Learn me (ugh) 3.1 Lumina

replaced the intake gasket on my sister's 97. she drove it for 2 weeks with milkshake oil, then told me about it. it had 140k at the time. she drove it quite a bit after i did the gaskets, then sold it to my buddy for $400 and a computer. then he drove it a few months and got $1000 trade in on a kia for his fiancee.

they're good appliances. i prefer the 90-94 ones though, the 3.1 mpfi doesn't have the intake gasket issue the 3100 has, and they literally run forever. like my buddy had a 90 with 300k miles and pulled the engine/trans out and put them in his cutlass convertible and kept racking up more and more miles. then he sold it to the same guy that bought our 97 and he kept driving it, now another guy i know is driving it.

they're a great appliance. The car itself sucks.... it's late 80's GM technology in a FWD platform. But, like many GM models it will run forever. Sure, the radio quit working, the AC blows hot (if the blower still works) the windows only work part time and the dash is dark..... but it'll get yo from Point A to Point B every time.

i prefer the 90-94 ones though, the 3.1 mpfi doesn't have the intake gasket issue the 3100 has, and they literally run forever.

I like the earlier ones better as well. Which isnt to say i like them, but they honestly feel like nicer cars than the later ones and they are a little easier to work on too.

Sis had a 90 Cutlass w/ 3.1 bought at 40K from little old lady, nice car, even after t-stat fail/ overheat at 70K ran great. Quick lube killed the engine at 100K after the loober goober didn't tighten the oil filter.

I had a '94 Grand Prix with the 3100.

I was the 3rd owner and got the odometer to 256K miles, before replacing the engine. It was likely head gasket/intake manifold issue; the motor became a steam engine. One of my dad's buddies had a '95 model with a 170K mile motor and bad transmission. So instead of fixing the old motor I just had him swap engines, he owed dad anyway and did it for peanuts. I put another ~45K miles on the swapped motor and original transmission before it became a steam engine again. I parked it in the shed and got a Volvo. I eventually got $175 for it when I hauled it to the scrap yard.

It was a super reliable car. Got good gas mileage, was reasonably quick, and real comfortable.

While I had it I replaced/repaired:

• 1 brake caliper (the piston twists out, learned that the hard way )
• both "dog bone" upper engine mounts
• 1 alternator & battery
• 1 AC compressor (which came from a junk yard Lumina)
• All 4 struts/shocks (the pressed bolts are a bitch and a half and were were replaced with normal G8 bolts and nuts)
• 1 High Pressure power steering hose (had to have crow foot wrench and a lot of extensions)
• 2 coil packs
• 1 rear transverse leaf spring (it's fiberglass or something, mine splintered and caused major ass squat, which gave the car the name Squatmobile )
• Swapped a new to me motor in at ~256K miles.

Those were the only big jobs I had to do. I got the car off of my dad, so he was the second owner and not gentle with it at all. I did normal maintenance stuff too i.e. brake pads/rotors, plugs, oil changes, and did transmission filter/fluid once.

Changing spark plugs is a pain in the ass. You've got to unhook the front upper engine mounts and then use ratchet straps or a come-along to rotate the motor forward so you can get between the fire wall and engine to access the rear plugs. Oh the joys of a transverse engine .

I ditched the plastic screw on "hub caps" because they rattled no matter how snug you got them and annoyed the crap out of me.

The Catalytic converter clogged up not long after I got it from my dad. I cut the cat out and replaced it with a piece of exhaust tube, the O2 sensors are in front of the cat so no issues.

When I replaced the rear leaf spring I had to cut the exhaust out of the way. When I got it out of the way I noticed how rusty the mufflers were (Grand Prix had factory dual exhaust tips and dual mufflers Y-ed about 1ft past the cat), so I replaced them with the cheapest Thrush mufflers Summit had. The worn out transmission would hang in 2nd a lot of times on hills, causing it rev; and with the new exhaust I had a lot of, "dang what you got in that thing?" questions from folks.

Dad put a K&N in it before I got it, though I've never really known why. With the K&N and that exhaust, the Grand Prix was a flippin' sports car . You believe that right?

That's pretty much all I can remember. They're ugly, but they're pretty reliable, and while not the easiest to work on, I've dealt with much worse.

• Lee

Changing spark plugs is a pain in the ass. You've got to unhook the front upper engine mounts and then use ratchet straps or a come-along to rotate the motor forward so you can get between the fire wall and engine to access the rear plugs. Oh the joys of a transverse engine .

I dont think thats very representative of transverse engines. Those 2.8/3.1 cars are the ONLY cars ive ever had to do that to in my years of working on cars for a living. I dont know how cheap or easy it is to get a hold of but the tool made for that purpose works fantastic, btw.

