Replacing Intake Manafold gaskets

[IsaacHayes]

Crankshaft Position Sensor.

Where are you burning coolant at? Tail pipe or is it spewing out the side of the motor?

What kind of gasket did you use? plastic or metal felpro?

If plastic for sure you cracked it to pieces and the coolant is leaking from there.

[techgeek27]

Crankshaft Position Sensor.

thank you ... i HAVE heard of this

Where are you burning coolant at? Tail pipe or is it spewing out the side of the motor?

Tailpipe at start... but i did not see any when i left work today...

What kind of gasket did you use? plastic or metal felpro?

I used Metal.. so i should be ok then with the metal one?

[techgeek27]

On the way home tonight i noticed that it would the heat would go up and tell me that i am low on coolant... then drop back down, and tell me that i wasn't low on coolant.. then i pulled over and check the air release value and out spews collant no air... I feel the huge hose coming from the bottom of the radiator and it is soooooo tight it is not even funny.. so i slowly took of the coolant fill cap allllll kinds of air came out... then it ran find for a while..


At this point in time it seems like i am going through a 1/2 gallon of coolant evey trip .. around 15 miles....

[IsaacHayes]

Well if it's pressurizing the coolant system then it's probably a bad head gasket... Was the motor ever overheated in it's lifetime?

[techgeek27]

Well if it's pressurizing the coolant system then it's probably a bad head gasket... Was the motor ever overheated in it's lifetime?

Oh yeah she's be overheated at some point in time...

[IsaacHayes]

Looks like time for a new motor or new headgasket and deck the heads or get newer low mileage ones. You already got the other gaskets you should be able to re-use them fine.

Does the bottom end sound ok? If so then just a top end is all it needs. You could even go to 3400 stuff for a bump in power if you wanted..

[techgeek27]

should i

I mean should i really? I am gonna end up dropping like another $900 or more into this thing. The body is solid and the interior is nice.. that is my conumdrum.

The good thing is that I know how to take the top apart..

What would it cost to have this redone at a garage?

Realtively speaking..

<<< I HATE CHOICES >>>

[IsaacHayes]

If the car is in good shape body and interior wise, why not. Even $900 is cheaper than buying a used car (with unknown problems), and you know this one is nice and will run good. You'll have a nice looking good running car when done thats cheap on insurance. If you are worried about the bottom end too, just get a late model 3100/3400 with low miles, and drop it in. There are a few changes needed to adapt a few things, you can find out by reading threads on here. Main things is you'll need the EGR adapter here and to tap the coolant pipe on the lower manifold to fit your threaded connection. You'll end up with a low mileage more powerful motor though. There are other options too. If you don't feel like swapping the engine and the bottom end is ok, have the heads checked out and decked or get some different ones.

A garage would charge +/- $600 just to do the lower intake gasket job you did.

[techgeek27]

Really... $600 .. huh.. go figure.. I thought it would have been more...

I just called like the most expensive place around and they said $1200-$1400 to do a blown head gasket...

hmmm

Anyone know where i could go for a low milage used engine... or is that just a check the junkyards around?

[IsaacHayes]

Check out www.car-part.com for a junkyard close by. Then search there for a 2000+ 3100 or 3400. Grand ams have 3400's, grand prix have 3100's. It will cross reference too to other cars. The newer 3100's have larger intake manifolds. Those 3100's made like 175hp and 3400 185hp depending on the vehicle it was in (exhaust differences). A nice bump from your ~155-160hp damaged 3100.

There are several things you need to adapt but all the stuff is do-able and we can help you through it. It's all been said before so you may find it with a forum search. As soon as I have enough time I will put all the info in the wiki.

You will want to keep and re-use your injectors and FPR. Just save the whole injector rail. Some other accessories you can save too. You'll need to splice a new pig tail on for the new 3 wire style coolant temp sensor or put the one for your gauges in the back of the block where a coolant plug is as the newer engines don't have a place in the head for the gauge cluster temp sender. I believe the pigtail that works with the 3wire sensor is the same as an IAC connector. You take your 2 wire computer temp sensor and the single wire gauge cluster sensor wire and put them into the 3 wire pigtail and run a single sensor..

Any who if you have an engine picker or can get one putting a low mileage engine in yourself will be way cheaper than having someone fix the 3100.

[techgeek27]

sweet site...

what does non interchange mean?

[techgeek27]

ahhh like this one....

I think i figured it out...

1998
Engine
Buick Skylark -6-191 (3.1L, VIN 'M')- STRONG 41,000 A SKY265 $450.97 County Recovery Service, Inc. - Gold Seal, PARTS, ARA-NY, ARAPro USA-PA(Wysox) E-mail 1-570-265-2475/ 1-800-284-8313
102

[IsaacHayes]

That's low miles for a 1998. Will bolt right in other than the coolant temp sensor but that's an easy adaption/fix. Won't be an increase in power like a 3400 would be, but will get your car up and running with minimal effort.

Interchangeable means similar motors from different cars...

[techgeek27]

Another Possiable doner...

Year Part Model: Chevy Impala 2003 Engine
Description: 3400 TESTED
Miles ?
Part Grade ?
Stock# 0316
US Price $700
Dealer Info Forshey's Garage USA-PA(Altoona) 1-800-734-1009
Dist mile 35

[techgeek27]

Need some help here...

So it looks I am going with the 3400 from a 2003 Lumina.
What do i need to do to get prepared??
Buy?
The junkyard guy said they tell everyone who buys a 3100 or 3400 to do an intake manifold gasket fix just to be sure. Should I?

Do I need to get a new computer since mine is a 1995 and this is a 2003?