96_12V

I have a friend here locally who has blown head gaskets on his '94 Grand Prix (3.1L V-6). He was really trying to steer clear of even newer ones, although they are totally different cars now and i understand the 3800 V6 is still quite a good engine. He found an '04 Grand Prix with 99k on it for $10k and is quite interested in it.

So the question - does anyone have ownership or service experance with these? I suspect there could be electrical problems, but anything else to look for? He feels it's an inexpensive way to a much newer car. Could be, but I must admit I have reservations, overall.

Thanks for any info..

bama

ive had a 98 and have an 04 now.......the 3800`s are great motors in my opinion.lots of power,great service and get 27-28 mpg every time.....he could do a little better on pricing though,if he looked around..........gm products have the usual,alternator and water pump replacements every once in while............bama

hotmopr

My buddy has a 02 GTP and the only problem he has had was the Facotry stereo went bad. No biggie It has a kenwood now.. Fun car it scoots pretty good..

EClancy

A friend of mine has an '04 GP, just bought it., It is the supercharged version. No known problems as of yet. The 3800 motor is a great engine. My other buddy has a '94 bonneville he bought from my parents with 130k on it, now has 197k. It is never maintained, warmed up, or easily driven. The only problem has been a starter and a fuel pump.


On the other hand, the 3.1l are notorious for blowing head gaskets. I cannot tell you how many cavaliers, grand ams, sunfires, berettas and the like have been in my driveway for head gaskets jobs while we were in college

96_12V

I hear you on this...in fact while looking into his, a few friends from work who have owned these cars discussed how many headgaskets, T-stats, etc, they had replaced on them. Interesting that the 3.1 could be so troublesome, yet the 3.8 could be quite reliable, overall. My family owned two 3800's, both in 1988 cars. One made 198k (with a known problem the last 10k) and siezed up whne my sister ran it out of coolant. The other one was taken out by a deer.

Thanks for the tips so far.

hubmonkey

I have a 03 GP GT and the 3800 series motor is really a good motor. The 3100 series is very famous for losing intake gaskets. It happens to all of them eventually. 12 bucks in parts and 650 bucks in labor. I will never own a 3100 again. My neighbor is a mechanic (happened to us before he bought the house next to us) and he told me that they do them ALL the time and he hates them with a passion. Rough idle on a 3100 V6.. Intake gasket.

Hub