My sister is currently driving our grandfather's '05 Impala with the 3.4L V-6. We need to sell it soon as part of an estate sale. Today, she noted that it drove very roughly at low speeds (i.e. in traffic) and that the coolant would heat to dangerous levels. The temperature would cool down while at highway speeds. When she brought it home, I noticed white smoke from the tailpipe and an acrid smell to the exhaust. The car has a rough idle. It also has a CEL, which she had AutoZone read. It says P0301- Cylinder misfire detected-cylinder number 1. I'm guessing it has a blown head gasket. I want to confirm it here. I would also like to know about how much time it will take to fix and how much.
Don't forget those love to eat just the intake gaskets, which could cause the misfire also.
You are looking at about a day to have it fixed and ready to roll again with about $200 in parts. YMMV.
KATYB
Reader
4/17/11 7:06 p.m.
im gonna go with intake gasket. head gaskets on those motors are not all that common. 90 dollar gasket kit. tube of ultra black rtv and a new thermostat is whats needed. have fun. if not experienced in doing the repair figure 8 or 9 hours. or if you kickass for your first time 6 hours. do enough of them and youll get down to about 2 hours.
You want to bring it down south,and use my garage,Johnathan?
Chris
Thanks for the offer, Chris, but I found out from my father that a shop had done the gasket work in January. He is scrambling to find the receipt because this car should not have gone through another head/intake gasket so quickly. Plus, I have NO time to work on any cars right now, what with me packing to move and working 2nd shift. We're going to try to get the shop to redo the gasket work for free or have them pay for another shop to do the work right.
