While the vehicle was parked consumer noticed fluid leaking from underneath the vehicle. Consumer drove the vehicle to dealer for inspection, and mechanic determined that engine head gasket was cracked and needed to be replaced.
1998 Pontiac Bonneville engine complaints
Page 3 of 8: complaints 41 to 70 of 200, newest first, as owners wrote them.
I have a 1998 pontiac bonneville which was brought into the dealer for repair due to not having any heat in the car. I expected a faulty thermostat or some other minor problem. It turned out that engine coolant leaked out from the plenum, water pump and gaskets requiring replacement of the water pump, water pump belt, and manifold (with the various gaskets) manifold was actually rotting from the inside due to coolant leak into it. This repair cost over $1,000. Upon talking to the dealer and my own internet research this is a common problem with the gm 3800 engine which is in bonnevilles, grand prix and buick lesabre. I reference the federal safety agency consumer complaints listed under bonneville and grand prix complaints of "engine cooling systems" and "engine." I also direct you to edmunds.com "town hall" section(bonneville and grand prix) that is a chat room that shows numerous complaints about the exact same problem. I guess I was lucky in that at least my engine didn't completely seize as is also common when the antifreeze coolant leaks into the combustion chamber. Gm will not reimburse me a dime on the cost. This car has just 36k miles on it but it is 4 1/2yrs old and thus out of warranty. The car has been properly maintained, including a dealer oil change just 2 months prior to this problem. My research has shown that the engine coolant leakage from the plastic gaskets and plenum into the manifold and combustion chamber is not an isolated incident and needs the federal safety agency to investigate this issue further. Gm customer service is of no service and they have basically told me to buy japanese from now on. *sc
No events lead up to the failure, it was immediate. Car stopped dead in its tracks, started one more time before it died in 1/8th of a mile. I was informed that the intake manifold was the problem coolant leaked into the engine. *jb replaced intake manifold,gasket,oil filter, oil, coolant & spark plugs.cleaned out coolant from intake and cylinders. Change oil and filter.
Consumer started the vehicle, went into the house to let the vehicle warm, upon returning the vehicle was on fire. Recently a recall 04v090000 was received indicating a possible fire.
Intake manifold failure.
When driving the vehicle at an undetermined speed, the vehicle stalled causing the driver to drift off the road. The consumer had the vehicle towed to the dealer for inspection. The mechanic informed the owner that the intake manifold had failed. Please provide any further details.
While exiting the freeway, the engine gasket blew out. *ak the starter had gone out as well. Gm stated that nothing was wrong with the vehicle. *sc
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.
Consumer had the same problem as mentioned in the federal safety agency recall 04v09000: vehicles equipped with 3800 v6 (l36) engines and certain delphi fuel pressure regulators, the regulators have a much higher than usual rate of fuel leaks. A leak can allow fuel to enter the intake manifold through a vacuum line. Dealership admitted this vehicle has the same problem, but due to VIN# wont fixed free.
While driving 30 MPH service engine light flashed. Then, engine stalled. Dealer informed consumer that the engine needed to be replaced. *ak 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.
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???
Purchased used 1998 pontiac bonneville in january, 2002 with 56, 000 miles from gm dealership. Car was gm certified. About 6 months later with 65,000 miles during routine oil change I notice the coolant was a little low. Going back to dealer I purchased gm long life antifreeze and bottle of gm sealant. There were no visible signs of antifreeze leak anywhere. Coolant level maintained from that time. On april 30th, 2004 while driving down the expressway, the car suddenly begain to miss fire severley and quit running within seconds. There was no power steering and no power breaks. The engine had hydrolocked. All cylinders were full of antifreeze. The car now had 115,000 miles. I removed the upper intake manifold to find it full of antifreeze. The heat resistant material around the egr tube had failed allowing super-heated air to melt the gasket area around the adjascent water jacket allowing coolant to flow into the manifold causing the hydrolock. I replaced both upper and lower intake manifolds and gaskets with newly designed units from the dealer. I was told gm was aware of the defect and had redesigned the parts against this failure. The car is now running fine. While there was no accident involved, the sudden power failure certainly could have caused an accident. I believe the failure began at 65,000 miles and was temporarily fixed with the coolant sealant I put in it at that time as recommended by the dealer's parts person. All parts are available for inspection.
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 . *ak
While driving engine was leaking coolant onto the intake manifold. This could result in engine failure. *ak consumer was informed by her friend that her vehicle was on a list of potential engine failures from coolant leaking by general motors (gm). Consumer went to a gm dealer as soon as she learned the news, and showed extensive damage on the intake manifold which was replaced.
Vehicle back fired due to manifold rupturing. The next day vehicle would not start.
While driving 30 MPH engine service light flashed. Then, engine stalled. Consumer was informed by dealer that engine needed to be replaced.
Repeated stalling in traffic. Typically occurred approximately two minutes after start-up. During one cold start the engine miss-fired and back pressure popped off the brake vacuum line, causing loss of brakes. Was diagnosed first time as mass air flow sensor. Problem recurred, diagnosed as fuel pressure regulator. Shortly after, flooding and sparkplug fouling occurred due to damaged intake manifold leaking coolant into cylinders. While two of the components are the same as recall campaign 04v090000, and gm recall 03054b, gm says this VIN [xxx] is not included. *ak updated 07/30/2012 *js information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6)
Engine had 70,000 miles when suddenly seized with no warning. Repair said intake manifold had warped causing antifreeze to spill into engine. Engine and starter had to be replaced. Repair center said it is a very common problem. Replacement engine had same thing happening and a kit is available for replacement of this problem-purchased kit for replacement engine. Total replacement costs---$3,223.06. I see in browsing the complaint pages that this is a very common problem. Its time that gm makes things right for the consumer.
