thanks LA1 i love you

[-Alero-]

haiiii guys, anyone ever had a cracked head gasket before? blown head gasket before?

guess what i do!!

so that rough idle issue i have been having was nothing fuel related spark related, but a gasket leak at cylinder 1.....

finnally got fed up with it replacing things that didnt help and took it to the dealership, they ran a pressure/vacuum test and saw my coolant resivior bubbling and the master scanner showing 31 missfires on cylinder 1.....

the odd part is my car never picked up the ses light for it, but the tech said this could of started 10 even 15k miles ago and only slowly got worse to the point i noticed it.

the tech was very knowlegable and very trustworthy, he advised me that the missfire was so slight the engine was compensating it by adjusting spark on the opposite cylinder to compensate for the slight missfire...

as for the DTC's i got for "lower catalyst efficiency below threshold" and "bank 1 too lean" he believes that this gasket problem is the cause for it, showing sign that its burning slight amounts of coolant fucking my a/f ratios up....

so i have a warrenty havent heard back from them about it, but the dealer advised me its a 20 hour job and will most likely cost 1600$

but whats funny is i can get a brand new LA1 for 1200$.......i can approach this many ways, i can have my warrenty take care of it for a couple hundred, buy a new motor, or go all out and buy ALL the top end upgrades for my current motor....:banghead:

so once again stuck in a rock and a hard place, and i hope some of you can share my woes and understand why i hate this motor....

what would you do if you were in my shoes?

[alerored04]

Not a snowballs chance in hell that it is a 20 hour job. I could do it in 10 in my garage. If you were closer I would help you with it. I would call another shop and ask them for a quote first. I would do it myself and you should too, it is just as easy as a lim gasket swap, just one more step. The only issue is if you do not have the area to work in. I would also look into a head swap while you are down there, or I know you were looking at John's long block, could you hold off on the fix until you could afford his motor?

[[ion] C2]

engine swap to LD9 or Eco

[-Alero-]

to be honest i probably could wait it out, but i dont think my parents could since i am now living back at home with them, they dont want a dead lead slead hanging out in the driveway, if something is wrong with my car or thiers they think it needs to be fixed asap and fixed with oem spec and they think its pointless for me to spend my money on upgrading parts, so i mean i can kind of hold off but they would nag me to hell

but the thing with johns 3.7 is.........i dont have the power adder for it that it deserves, no do i have the transmission to sustain it....and the tranny i want is a 3000$ F40 tranny........

looking at some money just to get all that headache working and running.

thats why i considered a second hand motor and just piece together until its ready to be put in....

[-Alero-]

C2;390326']engine swap to LD9 or Eco


way more effort than its worth since i would have to change the entire wirring system in the car

and for the amount of effort,money and time, it could just be spent on getting a grand am/alero with the 2.2 eco and 5 speed already in it...or even a cavy

[-Alero-]

lol and to be honest my dash just now started to peel and my driver window is making popping noises......so like yeah.....i thought i treated it well but i guess not :(

[WhiteV6]

Fix the head gasket and you will change your mind on the 3400. That can make a heck of a difference on how it runs. 20 hours, sure, if you pay by their book hours. It has nothing to do with how long it actually takes them to do it.

What year is your motor?

[rustyballs_69]

I sure the hell wouldn't spend your money at a dealership to have it done. I did it in my driveway in 2 days, the only reason it took that long was because the head bolts hadn't came in yet. Like alerored said it is only one step more for the head gaskets than the LIMG and thats easy.

[WhiteV6]

F40s were 350 bucks on ebay new in crate.

[-Alero-]

Fix the head gasket and you will change your mind on the 3400. That can make a heck of a difference on how it runs. 20 hours, sure, if you pay by their book hours. It has nothing to do with how long it actually takes them to do it.

What year is your motor?


2002 ;)

[-Alero-]

F40s were 350 bucks on ebay new in crate.


wow i must of been looking in the wrong place

[[ion] C2]

I sure the hell wouldn't spend your money at a dealership to have it done.

it's under warranty

[-Alero-]

C2;390337']it's under warranty


right and of course warrenty wont cover 100% of the operation...im assuming it will be like 200 maybe 300 out of my pocket not really sure...

and if i was going to let the stealership do it i would have them replace the other gasket as well... but of course that would be money out of my pocket...

[[ion] C2]

they always replace both

[Rexter9x]

I had my head gasket replaced under warranty at GM. I was only 6hrs of labor..... if it was non warranty work it would have been 10hrs... I'm not sure why they are telling you 20hrs for yours.

[-Alero-]

well im not too sure either but even if its 1000 hours im not paying for the labor... warrenty is

[adam337]

i sense a V8 conversion coming.

