Why cant 60 degree V-6 Engines take abuse?

[highoctane]

ive had mine since 80000 miles, blew a head gasket at 105000,and at 135000 blew that damn hose under the throttle body, what a pain in the ass, and im big on "enthusiastic" driving, that 3.1 can take some abuse. never had anything else go wrong... knock on wood. and i hit 100+ quite often

[Sorin]

191ci.....I guess you must have a 3100. I have one, but its a 97 (97 Malibu).

The only thing to go out on my car was the alternator. But that's probably due to the 1300 watt stereo with no capacitor. I thought my power steering was going out, as it was making a loud and unpleasant sound, but it turns out it just needed fluid (reservoir was empty). Motor is still perfect. I've had it for almost 4 years and put 34k miles on it. I do beat the crap out of it semi-regularly, and 4+ times a year I drive it at 80+ mph for 5 hours straight (5 hours between my home and my dorm at college). Though I do keep up on the maintenance regularly.

You neglecting tards

[Anonymous]

Yeah my PS pump went it was a bitch to get the line off.. finally got the nut off with a pipe wrench

Anyways had the "new" pump from the JY and its all good. Was going about 55mph around a fairly sharp curve on the highway, and I guess the cap wasn't on tight cause my steering got real tight and I had to pull over.. it blasted all the fluid all over the hood (what a mess!!). SO going only that fast there was a fair bit of pressure to coat the passenger side of my engine bay Luckly I had some tranny fluid to dump in there and I was ready to go. :P

I also drove the living christ out of my car at 160+miles and I don't beleive the engine has ever been cracked open for repair

[MasterJacko96]

Ive beaten the hell out of a few 60vs in my day, the only one ive lost is my 3100 which ran around boosted for about 6months and then blew up due to an oil leak. Upon inspecting the heads and cylinders a week earlier everything was perfect inside even with boost.

They are tough as nails however you do get some bad ones here and there, and if you punish it without taking good care of it at the same time your looking for trouble.

didnt also have to do with you taking that long trip?

[Bryan1970]

just out of curiosity. Did your power steering pump show any signs of it getting ready to fail or did it just out of the blue fail? Because my 94 cuttlass will loose power steering without warning even when i'm going around the corner. And the fluid is never low and it dosen't really leak anymore than any power steering system.

[614streets]

If you wana play hard you gotta wrench hard.

The reason your engine probabally blew is because it was a beater to begin with and you just pushed it over the edge.

This is one of the best phrases Ive come across , and you know what its 100% true. Know your car or trucks limitations and you will know the end results before they actually happen. Noone gets anywhere racing on a pile of junk. You keep it clean, you build it mean. And if thats not the case , dont play around.

[DEI37]

Man, I've been through enough well cared for 6-60's to make a priest swear. I like to drive "with gust-o," but maintain my engines religiously. They don't get beat on, per se, but I do drive a lot, and drive hard from time to time. Spun bearings due to coolant in the oil...didn't the lower intake gasket quick enough. That cracked a block in the resultant rotating assembly freeze-up.

[Anonymous]

I'd like to see how far my 2.8 car go before I have to crack open the engine for the first time ever. 275,000km and strong as a horse. Just need to get some "safety" things done to the car and then hit the road

[SCREECH]

Where to start...WHERE to start? I currently own 4 cars with 60º motors in 'em. Most are around 300,000K on 'em. There's no way to sugar coat it...I don't drive "enthusiastically" or with "gusto", I drive the living hell out of my cars. And I don't know of anyone who's worse for neglecting service. I've done 50,000K before an oil change on a car that saw the governor a few times (around 180kmh/110mph) racing a Fiero (that was fun!).

The only component I've had fail on a couple of the cars was the alternator, (which really isn't a part of the engine) but that's only because of it being mounted on the top of the engine at the back of the bay in the A-body (Celebrity) bay layout. And even then, it's only been on really long trips that this has happened - once was a 30hour round trip from Welland, Ontario (Niagara Falls area) to Eau Claire, WI to pick up a shifter!

I certainly don't promote the kind of driving/abuse/neglect that I have put cars through in the past, and I suppose it would be rightly said that I've been very fortunate thus far. But I have come to realize that the 60º motors have a lot to offer and you actually have to WORK at it to get 'em to fail, unless there's a flaw in a critical engine part.

[GPXSS]

Does your mommy and daddy know that you trashed the car they bought you? I hope they are making you pay for the repairs.

[JW Hilz]

Never had problems with my `88 6000 Wagon , although for cars 90 mph is nearly minimum speed on the "Autobahn" here in Germany.
Drive slower and you will over run from behind.
Its like a war. Total madness!
Unfortunately the speedometer ends at 85 mph.

The 6000 was stopped for ever at 323000 ml`s by an
intake manifold/coolant leak

[pendan]

GM engines are badass.. they take a pouding and still run like they always have. My 3800SC runs like a champ. Its at WOT several times a day and normally see's a little bit of "intentional wheelspin" hehe...

[RidgeRunner]

Never had problems with my `88 6000 Wagon , although for cars 90 mph is nearly minimum speed on the "Autobahn" here in Germany.
Drive slower and you will over run from behind.
Its like a war. Total madness!
Unfortunately the speedometer ends at 85 mph.

It's one of my "Must do" experiences to drive a fast car at high speed on a German Autobahn. sometime. From what I've read about licensing in Germany, I like how much more training there is over there...

When I got my license, I took a quick test, skipped 2 weeks of classwork, spent a few hours in a car with an instructor learning how to parallel park, do 3 point road turns, remember to signal, etc then was sent on to the DMV... they gave another quick test, eye check etc, then we went for a 5 minute around-the-block, then they gave me a full license.

[brian89gp]

When I got my license, I took a quick test, skipped 2 weeks of classwork, spent a few hours in a car with an instructor learning how to parallel park, do 3 point road turns, remember to signal, etc then was sent on to the DMV... they gave another quick test, eye check etc, then we went for a 5 minute around-the-block, then they gave me a full license.

Mine consisted of a sign/eye test, written test that a monkey could pass (if you failed it they told you to go out in the hall, study the book for 10 minutes, and come back and take it again) and then a driving test that made sure you knew how to use the blinkers. Its kinda scary driving on American roads if you ask me.

[geoffinbc]

In BC it takes over 2 years to become fully licenced.