question about 94 lumina with 3.1L

[danny258]

I have a 1994 Chevy Lumina that is in need of a new engine. I know that the 3.1 was used from 1989-1994 but I was wondering if any of the older ones would be compatible with my car or do I need to find a 3.1 that came out of another 94 lumina?

[maxwedge]

Welcome to AF, common question. There are some differences, the best way here is to contact a local salvage yard for interchange info, their Holllander guide has all the info.

[john51md]

Originally Posted by danny258

I have a 1994 Chevy Lumina that is in need of a new engine. I know that the 3.1 was used from 1989-1994 but I was wondering if any of the older ones would be compatible with my car or do I need to find a 3.1 that came out of another 94 lumina?

i swapped a 93 grand prix 3.1 into a my 89 Z24. Yes every bolt hole was there, BUT... without having good knowledge of mechanics, there were so many little things changed over the years that needed swapped, i would probably been stuck as what to do.
I believe up to 94 the basic engine (block/heads) are the same, so once its stripped down, should be the same as your engine. There is a multitude of different accessories and brackets and mounts for different cars and years.
You just need to strip new engine down to basic engine and put all your cars mounts, etc onto the new engine. This "may" include sensors, some wiring such as fuel injector harness and so on. Another example , my 89 Z had a 2.8 and swapped ina 3.1, ok so i went to hook up lower radiator hose only to find out the old 2.8 had a much larger hose outlet on engine than the 3.1 did. Original hose wouldnt work.
Maybe not valid on newer 3.1's but just a example of little stuff that didnt work. One more, although same basic engine, the rear manifold was different, outlet set shorter and different angle than original.Probably more due to coming out of a different car.
So all in all, if you get one from a different car/year go over every little detail checking for "sameness?" before dropping it in, saves a load of time.