OldSkoolGP Posted September 21, 2005 Report Posted September 21, 2005 Just wanted to ask the 3100 owners out there a couple questions. 1) What kind of gas mileage do you get with your car? 2) What, if anything, have you done to improve performance? 3) What are the most typical problems you have with your motor? Quote
terryk2003 Posted September 21, 2005 Report Posted September 21, 2005 1) 19mpg city/highway combo...but thats like 95% city driving 2) K&N air filter is all i have done perfomance wise 3)3100's are notorious for intake gasket failure!...and i've heard a few people with head gasket problems as well...lifter tick or whatever name gm calls it is quite annoying as well, but supposedly won't hurt anything... Quote
GOT2B GM Posted September 21, 2005 Report Posted September 21, 2005 Piston slap is what it's called I believe. Quote
19Cutlass94 Posted September 21, 2005 Report Posted September 21, 2005 1) 25 around town and almost 38 on the highway. 2) K&N filter, I dont know if the FFP mounts would be considered performace but then again they could be..... 3) Ive really only heard the intake gaskets and, about the head gaskets, valve cover gaskets Ive heard too. Quote
OldSkoolGP Posted September 21, 2005 Author Report Posted September 21, 2005 I have heard intake gaskets, and mine does have piston slap on cold mornings. It's an issue with the wrist pin and the piston rod being on the opposite ends of their tolerance scales, and it makes noise till the metal heats up and expands. Haven't heard to much on heads, though I did see one with a broken cam drive sprocket. My car gets 25 city/34 highway, I usually average high 28s, low 29s on a tank, one tank I got 30.81 avg. I did K&N in the stock air box, some of those new GM Iridium plugs NGK is making for them, and I cleaned out my TB and EGR passage real good. Just did a tranny flush and a coolant flush, the Dex-Cool I think was original with 122K on it, it was getting muddy in the bottle, engine was clean though. Quote
94CutlassSLCoupe Posted September 21, 2005 Report Posted September 21, 2005 25 mixed...29-34 hwy depending on how fast i go (65mph at least...have gotten 30+ going 80 before)...completely bone stock. For problems...Valvecover leaks, bad intake gaskets, oil pump drive o-rings. The "piston slap" thing is not usually the case. my car makes "that noise"...start it up, put trans in reverse, hit half throttle, stop, and its gone..."the noise" is caused TRANSMISSION FRONT PUMP not having enough fluid on cold starts...our 3800 series II and 3.4 DOHC cars make the identical noise and all the cars are equipped with the 4t60e...the 3800 is not known for piston slap. Quote
terryk2003 Posted September 21, 2005 Report Posted September 21, 2005 The "piston slap" thing is not usually the case. my car makes "that noise"...start it up, put trans in reverse, hit half throttle, stop, and its gone..."the noise" is caused TRANSMISSION FRONT PUMP not having enough fluid on cold starts...our 3800 series II and 3.4 DOHC cars make the identical noise and all the cars are equipped with the 4t60e...the 3800 is not known for piston slap. FWIW: my car deffinatly has PISTON slap...the sound is a lil different from the normal clatter...i know what you're talkin about...but every once in a while you can deffinatly hear some wicked noises from my engine...in fact...my boss @ work said one day when i left it sounded like it was about to "come apart' Quote
MonteC Posted September 21, 2005 Report Posted September 21, 2005 why the fuck do cutlasses get better gas mileage than other w-bodies? Quote
terryk2003 Posted September 21, 2005 Report Posted September 21, 2005 why the fuck do cutlasses get better gas mileage than other w-bodies? well, for 1 thing...we are talkin 3100's...i think ur talkin 3.1's...i'm sure the 3100's get a lil better economy...and the way i see it...my economy in my cutlass sucks!! :shock: Quote
manitcor Posted September 21, 2005 Report Posted September 21, 2005 I got about 30-33mpg highway and about 23city I first did a turbo then I threw the 3100 out and put in a 3400 Lower intake gaskets will go ever 30k unless you install the new desgin gaskets. Quote
OldSkoolGP Posted September 21, 2005 Author Report Posted September 21, 2005 The piston slap noise will almost sound like you have a diesel engine I think. Maybe the Cutlasses do better because of the shape. A wedge up front, but narrow angles for the cabin and the body. The Gen 1.5s don't do too bad either, though if I take my car over 65, the mileage starts going down pretty quick. Quote
THe_DeTAiL3R Posted September 21, 2005 Report Posted September 21, 2005 1) 19mpg city/highway combo...but thats like 95% city driving 2) K&N air filter is all i have done perfomance wise 3)3100's are notorious for intake gasket failure!...and i've heard a few people with head gasket problems as well...lifter tick or whatever name gm calls it is quite annoying as well, but supposedly won't hurt anything... Pretty much the same deal here. Although I've had zero problems with the engine in the year I've owned the car *knocks on wood*. It is higher mileage so maybe the intake gaskets were done [properly] before.. Quote
jeremy Posted September 21, 2005 Report Posted September 21, 2005 ~20 mpg in the city, close to 30 on the hwy no mods at all my 3100 never gave me any problems at all it was about a reliable an engine as I have ever owned, I didn't even have the piston slap and the intake gaskets were replaced before I got it Quote
