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3.4 head gaskets

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greasemonkeyjmj

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hi I bought a 01 grand am with the 3.4 in it. the car has been sitting for almost a year and i was told that it had a blown headgasket, I did get it to start and had steam out the rear so it is definately a head problem. it has oil all behind the alternator and power steering pump, so i knew i was gonna have to do the intake gaskets, just from what i have read. are there any surprises i should know about, before tearing into it to replace the headgaskets ? also how bad are these engines about cracking heads. also should i re use the head bolts or buy new ? sorry about the long post and alot of questions, but i like to be well informed before i start a project.

Thanks
 
I would invest in new bolts and surprises, nothing common place, depends on the car
 
thanks Melsg5 for the reply. i checked this morning about getting the heads pressure tested and surface while i have them off. they want $110 for the pair, so i am gonna have that done I think i will follow your suggestions and buy new head bolts, just to be safe. I hope head gaskets are my only problem, as it takes a lot of effort to get the car to start, and once it does it sounds and runs good as long as you keep your foot on the throttle, but if you let it try to idle, it will die. i dont have any water in my oil, so thats a good sign.i am gonna replace the coolant resevoir lid, as it comes off in 2 pieces. and i dont want that to be another factor in a cooling problem.
 
well if it's been sitting for a year, draining the old gas, replacing the filter, and a couple of bottles of injector cleaner would be a good idea
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yea that would definately be a good thing to do. i pulled the heads off this afternoon. looking at the intake gaskets,the plastic on both ends, where they mate up against the heads where broken all the way through, so no wonder i was leakin oil. the head gaskets were pretty much just corroded completely away around the water jackets.one of the water jackets on the very corner of the head was 90% closed off by a glob of some kind of soft goo that had the consistency of of fresh silicone sealant. im not sure what it was. now to get my heads cleaned up some and off to be tested.what is the best way to get to the corner bolts on the lower intake to torque them ? as they are kinda tucked under the end a bit ?

Thanks
 
ok i was going back together after installing head gaskets on the 3.4. but i ran into a problem. i have 3 spots for connectors on my coil pack, but for the life of me, i cant find but 2 of the plugs. i have the one on the passenger side, and the big plug on the driver side, but i cannot find the smaller plug on the driver side. does anyone know where this plug runs from ? i dont know if it matters, but it is a 01 grand am SE
 
I think you're referring to the 7x crank sensor plug (smaller plug) it probably fell behind down. It is def. important since it is the measure the crank position for the initial start. That sensor is about mid way on the block on the firewall side by cylinder 3; if you can find it, then you can just grab the wire from it. I can post a pic if you need.
 
thanks for the input richard. after several hours of cursing, and even pulling the plenum back off. i found the plug. somehow it had gotten throwed forwards across the top of the transmission and was laying up towards the batter area. i just happened to look down for some reason and spotted it. i routed it back to where it should be, plugged it in and she fired right up.
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Glad to [and hope I did] help. Let me know if they is anything else; I am not an expert but I have 2 of these 3400 engines.
 

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