to cleaning the > gasket surfaces. Gaskets were brittle and hard as a rock.
This is the great thing about the new style gaskets on the Vortecs and 60degree v-6’s, they just peel right off and leave very little to clean up on both the cylinder head and intake manifold. Double bonus for the technician (sorry, owners), they leak a lot, and they are easy to clean and prep for the new gasket. Ian
Response:
The leak will get worse but how fast is any one’s guess. It’s about 4 hours to do correctly. It depends on how much your local labor rate is.
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> I believe this has been mentioned before. > I have what appears to be coolant leaking out the front of my intake on the > driver side of my 1999 GMC PU with a 350. > There is no evidence of any coolant getting into the oil or combustion areas > yet. > Can anybody tell me if I have sometime to get this fixed or does the gasket > all of a suddenly completely fail? > To those of you who have had this repair what were you generally paying. > Thank you
Response:
I replaced the gaskets on mine (‘99 350 GMC Yukon) Friday. Relatively easy just time consuming, 7 hours moving slowly and deliberately. I screwed up on the silicon at the rear of the block and now it leaks oil. Needless to say I’m having a local shop do it this time. Time on the books they use to quote jobs is 5.7 hours. This shop charges $60 per hour. I asked how long would it really take, 4 hours. I’m still paying for 6. $440 was the quote with oil, coolant and gasket set. I am in Southern California. If I get another 60K out of it before it starts leaking again, I’ll just take it to the shop again. Too much time lost, even if I had done it right the first time. Steve "Bomber" Baum – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> I believe this has been mentioned before. > I have what appears to be coolant leaking out the front of my intake > on the driver side of my 1999 GMC PU with a 350. > There is no evidence of any coolant getting into the oil or combustion > areas yet. > Can anybody tell me if I have sometime to get this fixed or does the > gasket all of a suddenly completely fail? > To those of you who have had this repair what were you generally > paying. > Thank you
Response:
I believe this has been mentioned before. I have what appears to be coolant leaking out the front of my intake on the driver side of my 1999 GMC PU with a 350. There is no evidence of any coolant getting into the oil or combustion areas yet. Can anybody tell me if I have sometime to get this fixed or does the gasket all of a suddenly completely fail? To those of you who have had this repair what were you generally paying. Thank you
Response:
> I believe this has been mentioned before. > I have what appears to be coolant leaking out the front of my intake on the > driver side of my 1999 GMC PU with a 350. > There is no evidence of any coolant getting into the oil or combustion areas > yet. > Can anybody tell me if I have sometime to get this fixed or does the gasket > all of a suddenly completely fail?
It will slowly get progressively worse. Bad news is that letting it go for a period of time will tend to corrosion etch the mating surfaces making a bad situation worse. > To those of you who have had this repair what were you generally paying.
I dunno, I did my own. VLJ — If it has tits or tires, its gonna be trouble.
Response:
Hi Steve,my 89 gmc 350 leaked at the front of the intake,had to remove intake and get it welded the resurface had it fluxed for cracks and replaced,about 450.canadian.The antifreeze had deteriated the gasket, was lucky it went to the outside instead of inside.Your labour will cost more as it most likely is a vortec 350,they are harder to work on.Tom – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – > I believe this has been mentioned before. > I have what appears to be coolant leaking out the front of my intake on the > driver side of my 1999 GMC PU with a 350. > There is no evidence of any coolant getting into the oil or combustion areas > yet. > Can anybody tell me if I have sometime to get this fixed or does the gasket > all of a suddenly completely fail? > To those of you who have had this repair what were you generally paying. > Thank you
Response:
This is a problem that is quite prominent on the 350 vortecs when they get about 4 or 5 years in age. I had a 98 chev that had this happen to. I was about to change it, but traded off instead. GM quoted me about 400 – 500 cdn.
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> I believe this has been mentioned before. > I have what appears to be coolant leaking out the front of my intake on the > driver side of my 1999 GMC PU with a 350. > There is no evidence of any coolant getting into the oil or combustion areas > yet. > Can anybody tell me if I have sometime to get this fixed or does the gasket > all of a suddenly completely fail? > To those of you who have had this repair what were you generally paying. > Thank you
