97 Grand AM problems

purchased a 97 grand am has the v6 3.1L engine found it to have a bad head gasket. at this time ran good. had the headgasket replaced and intake gasket also. upon completion of reassembly car would not start and appeared to misfire. scanned the ecm got a throttle body positioning sensor low voltage error and egr error. replaced the tbp sensor. car now runs but a very bad idle rough and stalls but will stay running if continued pressing of the gas pedal. now im getting a map sensor low voltage error and the others have gone away. also my plugs are getting wet.
things replaced are..
gaskets and lifters
plugs and wires
tbp sensor
air filter
oil and filter
thermostat
Is there anything i need checked or look at to make my baby run good I'm at a lost so is my son-n -law and his father who did the work? like i said prior to them doing the headgasket work it ran fine. ive tried searching for anyone else who ever had this problem or have a solution to no success so any info would be greatly appreacited
Thanks Missing my grand am
BTW xeroinfinity u sound like you really know ur stuff on these cars

Lifters on this engine are hydraulic and if they are brand new you have to prime them with oil before installation. I hope you installed push rods correctly since you have shorter and longer ones and everything was torqued to specs. Money spent for new TPS was unnecessary if everything worked fine prior to this work. make sure all the vacuum lines are connected correctly and that your injector connectors are connected to right injectors (very important and I am sure that is where you guys probably made mistake) example: connector for injector for cyl #3 was connected to #5 etc and if your spark plugs are wet and you smell gas that is it.

updated status... they had tightened down intake manifold seems to run better but rough idle and when driving it has no power. also now as i went to see it the engine has a knock which to me appears to sound from upper engine in the heads but was told it sounds like a piston rod. could something that may have been assembled wrong or forgotten in the heads assembly cause this? and if so should they check vacum to see if there is a problem and what to look for. just want my car back and now not to sure of the competancy of this job.

:frown: looks like they did not know that there are short and long push rods, :headshakejust as I said in my first reply, and I hope they did not install lifters the wrong way do not run your engine any more or it will be too late if it is not too late already:frown: remove push rods and roll them over flat surface to check if they are straight

yeah if its a knocking somewhere in the top end its qiuet possible some of the push rods got mixed and the valves are hitting the piston or valve cover(s). :yikes: If the rocker arms arent torqued right this will cause simular issues with the knock and bad idle.

The Intake push rods are approx 5.75 inches , the Exhaust is approx 6 inches in length. Here's a pic of my SE head marked the locations for push rods.

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c242/xeroinfinity/Models/3.jpg

If it still isnt idling good and the above have checked out check all the vacum lines, especialy for cracks.

Good Luck

thanks for the info will check that sun afternoon. ps if ur still on will it be possible to remove them with taking just the valvecovers off?

thanks for the info will check that sun afternoon. ps if ur still on will it be possible to remove them with taking just the valvecovers off?
wells heres the status on the rear head he did have 2 pushrods in wronge, bent the exhaust one so he went to a mechanic friend who gave him a replacement. it cranked over and seized up, so he pulled the heads off only to find out the pushrod he replaced was not the correct one it was almost 1/2 to long for exhaust. it had bent the valve and it broke off and was thrusted into the head. his friend gave him another head and the piston didnt look "damaged" but a small indent on top from where the valve hit. this time he used a correct pushrod and assembled the engine.it now ran smoother but had poor acceleration and a slight tapping noise. we drove only a about a block when it sounded like something broke or snapped and motor stopped running and seized up, it will not crank. I can only assume the worst that maybe the piston that broke the valve may have broke or the camshaft broke and or bearring went. if he wasnt my son-n law ide be more pissed off as i told him when he replaced the pushrod i would have at least checked first for length. any suggestions or should it be better to just look for a good running engine and just switch it out. so far i paid 900 for car and have about 800 in it so far. or should i sell it for what i can and take my loses. the body is in excellent condition and interior to?

Also what 3.1L engines and automobiles they come from can be used in this year as i heard some 3.1 engines are somewhat different?

BTW Thanks to all who have helped so far wish u all were close enough to me (LOL) i would have had anyone of u do the work

grand am's 96-98
luminas 96-98
aleros 96-98

basically all engines that have 3100 SFI on their upper plenum, however there are some differences with the EGR's some are tripods some are not. Basically junk yards sell them for $400 with everything on them so now you can have some spare parts.

grand am's 96-98
luminas 96-98
aleros 96-98

basically all engines that have 3100 SFI on their upper plenum, however there are some differences with the EGR's some are tripods some are not. Basically junk yards sell them for $400 with everything on them so now you can have some spare parts.

ok someone was telling me that 97 was a rare year for the engine because it has extra sensors on the motor and only 97 lumina, or aleros or grandams would pop right in. Is this true or will there need to be some type of modifing from other years

any of those 3.1s will work. just a couple sensors are different size threads. think its the knock retard and oil pressure..

...but you shouldnt have any trouble finding GAs with a 3.1 thier everywhere !! 97 and up will work.

Good Hunting