"What could possibly go wrong?" Let's Play: GM 3100 Head Gasket Job [blind]
Howdy, A-body.net! I'm Daniel, aka Duke George V, and this is my Let's Play of GM 3100 Head Gasket Job! This is going to be a blind playthrough, so it'll be just as exciting for me as it is for you!
GM 3100? Why that version?
Well, that's what the car came with! This is a 1996 Buick Century, and your choices were a 110 hp 2.2L four, or a 160 hp 3100. Naturally, one should choose the version that's more powerful, and that's what I did.
Blind playthrough? You've never done this before!?
That's correct! I'm more of a technician. I've done spark plugs, brakes, oil changes, even a fuel pump once or twice, but I felt that this would be more challenging if I didn't use a walkthrough. I will admit that I'm gonna cheat a bit in the second half by printing out a torque specification for various bolts, but you can hardly blame me for that!
I've heard this has a really frustrating post-game. What's the big deal?
I dunno. I guess I could torque down the last bolt and it won't start. We'll cross that bridge when we get to it!
... Yeah right.
Anyway, here's the story. I bought a 1996 Buick Century wagon from a guy in Ontario, CA, via craigslist. I could end it right there and you could intuit the rest and probably be mostly right. I'm gonna tell this story though, dammit, and there ain't nothin' you can do about it.
Here's the rental car I used to get there:
2012 Chevrolet Impala. If there's one thing GM still knows how to make, it's a comfortable highway cruiser. Under the hood of this relic from the late 80's:
A sea of plastic! Underneath it all is GM's hot direct injection 3.6L DOHC V6, sending 300 hp and 262 ft-lbs to the front wheels via a 6T75 six speed automatic transmission. Not to put too fine a point on it, this land barge can move.
Um... yeah, that's the only pictures I took of the entire trip. I didn't even take a pic of my new car until several days later, when I picked up some new dressers. Doin' what wagons are supposed to do: haulin' shit.
As I said above, it's powered by GM's infamous 3.1L "3100 SFI" V6, making 160 hp and 185 ft-lbs, and notorious for a few gasket problems, most notably the lower intake manifold. I was told by the PO that that job had been done. The residual milkshake under the radiator cap did not back him up very well, and neither did the water (yes, H2O) in the radiator. However, it made the 250 mile return trip to Las Vegas without issue, and even got 26 miles per gallon! A bit down from the EPA estimated 29 mpg, but it had been sitting for a while, so I didn't think anything of it.
Then, this happened one night after less than six days of ownership:
Popped the factory upper radiator hose. I didn't notice it until the engine stalled, with the temp gauge pegged and steam pouring out from the hood. Mother fucker wouldn't restart either. Luckily, home was only two blocks away.
I nearly died pushing it that far. I know, people tend to go straight for the hyperbole when talking about this sort of stuff. I am not. Tunnel vision, tingling in the extremities, difficulty breathing, slurred speech. I terribly overexerted myself pushing what I thought to be a relatively light car (curb weight is around 3100 lbs).
Next day I threw on both upper and lower hoses, filled the radiator with coolant, tried unsuccessfully to burp it, noted that the heater was blowing cold, gave up and took it to a shop to have them do it. They put the flush machine on it. I don't think they should have. I was given a diagnosis of blown head gasket, with exhaust gas leaking into the cooling system. They'll be happy to put a new engine in for me for the low low price of $3500-4500! (yeah, nah, yer a ****, gimme back my car)
The temp gauge pegged within two miles of the shop, the heater was still blowing cold, and I had four more miles to go. Not wanting to risk blowing the whole damn thing, the car made it home on the back of a flat bed. The next day, it wouldn't start at all. I sought a second opinion from a mobile mechanic. After determining it had good spark and sufficient fuel pressure, he noticed that coolant was bubbling into the overflow bottle, despite the engine being stone cold. "That worries me" is not what you want to hear from the mechanic.
Out came the compression tester, and came up with readings of 80, 90, and 110 psi on the front bank. Second opinion: blown head gasket at least on the front head, with exhaust gas leaking into the cooling system.
Fuck it, I'll do it myself.
Gotta love the axe handle hood prop.
It died so young too. Only 131k miles.
All right, chums, let's do this. Hood off.
Battery removal reveals some nice rust. I don't plan to repair this. Cars don't generally rust in the high desert.
Cut the red wire. No, the black one!
Throttle body off. Other stuff was removed before this (alternator, MAP sensor, ignition coils, ICM, ICM bracket, some other vacuum manifold thing I don't know the name of), but that's boring, and I took terrible pictures. Interesting note ("interesting"), the throttle body and MAF are integrated on this particular version of the 3100. A wonderful idea, I'm sure.
The EGR valve came next, but I didn't take a pic of that. Then the upper intake, which I did.
This is where I stood after about three hours of work. I later pulled the fuel rail and didn't take a pic.
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Originally Posted by 93centsp
