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Newbie, 1996 Pontiac GP SE 3100. General Problems?


Mr.

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Hey folks!

 

I have here a '96 GP 2 door SE coupe with the 3100 V6, I have had it for a while but I am about to make it roadworthy and reliable, that being said, I wanted to know if there are any well-known general problems with these 3100's? It runs great, has some piston slap when it first starts after it hasn't been started for a long time, but I have been told that is normal.

 

Thanks!

Mr.

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The things I would do just for piece of mind would be,

UIMG/LING

Bypass VATS

Clean EGR

Clean EGR passage in intake

O-ring and gasket oil pump drive

Clean and Di-electric acc battery terminal

Clean and Di-electric every ground and electrical connector you can find

New Thermostat

New Waterpump

Flush Radiator/Heater core

Make sure ALL lights on cluster are working

Make sure ALL calipers are not froze up and are working as they should

New Leaf spring pads

Make sure all fuses and relays are not corroded, Di-electric contacs

Inspect Struts/Mounts

New Idler pulley

New Surpentine belt

New AC Delco Plugs

New plug wires

 

Personaly I have done all of these, I am sure I forgot something but there is a start for you.

Use the search button on this site and read-read-read,, Tons of great info and a lot of good people to help you!

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While the 3100 is up for discussion why do so many of them have greasy sludge in the radiator? We looked for months for a century for her car and all of them were like that.

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nasty stuff in the radiator is either people failing to follow maintenance(and never changing coolant, or mixing incompatible types) or contamination.

 

contamination could be from other fluids that can come into contact with the coolant(ATF or oil), someone putting something in the radiator/reservoir that shouldn't be in there(washer fluid seems to be a favorite of people who shouldn't open the hood), stop-leak products are pretty popular too and can create some interesting stuff, especially when used incorrectly.

 

 

 

basically, anything could be in there..... you pretty much have to trust the owner or have a lot of receipts nearby to know for certain.

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While the 3100 is up for discussion why do so many of them have greasy sludge in the radiator? We looked for months for a century for her car and all of them were like that.

 

More than likely thats evidence of an internal LIM gasket failure, the rubber part has separated from the plastic and its allowing coolant into the oil and vice versa. Also could be an internal radiator failure letting trans fluid in with the coolant.

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