[ChevroletTough]

Yeah now Im driving my sister's 1995 monte carlo Z34. Same exact car as my black one i was talking about earlier in the thread. Im in the process of switching over the shocks and struts, because the ones on my black mote are better. I swtiched over a few other things. I soon will be done with that car... I never want to see it again.

Funny thing is, the red 95 monte im driving now, we bought at the same time, this one has 174,xxx miles on it, everything looks to be origional. The only problem we've had with this car is its starting to leak oil from the oring that goes bad on the oil pump. I put some stop leak in it (JB stopleak....great stuff) and am hoping for the best. Otherwise i'll have to tear the intake and head off..... Yuck!

I will be putting some lucas oil trans tune in it as well, just to make sure i get a good life out of the tranny I hope this car lasts another 5 years for me and i can get it over 200,000 miles without having to do anything but regular maintenece!

 

[Elk]

Everyone that I know with one, and I know quite a few, are happy with them. I've heard of the gasket failures, and advised some of them about it, but none so far.

I’d like to know how many years old and how many miles the vehicles you are talking about have on them?

I've heard a lot of gasket failures locally, it is the only real problem with this engine, but it is a very big problem.

Unless something else goes wrong with the engine like it’s been overheated. The intake gasket should never fail. And by that I mean they should last out last the piston rings. They like head and oil pan gaskets are the gaskets that should only have to be replaced because the engine is being rebuilt.

 

[ChevroletTough]

well the reason the intake gasket goes, is becasue the intake and heads/whatever below cool at different rates, or so ive heard. Can't confirm it though.

 

[Elk]

well the reason the intake gasket goes, is becasue the intake and heads/whatever below cool at different rates, or so ive heard. Can't confirm it though.

There are different cooling rates between the intake and the head, but the same thing can said for all engines. These differences are supposed to kept in mind when engineering the engine and picking gasket material.

The OHV 3.4L V6s were crap and GM lost a massive amount of market share because of them.

 

[Squachy]

Sounds like he just got a rough car.

I had a '97 Intrigue with the 3.4L and had no problems the 3 years I owned it.

I have owned mainly GM products since, uhh, going back to the mid-1980's. And each has treated me well, with limited problems.

Do u mean Alero cuz AFAIK the Intrigue had the 3800 and switched over to the 3.5 "shortstar" a year later. I dont think the intrigue ever got the 3.4

 

[wtgkb8]

Do u mean Alero cuz AFAIK the Intrigue had the 3800 and switched over to the 3.5 "shortstar" a year later. I dont think the intrigue ever got the 3.4

You are right in that it shouldn't have been an Intrigue...cause they weren't out until MY1998...with the 3800 series II as only engine...then 1999 the 3800 was base...with the shortstar 3.5L DOHC optional...the 3800 was dropped from the intrique for MY 2000. Alero had the 3400 (optional w/ I-4 standard) though...but wasn't introduced until MY 1999. Olds cultass had the 3100...which had some intake gasket issues....and was made during the MY of 1997.

 

[Smittro]

The 3.4 litre OHV engine and the 3.4 DOHC engine that he is writing about are not the same, though they are both derivatives of the orginal 2.8 litre OHV. The 3.4 "Twin Dual Cam" DOHC V6 was not one of GM's better ideas, I owned one and put about 97,000 miles on one, but the engine is a pain in the arse, it is a OHV engine converted to DOHC for starters, it has belts instead of a chain, and they have to be changed every 60K like clockwork. Due to the design of the engine, the alternator sits on the bottom the engine, facing the firewall, yee-haw, and to top it all of, for all the 215hp that the engine claimed to have, it was not really that fast, it did rev all way up to 6700 rpm redline though under full throtle, which was kind of cool, but in hindsight, I should have bought something with either the OHV 3.1 or a 3800.

