I knew it was only a matter of time until it caught me. I've noticed my oil has dropped a bit, didn't think too much of it, just kept an eye on it. Then I was under the hood, there's oil on some of the hoses by the LIM, and now I've found oil in the coolant. I just had my ignition cylinder replaced at a Chevy dealer (456 bucks...thanks Passlock 2). In their infinite quest for money, they did a total check while it was there and told me the same thing. So I'm going to have to get that fixed pretty soon. What can anyone recommend for gaskets? Should I use GMs newer ones or should I try one of the aftermarket ones? Also, can I expect this to come up again?

Secondly, my transmission is getting weird. It's starting to shift really late, like it holds the gear longer, and then all of a sudden drops into gear, some times when it tries to shift the car actually lurches with a force that lifts you from the back of the seat. Is the transmission on its way out or is it preventable? I remember mamonte got a Overkill PCM and he said the modified shift points took the slippage out of his tranny. Is mine just slipping (which I know will eventually kill it) or is it actually ready to just blow? Sometimes when I'm giving it the gas on the freeway (and I mean hammering down a decent bit) it actually lets it rev up so high I'm afraid one time I'm just going to hear a big "POP" and that'll be it.

- Mike

 

Ouch, sorry to hear the bad luck.

 

MogWog - Get the FelPro aluminum gaskets!!! It's a MUST! They MIGHT be $20 more then the crap nylon ones but well worth it.

Also, I think you have a 3400, right? If so, you may want to heavily consider doing the head gaskets depending on your mileage. Once you have the LIM off, you are not too much further from doing the heads.

As an FYI - the 3400 is based on the 3100 (which is in my '94 Grand Am). I've been around the block with those 3100/3400s quite a bit. My '94 has more miles then most (running strong at over 210,000 miles). I've done the LIM gaskets around 90K and I did the LIM and head gaskets at 180K. I WISH I knew about the aluminum gaskets as I used nylon BOTH times (UGH)! When I put a port matched LIM on my 3800 Monte, I knew and used the aluminum LIM gaskets. Worth it!

Also, everyone thinks it's Dex Cool that ruins the nylon gaskets. It's not. It's the fact nylon can't handle heated fluid, period. I've used green stuff and the nylon gaskets failed regardless.

Best of luck and feel free to hit me up for info on the job.

 

Yes spend the extra money and get the felpro gaskets it's worth it in the long run