well i found out today that my intake manifold is leaking on my 86 k5 chevy blazer 4x4. just curious how to how bad it is to keep driving it if i watch the coolant level? it looses a good amount of coolant after i run it and its sitting. and how hard would it be to fix? is it just the gasket or bigger problems?
please help

 

I wouldn't run long like that...coolant is not cheap, and pure water will rust out your block.

Get a cooling system pressure checker
use it verify the leak
then repair.
Intake gaskets aren't that hard.

 

Oil & water don't mix, those main bearings don't like water at all.
It's not terribly bad to fix, as long as it's the intake that's leaking and not the head gaskets.

 

intakes are easy, but the hardest part is trying to hold that heavy intake over the engine and placing it down without sliding the gaskets or silicone around

 

alright, all good advice, well i just got done fixing my brakes, front rotors were warped to ****, felt like a earthquake everytime i would brake, and of course as soon as i get those done, intake manifold decides to take a **** as well, probably cuz of all the violent shaking from brakes, but thanks for advice, im gonna tear it apart and try to fix it this weekend i think, any tips you guys have? first time doing this. i looked up lots of videos, seems pretty basic, just gonna take my time. and as long as i watch the leak it should be fine to drive the next 3 or 4 days without permanently damaging anything on my block correct?

 

as long as it aint leaking in the engine just keep a eye on it. just remember to silicone the front and back of the intake, especially the corners where gaskets meet the front and back flat section of the intake.

dont forget to mark your distributor too or take a picture of where its at so you can reinstall that back in the same place

 

as im doing more resarch im learning that this leak could also be caused by a blown head gasket, and im starting to think that could be it, any way to know if its my intake manifold gasket or a head gasket? and if it is a head gasket am i in for a lot more work? how hard are they exactly to replace? please give me any advice you have.

 

A compression test will tell you if you have a leaking head gasket or not. Also, there are products that can test the coolant for signs of combustion byproducts which typically could not make it into the cooling system. If the head gasket is really bad, you can see it on the plugs as well. The plug will be steam cleaned, nice & white. But the plugs can show this effect with a bad intake manifold gasket if the leak is into one of the intake runners.