it figures...

[Iroc-z86]

Last month i got my beater car (94 grand am) to almost pass inspection. surprisingly it only failed for the ebrake considering the front end is a mess and the a/c clutch bearing makes noise all the time...anyways. so i spend about $80 on new drums and shoes cause the old ones were in desperate need of replacement. I fixed the E brake and passed inspection....

Now, the other night my temp gauge was a little higher than normal...ok so maybe it needs some antifreeze cause it has a small leak somewhere. the next day i take it to work and it starts a valve tap develops and stays for about 3 miles..then goes away..ok needs oil ill do it after work...first thing i do is open the oil fill and all i see is very dirty rocker arms and springs but also greenish/yellow muck that is associated with head gasket leaks. So one of the head gaskets is bad and that pretty much kills my idea of driving that car for another 2 years with the good inspection. All well. :|

[KirkEvil]

the yellowish muk is associated with beat head gaskets, but it also happens if you get some moisture that happens to mix with the oil at high temperature.

[Iroc-z86]

yeah either way its not getting fixed. the car is maybe worth $800 at the most. it sucks because it still gets 26mpg mixed and the emissions read out for inspection was insane, the numbers weren't even close to half of the allotted.

[Triple-A]

it is v6 90' 3.1L. ...right? ... most likely its the intake gasket.. not the head gasket! It's really common problem on these engines. there is 95% chance you would have internal intake gasket leak anywhere from 90 to 120k mi on these motors. in one year working in the shop i have done at least 20 of them on GM v6 3.1...3.8. it's easy to do it if you have some special tools (like rocker tool to remove the push rods w/o removing the rockers) and a place to do it.
in the shop i used to work i believe like this job would cost you 6-700$$ (not sure, just guess).

Good Luck!
Alex.

[NastyEllEssWon]

yup lower intake manifold gasket leak

[Iroc-z86]

ahh yeah i forgot about that. Ive ripped these motors apart before, i had a cavalier with the same motor and to change the fuel injectors you had to take the top part of the motor apart.

yeah i dunno about fixing it tho, i can do it but its the question of is it worth it..

[Frosty]

yeah i dunno about fixing it tho, i can do it but its the question of is it worth it..

If it's the intake gasket and you can do it yourself why not take the day or weekend to just do it? If the car is in good shape otherwise I'd keep it...you can never have enough cheap beaters. :D

[ZeroCool8891]

OMG the Grand Slam is dieing no way.

[WayFast84]

I know of a cheap replacement, with good inspection That gets the same if not better gas mileage. I can give you a hell of a good deal too! the car is rated at 27/38 pm me if your interested.

[ZeroCool8891]

I know of a cheap replacement, with good inspection That gets the same if not better gas mileage. I can give you a hell of a good deal too! the car is rated at 27/38 pm me if your interested.

ITS A POS GM.

[Iroc-z86]

Yeah i dont want to get rid of the car cause it just passed inspection....but the front end is smashed up from my brothers 4 accidents, the a/c clutch is somehow not dead yet, it really really needs tires and the trans slips on occasion. I also have my jeep that just sits so i dont need 3 cars. If i had it my way i would get rid of my jeep and fix this car...

[Iroc-z86]

ok to add to the demise of this poor car, the heater core is going....started it yesterday and had a nice antifreeze smell for a few miles. Drive it till it dies! lol