Dear Daughter got her elderly (& somewhat eccentric) Aunt's 02 Buick Century last night. The car is not at hand. The car has been losing coolant for a year or so. The coolant loss must be external as no sign of oil contamination. Aunt mumbled something about a "head gasket" but has also said "manifold". Aunt really doesn't remember well & wouldn't recognize anything under the hood anyway. (Hope I'm doing this well at 87!) Daughter noted the heater barely put out anything on low & moved cold air on high. Temp guage showed mid-range when wife drove the car. I know the first thing is to find & fix the coolant leak. I Googled it & found a TSB for failed intake manifold gaskets. Apparently the new antifreeze was not compatible with the original gasket material. Re-engineered gaskets are availible. The TSB also indicates new bolts with thread locker (Loc Tite) to avoid bolts backing out.I wonder if the original bolts could be reused with added LocTite or if these are stretch bolts? What about the heat?
Dear Daughter got her elderly (& somewhat eccentric) Aunt's 02 Buick Century last night. The car is not at hand. The car has been losing coolant for a year or so. The coolant loss must be external as no sign of oil contamination. Aunt mumbled something about a "head gasket" but has also said "manifold". Aunt really doesn't remember well & wouldn't recognize anything under the hood anyway. (Hope I'm doing this well at 87!) Daughter noted the heater barely put out anything on low & moved cold air on high. Temp guage showed mid-range when wife drove the car. I know the first thing is to find & fix the coolant leak. I Googled it & found a TSB for failed intake manifold gaskets. Apparently the new antifreeze was not compatible with the original gasket material. Re-engineered gaskets are availible. The TSB also indicates new bolts with thread locker (Loc Tite) to avoid bolts backing out.I wonder if the original bolts could be reused with added LocTite or if these are stretch bolts? What about the heat?