I have a 2000 Grand Am wih 72,000 miles and just had to replace the intake manifold gaskets... is this a normal thing to happen at this many miles? I question it because the dealer put in a different (reinforced) gasket. Or is this a problem that gm knows about??? please help, thanks

Replaced the intake gasket on my 97 that had only 47,000 miles on it at the time. Known problem and they use a cheap phenolic gasket.

Not unheard of to replace a manifold gasket at 72K. Had one go in a Ford V6 at 21K. The factory gaskets are adequate but if they do not properly torque or the bolts vibrate loose the gasket will go bad. The reinforced gasket they replaced yours with probably is slightly thicker and probably has some type of metal or silicone around the water passage holes and the intake runners.

I own a 99 Grand Am, 72.5k miles, just took it in for an intake manifold gasket. I did a little looking around and it appears that GM puts a pretty poor quality gasket in all their cars.

i have a 2001, they told me mine would need to be replaced soon, i have since let it go for 9 months without getting it replaced... seems to be a fairly common replacement...as with the majority of the problems with the grand am.

anyone know what i should be looking for though, to see if i really really should replace this part soon?

If you were told to replace it then get it done soon. You could start leaking coolant into the oil and not see it until the bearings are shot. Usually you will start seeing coolant leaks on the outside of the engine but coolant going into the oil is a possibility. If you want to do the job yourself, check out the Grand Prix forum as I posted a detailed description on how to change a manifold gasket several months ago and it has been used by several people on this forum to change the gaskets in their cars. As far as problems with manifold gaskets you should own a 3.8 non-supercharged. Those folks have problems with the manifolds along with the gaskets.