1996 Pontiac Transport leaks

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1996 PONTIAC TRANSPORT
6 CYL
FWD
AUTOMATIC
155,000 MILES

1996 Pontiac Transport mileage: 155,000 Hey guys, I recently had the transmission on my 1996 Pontiac Transport replaced to the tune of $2500. Within days after getting the van back from the shop, I noticed drips on my driveway that had not been there before. I immediately took the van back to the shop to have them check the source of the leak - suspecting that they overlooked something while doing the transmission. The mechanic says the leak is coming from the intake-manifold (whatever that is - please forgive my ignorance) and the gasket needs to be replaced. Estimate: $1500. My question, dumb as it sounds, is: Can this leak be a result of anything these guys did during the transmission work or are these two expensive repair jobs completely unrelated to each other? It just seems to be an incredible coincidence that the leak begins only after leaving their shop. I would really like to know if this could be an issue to discuss with them before we get the work done. Also, do you think $1500 sounds like a lot to get this work done? He says it's all labor costs.

Tuesday, October 19th, 2010 AT 10:22 PM

1 Reply

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Let us answer your question in a round about way. With a little detective work, you can determine what is leaking and here is how. Place newspapers on the garage floor under the car over night. Remove the newspapers and check the color of the "drips." Transmission fluid should be red, engine oil golden brown, engine coolant green-blue. To double check colors, remove the transmission dipstick and compare to the sample on the paper. Same for the engine oil. For the coolant, look at coolant in the radiator over flow bottle. Now that you know what is leaking, you can proceed. If the transmission fluid is the source of the leak, it should be corrected, no charge. If the intake manifold gaskets are leaking, they can leak motor oil or coolant. We would estimate the cost of replacing the intake manifold gaskets to be about $450.00 parts and labor (Southern California Prices.) We cannot see how replacing the transmission could cause the intake manifold gaskets to leak.

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Tuesday, October 19th, 2010 AT 10:24 PM