The contact owns a 1998 Pontiac Bonneville. The contact stated that while driving approximately 20 mph the vehicle suddenly stalled. The contact attempted to restart the vehicle, but it hesitated to start. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic, who stated that the plastic gasket from the intake manifold failed and caused engine coolant to leak into the engine. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and advised the contact to take the vehicle to an authorized dealer for diagnostics.the vehicle was towed to the dealer where the technicians replaced the intake manifold and the intake manifold gasket. After the repairs, the contact heard a knocking noise coming from the engine. The vehicle was towed back to the dealer for diagnostics, but was not repaired a second time. The approximate failure mileage was 80,433.

- Crown Point, IN, USA

Vehicle was parked, consumer proceeded to start it, and it caught fire. The fire was extinguished by the fire department. Consumer later found a recall for the intake manifold, however, his vehicle was not included.

- Wisconsin Rapids, WI, USA

Upper intake manifold developed a coolant leak into cylinders. On startup, the engine hydrolocked. When engine hydrolocked, the starter was damaged and had to be replaced. The intake manifold and spark plugs had to be replaced. The dealership said this is a common problem and all manifolds will eventually fail.

- Laporte, IN, USA

Sudden catastrophic failure of the intake manifold causing anti-freeze to enter the engine, oil resulting in complete engine failure at 75 mph. Ase certified mechanic replaced engine, intake manifold and peripherals for over $5000. Have possession of original factory intake manifold showing hole in egr area that failed. Ruined engine had to be returned for core fee. Car recently off extended warranty. GM customer service uncooperative and claims that tsb 010601007A (NHTSA item #620835) not published by GM. GM customer service claims car has not been properly maintained, did not care to have details of oil changes (every 3000 miles) or other service performed as recommended in owner's manual. This is an obvious product failure and is a serious safety issue at higway speeds! when engine locked up, lost all power and had difficulty getting off the highway and onto the shoulder. Very thankful my husband was driving and not me, as I would not have been able to get the car off the highway due to the tremendous strength required to perform that task when there is no power steering! recently received a safety recall from GM for the gasoline pressure regulator that must have a number of variables happen all at the same time to become an issue. Why is GM not being held accountable for this serious intake manifold problem that appears to be lying in wait for the unsuspecting consumer?

- Shawnee, KS, USA

While driving vehicle stalled. Vehicle shut down, and was towed. The intake manifold was found to be defective.

- Highland, NY, USA

While driving 55 mph vehicle overheated. White smoke came from the tail pipe. Vehicle was taken to a dealer, who informed consumer that the problem was a crack around the egr located on the intake manifold.

- Seattle, WA, USA

Nar 04/28/2003 mr while driving 55-70 mph the consumer engine died out because of a defective plastic intake manifold.

- Metamora, IL, USA

Vehicle's warning signal starts up and the vehicle hesitates or stalls out while driving. The intake manifold was also damaged causing the vehicle to smoke and over heat.

- Louisville, KY, USA

Vehicle's intake manifold is defective. The consumer is disturbed about the her vehicle not being allowed in the recall for defective intake manifolds. When her vehicle is experiencing the same problems mentioned above. She is now requesting to be reimbursed for approx $1299.56 to resolve this issue and avoid litigation.

- Longview, WA, USA

While having the vehicle serviced at a garage, the mechanic noticed that the engine intake manifold was leaking. This would have caused the engine to lock up if not caught in time.

- Illiopolis, IL, USA

Vehicle was operating under normal conditions, vehicle was purchased used. Two blocks from my destination, the car was running rough, almost like it was sputtering. I parked the car in the hopes it would start, the backfire that I never heard, not only broke the nose off the starter, blew a hole in the intake manifold and filled the engine with antifreeze. Luckily for me I had shut the car off before any major damage had been done to the engine. I had the car towed back to the dealer I had purchased the vehicle from. Monday came and I then went to the dealer to have them fix this vehicle I had just purchased only 3 months prior, they looked at it and gave me a $700 estimate, knowing full well that this is a defect with the vehicle, but would not provide me with temporary transportation while waiting for the repars to be done. I asked that they put the old parts that had been replaced into the trunk for further investigation by me. Have done research on this on the internet only to find this a more common problem with this vehicle than had been imagined. Why must someone die before something is done about this defect with this vehicle"?"

- Oxford, AL, USA

While driving 30 mph service engine light flashed. Then, engine stalled. Dealer informed consumer that the engine needed to be replaced. When vehicle stalled, steering and brakes were lost. When vehicle was towed to the repair shop, it was found that a faulty plastic intake manifold gasket that had leaked and allowed coolant to leak into the engine, which caused vehicle to stall.

- Fowlerville, MI, USA

Vehicle back fired due to manifold rupturing. The next day vehicle would not start.

- Monessen, PA, USA

While driving engine check light came on and vehicle stalled. This occurred because the intake manifold gasket leaked fluid onto the engine and the engine seized.

- Fowlerville, MI, USA

Tried to start car 1998 Pontiac Bonneville with 54,000 miles, it backfired and cought fire. It is totalled. I read on the internet that there was a problem with the plastic intake manifold, but I have never been advised. My car which was like new is gone.

- Rison, AR, USA

While my 1998 Pontiac boneville was being auto started in -15 F tempertures there was an immediate sudden loud report, much like a backfire, I looked outside and the car appeared to be fine. It tried to autostart itself 2 more times in sucession. Both times it started rather roughly and shut itself off immediatly again. I quickly went outside and upon opening the hood it was seen that the intake manifold was broken into several parts.

- Fort Yates, ND, USA

Consumer took vehicle to dealer to be inspected, and mechanic noticed that the plastic intake manifold cracked causing fluid to leak onto the engine.

- Rochester Hills, MI, USA

I too had a intake exhaust manifold failure !! leaked anti-freeze into cylinders !! but mine was caught in time !! took to dealer the day the check engine light came on !! intake manifold replaced, fuel pressure switch replaced, plugs and plug wires replaced !! dealer ship owner said "this problem did not surprise him" there has been enough of these problems documeneted on your site !! are you ever going to do something about the problem?? cost me $ over $700 mike miller laporte Indiana this car only has a little over43,000 miles on it !!

- Laporte, IN, USA

Intake manifold leaked coolant into engine. Seems the plastic intake manifold and gasket warped causing excessive coolant consumption into the engine.

- Whippany, NJ, USA

Noticed slow loss of engine coolant (no obvious leaks) over the month prior to incident date. On incident date, engine popped, banged, and ran extremely rough on start-up. I had read about a problem with the 3.8 liter V-6 GM engine, and brought vehicle to dealer. Dealer found warped/cracked plastic intake manifold, which was replaced at a cost of over $700. Pontiac/GM would not consider any cost sharing on the repair. Failure was in area of manifold/plenum where throttle body/egr valve mount, and is due to excessive heat build-up over time. This problem is a design defect (use of plastic manifold vs. Metal in high temperature application) on this and several other GM V6 engine types from 1995 to at least 2002. GM installs these engines in various models of Pontiac, Buick, Oldsmobile, and I believe some Chevrolet. I estimate that GM has well over 1,000,000 of these problem engines in vehicles, and their potential cost liability is in the billions of dollars. I don't expect them to initiate a recall without government mandate. In other cases I have researched, this problem has apparently led to complete engine failure, and in some cases, engine compartment fires.

- Hopkinton, MA, USA