Supercharger gasket for the l32, upper and lower coolant elbows, injector o-rings, lim gaskets, black permatex rtv, some scuffy pads tk remove old gasket material on mating surfaces. And some coolant since you'll be draining the system to pull the lim.

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Mods include-
Pulley boys 3.2 pulley, 20* timing, HPTuned, pacesetters, SSIC, modded 1.9's, F/R STBs on Don Rome brackets, 255lph pump, ZZP billet rails, GXP catback
Best of 13.4 at 103.... 12's this year

I had a LIM leak, replaced with aluminum gasket, no probs ever since.

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Had a thermostat replaced today in my 04, GT1. Mechanic said there was oil in the coolant. quoting LIM gaskets possibly the manifold itself. On these, I understand the gaskets are plastic, is the manifold too? he was saying that some are, and need to be replaced as well. Another mechanic friend checked the sludge and said it is sealant tabs added by GM... I have no idea who is right, how do i find out, rather than spending $1000 if I dont' need to?

- the manifold LIM and UMI on the 04+ are all aluminum. UMI on 97-03 is plastic though but your's in aluminum. Even most of the plastic ones don't need to be changed unless the EGR stovepipe melted them.
- GM has issued a sealant tab additive thing but I honestly have no idea about them other than reading they they added them in the GM service manual. However, it's pretty hard to miss if your coolant looks like chocolate milk or not.
- if you are getting new LIM gaskets, since they do fail quite often on these cars, get the aluminum OEM ones. On the 04's and all older years the gaskets were plastic/nylon but later years (still not sure if we figured this completely out yet on this site) they came with aluminum gaskets. You can get them from a stealership or ZZP and other places.
- If there is oil in your coolant, chances are that there should also be coolant in your oil (see what I did there haha). However, when a LIM fails you really won't actually get that much or any oil in the coolant since there is no oil passage ways other than the lifter rod valley where oil could come in contact with the coolant. If anything it would be the other way around since coolant could in theory leak out of the LIM gaskets and into the valley and thus into the oil. It's pretty hard for it to be the "oil in coolant".
- if you're still running dexcool, which I'm assuming you are, and haven't changed it since the car was new, the sludging could just be dexcool breaking down due to exposure to oxygen. This also happens in a lot faster rate if you mix dexcool with any other type/color of coolant. Take off your radiator cap and if the "sludge" looks like the sludge buildup on the radiator cap, than chances are these mechanics are mistaking dexcools inherent chemical changes for oil.
- if you LIM is leaking, you should see puddles of coolant right near the fuel injectors.

Hope that helps you out some.

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Dubs:00 VW GTI VR6, Low and Slow 91 VW GTI 8v, Shave the Bay!! 91 VW Cabriolet 8v, bitch Basket
GP's:04 GP GT, Past now G-Ma's Girlfriend's 97 GP GT, "Project Pink Power"

dex-cool is the issue not really the gaskets, its proven to pit heads and chew up aluminum at around 120k miles of use is most common when the gaskets are thrashed, ive read up on countless cases of pitted intakes and pistons in alot of different gms, not just the 3.8. My brothers truck blew up because the head gasket leaked and he was muddin, didnt pay attention to temp as it spiked. After taking the block apart it was very easily noticed, wish i had the pictures of his gasket and pistons. Short story we just bought a new crate for it because the shops heater went out over night and cracked his block, had filled it with water to get home without overheating.

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Hence why I flushed that Satan's blood out of the 97 after this crap happened...

Now to get it out of the 04...

It also doesn't help when people mix other coolants with Dex or just use hard water instead of demineralized/distilled water in their cooling system.

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Dubs:00 VW GTI VR6, Low and Slow 91 VW GTI 8v, Shave the Bay!! 91 VW Cabriolet 8v, bitch Basket
GP's:04 GP GT, Past now G-Ma's Girlfriend's 97 GP GT, "Project Pink Power"

for sure, i had planned a flush when i drove my 07 off the lot with 30k miles, but hadnt had the time and that early nothing really starts, finally had to jump on it here i am at 70k and just did a coolant flush and 180t just a couple days ago when it was 60 out with snow on the ground, now back to 20 and more snow. took my shot to save my car =)

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So about just after 1 year of replacing the plastic LIM on my 2005 GTP, I am now having overheating issues. About once a month...or every 200 miles...she gets hot. I have to add between half gallon, and gallon of water. My oil is NOT milky looking, and I really don't think im getting coolant in the oil. I don't notice leaks anywhere under the car. Going to smell the exhaust tonight to help verify. Hope it dont smell sweet like the green coolant I've used ever since replacing LIM gaskets to aluminum.

The cooling system seems to being staying pressurized. Any thoughts on what this might be? Seems like a VERY slow leak somewhere to me, I just dont want it to be LIM or head gasket failure......

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2005 GTP
Planned Mods:
1) Wizair CAI
2) TOG Headers
3) 3-inch DP
4) 3.6 SC Pully
4a) Pro Dyno Tune
In that order. 4 & 4a done the same day.

guilty

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to be fair every single shop probably just uses tap water when mixing coolant

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92 LeBaron Convert: Turbo 3L 97 Grand Prix GT 4dr "Frankenstein": L67 4t65 swap
97 Grand Marquis: Summer DD 99 Grand Prix GTP: Top Swap Beater

And this is why I do all my own work

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Dubs:00 VW GTI VR6, Low and Slow 91 VW GTI 8v, Shave the Bay!! 91 VW Cabriolet 8v, bitch Basket
GP's:04 GP GT, Past now G-Ma's Girlfriend's 97 GP GT, "Project Pink Power"

Hard to say really. Where your coolant is going. I would start by letting it go through a couple fan cycles while you are sitting somewhere that you can see under the car to see if it is dripping.


Are these aluminum gaskets considered reusable? ( mine had very few miles on them. Just trying to save a few bucks.


sent from my driod x, via my fingers through tapatalk

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2001 white gt coupe with enough crap to make it run mid 13's with 3 bad pistons
2002 40th GTP sedan mostly stock

Turns out there is pooling around the injectors so its the LIM. Maybe under torqued? Can I try to snug it down? It is only leaking to the outside, and nothing in the oil luckily!!! Dude quoted me $400 just for labor....

Did you go by the proper torque spec when they were replaced last year or just wing it?

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Dubs:00 VW GTI VR6, Low and Slow 91 VW GTI 8v, Shave the Bay!! 91 VW Cabriolet 8v, bitch Basket
GP's:04 GP GT, Past now G-Ma's Girlfriend's 97 GP GT, "Project Pink Power"