The 3.4L duel twin cam enegine is NOT aconverted 3.4L ohv engine period!
The blocks are totaly different! Yes they are both 60*v6's but thats where it ends. I have a custom tuned 1992 z34 Lumina and have followed the engine for years. The stock dohc 3.4L had 200hp in the automatics, 210hp in the standards with the getrag 5-spd. Horse power peaked in final production years @ 215hp.
First of all they are not hard to work on if you know what you're doing period! It also uses a chain and a single belt to drive the cams period!
I agree things are mounted in odd spots, and the engine compartment is cramped. One cannot expect to do major repairs on this or any vehicle with a set of K-mart tools or just a hand full of wrenches. People should'nt buy used cars if they are looking for a trouble free ride. I would suggest a person purchase the manual for that car, and research it. Learn all you can about your investment. Especially if you're spending in the thousands!
My Lumina (which can be seen in my profile) is spotless. The only part missing is the center cap on the passenger wheel. I am the third owner too!
I bought it nerely three years ago and never had any majior trouble. I changed the alt. in about an hour (with the right tools and know how). When I bought it the previous owner neglected it as most people do. Just stuck the usual "Monday mourning mechanics to it". They knew so little about the car they had no idea that a $25 part was all that was keeping it from run right.
Just parked it cause someone told them "those engines are trouble and expensive to fix". The fact is the most expensive part about the 3.4L dohc engine is not doing the work yourself.
The after market is limited on performance parts. However stock replacement parts are relatively cheap and readily available or can easily be ordered.
I have N/A tuned mine with custom goodies which punched it out to 265hp@ 6500rpm with a 7200rpm redline. The stock engines returns a 0-60 mph of just over 7.4 sec and runs low 15s to high 14s in the quarter.
I've got mine down to 0-60 in 6.5sec on pump gas and about 6.2 on raceing gas. low 14s in the quarter. Thats almost a full second faster!
Mods include; custom 3.5in cold air induction(not K&N) with race filter.
High pressure fuel pump and regulator, with larger injectors.
Full port and polished heads.
True high flow 3.5in cat with a single tuned collector to 2.75in.
Custom tuned z28 exhaust (yes z28!) with loud mouth single 2.75in inlet and duel 3 in. outlets.
High performance ECM (computer) and hypertech power chip. With tunning for first gear kickout at 7000rpm. I break traction @30-40mph and only a hand full of late model and current stock v8s can touch it. No stock 4cyl in any commuter car can touch it at all! I still average about 20 mpg highway and about 18 city. If you take care of them they will usually take care of you too and a once wrecked the car is worthless and bound to fail!
PS. I know the quote is old but I hate misinformation!

 

[454]

No stock 4cyl in any commuter car can touch it at all!

Uhhh i wouldn't go so far as to say that, there's plenty of 4 bangers that will easily trounce your lumina. A Cobalt SS for example.

 

[page2171]

Holy thread revival Batman!

 

[F14CRAZY]

there's newer thread on the Twin Dual Cam...I kinda want to test drive one, 5 speed of course, just to know what it's like to have all that rotational mass working to produce not-that-much power

 

[454]

I drove my ex-gf's Monte Carlo Z34...it's nothing compared to the 3800 SC i have now. Still cool due to its high revving nature though.

 

[Smittro]

Uhhh i wouldn't go so far as to say that, there's plenty of 4 bangers that will easily trounce your lumina. A Cobalt SS for example.

No! I've raced a Supercharged Cobalt SS's. What a joke! I mean are you serious? You probably own one I bet. That can only run me to about 150ft then it's bye bye Cobalt SS! Can you say 7200 rpm I'm tuned for a clean 265hp dyno proven. When your Cobalt SS is looking for another gear/s I'm still excellerating! When your Cobat ss hits that wall called the rev limiter, I'm still excellerating! When your Cobalt ss hits its speed limiter I'm still excellerating! Cobalt Super chargers are mostly setup for day to day driving and when their boost hits its limit, guess what? No more power band! With my N/A tunning I'm still building power through 6200rpm! Maybe you should have picked a faster car! It's about displacement and torgue period. There is a post online with a Cobalt ss raceing a near stock Lumina z34, three tries and all z34! You might want to reread the quote I said 4cyl commuter cars too Duh!!!!!!! Cobalt ss is sport coupe!!:lmao:

