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Over the past couple days my car was acting funny. First the water reservoir was draining like crazy..had to refill almost every 2-3days, then it was my low/high beams..before i would never have to manually turn on my low-beams at night, but the last couple days i had to. Yesterday on my way back from my girl house the car died on me while i was driving. Then this morning i started up, and it sounded like a champ!...On my way to school it dies again on me on my way to school.

Got it towed to my mechanic and few hours later he tells me that 2 of the cylinders was running 20-40 (compression?) instead normally 130-140?

Anyways when he told me that, it literally felt like my best friend died on me...I've owned this car for over 3 1/2 years and spent easily $4,000. Im not shy to say that i actually shed a couple of tears.

Now im at the point on what the heck to do.
-look for a 3400/3500?
-try to sell it?
-part the car out?

when i first got it

then

and now with a blown motor


suggestions are more than welcome...thank you

Could be just a headgasket, I would have a leakdown test performed on top of the standard compression test.

The compression test is only good to tell you what compression the pistons are making. A leakdown test will tell you where that compression is going.

I wouldn't give up on it that easily!!

3400 swap!

96B-Mike wrote: Got it towed to my mechanic and few hours later he tells me that 2 of the cylinders was running 20-40 (compression?) instead normally 130-140?

If they are two next to each other, I'm going to go with head gasket, with the coolant loss/burn as well. Get a leakdown done.

IMHO, If you're into it for 4k, and love it that much (it is a beautiful beretta), keep it for sure. Price your rebuilt swap (don't dump a used 3400 from god knows where, have it rebuilt before you put it in) vs. existing engine rebuild, and see what you're willing to afford.

I knew a guy with limited technical ability (couldn't even put pads on) and very limited funds, had a head go on him. He was so broken up about it, he tore his engine down in frustration, had the head resurfaced at a shop, and spent the next month learning how to put it back together, step by step replacing much of the internals (valves/seals).

That was two years ago and the car is still running today.

I feel your pain.

If the engine is terribly bad off, upgrade it! Car looks to be in good shape yet, so why not right?

Bman Gtz wrote:3400 swap!

would i need a new computer? and other than the motor itself...what other things i would need to complete the swap?

Search! Results for 3400 swap guide

http://beretta.net/forum/search.php?key ... mit=Search

and to make it even easier...

http://beretta.net/forum/download/file.php?id=768

Its an extremely straight forward swap... Pull one engine take off all the accessories and motor mounts and bolt all of them to the 3400... only one change is on the timing cover which is noted in that guide.

Also next time you loosing a vital fluid necessary for an engine to run I suggest you stop driving it and find out where it's going otherwise your just killing the car yourself.

A 3400 swap is a no-brainer for this car. Replacing the 3100 with another 3100 is only about 2% easier than upgrading to a 3400.

thats true..i just called a friend of mine and he said he can get me a brand new 3400 with a 3yr/36000 warranty little under $2k and have someone swap it for me for $300-400

but that just a thought for now lol

Your a lucky guy on the install price. From the cost of the 3400 I can tell it's a GM reman, good choice.
I don't see how you could even think about parting such a nice car out anyway.

96B-Mike wrote:thats true..i just called a friend of mine and he said he can get me a brand new 3400 with a 3yr/36000 warranty little under $2k and have someone swap it for me for $300-400

but that just a thought for now lol

If you go that route you may need a few pieces not included such as upper intake manifold, throttle body(not needed but is larger)

2k for a 3400? I guess... at least you have a warranty.

It's 2,300 bucks on Crate Engine Depot. I can't get one for under 1k with 60k on it.

I guess the 3400 supply is getting low. But I would just get one that doesn't have a spun bearing or a hole in the block and rebuild it. Mileage isn't really an issue is it?

I got a 3400 with 20k on it for $900 with a 1 yr / 12k mile warranty. I then had all new gaskets put on it and some other upgrades completed. It cost me about $1200 all said and done. (just the engine price with upgrades)