Looking for a step-by-step for the intake gaskets on my 1994 Pontiac Grand Am GT with a 3.1L. Help would be much appreciated?
Step 1 - Buy a shop manual.
Step 2- Follow procedure in Manual.
This may seem sarcastic…but in reality…You need good written detailed instructions. That means someone can recite this from memory (which is highly unlikely)…or they’ll have to make copies of the manual for you and paste it here. This is NOT a simple procedure.
And some won’t copy and paste manual pages here because it violates copyright laws.
Tester
My Information Shows 59 Steps.
Please Refer To Comments By MikeInNH, Tester, And Common Sense Answer.
CSA
Some Local Public Libraries Have Reference Books That Could Help You And Many Will Copy Pages At A Low Cost.
CSA
Wll I got this online from youtube…I was really just trying to make sure this is accurate for my Grand Am…its a newer 3400 motor but he says itll work for a 3100
I have replaced in the neighborhood of 300 of these intake gaskets. As has been mentioned earlier, take advantage of your public library. Have seen rookies make this mistake and usually it only happens once, but you probably don’t want your one intake job to be a failure so make sure you know where the pushrods go. there are two different lengths. You get them mixed around and you stand a very good chance of bending a valve.
I haven’t done much auto work the last 10 years, but it seems strange to me that the push rods would be involved in changing the manifold gaskets.
Wild 20 second search, hope it helps
Some of the pushrods have to be removed to replace the intake gaskets because the plastic (or metal - get the metal ones so you don’t have to deal with this again) frame snakes around them. You can buy a tool to remove them without loosening the rocker arm nuts, but it’s probably not worth it unless you plan on doing more of these jobs in the future.
My one big tip: take it easy on the RTV when making the end seals. You don’t have to use all of it; I usually end up using about half of it. This is one common way to botch this job in a way that can cost you your engine. Excess RTV can easily be pressed into the new gaskets during installation of the manifold, causing coolant to leak into the crankcase. The last one I did was a do-over of someone else’s work in which they apparently thought they were supposed to use the entire tube of RTV to make the end seals.