02 Apr 12 16:20, Mark Hofmann wrote to Roy Witt:

 RW>> Probably why a lot of those cars with that engine are in the scrap
 RW>> yards today. Harry had in the shop a 99 Malibu with a similar
 RW>> problem too. The customer didn't think the car was worth repairing
 RW>> and left it there. Harry bought it from the owner for something like
 RW>> $300 and had one of the mechanics pull the heads. While the heads
 RW>> were off the engine and out to the machine shop for a valve job and
 RW>> resurfacing, the shop's helper pulled the interior out, pressure
 RW>> washed the carpeting and cleaned up the seats and dried it all in
 RW>> the sun. Hot Texas sun... When it was all put back together, it ran
 RW>> like a champ and it was Harry's daily driver for a while.

 MH> My brother had a 2000 Malibu that also leaked antifreeze.  I still
 MH> blame the Dexcool antifreeze.  There are so many reports of these
 MH> types of problems and they all started when GM released the Dexcool.

I don't think it was the Dexcool...I had that in my Z28 (alum block &
heads) for the first 5 years I've owned it and it was a three years old
when I bought it. That's 8 years on Dexcool without any problems. Of
course, I never put any water in it when it needed topping off, I used
more Dexcool. I flushed the entire system a few years ago with a power
flusher and put in some 'pink' coolant that Harry recommended...

 MH> Both mechanics that I have spoken to about it also won't use it.  I
 MH> have the yellow stuff in my car these days.

Harry didn't think much of it either and he's a GM ASE trained technician.

 RW>> Did they send a GM rep to talk with you at the dealer? Those guys
 RW>> are cool.

 MH> They did have a GM rep talk to me, but we never talked in person.
 MH> Only on the phone.  I was happy that they at least worked with me a
 MH> bit on this, since it was a major repair and only 6k out of warranty
 MH> (66k).

He lived up to my 'cool guys' statement...at one time, I had contact with
a factory rep who was the nat'l Camaro GM gooroo...he was very active in
the car show and performance part of the Camaro before they stopped making
the 4th gen in 2002...dunno what happened to him in the interum period
between 4th and 5th gen Camaros, but I did hear from him for a while
after that.

 RW>> Oil pan leaks can be attributed to high pressure in the crankcase.
 RW>> Meaning there was a clogged crankcase breathing system somewhere.

 MH> Not sure how that happened.

Considering how well pan gaskets seal the crankcase these days, it had to
be something major.

 MH> Maybe my car will be more rare if many ended up in the scrap yard
 MH> from that issue.  :) - Mark

Could be. A lot of people drove them a quart or two low and that'll take
an engine out quickly enough. Do it often enough and it'll burn alive.


                R\%/itt


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