blown head gasket

[ForcedFirebird]

Glad to hear that you can do part of the job on a different version of the engine in a completely different vehicle in 3.5 hours. Tha more power to ya'.

Being realistic, though... this is a 6 hour job, more or less. Less if you've done it before- more if you haven't.

Not to mention the LIM requires the removal of a lot more parts, not trying to be a wiseguy.

[tractorman]

Glad to hear that you can do part of the job on a different version of the engine in a completely different vehicle in 3.5 hours. Tha more power to ya'.

Being realistic, though... this is a 6 hour job, more or less. Less if you've done it before- more if you haven't.

[ForcedFirebird]

It's a six hour job- more or less.

Just changed my rockers (back from 1.7 to 1.6 ) yesterday, took 3.5 hrs. Started at 2:30 and finished in time for dinner with my children at 6:00. However, tools can make a difference - got air? Actually thinking about it, I've glued all my gaskets to one mating surface and had the manifolds off a few weeks ago (cleaning the gaskets off properly can take some time).
First time doing something like this with hand tools I'll agree with tractorman.

[tractorman]

It's a six hour job- more or less.

[ForcedFirebird]

Actually, it's A LOT more trouble than a couple hours, and you'll be looking at $150 or so in parts to do the job right. Just the same, it needs to be done right away or your Ma will have to spring for a whole engine. I wouldn't tell my own Ma that she needs to get it checked- I'd tell her that she shouldn't drive it at all until it is.

For what it's worth, my Pa told me a while back that coolant was disappearing from their '97 Lumina. Turns out the water pump was leaking, and he's just blind.

More than acouple of hours? Does it take longer to get to the lower intake manifold on a FWD? I've had mine apart three times in the last six weeks.

[tractorman]

Actually, it's A LOT more trouble than a couple hours, and you'll be looking at $150 or so in parts to do the job right. Just the same, it needs to be done right away or your Ma will have to spring for a whole engine. I wouldn't tell my own Ma that she needs to get it checked- I'd tell her that she shouldn't drive it at all until it is.

For what it's worth, my Pa told me a while back that coolant was disappearing from their '97 Lumina. Turns out the water pump was leaking, and he's just blind.

[ForcedFirebird]

My mom owns a 95 3100 (GASE) and coolant is just disappearing. At times she has to refill it with whole bottles of coolant. I think she might have mixed the dex-cool, with the green stuff. I heard that it will accelerate the breaking down of the coolant chemicals....anyway i think it is leaking into where the oil is but when i check the oil it isnt all nasty and corroded<--(spelt wrong). But at the same time there is no coolant under the car. I understand that these cars have a LIM gasket problem? I keep telling her she should get it checked out but she just doesnt care or doesnt wanna listen.

You should fix your mom's car for her. The entire gasket kit is around $28 for the Fel-Pros, and will take a couple of hours if you're mechanically inclined.
EDIT: And do a coolant flush .

[Z3R0]

How long does my mom have till....

My mom owns a 95 3100 (GASE) and coolant is just disappearing. At times she has to refill it with whole bottles of coolant. I think she might have mixed the dex-cool, with the green stuff. I heard that it will accelerate the breaking down of the coolant chemicals....anyway i think it is leaking into where the oil is but when i check the oil it isnt all nasty and corroded<--(spelt wrong). But at the same time there is no coolant under the car. I understand that these cars have a LIM gasket problem? I keep telling her she should get it checked out but she just doesnt care or doesnt wanna listen.

[ForcedFirebird]

Problem is, we never know when a thread should be closed or not. It is quite possible that if the car is not a daily driver, then the person may not be in a hurry to fix it. So I'd hate to close a thread and come to find out 2-3 months later that the person is working on it again, but his thread is closed. So its just easier to NOT close thread (since >75% of people don't use the search anyway), than to close a thread and the person come back to find a closed thread and have to start all over.

Sorry for the confusion, I meant "closed" as when a solution is reached - not that nobody can post anymore.

[bszopi]

Problem is, we never know when a thread should be closed or not. It is quite possible that if the car is not a daily driver, then the person may not be in a hurry to fix it. So I'd hate to close a thread and come to find out 2-3 months later that the person is working on it again, but his thread is closed. So its just easier to NOT close thread (since >75% of people don't use the search anyway), than to close a thread and the person come back to find a closed thread and have to start all over.

[ForcedFirebird]

You got me there...he never did say what the problem and solution were though. I'm glad you were around to point out my ignorance

It is kind of annoying when the thread is never closed. Many times have I come across a problem that was never resolved, and when using a search to get help sometimes brings these unfinished threads back up.

[Bowtie70SS]

You got me there...he never did say what the problem and solution were though. I'm glad you were around to point out my ignorance

[ForcedFirebird]

Coolant in the oil? A big pop and no compression could be a broke n timing chain. You could pull a valve cover to make sure the rockers are moving.


Dave

Do you think this car has been repaired yet? This thread is more than 6mos. old!

[Bowtie70SS]

Coolant in the oil? A big pop and no compression could be a broke n timing chain. You could pull a valve cover to make sure the rockers are moving.


Dave

[kill_them_all]

Yea, I need to do a compression test on it. The car died when it happened and it will not start.

I just rebuilt a 3100 and 4t60e for a 97 grand am I have. My grand am trans had 189k miles on it and I used a banner kit in it because the clutches were mint, I could still read the factory writing on all of them. I threw some goodies in it aswell, trans go shift kit, sonnax anti stick upshift valves and down shift valve.