30th Jun 2007, 14:21

You can tell if your manifold has been replaced by looking at the date on the top of the intake manifold. There are three circles with a arrow pointing at the correct number. One has the month, the other the date, and the last one the year. On my 1995 buick park avenue the intake has 10/20/03 as the replacement time. I think this is simply the manufacturing date which would let you know if the intake is original or not.

6th May 2008, 10:47

I wish that I would have taken the car into MY mechanic when I got it, then again it was probably too late by then too. The previous owner said the intake manifolds had BOTH been changed when in reality only the lower was, and of course the upper was cracked around the stove-pipe. I'm an idiot with cars, so I didn't notice until it wrecked my engine.

I agree though, GM should have never let this vehicle leave the plant with such a part in it.

28th Jul 2008, 19:36

I own a 1997 Buick LeSabre 3.8 Series II V6. My car has 135k miles on it is totally rust free and dead reliable. The combination of this engine and the 4 speed trans is one of the best you could hope for concerning reliability and smoothness. That said, I like many others here had the manifold problem (Hydro-locked motor) and went through the fix. I was fortunate that it didn't leak slowly and corrode the insides of the motor but rather all at once just cracked. While a costly fix I am still very happy with the car. It gets nearly 30mpg on the highway. I have called Buick and you should too if you've had the manifold problem. If enough of us do they may offer some compensation. The number is 1-866-608-8080. You'll be given a case number.