In reply to Vigo:

I think this is actually a common procedure with a lot of GM tranverse V6 cars.

My little brother bought one with 160,000 miles on it. He has it up to 200,000 now and hasn't had a single problem with it. Granted, it was owned by a civil engineering company that was religious with the maintenance. It came with the most complete service records I have ever seen.

pres589 wrote: In reply to Vigo: I think this is actually a common procedure with a lot of GM tranverse V6 cars.

Didn't have to do it with my 93 Grand Am - 3.3L.

I think this is actually a common procedure with a lot of GM tranverse V6 cars.

Yeah, because there were A LOT of 2.8/3.1 FWD w-bodies made.. lol. Seriously, i work on cars for a living and you almost NEVER have to mess with motor mounts to get to rear plugs on transverse v6s.

That's not to say i havent heard a million and one sob stories of people bitching about how hard the rear plugs were on XYZ. I just think they are usually doing it wrong and/or just whining.

Are these things trouble waiting to happen? I found a 96 base (with crank windows! ) Lumina w/134k miles on the clock for $1499 at a small car lot. It would be for my brother..

My dad used too buy them often before scrap went up. 100 car, 250ish back then for a head gasket kit. Sold pretty easy for a grand once repaired. Not the hardest job but not something id want to do that often again.

As multiple people stated, 95+ goes nom nom intake gasket.

My grandfather owned a '90 for 24 years and 140k old-man miles. No serious issues. When he passed we sold it cheap, running and driving to a guy at work who was in a financial bind, he has put about 30,000 more miles on it in under a year and all it has needed is a fuel pump.

Had a 92 Lumina Euro with the 3.1. Biggest two door I've ever owned and I had Grand National. Ran it for about 100k miles from 50k to 150k without any real issue. The trunk leaked at one point and the water pump let go, but that's about it. I did regular maintenance on it, oil, plugs, trans fluid. Not sure what happened to it after I got rid of it, but it was still going when I let it go. As others have indicated the thing has torque down low, but doesn't do much else well in terms of driving. Typical 90s GM below average build and design.

I'll check with the seller on the intake gasket then.

92dxman wrote: Are these things trouble waiting to happen? I found a 96 base (with crank windows! ) Lumina w/134k miles on the clock for $1499 at a small car lot. It would be for my brother..

They aren't the most inspiring cars but they are pretty tough. Check for rust where the rear torque boxes are (They rust there, rear trailing arms tear out and then handling gets interesting.) Throw a set of intake gaskets at them if they haven't been done. And don't spin the tires, or the diff comes apart in the 4T40/45E trans and throws spider gears across hell's half acre. Other than that, just drive it till it dies.

In reply to Knurled:

You mean the 4sp Chrysler transmission that uses a chain to drive the differential?!? I wouldn't wish that level of pain upon anyone. Not even my worst enemies.

Also look for rust where the subframe meets the firewall. I've seen more than one abandoned with the rear of the subframe dropped down.

I know Luminas aren't the most exciting cars out there but they are plenty of parts out there for them, roomy enough to throw a dog in the backseat, i'm sure most mechanics could work on them, and i've read of them going 200k miles no problem. Its local as well and I could stop on the way home and look at it if need be.

In reply to 92dxman:

We have a tech here who drives Luminas exclusively for the reasons you listed

I had a low-mile '97 in '00, and while completely uninspiring, it functioned just fine, and was reliable/comfortable.

I got rid of it as quickly as possible though, so no idea how it would hold up long term.

I had a 3.1 inmy Malibu. I could do the rear plugs in about 30 minutes the one behind the alternator was the worst but could be done from below the car without un bolting motor mounts.

My DD 99 3.1 Monte Carlo has over 207k on it and has been in the family since 15k. The repair list includes - 1 starter - 1 alternator - 1 water pump - 1 radiator - replaced spark plugs twice - replaced intake gaskets once - replaced timing cover gasket - rebuilt the transmission

Overall it's been a good appliance, it's not fun to drive or anything, but I'd drive it across the country tomorrow and wouldn't think twice about it.

I bought one for my daughter, it will be the last GM product I ever own.

You mean the 4sp Chrysler transmission that uses a chain to drive the differential?!? I wouldn't wish that level of pain upon anyone. Not even my worst enemies.

You are aware that the GM transverse transmissions use chains too, right? The Chrysler 606 was a perfectly decent transmission. The only problem i had with the one in my old intrepid was that i burned up the 4th gear clutch pack at 130 mph (try that in a 3.1 Lumina), which makes sense if you've ever seen the 4th gear clutch pack in a 604/606. I rebuilt it, put some lower-ratio sprockets under that chain and added a higher stall converter and kept on truckin. A normal driver would never have broken it.