If you have a digital camera, you may want to post some pictures of what you find.

yeah its the newest gasket. we looked at it but didnt know exactly what pinpoint and where.hes not a full fledge mechanic yet. he is in his last year of school for the gm mechanic program.if the intake is broke will any plastic from it that falls off mess up the engine?

There likely won't be any pieces large enough to worry about. I'll try to find a picture of where to check on your upper. Odds are that is your problem. Then you'll have to make a decision on which one to buy. The APN, one that has been sleeved by Bob Dillon and the Bill Buttermore reduced diameter stovepipe, or the Dorman. All of that information is in the techinfo article.

Edit - Here'* a picture of the UIM that is still on the engine. You can see the EGR stovepipe coming up through the UIM bore. Check the plastic in that bore and you may find that it has broken through to the collant passages tha are shown in the lower part of the picture.



Also, you did replace the TB gasket - the orange one in the picture?

no when i took the uim off, i left the TB connected. so therefore the factory gasket is still on it.is that a bad thing

Only if it is leaking from there. You'll likely have to remove the TB this time, so you can replace it then, and clean the TB, MAF, and IAC while you're at things.

To give you an idea of how much water gets in there. I have seen many where you can't see the hidden bolts. The water level is up to the top of the lower intake runners.

When you pull the intake...and throttle body, I'm pretty sure that'* what you will find.

I'd have to agree that you most likely have a failed upper intake manifold after reading your latest findings. I hope I was not too misleading with the suggestion of mechanical engine failure. I was just pretty sure it was not a fuel or ignition issue as you had already eliminated those possibilities.

I assumed ( ) that your dealership friend would have looked at the upper intake when he had it off as this is a very common problem with these engines, but as you said, he is still learning.

Be sure to change the oil a few times after replacing the upper manifold (if that is what it turns out to be). To do this, drain the oil and remove and drain the filter, then reinstall the old filter and put fresh oil in. Idle the engine until it is hot, then repeat. Do this three times and drive the car 5 miles the second time and 10 miles the third time. Then do a final oil/filter change and use a new filter at this time. There is no sense in using a new filter each time as the old one isn't really dirty. But that’* just my 2 cents.

well guys i can almost officially say i love u.(no homo) but anyway after i got off work today i took the throttle body off. and what do i find???????

A lake inside of my intake.i shined the flashlight inside and there was so much water inside. so i just left autozone getting an intake.i have a friend that works there so i was able to get a 20% discount. so new intake is going on either tonite or tomorrow. hopefully ill have a better running car. the throttle body was also nasty as hel too.
another code the odb scanner pulled was p something. but it was manufacturer control. it was transmission related.any idead whats goin on wit that?

HOLD UP!

Did you already change the lower intake gaskets with aluminum frame ones from the dealer?

Originally your car came with plastic frame and they degrade and cave inward to the ports. I'd seriously suggest you change the lower intake gaskets as long as you are already at that point.

Glad we could help. BTW... you are now hooked on the club. Let us know if there'* any questions along the way..

Yeah...your answer to that wasn't very clear....just that it was "the new one", but the new one from where? Did it look like this?

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If not, you may want to tear the lower off again and put that gasket on it. No sense in having to tear it apart again later when the lower goes again. Did you do the elbows too?