Opinions if 3100 is still good after Lim leak

Jim Cosenza · 11-04-2008, 04:57 PM

I've got a '97 Lumina that was driven up to 30 miles with a leaking LIM gasket. The oil had a lot of coolant in it and the car got hot (the person driving said it got almost to the red but the idiot light came on, and the car wasn't driven for more than five minutes after they NOTICED the car was hot).
I'd like to swap this engine into my '97 Cavalier (people have done it before) but I want to make sure it's not going to seize up. Any opinions on how to make sure the bearings aren't junk? The engine wasn't making any noise when I shut it down and took off the intake. Also, if I did a compression test would it show if I had a warped head or blown headgasket (from getting hot)? Thanks, Jim.

betterthanyou · 11-09-2008, 04:07 PM

Well if it is going to be out of the car then it does not take much more effort to pop off the bearing caps and inspect. But The most common failure after LIM leaks is the cam bearing seizing to the cam and the cam snapping. So you need to check that too or your wasting your time.