Intake Manifolds: Leak Problems and Manifold Gasket Leak Tips

There are well-known problems with water leaks from intake manifolds, particularly the 1993 GM 3.8l engine and some later engines. The problem is a intake manifold issue for a 1993 GM 3.8l engine. The main problem is leakage of coolant – the coolant goes from the cylinder heads through pipes in the intake manifold to the radiator. This is common with V-type engines.

The symptoms of the problem are:

A smell of  coolant
The need to add coolant often
Milky colored oil
Milky substance on the dipstick or oil fill cap

These symptoms are telling you that  you are suffering from 1993 GM 3800 intake manifold leak. The leak may be the result of a crack in the manifold, or of the gasket leaking. The symptoms give you the clue. For example, if there is a smell of coolant, it is because coolant is getting onto the hot engine, and is then evaporating, leaving that smell. Obviously, if you need to add coolant often, you have a leak somewhere – probably a  1993 GM 3800 intake manifold leak.

Another problem, is that if your engine is leaking coolant, the coolant can get into the engine oil, by leaking from the water passage across to the intake port and then into the engine. When waster and oil mix you get a milky-colored substance forming, which can soon lead to big problems with the engine bearings and crankshaft.

The problem is often associated with the material chosen for the intake manifold. In the old days, there were gm cast iron intake manifolds, which although heavy, were very robust. These did not normally leak, but could do so if the casting was porous. Then, aluminum was used, and the GM intake manifolds were lighter and could be cast more precisely. Porosity could still be a problem, though.

Later, GM and other can makers switched to plastic intake manifolds, because they are very light and can be made very precisely. Therefore, air flow is improved. However, some of the materials used were unable to survive the very high temperatures under the hood – and these temperatures have kept rising owing to the exhaust emission equipment needed on later engines.

As mentioned earlier, the  intake manifold issue for a 1993 gm 3.8l engine can also be related to the design of the manifold gasket, which can result in a leak. The problem can also be made worse by the GM 3.4 intake manifold gasket installation method – if you don’t get it right, it will leak. This is usually because during the GM 3.4 intake manifold gasket installation the manifold gasket was crinkled up. So, you need to be careful when installing the gasket and manifold.

Technorati Tags: 1993 gm 3800 intake manifold leak, gm 3.4 intake manifold gasket installation, gm cast iron intake manifolds, intake manifold issue for a 1993 gm 3.8l engine

Tags: 1993 gm 3800 intake manifold leak, gm 3.4 intake manifold gasket installation, gm cast iron intake manifolds, intake manifold issue for a 1993 gm 3.8l engine

 There are many ways to get extra power from an engine, but if you want the engine to rev faster, you will need to make sure you get port matching intake manifolds right. Because V-8s are mass -produced, and the manifold fits into the V between the two heads, it is not easy to get the manifold and ports in the head lined up correctly.

With the ports lined up correctly and smoothed out, you can get more power from most engines including the Chevy 5.7l intake manifold and ls3 corvette intake manifold. This is particularly important if you have skimmed the head to increase compression ratio because when you skim the head, it sits lower on the block, and the manifold will not line up correctly.

The solution is to mark the heads with marking paste, put the manifold on and check for alignment. Then you grind the head or manifold to get them aligning correctly. This will give more power.

Of course if you build a manifold from manifold fabrication parts you will also need to align the manifold correctly. This is particularly important on high performance engines, so be careful with the ls3 corvette intake manifold and other hot Chevies like the Chevy 5.7l intake manifold. Youcan also gain a few horsepower with some minor modifications.

Gain 5 Horsepower This Weekend, For Practically Nothing

What if I told you that you can gain 5 horsepower this weekend, for less than $100? Or, what if I told you that you could gain 5 horsepower this weekend, for less than $20?

I bet you’d be interested eh?

Well, the good news is, I’m going to tell you how to gain 5 horsepower this weekend for $0-15 spent. Sound too good to be true? Well, read on!

1) Increase the H2O ratio in your coolant – if it weren’t for corrosion and freezing concerns, automotive makers would use pure water. Water cools much better than coolant any day of the week, and a cooler engine is a better performer.

Instead of half and half, try 40/60. DO NOT use pure water, As this may cause premature corrosion and that can be no fun at all to clean up. You may also try water wetter to further enhance this effect.

2) Index your spark plugs – this is an age old trick that is good for about 1 extra pony. The idea here is to "aim" the open end of the spark plug terminal (the gap) towards the intake side of the head. In order to accomplish this, simply mark on the plug a small line to indicate where this gap is, and install the plug as normal.

Try to line up the line with the intake side as best as you can. It may require buying 2 sets of spark plugs in order to do this, but hopefully you’ll be able to do this the first time. Be careful with aluminum heads not to over tighten, as that could lead to a costly repair.

3) Relocate IAT Sensor – This is a very simple modification that will work on a great deal of fuel injected vehicles. The IAT sensor (“Intake Air Temperature”) tells the computer how hot or cold the incoming air is. The computer will then adjust the amount of fuel being injected, as well as make minor adjustments to timing based on that reading.

The problem is that in many vehicles, the IAT sensor is located in the intake manifold, near the cylinder head. Therefore the air that the IAT sensor “reads” is much hotter than the air, say, in the intake arm. The idea with this mod, is to relocate the sensor to the intake arm. Use JB Weld or similar to patch up the old port for the sensor.

This will cause the computer to believe that incoming air is slightly cooler, causing it to inject more fuel and advance the timing a tad.

4) Synthetic Oil – This is guaranteed to pick up 1-2 horsepower, as multiple dynos over the years have proved this fact. Simply by switching to a true synthetic oil this weekend you can reduce the friction in your engine, improving efficiency, and therefore going faster.

5) Insulate Fuel Lines – When your fuel lines travel through the engine bay they heat up. However, cooler fuel produces more power for more reasons than just cooling down the intake charge–although that certainly helps things! So, to improve power output, simply purchase some refrigerator/air conditioning insulation and wrap the fuel lines with the insulation. While you’re at it, you may wish to go ahead and do this to the intake arm as well for even more power.

 by: Nathan Morris

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About The Author

Nathan Morris is a respected author of multiple technical automotive refrence guides and articles. He currently writes for and runs UltimateResourceGuides.com
nathan@ultimateresourceguides.com

Technorati Tags: chevy 5.7l intake manifold, ls3 corvette intake manifold, manifold fabrication parts, port matching intake manifolds

Tags: chevy 5.7l intake manifold, ls3 corvette intake manifold, manifold fabrication parts, port matching intake manifolds