aaron7 Posted June 8, 2005 Report Share Posted June 8, 2005 Ok, my girlfriend is in trouble. She has a 1994 Z34, and has been quoted by 3 different shops for around $2000 to fix the problems. First, her distributor is leaking. We've had it fixed with RTV, but to no avail. I guess the rear head has to come off to put a new gasket on it. WTF GM Second, she's loosing coolant, but not dripping it. After having it checked out, it is supposedly the intake gaskets. So, this is the general breakdown: 20hrs labor - About $1400 Timing belts - About $280 Gaskets - About $310 Misc fluids/bolts - About $75 What should we do? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeremy Posted June 8, 2005 Report Share Posted June 8, 2005 either fix it yourself of sell it for parts....I would never sink $2k into it to fix it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GP1138 Posted June 8, 2005 Report Share Posted June 8, 2005 Do it yourself. There are detailed instructions on how to do these things. The distributor o-ring (which is what's leaking) can be taken care of when you do intake gaskets, I believe. Someone else with more knoweledge of the 3.4 will come along, so don't take my word for it alone. I guarantee you can fix it for a fraction of that cost, and an investment of your own time. Either that, or if you don't trust your mechanical skill, dump it and get a different car. You could get a decent early W for the price they quoted to fix yours. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aaron7 Posted June 8, 2005 Author Report Share Posted June 8, 2005 Well, the thing is... the car is pretty much showroom condition! We searched long and hard for 2 years to find this car. All the Z34's we see are high mileage crapboxes. Now for $2000 + whatever we can sell this for, all you can get is another basket of problems. This one has new tires, new suspension, new custom exhaust, etc. All it needs are these repairs! So, if we *did* have to pay for the repairs, would it be worth it for a mint Z34? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
94CutlassSLCoupe Posted June 8, 2005 Report Share Posted June 8, 2005 Honestly, it might be a little time consuming to do it yourself, but it isn't terribly hard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aaron7 Posted June 8, 2005 Author Report Share Posted June 8, 2005 It is when you're terrified of the ungodly 3.4... .... ... :shock: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdcutty Posted June 8, 2005 Report Share Posted June 8, 2005 See if there are any board members in your area that are willing to give you a hand. Also, there is a Fel Pro Gasket set on ebay right now that will have everything that you need. Check it out in the auction watch section. It is mostly just time consuming, but not incredibly hard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
94CutlassSLCoupe Posted June 8, 2005 Report Share Posted June 8, 2005 It is when you're terrified of the ungodly 3.4... .... ... :shock: Not really a reason to be terrified...its still a relatively simple engine design... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMo60 Posted June 8, 2005 Report Share Posted June 8, 2005 pushrod engines rule! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timg Posted June 8, 2005 Report Share Posted June 8, 2005 Follow the step by step instructions for the dist oring and spend a Saturday afternoon fixing it. If you have any mechanical ability, you should be able to fix it. When you fix it, you'll also have to pull the intake and replace the intage gaskets which should solve the coolant leak. You can also try switching to a high mileage oil. My car has virtually stopped leaking from the o-ring since I switched. I add about a quart every 4000 miles... not bad considering that I have an engine with 146k+ miles and a slightly leaking dist o-ring. There's no need to fix it unless it's really bad or really bothering you. It's quite easy and cheap just to add a bit of oil/coolant every 1000 miles... Tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeremy Posted June 8, 2005 Report Share Posted June 8, 2005 So, if we *did* have to pay for the repairs, would it be worth it for a mint Z34? "worth it" to pay $2k for repairs on a 1G w-body??? financially the answer is "no" ..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aaron7 Posted June 8, 2005 Author Report Share Posted June 8, 2005 But, around here a mint Z34 is unheard of it seems. At least ones for sale! If she was to get another, it would have to be: No rust, mint paint/clearcoat Mint rims (though she wants new Monte ones lol) Mint interior Full power, no sunroof or leather And she likes the dark silver color with a grey interior. So, she's trying to justify it because she loves the car so. I'm going to look into the work, and see if I can do it myself to save her some, well, a lot of money. Is there a writeup on how to do it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gtped Posted June 8, 2005 Report Share Posted June 8, 2005 So, this is the general breakdown: 20hrs labor - About $1400 at 70.00 hr was that at a dealership? any local shops that you can rely on might have cheaper labor rates Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aaron7 Posted June 8, 2005 Author Report Share Posted June 8, 2005 That is a local place. Most shops around here are $62-75/hr. There is one guy, 40/hr.... but it's wicked shadtree mechanic! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NOHC_WBody Posted June 8, 2005 Report Share Posted June 8, 2005 2 grand? Start shopping for an L67 to drop into it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donutboy97 Posted June 8, 2005 Report Share Posted June 8, 2005 Here is one way to look at it. If the car is as good as you say it is, depending on how many miles on it, 2000 isn;t too bad. Either you fix this car or buy a new one. Depending on what you get and how much you want to pay, you could be spending $166 a month for 4 or 5 years. or you could use that $166 a month and within a year you paid for the repairs. Basically what I'm saying, if your tight on cash it may be cheaper to fix it then to get a different car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aaron7 Posted June 8, 2005 Author Report Share Posted June 8, 2005 L67... that sounds good. Does that number cover all series'? What ones bolt right in? (crossing fingers lol) Yah, I guess that's not a bad way of looking at it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NOHC_WBody Posted June 8, 2005 Report Share Posted June 8, 2005 http://www.l67swap.com has some good step by step writeups on how to do it. All of them "bolt up"(using factory parts) but you want one out of a 97-02 GTP. The wiring's a bit of a chore, but if you can handle the mechanical bits of it, the wiring should be a piece of cake for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daggar Posted June 8, 2005 Report Share Posted June 8, 2005 Ok I did the RTV fix on the Distributor O-Ring leak. Copper RTV Worked wonders I was also doing the intake gaskets at the same time. Anyway I cleaned the area with carb cleaner and I took a Q-tip and cleaned all the residue off the seam where the shaft sits on the block. After letting it dry for a hour I started to put the RTV on. Taking a pair of pliers I pulled up the Dist shaft as far as I could (Your gonna have just a little crack at best between the top of the shaft and the block) and put the RTV on and spread it around the seam and pushed it in the seam with a q-tip. Once I had a good even thin coat I let it sit for a hour. After a hour I put another coat on and let that sit for 10 mins then I pushed the dist shaft back down so it was seated back on the engine. Waited another 10 mins the put some more RTV on then let it sit for a hour. After a hour I put one final coat on and then I bolted the retainer back down. Then I put the upeer and lower intake gaskets back on and bolted it all down and tightened it to torque spec and then let the engin sit for 28 hours (I was busy that day lol) and fired it up. it has not leaked since. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GP1138 Posted June 9, 2005 Report Share Posted June 9, 2005 If you catch him on a good weekend, White93Z34 is often willing to drive some to help a fellow W-Body in need. PM him and offer him gas money. He came out here to help me with my intake swap. Sorry Chris if I'm speaking out of turn for ya! :oops: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted June 9, 2005 Report Share Posted June 9, 2005 Hell i put well over 2k into the RPE... i also cherish it very much and plan on having it a long long time..... The question is, is it worth it to you.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian P Posted June 9, 2005 Report Share Posted June 9, 2005 $2000 if they're going that far, see how much it would be for a reman engine installed. If not, see what kind of warranty they offer on their work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
White93z34 Posted June 9, 2005 Report Share Posted June 9, 2005 welll if you are affraid of working on the 3.4.... you shoulden't have looked for a lumina z34. do some searches on the o ring, its been discused over and over or im me. and theres write ups on how to do prety much all of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NOHC_WBody Posted June 9, 2005 Report Share Posted June 9, 2005 welll if you are affraid of working on the 3.4.... you shoulden't have looked for a lumina z34. The problem is, these so called "educated consumers" don't do enough research on a used car they're buying...but on the flip side, if they don't know what to look for, or have trouble finding what they need to know. With most cars that have a fair amount of aftermarket support, finding trouble spots are easy, with LQ1 W's, there's just not as much information(good or bad) out there on the web as there is about...say Honda's B series motors. I didn't know what I was getting into when I got my 94' GTP, but I learned as I went. I cursed a lot too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aaron7 Posted June 9, 2005 Author Report Share Posted June 9, 2005 Well, that's why she bought this one. Low mileage and one owner seems to be a failsafe... guess that's not always true, exspecially when it comes to GM's V6 motors lol -aaron7, obviously a SBC guy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.