Water in oil

May 02, 2006 14 Replies

I have a 92 Olds Cutlass Surpreme with a 3.1 v6, and it has water in the oil, A couple of people told me the intake gasket could be bad, is this a possibility? I havent seen the car yet, so I dont know if it smokes or not. But the person that owns it has told me the oil looks funny


Yep. the 3.1 has a known problem with intake gaskets. Hope the owner isn't still driving it with antifreeze in the oil. It will do a number on the bearings in very short order and ruin the engine.

No no, my sister parked the car the minute it happened, she said the oil looks funny, she lives like 60 miles away and shes giving me the car so I cant complain shes done everything else to the car and shes owned it since

1996. The minute it happened she had it pushed to the church were she works and its sat there since march, she got a new car and the city has tagged this one, so she needs it moved.

That intake manifold job isnt too bad or expensive I've heard, its that head gasket one that will get ya.

Better get on it right away. Sitting for a month with water in the oil does bad things. Concentrate on diagnosis even if you have to pay. This nearly 15 year old car seems worth more to you than it would be to the public. Still, it's not worth putting $1,000 into a $600 vehicle unless Elvis owned it or something. Your sister a rock star?

Unless you can repair or replace the engine very cheap, just drive it to the junk yard. The car is probably worth in the areas of $1000 so putting a $1500 engines seems silly.

Could be a head gasket, a few hundred to replace, mostly for labor.

Bad intake gasket. Google is your friend. Use it wisely.

I had a 3.1L V6 installed in my '91 Grand Prix for $400 Canadian. That included the used engine.

I got a price for $250 for an engine, and $250-300 american dollars to be put in. Thats if the used engine is from the same olds

Damned cheap. A co-worker just had prices of $900 and $450 just for the swap, not including engine.

I guess the next question is how much the car is worth to you. Like I said, I paid $400 for the engine/installation for a car that wasn't worth much more. However, all it needed was the engine. I knew the rest of the car was good for another year or so, which was all I needed it for. After the engine was put in, the car did last another year, and the only reason I sent it to the scrap yard was a rear arm rusted off and I bought a new car. It's all up to the person. If you like your Olds, and its worth keeping, then I, myself, would put in the engine.

Last year the car had new sending unit, radiator, starter, alternator, battery, battery cable, struts, shocks, tires, brakes, both front axles, and my sister is just gonna give me this car, and the body is rust free.

If I were you, I would take the car then. Get the engine, have it put in, and you should have a good car. That, and the Cutlass Supreme's are nice.

yeah I like the car, see I wouldnt be so interested in it, but I know its complete past, her dad bought it in 93 new, and then in 96 or 97 he sold it to my sister (actually half) then shes had it since and its always been maintained and kept up. It still even has a good clear coat on the body

I'd take it then. Sounds like it will be a good car after the engine swap.

I found out today its deffinately a head gasket. Shes got antifreeze in the oil it looks like coffee and creamer and smells like OMG what the F**K is that!!

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