SigEpCutlass Posted September 21, 2005 Report Posted September 21, 2005 well my 3100 just turned 92,000 miles and she's been dependable as all hell. The only time my car has ever let me down was when the alt died in the middle of winter 2 years ago. Thankfully it was on campus when I was still in college. I'm starting to see some seepage around the intake gaskets, which concerns me. The gaskets were replaced under warranty by GM before I got the car. They've been in for about 60,000+ miles. However, I'm not loosing any coolant *keeps fingers crossed*. In terms of performance, there's not that much I have done. I use quality performance products on her & have a K&N drop in filter. By using synthetic Amsoil products, I've found that I get better fuel economy & slightly better overall performance. There have been many debates over the usage of WAI's, most of which have ended with stalemates as to their effectiveness. Personally, I am not convinced they're good for our engines performance. CAI's on the other hand are effective and one of the guys on MyMonte has a company that produces them. Depending on how the economy goes, I'll either be buying a 6spd G6 GTP coupe/vert or I'll be putting more money into the cutty for upgrades. I know if I had a money tree I would buy: ffp dogbones CAI performance exhaust system custom performance chip RSM turbo or supercharger kit lower w/ intrax upgrade to 17's Quote
GP1138 Posted September 21, 2005 Report Posted September 21, 2005 Just wanted to ask the 3100 owners out there a couple questions. 1) What kind of gas mileage do you get with your car? 2) What, if anything, have you done to improve performance? 3) What are the most typical problems you have with your motor? 1) Pretty shitty, considering my right foot constantly wants to be first off the line, and I drive 75+ on the highway. 2) 3400 intake swap, K&N dropin 3) Changed intake gaskets, but not much else. Quote
Turbocharged400sbc Posted September 21, 2005 Report Posted September 21, 2005 Just wanted to ask the 3100 owners out there a couple questions. 1) What kind of gas mileage do you get with your car? 2) What, if anything, have you done to improve performance? 3) What are the most typical problems you have with your motor? 1- The 1994 Oldsmobile 442 (Cutlass Supreme) has been getting approx 18 city with some highway....though at UMM3 which was a good bit highway driving she got 27mpg (fuel cell with no sending unit-just a gauge on top of it...so we check it every 100-150 miles or so.... 2- the engine was completly torn down inspected and cleaned (no more carbon!) bearings were almost new and clearances were within spec...piston skirt clearance was a bit on the loose side but within alowable tolerances...but no piston slap/or wrist pin noise...slight lifter tick...the exhaust manifolds, LIM/UIM/TB were ported and polished we installed 96+ roller rocker heads (P&P) while out i back-cut all the valves we had .010 shaved off the heads (clean them up) and then all new gaskets with a machinists dye to make sure the ports were matched (gotta make sure...every little bit helps) oil pump housing was ported and polished (the oil pressure went up! and we reused the bearings and oil pump!) this was all done at 75K miles... Less than a month later the trans went out! 1600$ performance rebuild with a higher stall converter (the aplication is for an ecotec 4 cylinder if ya wanna know) and after we got it back I pulled the valvebody/acumulators and did my urethane bushing mod to the accumulators with homemade spring shims (.1 inch steel-gotta love plasma cutters!) and put her back together... then we threw in a Power adder...231 ci of power adder in fact...we threw a 3800 from a 90 Toronado Trofeo into the back to make her twin engine'd (This olds is taking after the original Hurst "Hairy" Olds twin engine 442) that engine/trans has the same treatment as the front engine/trans but is otherwise factory stock... THe rear engine conversion cost just over $3500 with the 10 point rollcage and 5 pt harness's (SFI 16.1) and new Helmet a good chunk of that was the Aeromotive/Magnaflow fuel system/fuel cell... and it took aprox 200 man hours to acomplish over 1.5 years...and it was his daily driver the whole time! 6.9L! 425 ci - 4 wheel drive - 2 (twin) engines 3. the problems....hmmm not enough power! bye-bye 3100! its getting a 3800 as soon as i can find another engine/harness/etc to swap in... went from 16.5 BRE (before rear engine) to our PB of 13.81 @ 98+mph on a 90* day with 60% humidity at UMM3.... overall the 3100 is one of the less problematic engines out there... Displacement on Demand! the best of both worlds...fuel economy and power! Quote
OldSkoolGP Posted September 21, 2005 Author Report Posted September 21, 2005 You were supposed to bring that beast to the W-Body meet in Chicago. I wanted to see that thing up close and personal like! Damn, that's cool what you did. I have to talk to you more about the rear engine setup for a project I have in mind. Quote
94CutlassSLCoupe Posted September 21, 2005 Report Posted September 21, 2005 why the fuck do cutlasses get better gas mileage than other w-bodies? Better drag coefficent...its a more flowing body than a GP, Lumina, or Regal, especially the Coupe CS. Quote
JMo60 Posted September 23, 2005 Report Posted September 23, 2005 1.gas mileage should be fairly moderate, i dont know mine for exact. 2. for performance i got ffp udp, Nitrous oxide, ported intake manifolds, 3400 throttle body, custom exhaust, and a shift kit. 3. only problems, even with all of my mods is intake gasket leaked like 2 years ago, and those damn rear brakes suck. Quote
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