 

[Smittro]

there's newer thread on the Twin Dual Cam...I kinda want to test drive one, 5 speed of course, just to know what it's like to have all that rotational mass working to produce not-that-much power

Read the thread mines tuned! You have no clue Buick dude! 24 valves more air, more fuel, more bye bye Buick! Post not much good if you've never driven one duh!!:lmao::tdown:::blah::brick:drive:

 

[69Firebird400]

Read the thread mines tuned! You have no clue Buick dude! 24 valves more air, more fuel, more bye bye Buick! Post not much good if you've never driven one duh!!:lmao::tdown:::blah::brick:drive:

I'm not trying to be a prick, but I drove a year-old Lumina Z34 with the 3.4 liter DOHC engine and five speed manual for a few days back in the early 1990s as well as a Grand Prix with the same engine and an automatic, also just a year or two old. My dad is a used car dealer and I have the perspective of having driven hundreds of different cars. I was really interested in this powertrain combination, having experience with the Quad 4 H.O. and a five-speed manual. I thought that the V6's torque plus the DOHC heads' high-revving nature would be the best of both worlds.

When I finally got a chance to drive that Lumina, I was not impressed by the engine's power. I don't know curb weights off the top of my head, but 210 horsepower in a large car like the Lumina did not feel nearly as fast as 180 horsepower in a small car like a Grand Am SE.

Granted that it was probably 15 years ago that I drove the Lumina Z34, but last September, I drove a Cobalt SS/TC around a racetrack, and it was fast as hell. The only complaint was that without the LSD, the outside wheel was always spinning when applying power in corners. As I recall, Z34s were around the 7-8 second range in 0-60 times; the new Cobalt SS chops 2-3 seconds off that. It's no contest, and I'm only talking about straight line performance. On the track, the Cobalt would do even better. If yours makes 265 horsepower, that's only five more than the Cobalt that weighs several hundred pounds lighter.

 

[454]

No! I've raced a few of the Supercharged Cobalt SS's. What a joke! I mean are you serious? You probably own one I bet. That can only run me to about 150ft then it's bye bye Cobalt SS! Can you say 7200 rpm I'm tuned for a clean 265hp dyno proven. When your Cobalt SS is looking for another gear/s I'm still excellerating! When your Cobat ss hits that wall called the rev limiter, I'm still excellerating! When your Cobalt ss hits its speed limiter I'm still excellerating! Cobalt Super chargers are mostly setup for day to day driving and when their boost hits its limit, guess what? No more power band! With my N/A tunning I'm still building power through 6200rpm! Maybe you should have picked a faster car! It's about displacement and torgue period. There is a post online with a Cobalt ss raceing a near stock Lumina z34, three tries and all z34! You might want to reread the quote I said 4cyl commuter cars too Duh!!!!!!! Cobalt ss is sport coupe!!:lmao:

Uh no im talking about the SS Turbo. A Cobalt is a commuter car last time i checked, but hell if youre saying you can rape base Corollas I'm very impressed!!! Lastly i don't own one....if you look at my sig or my info you would know, but i guess youre too busy getting excited about your Lumina.

Lets go over some figures:
Stock Lumina Z34 5 speed 0-60: 8.1 seconds 1/4 mile: 16.1 seconds @ 89 mph
Stock Cobalt SS Turbo 0-60: 5.5 seconds 1/4 mile: 14.0 seconds @ 102.5 mph

Haha right you could totally take him dude!!!! I dont care if youre tuned, I highly doubt you've made up 2 seconds in the quarter.

 

[F14CRAZY]

Read the thread mines tuned! You have no clue Buick dude! 24 valves more air, more fuel, more bye bye Buick! Post not much good if you've never driven one duh!!:lmao::tdown:::blah::brick:drive:

Do you have a timeslip?

