which gaskets do i need?

[andrewgrant]

i am planning on changing my intake gaskets in the near future but dont know if i need the ones with the pushrod guides or without. any help would be great. i have a 1995 grand prix 3100 vin M. And also if there is anything else i will need to get to do this, please let me know.

[tractorman]

You need the felpro set MS98004t. You'll also want to replace the oil pump drive o-ring, maybe some injector o-rings, a bypass hose, and the connector assembly for the heater hose pipe.

When you do this job- KEEP THEM PUSHRODS IN ORDER. NEVER NEVER NEVER EVER CRANK THE ENGINE OR EVEN TIGHTEN DOWN THE ROCKER ARMS UNLESS YOU'RE ABSOLUTELY SURE THAT THE PUSHRODS ARE IN THE CORRECT POSITIONS. The intake and exhaust pushrods are different lengths, and if you get two of them swapped, it'll cost you hundreds of dollars and hours of work in a matter of seconds.

Go with Gawd.

[Superdave]

When you do this job- KEEP THEM PUSHRODS IN ORDER. NEVER NEVER NEVER EVER CRANK THE ENGINE OR EVEN TIGHTEN DOWN THE ROCKER ARMS UNLESS YOU'RE ABSOLUTELY SURE THAT THE PUSHRODS ARE IN THE CORRECT POSITIONS. The intake and exhaust pushrods are different lengths, and if you get two of them swapped, it'll cost you hundreds of dollars and hours of work in a matter of seconds.

Go with Gawd.

That's a little extreme..

typically it just won't run worth a crap if the pushrods are swapped.


the exhaust pushrods are longer, just make sure they're in the right spots when you put it together.

for the P/N verify it at the auto parts store, get the good Felpro metal ones.

[IsaacHayes]

It can bend stuff....

[tractorman]

Nothing makes a point stick like hyperbole... but in this case it's unneccesary.

If your car only ran poorly with a swapped pushrod, then count yourself as lucky. I've seen bent valves from the same situation. Lots of unneccesary time and $$$$$ can be prevented with a little caution.

[Superdave]

I've seen it happen a few times on gen2 engines w/o any bent pushrods although they ran for a minute or less while we went "Oh Sh*t".

[IsaacHayes]

Gen3 isn't so lucky.

[3100 MPFI]

Gen 3 is deffinantly not lucky.

While working as a mechanic, we had another guy in the shop mess up a head on a Malibu 3100. He knew they were different length, but he didn't know that 1 cylinder is BACKWARDS (intake, exhaust, intake, exhaust, exhaust, intake). He mixed up that last set (car was only in for the intake gasket leaking). Started the car up, didn't run right.

He came to me, and I knew immediatly what had happend (he did find the bent pushrod). I told the manager that the head would have to be redone, and Brian (rhedalert) and I both got out there and got the head off in record time. In fact, that was Brian's first day in the shop.

Good times.

[Ghostryder]

i think i used wrong gskt set

i just did a job on a 96 cut ciera & i got the ones with the push rod guides on them & now i am haveing a problem with the valves a couple ticking & 1 or 2 not seeting Would that side pressure on the push rods do that to the valve train???????????

I just got home from cutting out those guide tabs on the 96 cutlus & it solved the problem

Except when i ran it the lifters couldent pump ooil to the rockers & they started scoring so i will put in new rockers & push rods in the morning. I got lucky on this one One lifter did not want to pump up after i cut the tabs out of the gaskets but I got it to free up by backing it out & letting it clatter for a min. & when I turned it back in it instantly started pumping& there was no noise or clatter.

So just a little info for any one who runs into this problem because the parts store gives you the wrong gaskit set for a 3100 with ball &socket rocker application that is not even listed for that type of car I played the price & learned the hard way to finde out what happens when you use the rollor rocker gskt set in a stock ball pivit valve train if you have to use this gskt you need to cut off the push rod guides and it will work fine .

