I just fig I would start a new thread. Most everyone knows I have been working on our Cutlass the the camshaft broke in half on.
It started with Laura driving down the freeway and the car started running rough and the lights in the dash all came on. She pulled over and shut it off. When she re-started it ran real rough and the oil light was on. She called me and I sent one of the guys out with a tow truck.
I guessed the alt. went out. They don't last very long on these new GM cars and with no juice it wouldn't fire the ing. correctly.
When the car came in, I checked the battery. It was fully charged. I tried to start it. It ran real ragged and the oil light does indeed stay on. My diagnosis was that something was plugging the pump. As I hate to work on anything that isn't a race car or a hot-rod I sent it and an new oil pump to a fellow drag racer who has a mechanical shop here in town.
He calls me a couple of days later. He says you aren't going to believe this, the camshaft is broken. He was right, I didn't believe it. I have never heard of any trouble with this 3100 V6 other than the intake likes to leak anti-freeze into the engine. So you lose fluid slowly, but not outside leaks.
I brought the car back to my shop. Pulled the engine after checking to make sure that the valves were not all moving. 5-6 were not moving.
Still not convinced I pulled the intake off. It is a broken cam. The theory is that the cam bearing grabbed the cam, and it just snapped it.
So I purchased an engine. It arrived yesterday. I spent last nite servicing the trans, and cleaning up the engine to go back into the car. Since I had it out, I decided to change the intake gaskets. You have to remove the valve covers to remove the intake. I was less than pleased with the inside conditions. It was really dirty with oil build-up. I thought I had been lazy on oil changes with my car. Mine looks like new inside. So my brother came by and we spent the evening trying to clean it up inside without washing a bunch of stuff down the into the crank area.
I called Scott, told him I was not coming to racecar nite. I hope to reassemble and get it back in the hole tonight. Birney is coming over again and the guys {raceteam} are planning on showing up to help.
Once it is back in the hole, then the fun of trying to remember where all the crap goes, and more importantly, what is the proper route to get it there. These cars have stuff stacked on top of stuff everywhere. I would hate to be a mechanic and work on this everyday!!
Rapid