 

[iluvcamaros]

The 3.4L duel twin cam enegine is NOT aconverted 3.4L ohv engine period!
The blocks are totaly different! Yes they are both 60*v6's but thats where it ends. I have a custom tuned 1992 z34 Lumina and have followed the engine for years. The stock dohc 3.4L had 200hp in the automatics, 210hp in the standards with the getrag 5-spd. Horse power peaked in final production years @ 215hp.
First of all they are not hard to work on if you know what you're doing period! It also uses a chain and a single belt to drive the cams period!

This is from Wikipedia, which is of course, subject to being completely wrong.

The LQ1 (also called the Twin Dual Cam or TDC) was a 3.4 L DOHC V6 motor ("X-code") based on the aluminum headed second generation of GM's 60° engine line, sharing a similar block with its pushrod cousins, the 3.1 L LH0 V6 and the then recently retired 2.8 L LB6 V6. The motor was built only for front wheel drive applications, and was featured exclusively in the first generation of GM's W-body platform.

It was built from 1991 to 1997. From 1991 to 1993, it used tuned multi-port fuel injection, made 200-210 HP (150-160 kW) @ 5200 RPM and 215 ft·lbf (290 Nm) of torque @ 4000 RPM. From 1994 to 1997, it used sequential port fuel injection, making 215 hp (160 kW) @ 5200 rpm and 225 ft·lbf (300 Nm) of torque @ 4000 rpm. It had four large valves per cylinder. The 3.4 L engine used a cogged belt to drive the four overhead camshafts. Adapting a pushrod block for the LQ1's overhead cams was difficult, and the 60° angle made this a very tall engine, but power output was impressive.

I believe I even read somewhere that it still has an "auxiliary shaft" in the block where the pushrod's cam would be and it drives the oil pump. The crank drives this "aux shaft" with a chain and then the "aux shaft" drives the 4 cams with a belt.

GM literally took a pushrod engine and put two gigantic OHC heads on it. I'm sure they changed a few things but not much. Its a very cool idea and the result was impressive dynamically, but the 3800 could perform just as well and was more reliable. It also made more torque at a lower RPM. It was a really big hassle for GM to be able to say "Our cars are OHC! Please don't buy an Accord!".

Your Lumina is nice, I have always liked 1st gen W-body coupes.

 

[Tone]

My recollection is that the Twin Dual Cam (terrible name, that!) made something north of 275 hp in development. The issue was that GM Powertrain did not have a FWD transmission at the time that could cope with the high hp (and high rev torque) this engine was capable of dishing out.

The engine was heavily detuned to match the available transmissions, but at that point it was an expensive engine that made no more power than the cheap and available 3800.

If GM had had a transmission that could deal with the potential output of this engine, perhaps it would have been viewed in a different light.

I also wonder whether the OP is talking about 265 hp at the wheels ... if so, this engine is likely making north of 300 hp at the flywheel, which would make for one quick Lumina, although that's a huge jump in output from more fuel, and a high-flow air cleaner and exhaust (and, yes, a computer tune). That would only make sense if GM really strangled the engine in those areas to "detune" it.

 

[Smaart Aas Saabr]

This is from Wikipedia, which is of course, subject to being completely wrong.



I believe I even read somewhere that it still has an "auxiliary shaft" in the block where the pushrod's cam would be and it drives the oil pump. The crank drives this "aux shaft" with a chain and then the "aux shaft" drives the 4 cams with a belt.

GM literally took a pushrod engine and put two gigantic OHC heads on it. I'm sure they changed a few things but not much. Its a very cool idea and the result was impressive dynamically, but the 3800 could perform just as well and was more reliable. It also made more torque at a lower RPM. It was a really big hassle for GM to be able to say "Our cars are OHC! Please don't buy an Accord!".

Your Lumina is nice, I have always liked 1st gen W-body coupes.

The design is constrained from weirdness due to using a 2,8 architecture (well that family) instead of clean-sheet

3800 couldn't ever spin 7500 revs or make the same kind of cool noises as the Twin Dual Cam though.

 

[454]

3800 couldn't ever spin 7500 revs or make the same kind of cool noises as the Twin Dual Cam though.

It can get into the 6000's with some vavletrain improvements Just gotta watch and make sure those valves arent floating...