[IanSzgatti]

heres my worst 3100 headgasket/intake gasket nightmare

1. did heads, intakes, put back together

ran like it had massive vac leak

2. took upper plenum back off, inspect, scratch head
put back together, run engine, same thing, scan comp

3. take plenum, alt, eng mount back off, remove plugs
test compression, remove rocker covers, loosen rockers off
and leak test cylinders, all fine

4. scratch head, reassemble in full, run engine, no go

5. remove upper plenum (3rd time), remove alt, mount, p-steer,
lower intake, inspect lim gaskets, scratch head, swear

6 inspect plenum, see that that fucking stud on the lower
portion of the throttle body was loose and created a gap
between plenum and tb.

by the way, while cranking the engine one time looking for
a vac leak (partner sraying around plenum) I still had the
the red wire hanging off the alternator and it was touching the
exhaust... so i burnt a fusible at the starter too

Not so good times. car runs like a goddam champ though. anyways, it was never my intention to seperate the tb from the plenum, so i never thought to look at that.

[manicmechanix]

heres my worst 3100 headgasket/intake gasket nightmare

1. did heads, intakes, put back together

ran like it had massive vac leak

2. took upper plenum back off, inspect, scratch head
put back together, run engine, same thing, scan comp

3. take plenum, alt, eng mount back off, remove plugs
test compression, remove rocker covers, loosen rockers off
and leak test cylinders, all fine

4. scratch head, reassemble in full, run engine, no go

5. remove upper plenum (3rd time), remove alt, mount, p-steer,
lower intake, inspect lim gaskets, scratch head, swear

6 inspect plenum, see that that fucking stud on the lower
portion of the throttle body was loose and created a gap
between plenum and tb.

by the way, while cranking the engine one time looking for
a vac leak (partner sraying around plenum) I still had the
the red wire hanging off the alternator and it was touching the
exhaust... so i burnt a fusible at the starter too

Not so good times. car runs like a goddam champ though. anyways, it was never my intention to seperate the tb from the plenum, so i never thought to look at that.

After reading this, I think I will check my throttle body bolts before I'm done reassemblying everything on my Malibu .

[96ols60degree]

WHEN i did my gasets on my 96 ciera,mine clattered pretty hard for about 2weeks,started to think I would have to tear her down again,but the next day I WAS AT THE END OF MY ROPE WITH THE TICKING,I WAS GETTING READY TO GO DOWN TO THE PARTS STORE ,I SWEAR AS SOON AS I STARTED HER UP,SHE STOPPED TICKING,AND HAS RAN LIKE A CHAMP EVER SINCE! WIERD STUFF!

[IanSzgatti]

WHEN i did my gasets on my 96 ciera,mine clattered pretty hard for about 2weeks,started to think I would have to tear her down again,but the next day I WAS AT THE END OF MY ROPE WITH THE TICKING,I WAS GETTING READY TO GO DOWN TO THE PARTS STORE ,I SWEAR AS SOON AS I STARTED HER UP,SHE STOPPED TICKING,AND HAS RAN LIKE A CHAMP EVER SINCE! WIERD STUFF!

like a lifter that wouldnt pump back up maybe

[IanSzgatti]

After reading this, I think I will check my throttle body bolts before I'm done reassemblying everything on my Malibu .

i guess what happened was i undid the nut that holds the coolant tube secure to that stud on the TB. in doing so i backed the stud off and didnt notice.
it really is a nice easy job though and there isnt much that can go wrong.
If i were you i'd go a bit farther and take the heads off too. put some nice gaskets in there. It's so easy to do it... you wouldnt believe. That gives you a chance to clean the fuck out of the piston tops and just have everything all fresh.

[manicmechanix]

i guess what happened was i undid the nut that holds the coolant tube secure to that stud on the TB. in doing so i backed the stud off and didnt notice.
it really is a nice easy job though and there isnt much that can go wrong.
If i were you i'd go a bit farther and take the heads off too. put some nice gaskets in there. It's so easy to do it... you wouldnt believe. That gives you a chance to clean the fuck out of the piston tops and just have everything all fresh.

Yeah I checked that very throttle body stud that the heater outlet pipe attaches too. I didn't take the heads off. I hd ran a compression test and all were good. I put new injectors in so I didn't want to spend more on psrtd. hopefully my headgakets will stay good for a long while.

I thought the job was a lot of work. Getting the power steering pump bolts back in was a pain. It's been several months since I've done major engine work. But I can see how taking the heads off wouldn't have been much more work.