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Piston slap
Posted: Sun Sep 02, 2012 5:27 pm
by Wivm1014
My 3100 has the dreaded piston slap when it's cold. What can I do to get rid of this disease?
Re: Piston slap
Posted: Mon Sep 03, 2012 6:31 pm
by #1 stunna
Piston slap ? , you sure its not just a lifter sticking? Long ago I had a lumina that i thought was knocking, turns out it was just a loose heat shield on the cat. converter
Re: Piston slap
Posted: Mon Sep 03, 2012 7:26 pm
by Barry
Cheap fix is a good set of ear plugs.
Don't waste your time/money rebuilding it. It's nothing to worry about. I had a knocking 3100 and beat the crap out of it for years and it never got worse.
Re: Piston slap
Posted: Mon Sep 03, 2012 8:06 pm
by Wivm1014
A GM article says they have reports of a 3100 with piston slap lasting 300k so I'm not as worried but I do granny it until its completely warm
Re: Piston slap
Posted: Tue Sep 04, 2012 1:22 am
by DTMAce
Mine has done that since I bought it, mostly in colder weather. Perfectly normal.
Re: Piston slap
Posted: Tue Sep 04, 2012 6:15 am
by Wivm1014
That's what I've heard. Thanks for the comforting info
Re: Piston slap
Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2012 6:40 pm
by ADKBeretta
my 96 Beretta 3100 V6 had been subjected to the intake gasket failing and filling the crankcase with that coolanty-oily cocktail... i have no idea how long the previous owner drove the car like that. My brother and I removed almost 10 quarts of that crap when we did the intake gasket. So far, 60,000 miles and it still hasn't blown up. Although, the engine is a bit knocky on a cold start when it's been sitting for a couple of days.
Re: Piston slap
Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2012 9:55 am
by DTMAce
Surprised the bearings haven't failed on that one then. Yikes.
Re: Piston slap
Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2012 7:14 pm
by 1990BerettaGTZ2.3L
60°'s are famous for that it's nothing to worry about just make sure you replace the timing chain every 100,000 miles you put on
Re: Piston slap
Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2012 9:12 pm
by scannerman
i found running 5w-30 oil in the winter reduced or completely got rid of the noise on cold startups.
Re: Piston slap
Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2012 9:34 pm
by 1990BerettaGTZ2.3L
scannerman wrote:i found running 5w-30 oil in the winter reduced or completely got rid of the noise on cold startups.
I would hope you would run that viscosity as well as everone in the winter because you gonna get a kick out of me running 15w40 and 20w50 in the winter in my truck and my chevelle but the chevelle only got started to be moved out of the way truck got driven of course
Re: Piston slap
Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2012 9:35 pm
by scannerman
i used to run 10w-30 year round. then i switch to just running it in the summer.
Re: Piston slap
Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2012 11:53 am
by 1990BerettaGTZ2.3L
It was no wonder my motors lasted a year running that viscosity cause over a tears time my oil pressure dropped to zero as a combination of worn out cam bearings and oil pump
Re: Piston slap
Posted: Thu Sep 20, 2012 8:11 pm
by ADKBeretta
I run Valvoline MaxLife 10W-40 all year round with STP Oil Treatment (blame that on my dad... in his head, it's still 1970). Oddly enough, I am surprised that the engine hasn't chucked a rod or two yet, either. I am sometimes not kind to this engine. Because of oddly the automatic is geared, it climbs hills with the rapidity of a slug. Therefore, I get pissed and mat the bastard down into ONE which winds the engine to about 5k on the tach... One of these days I am going to do that and lose the bottom end.