new and wondering about about a grand am??

[pontiac3100]

whats up first off i wanna say sorry if i posted in the wrong spot.

also...i'm debating if i should get this grand am.

it's a 1995 grand am gt.
with the v6 3100 series engine.

the car has about 197,000miles.
and it needs a heater core.
also selling for about $1000.

so i wanna know are these cars are about as reliable as my acura v6.

i drive HARD (85% of the time) so thats one thing.

and ....well since you guys/gals know about these cars more than me i was hopeing you could tell me.

thanks!

[Colin]

Originally posted by pontiac3100
the car has about 197,000miles

so i wanna know are these cars are about as reliable as my acura v6. That's alot of miles , and no probably not as reliable ... ;)

[daman]

there good cars,just need a little more TLC than some,

but on the other side of the coin,after changing out my
head gaskets and LIM gaskets i havent had a lick of truble
with it @ 145K.

runs great and gets 28-32MPG!! :)

[pontiac3100]

head gaskets?
lim...would that happen to mean leaking intake manafold gasket??

hmm...i'm pretty sure i could cut down on how hard i drive.


okay lets put it like this...are these cars more relaible than say a...91 frod taurus w/ 3.8 engine??

[daman]

yes

the problem with the head gaskets and LIM gaskets were the
"gaskets"....not the motor it's self, bad design of the gasket
is why they failed.

LIM gaskets fail more often than the HG's..

[pontiac3100]

so this is continous...just like the ford 3.8's.
nothing to fix this problem??


oh and i seen you said yes that they're more reliable than the ford 3.8's...

which i had well a sable and a cougar w/ a sc 3.8 before i bought the acura.

my mom's have a 93 sable w/ 3.8...no problems well as for engine wise.

so...that basically means i should be fine with the grand am...that's if i get it.

what are the most common options on the gt v6??

[Vhrus]

3 things that dont go together well in any order on any car....

200,000 Miles, reliable and driven hard.

[daman]

Originally posted by pontiac3100
so this is continous...just like the ford 3.8's.
nothing to fix this problem??
yes this problem can be fixed,but,,,,,you need to use quality
parts and do the job right.

i've done 3 of these 31's now, used good steel framed gaskets
took my time payed attention to detail and not a problem
after.


pontiac3100so...that basically means i should be fine with the grand am...that's if i get it.
well..mabie if it's the v6 you may or you may not, my brothers
'94 made it to 200k before we did the LIM, and at that time
we just did it, it still wasn't leaking,but he changed his coolant
every other year.

i have no experience with the 4 bangers and don't intend too.


it's a roll of the dice man,somtimes you win and.....well....you know.

[pontiac3100]

Originally posted by Vhrus
3 things that dont go together well in any order on any car....

200,000 Miles, reliable and driven hard.

thats not ture...well if you keep the car maintained.
my acura legend has been driven hard.
i'm the second owner, the previous owner drove her hard.
and whenever it came down to the regular stuff or some else.

he took her to the dealer.

i replaced the engine with a jdm engine around 223k miles....
(it was something stupid i did)

she has been reliable...

but it seems the looks of the gagt catches my attention.

[Vhrus]

Then you got lucky, the reliability of any car with over 200,000 miles on it is going to be less then stellar.

Im not saying its gonna leave you stranded everytime you drive it, but things WILL get worn out, die and need to be replaced, and at 200,000 miles chances are pretty good that nearly any moving part that hasn't yet been replaced is nearing the end of its useable life.

But in all honesty if you can get that car on the road for under $1500 and the bodys not to rough go for it, cant really lose for that price ;)

[pontiac3100]

yea thats true.

i had a chevy z26 that had a 3.1.

only thing engine wise that had to be replaced was the crankshaft bearings..the car was still running too.

also the crank sensor.
waterpump.
radiator.
fuel pump.
tranny..well rebuilt, then a new one becuase the shop screwed up the one i had in there.
and the fan motor alot of times...because my dad thought eiether the ecu was bad or a sensor to turn on the fan was bad.

so he hot wired it, turns out the fan only turns on when the car is about to over heat.....
before i traded the car in it had 180k miles
these don't do that right?
i noticed the new ones stay like 1/2 way...

[Vhrus]

:lol:
The fan is only supposed to come on when its "about to overheat" (about half on the temp gauge) because when it hits that temp the thermostat opens up and coolant flows freely through the rad, at the same time the fan turns on to pull air across the rad and cool the coolant flowing through it.
Having the fan always on would be pointless and just add wear and tear to it aswell as suck power from your electrical system.

So yea, these do that :P

The 3.1 in the z26 and the 3100 in the grand am are basically the same engine and depending on what year your z26 was they might even be identical.
GM has a big parts bin, and when they make a new car half of the parts usually come from it :lol: but even if all those parts that failed are the same as the ones on the GA (which I dont know either way), weather or not they break after that much use is just luck.

Oh and the temp staying at half way is exactly what its supposed to do, cars are designed to run at a certain temperature and running hotter or cooler then that isn't good.

