need info on 3.1 police edition engines on '97 Lumina

[decollect]

2 questions, have fun folks.
'97 Lumina 3.1 former police car. I'm familiar with the suspension mods that go on these, I'm told it's the LTZ package in essence. And of course I'm familiar with the Recaro seats in it. My question is:
What do they do to the engines in the '97 Lumina Police edition?
Book doesn't offer ANY help, the normal specs are for 160 horse and 180 lbs/ft torque. The performance specs that I have are for a 3.4 210 horse which indicate a 0-60 in the range of 8.9-9.1 seconds. Though I have only the 3.1, MY 0-60 times are in the same range. Granted I'm using a watch with a stopwatch function as my "timer" so I won't even hope to be accurate to any closer than a half second, but even with that my 0-60 times are in the low 9's. Given that, I'm almost certain that this little 3.1 does NOT have the same 'puter programming that comes stock. I'm told that at least ONE of the mods on these engines is that they are not speed governed. It's still rev-limited when in park or neutral (NO Jeffco, I did NOT encourage my "whirly-bits" to seek communion with the sun haha) but did see the rev-limiter kick in at appropriate RPM. Does anyone have information on police edition 3.1's?

Secondly, when I got the car, I immediately changed the oil. Unfortunately I still went "old school, old engine" and used the same Castrol 20W-50 that I've used for 25 years in all my other high mileage engines. Soon as I fired her up, the "change oil" light came on. I looked at the book (should have done so earlier) to find she takes 5-30 oil. STILL not wanting to give up "old school, old engine" ways I went to a 10-40 Castrol. Same thing but the "change oil" light went off after about 4 minutes. Finally giving in to "new ways" I went with Castrol's synthetic 5-30 and changed the oil for the 3rd time in 100 miles. Now the "change oil" light goes off after only about 1 minute but happens EVERY time even when the engine is warm. Start the car, "change oil" light comes on, even when the car is warm and only was shut off for a few seconds. I'm guessing that the 3.1 uses a pressure differential to trigger the "change oil" light, presuming there's a sending unit on the inlet side of the oil filter and the engine sending unit which I believe is after the outlet side of filter. the difference between the 2 units would indicate a clogging filter, thereby triggering the light? Mind you I'm changing the oil filter after each change also and am using Fram as my filter of choice.
ideas anyone?

[cadgear]

As for the first question, no, there are no mechanical differences among the 3.1s, be it SEO or Non-SEO packages. The PCM is not speed-governed on the SEO cars, however that's pretty much it. My 0-60 times are mid 9s to low 10s, and the car's age and current weight probably attribute to that. You've got nothing spectacular under the hood, unfortunately. Just another 3100.

As for the Change Oil light, are you resetting it yourself? The Change Oil light is controlled by the PCM based on mileage, vehicle speed, engine RPMs, temperature, average number of drive cycles, etc, which can put the light on between 600 and 6000 miles, basically. If even after resetting it you still get the light for more than a few seconds for bulb check, I'd suspect some sensor miscommunication or PCM confusion.

[decollect]

[quote=cadgear]A You've got nothing spectacular under the hood, unfortunately. Just another 3100.

Actually that works for me, since I now know I won't run into parts availability problems for any needed repairs as they crop up. As far as the 0-60 times, I guess my age is showing because they're just plenty fast enough for me. hahahahaha

As for the Change Oil light, are you resetting it yourself?

... Ok, given my background as "shade tree" mechanic for about the last 20 years, I'm embarrassed to ask. How do you reset that little rascal? Apparently I must have missed that in the Haynes manual. Don't doubt for a second its there, just must have missed it. If there's a way to reset it, I'd sure appreciate it 'cause it sure is a nag!
Thanks for the help.

[tblake]

what you have to do is turn your key to on, but not start, and then press and releasy the gas pedal fully 3 times in 5 seconds. To confirm a reset, the light will flash. Good luck.

[tblake]

what you have to do is turn your key to on, but not start, and then press and release the gas pedal fully 3 times in 5 seconds. To confirm a reset, the light will flash. Good luck.

[decollect]

Originally Posted by tblake

what you have to do is turn your key to on, but not start, and then press and release the gas pedal fully 3 times in 5 seconds. To confirm a reset, the light will flash. Good luck.

Holy cow, that was easy!!! You, sir (or Ma'am, certainly don't want to make any assumptions ) are now on my Christmas card list. Thank you, thank you. Got your reply, went out to the parking lot, as I drove it into work today, and sure enough, thar she goes!

Thanks again.