Is it worth it?????

I really just need a yes or no if ya want;

Got a call from a friend of mine he says he can pick up a '95 Grand Am GT with
a bad motor(3100 V6),, ran with coolant in the oil and over heated says it's junk.

the cars got 147k on the clock and has the following new parts installed recently;

tires
two front struts
both mufflers

the car is pretty clean, power sunroof, air(works),full gauges aftermarket CD player
it's a black 2 door coupe,trans seems fine.

she worth $500 bucks??

Yes! But you will need additional cash for the new engine.

ya probly is.
That motor might be salvagable.
Maybe new crank/main bearings. Mill the heads if not warped to bad, new gaskets, and you'd prolly be ready to roll. Flush the lifters too !

Thanks guys,keep em coming.

He said he found a motor for $400 bucks,,he'd have $900 into it then
blue books $2-2,100

the motor might be salvagable we don't know,it does have some good
pressure in the recovery bottle,, cold not running if you crack the cap
coolant pours out..

.........cold not running if you crack the cap
coolant pours out..


thats not good :nono:
Sounds like the headgaskts are definatly blown.

And sometime a used motor is a gamble.
Motors get yanked when cars get totaled out, I know :)

Really dont sound like a bad deal though.

I wonder if the H/G's are bad if you can just put in new gaskets,or would the
head need work,,they said the car wasn't ran long when overheated,
they shut it down and had it towed home.

were goin over and doing some test soon,going to start it and see
if i can see any bubbles in the rad bottle,,and give it a compression
test,,that should give me a better idea...........

I wonder if the H/G's are bad if you can just put in new gaskets,or would the
head need work,,they said the car wasn't ran long when overheated,
they shut it down and had it towed home.

were goin over and doing some test soon,going to start it and see
if i can see any bubbles in the rad bottle,,and give it a compression
test,,that should give me a better idea...........


As long as the heads arent warped, which can happen from slight overheating, new gaskets might fix it right up.

And as long as the engine wasnt ran hard(or a long time) with the coolant in the oil you might get lucky thier too.

Most of the 3.1s, 3.4s that get ruined/junked(that I hav seen) are from overheating due to the thermostats sticking shut, or blowing a gasket, then continuing to driving it anyways :shakehead

Good Luck!

Well he bought the car, did some tests turns out to be the H/G :banghead:
no.1 cyl.,pulled the plug and it was wet with coolant,plus we did a comp.
check on all cyls. and they were all 195psi but that no.1 it was like 210psi.

symtoms were,, pressure in the coolant bottle(not running, cold)
and just a little white smoke out the tail pipe cleard up some
when ran a little. and coolant in the oil.

thats was all,,car runs dang good dispite the fact the H/G bad.

so hopefully the heads not cracked or warped...
i'll update when done.

Thanks for your input guy's................

Great!
Now to tackle those HG's :)