3.1 3100 Generation 2? anyone know what that is?

[Roadbastard]

WOW! those are some incredible pics. are they off the outside of the #3 bearing? it appears that the bearing spun. but you say was still lined up with the oil hole. what are the chances. iirc, the lim gasket leak allows dex cool to drip into that area washing the bearing a bit. you said it was 2nd lim repair, so was likely the main cause. was you able to inspect the bores, where those bearings spun? and those hollow core cams. they are a peach, arent they? on the other hand, they will give up, before causing serious block damage. might just be a good thing. when this happened to my 97 monte, i was out in b.f.e. and on the job. knew i was in trouble, but kept going. it finally laid down, after 3 miles on the interstate, and in town. was seen on traffic cams, and road assistance responded. i had already called for a tow, and was freezing by the time it arrived. can only imagine getting stopped out in the middle of nowhere. was dec 29th. a bit frigid. and horrible timing. was my back up car. my main overheated, and blew head gaskets, on nov 30. and again on the job. 2 cars. a month apart. in the slow season. 10 months later i was bankrupted!!! just never caught up.

Yeah it was pretty bad and I felt horrible seeing the engine in that condition. It had been ongoing for quite some time. I remember seeing metalic flakes in my oil some time ago when I changed it but they were barely noticeable and looked the same as the ones from the can of Restore I had dumped in the car so I thought it was from there. I blame myself for it getting that bad. If I had an oil pressure gauge I probably could have taken care of it before it got to that point.

Sorry to hear about your Monte breaking down. I've been dead on my behind in the middle of no where before and it's not a good feeling. Side of the highway is always the worst. I did learn one thing though Never try to force the car to drive. I'm glad I pulled over ASAP so this thing wasn't running dry. My heart sank when I saw half the cam not spinning. I've seen guys bust cranks, blow holes in blocks, snap rods, burn pistons etc. etc. but I've never seen a camshaft break. It seems to happen on 180K+ mile engines a lot. I'm guess that's what these 3.1's are rated for.

Hopefully I can get the car up and running again. The funny part is now all my neighbors know I can work on cars so they keep asking me about car stuff. I don't know why they just now figured that out when I have a race car sitting in my garage. I admit I never thought much of anything that wasn't a V8 but it's nice to know there are entire communities for people that loves these V6's. I guess that's the best thing I learned from this lesson.

[rooster5333]

yep my monte had 176 and change. and 160+ on a 94 beretta my ex had. the dealership had bought a truckload of the early style 3100's after the new one came out. i bought a brand new in crate, oil pan, front cover, valve covers, and lim already on it, with 3 yr 50,000 mile warranty for $1875. auto zone, advanced, oreilly all had 12 mo, 12k mi reman long block, $1500. 18 mos later, something broke. dealership towed it and fixed it in 2 days. NO CHARGE!!!! the ex got paranoid after that. chased phantom noises, smells, leaks, puffs of smoke, and ghost images of destroyed engine parts for 2 more yrs. she drove my monte (god rest it's soul) for 2 mos, and broke the tilt column. finally got her another car. ended up giving the beretta away. less than 12k on the new engine. but thats a longer story.( "D.I.V.O.R.C.E." tammy wynette)