blown head gasket

[kill_them_all]

I have a 96 skylark, I was cruising along the other day and I heard a big pop. I pulled the oil cap and pvc and there is coolant everywhere. When I crank it, it seems to have little to no compression. It has 208k on it. Sound about right?

[IsaacHayes]

Probably so. Or something more serious. Won't know until you tear it down anyways, so get started!!

If I were you, once you do find out it was the gasket, I'd get the 04 graphite head gaskets for a 3100, get some 3400 heads, and lower intake, and 2000+ upper or 3500 uppper, and the 2000+ style EGR. It will work with your computer as it's the linear style just mounts differently, and I'm pretty sure the connectors are the same as the 96-99 style.

Good oppourtunity to give your motor a 10-15 or so HP boost.

[tractorman]

If this engine has 208K miles on it, the last thing he wants to do is start messin' with 3400 heads, etc. I'd start with a compression test- from what you're describing, it shouldn't be to hard to comfirm a blown head gasket that way. Then just do what you have to to fix the old junker.

If this guy is looking for more performance, he'd be time and money ahead putting a fresh 3400 in rather than messing around with a cobbled-up "hybrid" with 200K+ miles on it.

[RednBlack]

2 questions...Did the engine die when it "popped"? And will it start at all?

[IsaacHayes]

True about the whole 3400 swap. I dont have access to do a whole motor swap or I would.

[vikn1]

If you rebuild the engine the trans is next, because the clutches won't be used to that much stress. Might as well look for, let's say, a "1996 Chevy Beretta Z26" with the 3100. You get a 4T60E (oh ya!!!), a swappable 3100 to 3400 (future project). The car is ligher than a W body, stiffer than a N body, and you can upgrade the brakes (they use the same system as the J body, the aftermarker makes a drum to disk conversion). 1996 is the only model year that I know you can get all those goodies....

[IsaacHayes]

Uhm, 94 and 95 have 3100 too. And the 4T60-e isn't anything to get excited about. The gearing in it sucks in the L body. Not fast reving at all. You can however get a dhp powertuner since it would be 96..

[vikn1]

"the 4T60-e isn't anything to get excited about." I feel ya about the trans, it was plain sarcasm though. It is a strong tranny or GM would have scrapped it a long time ago.

[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.

[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

[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]

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]

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.

[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]

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.