jaustinbell Posted March 23, 2010 Report Share Posted March 23, 2010 Last year my sister got a 1996 Grand Prix with a 3100. It has 177,000 miles on it now and last Thursday I got the oil report on it back saying that there was coolant in the oil. I suspected this knowing that the LIM gaskets were a very common 3100 issue and the car's approaching 200k miles (although it runs perfectly fine). I got the manifold off and the pushrods out, but I did this without completely removing the rear valve cover--it's held in by 4 bolts but I couldn't get the rear driver's side bolt out. The problem is, the valve cover itself obstructs access to the bolt head from the above/front direction. And then, there's this stud (that nothing attaches to) that comes up out of the head and obstructs access to the bolt from the rear. Does anyone remember how they got around this? I can get a socket on the bolt (8mm) but the stud gets in the way of any wrench or extension I would try to put on it. I have tried with no success to unscrew the stud. I only tried the 8mm box wrench on one side of the bolt, now that I've removed the ignition coil I can try to use it on that side too--and I would if my 8mm box wasn't currently lost within the depths of the Grand Prix's engine bay... I will probably try to borrow one. Well anyways, that's my story, if anyone has removed the rear valve cover on a 3100 before you may know what I'm doing wrong and I would be glad to hear what it is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy K Posted March 23, 2010 Report Share Posted March 23, 2010 unless you find your wrench that stud must be unscrewed. it is 5.5mm or 7/32. and it holds the coil's bracket to the engine. also, you could try a 5/16th inch wrench on the 8mm bolt also, I hope you have purchased the high quality PERMADRY PLUS Fel-Pro gasket set, as any other will fail soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
douellette Posted March 23, 2010 Report Share Posted March 23, 2010 yeah i had that exact same problem on my 3100 with that stud being in the way, i cant remember wat size socket i used but it came right out no problem, i was hoping that it wouldnt snap off and i got lucky so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BXX Posted March 23, 2010 Report Share Posted March 23, 2010 unless you find your wrench that stud must be unscrewed. it is 5.5mm or 7/32. and it holds the coil's bracket to the engine. also, you could try a 5/16th inch wrench on the 8mm bolt also, I hope you have purchased the high quality PERMADRY PLUS Fel-Pro gasket set, as any other will fail soon. 20K later and they are fine on my old CS But the updated ones are cheap insurance if you intend to put another 50K on the car Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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