Daughter's car had the same problem. She had the intake manifold replaced and car was still overheating. She couldn't afford another repair and drove it until the heads warped and internal failure. Now needs a new engine. Another Chevy design flaw.
I will say it is a pain in the ass problem but it cost well less then everybody else's on here. You might wanna check around next time. I paid $600 for the intake manifold repair as well as a radiator flush and fill and an oil change.
Moved from Maine to Arizona. On the way, coolant level light came on, checked everything, all fine. Upon arrival in Arizona, took to O'Reilly Chevrolet, Tucson. Misdiagnosed as faulty coolant sensor ($147), replaced twice(second 2 times at no cost to me). Relocated back to Maine, light on again, took to local dealer, Forest City Chevrolet, diagnosed correctly. Since I kept car history, receipts, etc., they covered replacing gasket under warranty; cost to me $100. Followed up with O'Reilly in AZ, never heard back from them.
I have a 2001 impala and i have the same problem.i'm doing it my self it's not that hard saved alot of money the parts all together came out to about 160.00,but that suck that u have to do such a big job at only 118,000 miles i thought Chevy was better than that.i don't i'll be buying another one.
My Impala needed this fixed November 2004, and started leaking again January 2007. My husband is a police officer, and their department uses Impalas - at least till they can get rid of them. They're having the exact same problem in their police cars! And that is NOT a cheap fix when you're talking about hundreds of vehicles! They want OUT of the Impalas! Imagine what Chevy would think if they lose all the law enforcement business! Hit 'em where it hurts!! Maybe then someone will take notice and deal with this professionally!
- Lisa V.,
House Springs, MO, US
Search CarComplaints.com for these popular complaint phrases...
The intake gasket had to be replace in November 2004. Luckily, at that time the dealer accepted my extended warranty (the Chevy dealer in Vegas sold me an extended warranty, claiming that it was a GM warranty - come to find out, it wasn't - and the warranty company had gone bankrupt, so they weren't going to honor the warranty - which had cost me $1600 when I bought the car!!), but it still ended up costing $630 at that time, because they told me I had to pay for the radiator flush, the Dexcool (more like DexCRAP), and other "incidentals". Now, low and behold, January 2007 it started again!!! So I guess I can expect to pay big on this one, because I have since moved to Missouri, and the Vista Chevy Dealer in Vegas says they can't help me with the warranty unless I take it to their location in Nevada (as if it's going to make it that far!). So much for customer service. I can't believe there's been this much trouble with this specific part and they still haven't recalled or offered to pony up to pay for all these repairs!! I live paycheck to paycheck. I don't have the $1400 they tell me I'm going to have to fork over. The mechanic put some type of stop leak in it last January (2007); and here it is one year later, and I still don't have the money to get it repaired. If I don't have my car, I can't work. WHAT A SCAM! Not just the gasket.... but the whole extended warranty bankruptcy and refusing to assist in any way. I'll never own another GM product! They don't stand behind them.
Also just got the bad news from a local trusted shop. This repair will run about $600, which is reasonable due to the fact it books at about 6 hours of labor. I caught the problem when I noticed small anti-freeze leaks when I came out of work to drive home.
The Impala is a great car, but the intake gasket is known by GM and simply ignored. The 3.8L got a recall, but the 3.4 did not. I had this done on both of my cars. I feel GM let me down. A known problem but they won't stand behind it. Now they hope many of the cars are resold, previously fixed, loose track of them and eventually they will not have to repair or reimburse for the loss. GM The lose for face is far more damaging than the cost of the repair.
Took car in for a cooling problem. Was told that I needed to replace the lower intake manifold gasket AGAIN. This was also replaced at 53,000 miles. Also had to replace the oil. Car still not cooling properly.
Took the car in for a oil change and to look into cooling problem. I had to have the intake manifold gasket changed, a new thermostat put in and a oil change. Service manager told me this was normal.
At 55,000 miles, the LOW COOLANT message is displayed in the car. I just had the system serviced two weeks ago and it did fine during a 4000 mile trip until yesterday's return leg home. Chevy says the problem is a $150 sensor in the coolant reservoir, but I'm not sure I believe them. The coolant was INDEED LOW when I visually checked it prior to have the system flushed/refilled two weeks ago, and appears low today. Not only that, the coolant should be bright red in color but appears brownish. Not cool.
Car started sputtering and not running right, took it to goodyear service center and was told it was something wrong with the intake manifold. I think I had a gasket changed , coolant flushed, and what not. Car keep acting up, took it back and was told now it was the catalityc converter. Took it to the dealership and was told it was under federal warranty but they would only fix it once. Car was acting fine afterwards until 10,000 miles later when the low coolant light went on, check engine light went on and thermostat gauge would not work sometimes (at the same time ac wouldn't work when thermostat gauge did not). took it to other shop was told I had 2 bad sensors, had that done and the coolant flushed again.
Car worked fine for 2 days after that same thing going one. Took it back and they said i had a bad intake manifold again. If so many people are having trouble with this why GM isn't doing anything about it???
Car started sputtering and not running right. Took to dealer and was told I had a leaky gasket that needed to be repaired. They fixed one gasket and flushed my coolant system for $1700. Car still sputtering! Took back to dealer. They said their "best guess" is that coolant leaked into my catalytic converter and that should be replaced too for another $500-700! Luckily my dad could do that for me for under $100. Car runs fine now.
I am also having issues with this Low Coolant light coming on the dash of my 2001 3.4L V6 impala. There is a pool of coolant that coagulates near the driver side head of the motor.. I am not sure that this issue was ever covered under Chevrolet or not but it is a complete pain in the ass. also The windshield wipers are stuck in the upright position I hate that.
Bought the car Fall 2005 -- Intake gasket failed -- cost me 600 to fix -- About a month ago Low Coolant Level Light comes on, and stays on until car is at full operating temperature, however, there is plenty of coolant in the system and overflow bottle -- Just noticed today -- the external coolant leak is back (pooling a little near the front head on the driver's side, just below the thermostat neck... I've read several websites where this is apparently a big problem.... GM/Chevy absolutely needs to correct this or they'll find themselves in just as bad a shape as Ford. Class Action Suit? Sign Me up... Tell me how.
Car was being driven in normal conditions, Coolant light comes on but temperature remains stable. Flushed coolant, cleaned overflow Tank and checked coolant sensor. Car acted correct for three more days and then started overheating. Inspection shown blown intake manifold gasket. $1000. If they do not cover this, I will have to cross them off the list with Ford who also had this problem with the Mercury Sable cars and did not cover this defect.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
Daughter's car had the same problem. She had the intake manifold replaced and car was still overheating. She couldn't afford another repair and drove it until the heads warped and internal failure. Now needs a new engine. Another Chevy design flaw.
- L P., Boise, ID, US