I am new here, and know very little about cars.
My mother has a 1999 Olds 88 -3.8Ltre engine. 80k miles.
4 months ago her car broke down and the repair shop said her coolant was leaking into the engine oil. They made the repairs replacing gaskets and I think the 'intake manifold'? The engine coolant was completely dry and apparrantly the engine had a gallon of fluid in it..(coolant plus oil)
She spent the $1300 bucks for the repair.
Now, 3 1/2 months later the exact same thing happened.
A repair shop told her this is a common thing to happen with this make, model, engine and year. They said they see about 10 a year with this problem.
I know very little about cars, My mother is older, and lives a few hours away from me. Is there anyone who may be able to confirm this information or have any suggestions we can explore? I haven't been able to find any info elsewhere on the internet. Any comments appreciated. Thank you.

 

The 3.8 L engines had troubles with overheating. I had a 93 Buick LeSaber with the same engine and I had to replace two water pumps. I would be wary of the shop saying that the engin needs to be rebuilt again, especially if it was only rebuilt a few months ago. If the same thing happened then they probably messed up when rebuilding the engine orignially.

I would suggest you do some reading on line. There is alot of good info out there. When I replaced the water pump the first time I used a remanufactured one and it died. So the second time I used a new one and it worked great.

There is also a phenolic fitting behind the water pump near the intake manifold that wears out and breaks. This will cause the engine to overheat quickly and it sprays coolant all over the place. They made replacement fittings that were made of metal. The fitting has a hose on it, I believe it goes to or comes from the heater core.