[pontiac3100]

my z26 was a 1995...so yea i had the 3100.
also i'm aware of how the fan works.

but mines did'nt turn on till the gauge nearly hit the red.
my friends 89 grand prix 3.1 stays 1/2 way also..and when the fans come on the gauge goes down a lil'.

i'm sorry if i'm asking to many questions...i just need to know what to check out when i look at the car.

are the tranny's strong...well somewhat strong.
not that i'm gonna do anything stupid

[daman]

If your not going to beat the crap out of it every day and
do fluid changes, the trans should hold up a long time...

[Matt95GT]

Originally posted by Vhrus
The 3.1 in the z26 and the 3100 in the grand am are basically the same engine and depending on what year your z26 was they might even be identical.


Z26's were available from 94-96... so all of them had 3100's. The only exception is 94... a few rare ones had an HO Quad 4 + manual.

[pontiac3100]

and like i said...i had the 95.
it was nice.
then everything started breaking.

well not everything. i think what helped the majority of it was the fact the fan whould turn on when the temp gauge would near red.

i was doing some searching and it seems...if i'm wrong; please correct me...the 4t60e is the strongest.

but i don't plan on beating on it....nor do i plan on baby driving it either.

matt95gt...i like how that red gt looks....that's one of the reason's i want a GA

[daman]

Originally posted by pontiac3100
fact the fan whould turn on when the temp gauge would near red.



sounds like the ECM temp senser was lazy...

[pontiac3100]

yea.

and no check engine either.
so now my only concern is the lower intake gasket...i mean does that leak in air or coolant or what.

[Vhrus]

Im still new to the grand am world so someone correct me if im wrong, but I belive it leaks oil to the outside or coolant into the oil.

[daman]

Originally posted by pontiac3100
[B]yea.

and no check engine either.



it won't


check your oil cap for milky crap and your oil,keep an eye
on your coolant level

[Matt95GT]

Originally posted by pontiac3100
well not everything. i think what helped the majority of it was the fact the fan whould turn on when the temp gauge would near red.
...
matt95gt...i like how that red gt looks....that's one of the reason's i want a GA

Unless you were sitting still in hot summer traffic frequently, I kinda doubt the fan (or lack of) was the biggest cause.

Thanks. :)

Originally posted by pontiac3100
yea.

and no check engine either.
so now my only concern is the lower intake gasket...i mean does that leak in air or coolant or what.

Well, misreading sensors will not set an SES... they are simply not reporting accurate data.

Coolant leaks externally or internally (into oil) or both.

[pontiac3100]

okay now this may sound weird:

on my legend my rpms in D mode usally ranges from 3k-4krpms.
S mode may be higher.

thats where my sable shifts also...and no problems really.

i was reading where this one woman said that she took her grand am (3100) for an oil change and she said oil was mixed in.

and the car ran fine!!!!!!???????
and she drove it like that for 4 months...
then she sells it.
i would've kept it, knowing the car ran fine with the h/g like that...

[Vhrus]

yep, that sounds weird all right.... mostly cause I dont know what your trying to say though :P

[daman]

^^^ i agree...Huh???

[pontiac3100]

sorry..
i'm saying my "normal" driving is in the mid rpm range.
and i say maybe like 2-3 times a week i floor it.

so thats why i asked.

[Vhrus]

that sounds more like normal driving then hard driving, I would consider hard driving flooring it everytime you need to accelerate and pegging it to 5k rpm many many times a day.
My work van has the 3400 in it and has been driven hard like that every day from 60,000 km to its current 240,000 km and so far we havent had a single engine problem with it, just electronics and suspension.

If the LIM gasket isn't messed up right now I wouldn't really worry about it, you might have to replace it in 1,000 miles or you might never have to change it theres really no way to know for sure.

Unless something has signs of weakness or is already broken theres really no point in worrying about it cause you never know what will and wont break on any car.

I stick with what I said before, if its in decent shape and you can get it on the road for $1500 go for it, you really cant go wrong with buying a car you like for that price.

[pontiac3100]

oh!
i thought that was hard driving.

and yea i do sometimes floor it often than others.
but not everyday. lol.

well i'm trying to see the car.
i guess it's best i go in person.
i have a feeling though when i go and test drive it i'm gonna want the car.....

i worked on a lumina with the 3100 with over 100k miles.
it had a misfire.
and apparantly it did'nt bother the owner, becuase he had the a/c on too....

[Vhrus]

Definatly go in person, goodluck I hope it works out!

[pontiac3100]

Originally posted by Vhrus
that sounds more like normal driving then hard driving, I would consider hard driving flooring it everytime you need to accelerate and pegging it to 5k rpm many many times a day.
My work van has the 3400 in it and has been driven hard like that every day from 60,000 km to its current 240,000 km and so far we havent had a single engine problem with it, just electronics and suspension.

If the LIM gasket isn't messed up right now I wouldn't really worry about it, you might have to replace it in 1,000 miles or you might never have to change it theres really no way to know for sure.

Unless something has signs of weakness or is already broken theres really no point in worrying about it cause you never know what will and wont break on any car.

I stick with what I said before, if its in decent shape and you can get it on the road for $1500 go for it, you really cant go wrong with buying a car you like for that price.




but you have the 3400...i'm pretty sure thats stronger than the 3100??

last night at one of my jobs this guy has like a 96-98 3100v6 w/ 18 chrome wheels.

chrome wheels are heavy.
he said he does'nt baby it either (drive slow) and that they ride good.

and he said he has'nt had any problems with it too.