Experience on the 3400 SFI?
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From: Chi-Town
Experience on the 3400 SFI?
My buddy has an Oldsmobile Silhouette. Its only 60,000 miles but already he had to go through 2 head gaskets under warrenty. But this is the month that his warrenty expires and if he has to go though that again he'd rather sell the car. Anyone else have any problems with this engine? I checked the internet but I could not find anything that mentioned the head gaskets going awry. And Consumer Reports wanted my money before I could view any info. F that!
Any info on the engine would be appreciated!
Any info on the engine would be appreciated!
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Are these head gaskets or intake gaskets?
The 3100/3400 is not notorious for head gasket problems unless the engine has been severely overheated... But it is a killer on Intake gaskets...
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The 3100/3400 is not notorious for head gasket problems unless the engine has been severely overheated... But it is a killer on Intake gaskets...
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From: Climax Springs, Missouri
i witnessed one of these firsthand the other night, there was a van that had overheated and pulled into our parking lot at work(gas station) they were there forever waiting to get picked up..i was on break when their ride showed up with a trailer, it was a Pontiac Montana, they started it up and pulled it up on the trailer, al the while billowing out white smoke..i asked what engine it had in it and they said..you guessed it...the 3.4...sad stuff
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You will see this happen to the 3100'*, 3400'*, and in the future 3500'* and I'll bet 3900'* as time wears on... In that van the intake gaskets bit the dust... I have seen many of the 3*** 60* V6'* do this before 100,000 miles... Just as bad as our 3800 ruptured intakes... 
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From: Richfield, MN
3100/3400'* shouldn't be eating head gaskets like that. My grandma has a '97 lumina that has almost 150k FLEET DRIVEN miles on it and it runs like a top. I've looked through all the service records and all it had was the intake gaskets. The only way you'd ruin the head gasket is if you let the intake gasket get bad enough and overheated it or one time we had a GA in the shop and the W/P froze up on the highway and overheated it. Otherwise they are very solid motors.
The 3100/3400 are by far NOT the worst engine GM ever made. Are you forgetting the 3.4 DOHC motor or the Quad 4 (2.3 and 2.4 variant)? Those were leaps and bounds worse than the 3100/3400.
The 3100/3400 are by far NOT the worst engine GM ever made. Are you forgetting the 3.4 DOHC motor or the Quad 4 (2.3 and 2.4 variant)? Those were leaps and bounds worse than the 3100/3400.
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From: Purgatory
good friend of mine has a '03 grand am GT and it has around 33k miles on it, and already gasket failure... altho they replaced it before he even noticed.... he just went in for a oil change and a grinding starter
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From: Bad Axe,MI.
Originally Posted by willwren
He will have to do it again. And again and again. The 3400 is one of the worst GM engines of all time.
the 34 in my GA is going strong yet, Love it!!!!!!!!
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From: Purgatory
Originally Posted by willwren
He will have to do it again. And again and again. The 3400 is one of the worst GM engines of all time.
IMO, the 3400 is a very good engine.
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From: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Originally Posted by alec_b
The 3100/3400 are by far NOT the worst engine GM ever made. Are you forgetting the 3.4 DOHC motor or the Quad 4 (2.3 and 2.4 variant)? Those were leaps and bounds worse than the 3100/3400.