96 grand am 3.1 problem...please help

Hi i have a 96 grand am with the 3100...i love the motor its so strong.
But once in a while it overheats. My friends said the waterpump is leaking and maybe sucking in air bubbels. so replaced it and it works great but im worryed that it might be something else (cracked head, leak in the intake) because i have nasty oil. not like milky like a head gasket. under the oil cap thats all no where else io changed the oil. tho it was very black but it was jus oil...

PLEASE HELP

Thaks josh

Is it still overheating ? Did you change the thermostat ?

hi there-I have one of these cars too-same engine and when i first got it i was concerned because you can see that it is seeping oil or antifreeze around the intake plenum in multiple places. luckily i know a couple of guys that are GM techs and they both said these are notorious for intake gasket leaks, and that whatever you see on the outside, the same amount is on the inside of the engine. the one guy said that if i change the oil often i can cheat and not do the intake job right away-the other guy said i should do it imediately. if yours is losing enough to make it overheat then you may have to do it right away

yes i did to the thermostat
well it has been driven for the past 2-3 weeks at normal temp i have just been keeping an eye on the coolant levels.
thanks for the replys tho

Welcome to AF daytona3_8.

If your 96 3.1 has the original lower intake gasket(LIM) then it'll probly need changed at some point.

These gaskets were updated in 2003 and the newr gaskets are much stronger/better.

Other then coolant in the oil, you can get oil in the coolant and coolant can also leak into one of your cylinders. External leaks on these 3.1's(& 3.4's) can occur on either end of the block where the LI meets.

Also dropping to a 180-185 deg thermostat can help your engine run much cooler.

My parents 96 Grand AM done the same thing. It done it to us twice. We ended up changing antifreezes from orange to green. It runs cooler and we havent had any trouble since. We also losened the cap on the bottle just to where the gasket touches the bottle so it doesnt build up enough pressure to blow the intake gasket. I wouldn't really suggest doing either one cause it make nuke the heads, but on our car it worked. its been like that for 2 or 3 years now. still runs strong