Yes, I am talking about the anti-GRM car, with a V6. Normally, I would run far away from this particular vehicle, but a friend has one that is throwing a check engine light and stuttering. She is a hard-working single mom that is overcoming a lot of odds and can't afford to deal with mechanical failures right now and really deserves all the help I can give her. I haven't got a chance to look at the car or pull any codes yet, but I am trying to get a list of what to look for. Any experience with these out there?
My Impala (same engine) started doing that and it turned out a plug wire had chafed and was shorting to the o2 sensor. Had to replace wire and sensor (it fried the o2 heater circuit).
They also like to clog EGR valves. Clean it out, put it back in and it should be good.
Saving the worst for last: Intake manifold gaskets. Look for the chocolate milk in the oil filler. If that's bad enough that it's running rough, it might be too late for the motor.
3.1L V6 engine, famous for bad intake gasket.
I am not saying that is the current issue but could well be a future issue.
Probably just needs a tune up. If it has misfires on both cylinders from one coil you could be looking at a coil or ignition module. Intake gaskets were common but most of the time they leaked coolant to the outside, not into the oil as much. I don't recall ever seeing any engine damage from it. There is a gap between the coolant passages and the intake runners so it can't cause the misfire.
I saw the title and my first thought was "oh E36 M3, intake manifold gaskets..." for whatever that's worth.
If it's gotten really bad, sometimes you can replace the gaskets, change the oil for a few times, and keep driving, but generally once it starts to go, it goes downhill really fast and either hydrolocks or kills the bearings.
gearheadE30 wrote:
I saw the title and my first thought was "oh E36 M3, intake manifold gaskets..." for whatever that's worth.
If it's gotten really bad, sometimes you can replace the gaskets, change the oil for a few times, and keep driving, but generally once it starts to go, it goes downhill really fast and either hydrolocks or kills the bearings.
How can it hydrolock the engine? There is a half inch gap from the coolant passage to the intake runner. Also, it very uncommon for the engine to be damaged from this. It is more common for the engine to be damaged from the person doing the job using the wrong roloc discs to clean up the head surfaces. They get those super abrasive scotch brite fibers into the oil and that wipes out the bearings.
In reply to gearheadmb:
Mine was putting coolant into the oil (and vise versa). Let that go long enough and it'll take out the motor nicely. Not hydrolock, but bearings and such.
bigev007 wrote:
In reply to gearheadmb:
Mine was putting coolant into the oil (and vise versa). Let that go long enough and it'll take out the motor nicely. Not hydrolock, but bearings and such.
That makes sense, I just don't recall ever actually seeing it happen. Maybe because the gaskets went bad so often that we tended to catch them early because we were always checking them for leaks.
In reply to gearheadmb:
Not sure how long mine did it for, I wasn't great at checking back then, but it lasted 160k kms after it got fixed (car rusted out, engine was fine). I think I finally checked the oil after it had used 1/2 a gallon of coolant.
Hopefully, and likely, this isn't the OP's issue. Good luck with the code check.
Thanks guys, trying to schedule time to grab the car now.
