2000 Altima "Intake" Gasket

[stocker2000]

In the past week or two, I noticed that my car had a slight lope/vibration in idle. This morning my Engine light came on.

Brought the car to the dealer for diagnosis. They told me that my "intake" gasket is leaking, and that coolant was seeping into cylinder #4, causing my light to come on and also causing my lope. They said that there is a total of 3 gaskets they need to change.

I'm wondering if this is plausible? If a leaky gasket is causing coolant to get into the cylinder, then do I assume that the intake manifold has coolant running through it?

Also, will my spark plug be fouled, and need to be replaced?

Oh ya, should I get the PCV valve replaced at the same time? It's a pain to access in my car, and if they need to remove the intake manifold anyways, it may worthwhile doing at the same time.

Your opinions are appreciated.

[NISTECH]

The coolant problem is not plausable as there is no coolant passeges anywhere in the vecinity of the #4 intake runner. The only coolant transfer between the intake and the head is next to the #1 cyl.

However your intake gasket is your problem. I usually only do 2 gaskets to fix that problem. So I dont know what a thrird might be unless they are removing the throttle body to make access to the bolts easier. Getting that manifold off is a royal pain. The pcv valve is mounted to a baffle just over the power steering pump and can be replaced with very minimal effort.

[stocker2000]

Thanks Nistech.

I'm could have sworn that they said #4 cylinder, but I may have heard wrong. They definitely did mention coolant, though.

As for the PCV valve, when you say "minimal effort", do you mean minimal with the engine in tact? I was always of the impression that the PCV on these engines was damn near impossible to get to. I'll have to go have a look.

[180fan]

Scott which two gaskets are you usually switching? The one from the collector-to-runners and runners-to-head I'm guessing?

[NISTECH]

ok stocker. They are probably dead on with the #4 intake runner sucking in the intake gasket. It happens ALOT on the altima KA motor. The coolant issue though is something different.

Mike I do not seperate the collector from the intake manifold. Hell I dont even remove it from the car. The only 2 gaskets I do in the L30 is the PCV baffle gasket as you have to remove the baffle to allow the manifold to slide back. The other gasket is the intake to head gasket. I remove the absolute minimum parts from the intake to allow movement of the intake toward the fire wall and to allow access to the intake bolts. I have special sockts and wrenches I use to get to the bolts[some home made]. I push it back use a standard houshold putty knife(wide blade) to remove the old gasket. Manuver in the new gasket by getting it on the rear intake stud then manuver the manifold to allow the gasket to slide over the front manifold stud. Get the manifold back on both studs slide it to the head and reassemble. I can do it in about 2.5 hrs.

[stocker2000]

Believe it or not, I am actually somewhat comforted to know that this is not at all uncommon. It (hopefully) means they'll be familiar with fixing it, too.

And I think I'll let them change my PCV valve while they're in there. Just simpler that way.

Thanks alot guys.