elcrusch Posted September 9, 2006 Report Share Posted September 9, 2006 Changing the head gaskets in my grand prix w/ 3.1 NA 4T60. My water pump blew out on the highway and then the car died about 20 seconds later. Any suggestions on how to get the passenger-side upper motor mount off of the cylinder head (The Y thingy in the pictures). [attachment deleted by admin] Removed to free up storage space. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robby1870 Posted September 9, 2006 Report Share Posted September 9, 2006 There's a torx bolt that is between the "Y". This also doubles as a head bolt. Then, there are three, I think other bolts which bolt the bracket to the block. That torx bolt is always a problem area. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turby Posted September 9, 2006 Report Share Posted September 9, 2006 Get the A/C compressor unbolted from it and you will see the rest of the bolts for the mount. They go into the block. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robby1870 Posted September 9, 2006 Report Share Posted September 9, 2006 ^ yeah, thats true. A/C compressor is tough to get out sometimes, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elcrusch Posted September 9, 2006 Author Report Share Posted September 9, 2006 Well I'm a little pissed off right now... I removed the mount and just pulled the front head off about 10 mins ago, well to make a long story short the front gasket is shot. Now I have a bigger problem then a head gasket... The valve (big one) on cylinder #5 is open and the head is off the motor, as if this isn't a big enough problem there is a little notch in the piston and on a matching spot on the valve. Any suggestions anyone, How hard is the valve to replace? Why would it stay open with the head off the vehicle? Bent maybe? Thanks, Elcrusch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robby1870 Posted September 9, 2006 Report Share Posted September 9, 2006 Yeah, a bent valve if bent right and bad enough will stay open. With the head off, the valves are easy to replace. How bad is the spot on the piston? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elcrusch Posted September 10, 2006 Author Report Share Posted September 10, 2006 Wierd to kinda say this but thank god for the carbon build up . The piston is fine, just a little scratch that isn't even that deep (barely able to feel the thing when running my fingers across the piston (thank god). but the valve is fucked, pulled it out and its bent about 10* or so in the middle so, problem found, was only 7.29 USD to get the new valve, only one problem though the valve won't be in at the parts store til 1:30 on Wednesday and I needed the car to be done about 12 hours ago... Welcome to life right? Elcrusch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robby1870 Posted September 10, 2006 Report Share Posted September 10, 2006 Glad to hear it wasnt that bad. Good luck with putting it back together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mach 5 Posted September 11, 2006 Report Share Posted September 11, 2006 just remember to check the warpage in the head before reinstallation using a ruler and a feeler guage (I believe thats what its called) Also use gasket sealer on the head bolts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elcrusch Posted September 18, 2006 Author Report Share Posted September 18, 2006 I put it all together and was filling up the radiator, topped off all the fluids and everything and had everything hooked up and ready to go. I'm walking around the car and the fucking water is runing out of the rear of the block through a crack i didn't bother to check for (I feel stupid). Long story short lots of work for nothing. How hard is it going to be to pull the motor in this car? Do I have to pull the transmission out at the same time? I'm putting in the same motor that is in the car right now so that shouldn't be a problem for me with the wiring and mounts (3.1 MPFI N/A). How involved am I getting with this project... any help or pictures of what needs to be done is greatly apprecated. Thanks, Eric (BTW it is a 1990 Grand Prix) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canada Posted September 19, 2006 Report Share Posted September 19, 2006 Just yank it out the top, leave the trans in the car. Engine swapping is easier than head gaskets....more time consuming, but anyone with a wrench can do it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elcrusch Posted September 19, 2006 Author Report Share Posted September 19, 2006 I'm in the process of pulling the old motor and i'm stuck. I have the upper intake manifold off and the wiring all disconected, but i can't figure out how to get the wiring for the alternator-injectors-throtlebody-collant...ect out of the motor, they are disconected and I see that they are running underneath the waterpump housing. Where is the lower motor mount located? I've been searching for this for about 15 minutes also. Also how far do I have to tear the 3.1 down to pull the motor (running with 93400 miles in a junkyard)? I want to go as minimal as possible. Thanks for the help anyone can offer. Eric Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calvin Posted September 20, 2006 Report Share Posted September 20, 2006 You shouldn't be pulling all the wiring off the engine while it is in the car at all. There is a big connector that lets most of the harness go under the plastic on the passenger's side that connects to the wiring harness for the ECM. Actually now that I think about it there are two plugs there, a dark and light gray one. The easiest way to deal with the lower motor mount is to get completely under the car and look for a big oval shaped thing under the passenger side of the subframe. At each end of this big oval there is a nut. If you remove those two nuts the whole motor mount and bracket will come out as one piece you can easily see how to deal with out of the car. Kurt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elcrusch Posted September 25, 2006 Author Report Share Posted September 25, 2006 Thanks for the suggestion on the wiring harness... all I can say is that I hate you, I pulled it all off well before that. As far as the motor goes I feel like a fucking idiot, I thought the block was cracked but when I finally got the motor pulled all of the way out I noticed that the back freeze plug was cracked, oh well the motor has 238000 on it so its time to go and the new motor is going to be in in 2 weeks (ordered a rebuilt one from Checkers just because I'd rather put a new motor in while I'm at it). The lower motor mount is confusing the fuck out of me though... the motor is out and the mount moves back and forth (passenger to driverside or vice-versa), Is this the way it should work? One last question, when I pulled the motor out of the car there was a bunch of transmission fluid that leeked from the torque converter, is this normal (I've only swapped manual trans so this is new to me)? Also if this is normal, do I have to fill the torque converter with transmission fluid before I install the motor? Thanks, Eric Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Singh Posted September 25, 2006 Report Share Posted September 25, 2006 lol that sucks man ! rebuilt motor from checkers? dont knwo them but do they sell l67's ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ns87 Posted September 26, 2006 Report Share Posted September 26, 2006 Just curious if you don't mind, how much did it set you back? Is the body that good at 238k? lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elcrusch Posted September 26, 2006 Author Report Share Posted September 26, 2006 I only spent the 100 I was going to at the junk yard (I was going to get a junk yard motor) but my grandfather took my 100 then put in the rest for the "new" motor as a early birthday present. The body is ok, no dents but some fucked up paint (I'll fix that this winter though). The transmission was replaced at 210000 miles (bought the car from my sister) so now I have a ''new'' used car basically. Is the transmission fluid out of the torque converter normal though? Thanks, Eric Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJansen658 Posted September 27, 2006 Report Share Posted September 27, 2006 Yes transmission fluid out of the torque convertor is normal.... yes you can fill it back up, but you don't have to go crazy with it and make a mess, the trans pump will refill it when you restart the engine, but make sure you check the level when you are done. did you pull the torque convertor off of the trans or something? There shouldn't have been any need to do that.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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