Engine is idling and running rough due to anti-freeze getting into the cylinder. This could locked up the engine. *ak the consumer it was a common known issue with the engine manifold which was made of plastic and warped which allowed coolant to leak into the cylinder.
Catastrophic engine failure while traveling on a bridge at apprx 15 - 20 MPH. No warnings lights or gauge concerns until moment of failure. Engine idle became exceptionally rough. Cause was a gasket failure allowing dex-cool to enter engine and destroyed it.
1998 pontiac bonneville plenum warped and leaked anti-freeze into combustion cylinders. Vehicle was not able to be started and had to be towed to dealer. Resulted in over $900.00 charges of which $317.64 was not covered by extended warranty.
Plastic intake manifold failure engine locked up as driving the vehicle. Nobody injured, but definitely a safety issue. 1998 pontiac bonneville 2hx52k9w4202853.
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.
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.
The upper engine cover and plenum broke. The fuel pressure regulator leaked onto the intake and caused a backfire. The pressure regulator was replaced, and the lower and upper intake was resealed. *la the vehicle was restarted but stalled. (the loud noise was heard at start up) *sc
The fuel pressure regulator leaked gasoline; allowing fuel to enter the intake manifold through a vacuum line. A spark ignited the excess fuel causing an explosion and rupturing the manifold. The blast hit the car in front of me so hard they thought they had been rear-ended. Smoke bellowed out from under the hood, but luckily it didn't burn. It happened as I was entering an intersection and we nearly missed being broadsided. The car lost both power steering and brakes when it exploded and was very difficult to control. About 2 weeks before this it had been taken in for repairs because it was stalling out, difficult to start and the power steering and brakes had been failing. A new vacuum hose was installed. It had been repaired the year before because it leaked antifreeze into the engine, damaging it extensively. It is the second bonneville I own that has done this. It is the third damaged engine that fits the description of the buick recall- gm #03054. Gm vehicles equiped with 3800 v6 engines.
Possible defective engine part. Pontiac 3.8l intake manifold failure causing possible catastrophic engine failure if engine vapor locks at time of failure while engine is running. This part failed on my vehicle and the independant repair shop I took it too already had needed repair part on hand because (as they stated) there always fixing this engine for this problem. I found 1 tsb on your site #01060007a but it was 2.5 years ago. I spoke with a gm representative but was advised the could not comment on if this was a problem or not.
Engine intake manifold and gasket failed while car was being driven in rush hour traffic, on a major highway, with traffic moving at a speed of apx 70 MPH. This manifold and gasket failure resulted in the engine stalling, further causing a loss of steering and braking control. Several cars swerved and skidded to avoid collision with our disabled car. The car was towed to the selling pontiac dealer. The intake manifold and gasket had failed, and the cost of repair was $1,036.00. I have found out that the intake manifold and gasket had been improperly designed, and that a high failure rate is occurring on gm v-6 3.8 engines. I contacted gm, and they will not help with this. There are many web sites that verify thousands of other failures. Also, a gm service manager that I spoke with at a different dealership has acknowledged that there is a problem, and that many times, the engines fail due to this problem, resulting in a $5,000.00 replacement of the entire engine. This problem needs to be addressed, as gm is laughing at the public on this one. Who of us has the resources to challenge them, and they could care less if we ever buy another car from them.
Leaking plastic manifold has hydrolocked my engine and bent 5 pushrods. Also the dexcool antifreeze entered the cylinders and oilpan, ruining the engine.
My complaint is that I am about to put my 4th and 5th intake manifold & manifold gasket, respectively, on my 1998 pontiac bonneville. I was driving down highway 55 at 70 MPH when my engine died, because my manifold keeps cracking!! Because my engine died, it kept blowing and forcing antifreeze down my intake and filling my cylinders with water and antifreeze, causing a vapor lock!!! This was terrible, because when I tried to restart the car in neutral going 70 MPH, with 20-25 cars around me and 3-5 semi trucks, the engine was locked up!!!!! Because of this 'vapor lock up' of the engine, I lost control of my car!!! I had no power steering, no power brakes, no control to be able to avoid a 20-25 car pile up, with tens to hundreds being injured!!!!!!!!! Gm needs to do a complete recall of all 3.1, 3.4 & 3.8 v6 engines made with plastic manifolds and plastic gaskets!!!! Gm needs to replace them with the aluminum manifolds and rubber gaskets they used to place on all engines manufactured since these changes which I believe is 1996!!!!! Next, after all these manifolds and gasket failures on my car, of which I change the oil every 2000 miles and have documentation to support my oil changes, the antifreeze has eaten my bearings and crankshaft mains and rod bearings and my engine is knocking badly!!! A fair resolution would be for gm to give me(free of any charge), a new engine to replace the one they damaged, with their defective parts, workmanship and manufacturing design changes. If there is no problem, then why has gm issued a very expensive tsb? To change the design, component and installation of these defective parts??????? Please see the attached url -http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?gmcnsmrs to view the over 1,200 people so far that has been identified in just a few months by word of mouth. Thank you, [xxx] information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6).
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