95 grand am 3.1L: Gas in oil

[Azrael]

I had a coil go bad and no code was set.

[Texan4Life]

it was an original coil, because it had the cylinder numbers on it. I noticed one of the other coil packs didn't have any numbers. I assume it was replaced at some point.

I kept the old ICM.. we also have an 88 olds with the 2.8L v6... I think it uses the same one. I have heard those fry ICMs cuz the stuck it right on top of the front exhaust manifold.

How does a bad coil damage the ICM?

[IsaacHayes]

Yeah I agree with Brad, the ICM can be intermittent problem. I've heard of them working fine until they get hot, or breaking up at high RPMs. A bad coil could be shorted and could have damaged the ICM by drawing too much power from the ICM.

Glad it's going again!

I believe only OBDII started with the missfire codes... And the missfire codes if they are in OBD1.5 may not show as SES light, and only be stored in the history codes read with a scanner...

Knock on wood my coil packs are original and work great. WAAAY over 200,000 miles too.

EDIT yes the 2.8 uses the same ICM. And yeah the location there is hot and does shorten the life.

[Schmieder]

the location there is hot and does shorten the life.

A nice hood scoop would surely cool it down, hehe.

I'm going to mold a scoop this spring. I decided to mold it with clay then cast it with fiberglass. This way I can make a custom scoop and design it as I see it.


BTW OP, have you inspected for an exhaust leak by the rear exhaust manifold? That may be the reason for failure even though those things just happen sometimes.

But as Isaac had said, his are going 200K+. An exhaust leak would cause an overheating of the coils and ICM. Something to think about as it had happened to me once. Cylinder 6's exhaust manifold bolts snapped during normal operation and I could see the burnt trail exposing the leak. Cyl 6 tends to be the hottest which would typically be the first place for heat related issues. When I replaced the heads on my turbo build, there was oil coking by cyl6. But I also had coolant issues so I replaced the entire cooling system. New radiator, pump, hoses, thermostat, ECT and flushed/back flushed twice. I even wired out the blocks coolant passages for debris when the heads were off. But that is the extreme and not needed for a typical DD.

Ehh, I tend to ramble on.......again, congrats on the succesful repairs.

[60dgrzbelow0]

With close to 100 Grand in mileage on that car, you should not discount the possibility of piston rings going in the general way that engines wear...and wear out even more quickly if the problem of too much fuel being dumped into the cylinders has been going on for some time. Gasoline mixes with the motor oil readily and thins it out, reducing or even destroying the protective quality of your motor oil and invites rapid component wear as a result.. While you are trying to nail down the culprit...its a good idea to use an Extended Performance Synthetic Motor Oil and some really good oil filters and perhaps shorten the usual 3,000 Miles between oil changes down to say 2,000 or even 1,500 to give your engine a break. Mobile1 is all I will use in my cars for both the synthetic oils and their necessary filters. Others may have alternative favorites they think perform better so their advice is equally valid.

[Texan4Life]

With close to 100 Grand in mileage on that car, you should not discount the possibility of piston rings going in the general way that engines wear...and wear out even more quickly if the problem of too much fuel being dumped into the cylinders has been going on for some time. Gasoline mixes with the motor oil readily and thins it out, reducing or even destroying the protective quality of your motor oil and invites rapid component wear as a result.. While you are trying to nail down the culprit...its a good idea to use an Extended Performance Synthetic Motor Oil and some really good oil filters and perhaps shorten the usual 3,000 Miles between oil changes down to say 2,000 or even 1,500 to give your engine a break. Mobile1 is all I will use in my cars for both the synthetic oils and their necessary filters. Others may have alternative favorites they think perform better so their advice is equally valid.

yeah this car is used and abused. My bro doesnt come in or hint that something with the car is wrong unless the wheels are about to fall off.

He went MONTHS with this problem. I thought he could keep up with telling me when to change his oil. So he come sputterin and spootin in on 4 cylinders, with 17k on gas diluted super tech synthetic.

until the problem was resolved I kept him on short OCIs (less the 1k miles) with cheap dino oil because of the fuel dilution. After getting him all fixed up I put in some valvoline maxlife syn blend 5w-30. Were using up some Group 7 oil filters, but after that hes getting purolator pureone.

Been also thinking about using some HDEO on his next oil change.