My intake manifold gasket blew at a truck stop in Oklahoma

I was rolling through Oklahoma City last Thursday when I heard this awful sucking noise under the hood. Pulled into a Love's truck stop outside of town and popped the hood to find coolant leaking everywhere. Turned out the plastic intake manifold gasket had cracked on my old Chevy 350, which I guess is a common issue with those engines. I spent four hours in the parking lot swapping it out with a new aluminum style gasket I found at an AutoZone ten miles down the road. The worst part was dropping a bolt into the valley pan and having to fish it out with a magnet on a stick. Has anyone else dealt with those plastic gaskets failing on the Vortec engines?

2 comments

2 Comments

foster.dylan27d ago

Are you really sure that old 350 gasket was actually plastic? I've heard that story a dozen times and half the time it's just someone misreading the aftermarket part label. Those Vortec engines are tough as nails, and a cracked gasket usually doesn't leave you stranded unless you let it sit for months. I've seen guys limp those things for a whole weekend on a slow leak while they finish a road trip. Dropping a bolt into the valley pan is annoying, sure, but that's more of a rookie mistake than a genuine crisis in the parking lot. Seems like you made it sound a lot worse than it actually was.

the_nancy27d ago

@foster.dylan you're probably right that I made it sound worse than it was. I had a similar thing happen with my dad's old Silverado back in '09 and we got it home fine after a weekend trip with a slow leak. My bigger gripe was dropping a bolt myself and spending an hour fishing it out with a magnet on a stick. That taught me to keep a magnetic tray on hand and check aftermarket parts twice before assuming they're junk.