3100 knocking from bottom end

[Texan4Life]

1995 grand am 3.1L w/ 110,000 miles. 100% stock.

My brother came by for a visit and I noticed the engine was knocking! It is coming from the bottom and center of the engine. Very distinct not valve ticking or something loose clunking up against something else. Goes up and down with engine RPM.

I thought a might get lucky and dumped the 10w-30 and put in some 15w-40 and changed filter puro classic to a Wix. a little better but I think its the main bearing(s)

I'm still in disbelief that at barely over 100k it spun a bearing.

Is this common?

Alldata has a laundry list of things to remove before taking the oil pan off. Is the true? I was hoping a little more old school. lol

[pocket-rocket]

No, it's not common, and yeah, Alldata isn't wrong. The 3100 has cross bolted mains and the rear bolts suck to get to with the transmission in the way.

[bob442]

its easy to pull the motor on those. i had a bad rod in a 96 GA i bought for $500, with 120 km, but it had like 4 oil changes on it. Got a 99 3100 with 140km for $200 and swapped it in.
IMO drive it till she blows then get a motor for cheap. i'd garantee machine work to fix the motor and parts is more than a good used motor. and as long as you keep the original motor for parts, you can get a 3100 from anything you want. These motors can get really ugly piston slap though.