I am new to this forum postingwise but i come here any time i am curious or have a question about my monte (very useful and plenty of helpful answers btw). Well I brought my 97 3.1L into the shop the other day, because of the service engine light that came on a couple days before. Well i called the next day to see what was wrong and the said the catalytic converter was the SEL problem. $420 dollar fix. Next, other than the piston slap (( (pistons 5 and 6),was the oil pan gasket was leaking. They said that was in the 400's to fix. Well being told that some cars have to have the frame lowered and the motor supported to take it off, i was wondering if that had to be done with mine. Obviously i looked under my car to see if i could do it myself rather than paying 400 dollars. It was hard for me to tell because there is a flat pan looking piece where i could see all of the bolts, but the drain plug is on a piece that has ribs extruding from it. Its kinda hard to explain, but if i have time ill try to get a pic up.

 

First of all. Welcome to the forum.

Second. HOLY HELL!! $420 for a cat?I paid $300 for a cat AND a Flowmaster 40 AND a 3" tip. They really saw you coming.

As far as the oil pain, i'll have to look at my book at home cause i'm not sure if it has to be dropped or not. Maybe some one else can answer you that sooner then i can.

 

Thanks man. Yeah i guess getting a stock replacement plus the labor involved was totaled to $420, but still that's a lot. Im sure i could cruise the internet and find a good bolt on equivalent for less than $200. Right now it's not that big of a deal. I can wait till later, besides, it does make a good crackle > New muffler too would be nice.

 

I got me a downpipe + high-flowing cat for $260

though idk if they make those for the 5th gen.

 

I know that for the 3.8's, you have to drop the sub-frame to access the oil pan.
Well, either that or pull the motor out altogether.

The big, flat pan with all of the bolts on it that you see that you can access without taking off the subframe is likely the transmission pan.

Could be different altogether on the 3.1's, but i don't imagine that it's that much different.

The transmission and the engine are in similar positions.

-Riggs.

 

IDK about the oil pan...But, you can get a much better deal on the Cat for sure. Go to a muffler shop. Who wants a stock Cat anyway when you could get an aftermarket, and probably more performance?! I had a new cat installed on my mom's 2000 bonneville at a muffler shop for $300. Its slightly loader than stock, but not much, and we actually think it sounds good! You should replace the bad cat asap though, its not good to run a bad cat, not to mention, gas milage will be much better once you replace it!

 

I was looking at my book last night and from what i can tell, you do have to drop the subframe to get to the pan. BigRiggs is right. The pan that can be removed with taking nothing more then just the bolts is the tranny.

 

Thanks for the replies guys. i was hoping i wouldn't have to do that, but you can't win em all. My friend did mention that what we were looking at could be the transmission instead, and i guess it was. As for the cat, ill see if I can find a decent aftermarket one and maybe a good priced magnaflow muffler. I'll see if the pipe shop in town could finish it off for me. Not looking for anything too loud and pricey being that it has it's flaws.

 

You will notice a very nice difference with a free-flow cat. I have the FlowMaster 40s and love the tone my exhaust gives. I left the resonator cause i didn't want anything too load. Its perfect if i do say so myself.

 

You can usually find high-flow cats for around $80.

For some reason, aftermarket mufflers sound way better on the 3.4L than they do on the 3.8L so I imagine that they would sound as good on the 3.1L as they do on the 3.4L.

If it's just the mufflers that are bad, they shouldn't be too expensive at all.
If all of the other piping is rusted clear through the exhaust, then it'll add up to be a little chunk of change but shouldn't be too bad.

Good luck man,
-Riggs.