[kwhauck]

1200 bucks is way overpriced for a la1, i can get one with less than 50,000 with a 1 year warranty for $400 and swap it in with my wife in an afternoon........

to be honest i probably could wait it out, but i dont think my parents could since i am now living back at home with them, they dont want a dead lead slead hanging out in the driveway, if something is wrong with my car or thiers they think it needs to be fixed asap and fixed with oem spec and they think its pointless for me to spend my money on upgrading parts, so i mean i can kind of hold off but they would nag me to hell

but the thing with johns 3.7 is.........i dont have the power adder for it that it deserves, no do i have the transmission to sustain it....and the tranny i want is a 3000$ F40 tranny........

looking at some money just to get all that headache working and running.

thats why i considered a second hand motor and just piece together until its ready to be put in....

Your first problem is that you are still living with your parents.......
Secondly, yes you don't have the power adder it deserves, but if you buy his block, i could probably help you out with that, you know maybe get you a second set of the custom whipple mounts
As far as the tranny, i can't help you out there because I got his tranny going in my car, oh and I got his cam too so you would need to buy a new one for the block too.......

[Nate's Alero]

how hard is an eco swap from a 2.4 anyway?

[NickAlero2000]

talk to Spilner521, he's doin it right now!

[leoalero]

if you wanna swap go for the eco only good things bout that engine!!!

[-Alero-]

1200 bucks is way overpriced for a la1, i can get one with less than 50,000 with a 1 year warranty for $400 and swap it in with my wife in an afternoon........



Your first problem is that you are still living with your parents.......
Secondly, yes you don't have the power adder it deserves, but if you buy his block, i could probably help you out with that, you know maybe get you a second set of the custom whipple mounts
As far as the tranny, i can't help you out there because I got his tranny going in my car, oh and I got his cam too so you would need to buy a new one for the block too.......

uhhhh i just now moved back into my parents place because they offered me a place to get back on my feet since my roomate left me hanging, but imo 1200 $ for an la1 with 0 miles on it doesnt seem bad to me, im not in to the whole "replace with used" unless i know whats in it.....

but johns motor sounds nice i just dont have the place or time to drop it in any time soon, so if i got it, it would just sit until i had my own place to do it my self....


and no people no motor swap unfortunetly la1 for alero life yo

[Bmorezcmunee]

yo -Alero-. i just noticed you lived in bmore. what part? i live in randallstown ( owings mills area ) if u r still considering doing the head gaskets yourself, id be more then willing to help. ive done them on a 3100 before. not too hard. easier than the cavalier i had (ugh). PM me if ur interested.

[Redog]

Does that new LA1 come with a warranty?

That is the plan for my rebuilt engine with a cam ;)

[oldskid33]

milzy's stage 2 kit!!!!! hellz yes!

[Bad99Olds]

haha that leaves a poor taste in peoples mouths apparently after his stunt as ASS and johns experience with his injectors

[kwhauck]

wot-tech FTW!!

[Bad99Olds]

amen. ben really has his shit together over there. talked to him several times. very knowlegable, nice guy. wot-tech ftmfw.

[alerored04]

WOT-Tech x3. Out of curiousity what did milzy pull at ASS?

[Bad99Olds]

wasnt there, but from what i heard he was responsible for giving out a tune as a door prize or something, and didnt show up/didnt follow through.

if im wrong please correct me

[-Alero-]

ok so just got the car back and had both head gaskets replaced, it appears they put the car back together rather sloppy, a bunch of wires are exposed and not placed where they should be, sigh no big deal just 90 minutes of my time re routing, and replacing all the fucking up wire loom

but they also put shitty ass penzzoil organic 10-30 in.....and for some reason they couldnt put the 5w 30 mobil 1 oil 5 quart jug i had sittin in the passenger seat into my car.....cool i guess, so i had to change that and when i changed the oil i noticed a whole bunch of mettalic flake in the oil, so thats cool hope thats something serious

but other than that it feels like my car lost alot of power.....like i have to mash the gas alot harder and it has to downshift alot more.....i dont know why maybe its just me i dunno but i feel like i have lost so much low end...sigh....

car just doesnt feel right, i dunno maybe its just me.....i wish i could of done it myself but i didnt have the garage to do it in.... oh well i guess....

[undecided02]

Ya metallic flakes dont belong in your oil. dunno how the eff they would get there but I would seriously consider whooping your mechanic's ass. then again im a shoot first and never ask questions type of person.

[-Alero-]

well im calling the dealership about it tommorw, knowing thye will probably feed me some bullshit story to brush me aside and just ignore it, but no worries ill write down the date i call and what they say so that way if something happens ill just be like "i brought it to your attention"

[-Alero-]

also noticed my idle was rather high and i said hey why not, so i took it back to the dealer and it turns out i have a vacuum leak on the cylinder 3 fuel injector o - ring..........fuck me right?