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L36 Killer

L36 Killer

New member
I am buying a '99 GP SE with a 3100 engine. It has 137K on it. The current owner says that his daughter had driven the car around for quite some time with the engine overheating. They replaced the thermostat and water pump, flushed the coolant and still over heated. So some of the local wrench guys said that the head gasket must be blown and, quite possibly, warped and/or cracked the head(s). With all this in mind, I went and checked out the car. Checked the coolant reservoir, no oil slick. checked the oil cap, no sludge, no sign of oil/coolant mix. Checked the dipstick, oil looks clean, no sparklies, no "milkshake" color. Started the engine and let it idle for 10-15 min. No overheat, in fact, it was running a little cold. Turned on the heater (max setting) and just cold air. Got in and drove the car around lots and side streets for about 3 miles. Floored it a few times to 50mph from standstill (couldn't go further...ran out of road) Tried my best to get this car to overheat. It never did. Now, keep in mind it was 34 degrees outside, (but when I blew the head gasket on my '95 GP 3100...the temp. was maxed out in 24 degree weather). Temp. gauge does fluctuate constantly and I could only keep the hot air coming out when ON the gas..the temp. needle would drop and hot air would come out of the console. If I let off the gas, the temp. needle would rise and the console air would go cold. However, the temp. gauge never rose above 210 for the entire drive, which took about 20 min. I am having serious doubts that this is a head gasket failure, but I am always open to other opinoins. Your thoughts?
 


I have a 3100 and it seems as if my prix does the same thing just not to that extent. Even in cold weather I will notice that sometimes the temp guage will slowly rise, but when I let hot air flow through into the car it goes down. Even more so when I am driving. I havent had any problems with it ever gettting too hot, but it was interesting to see the needle move sometimes when i kept the vents off or let it in. I wouldn't really worry about it if you aren't getting up past the 210 range.
 
my buddie's 3100 overheated but i was from cracked radiator leaking fluid. Changed it out, now his temp gauge is pegged as of recent but all is good.
 
O this is an easy one! Its a air bubble, you have to burp it like a baby. Haha our 3100 have certain coolant fill process that is kinda tricky. If that wasnt right its going to act funny. All you need is some more coolant a funnel and a 9/32 socket. I can help with that if you need, ive taken my 3100 out of the car a couple of times.
 
Jcinstalls said:
O this is an easy one! Its a air bubble, you have to burp it like a baby. Haha our 3100 have certain coolant fill process that is kinda tricky. If that wasnt right its going to act funny. All you need is some more coolant a funnel and a 9/32 socket. I can help with that if you need, ive taken my 3100 out of the car a couple of times.
Click to expand...


How easy is it to do a flush?
 


I have 2000 gp with the 3100 in it with over 222k on it and had an overheating issue with it and what solved besides the thermo being replaced was a faulty rad cap the shop i took it to fixed that issue and now it never happens again and the heater works just fine. even at high speeds the needle never goes anywhere near the 210 mark try looking into that and see if that maybe the issue
 
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