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Old 03-14-2008, 10:27 AM
 
Location: By the sea, by the sea, by the beautiful sea
68,281 posts, read 54,065,692 times
Reputation: 40571

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Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve-o View Post
Its GM we're talking about here. Wouldnt surprise me at all. Ive seen cracked rods on vehicles with less than 1K on the odometer.


That's just it, a poorly manufactured part would likely have failed early in its service life. Cams don't normally break so I'd be asking why after so many years?
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Old 03-14-2008, 11:18 AM
 
1,000 posts, read 3,593,906 times
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I've seen OHC cars snap the cam, but never a cam in block type.

I'd probably just look for a decent used engine to swap into it, if you're going to get involved.
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Old 03-14-2008, 11:35 AM
 
Location: By the sea, by the sea, by the beautiful sea
68,281 posts, read 54,065,692 times
Reputation: 40571
Quote:
Originally Posted by billb7581 View Post
I've seen OHC cars snap the cam, but never a cam in block type.

I'd probably just look for a decent used engine to swap into it, if you're going to get involved.

When I've seen in block ones break it was from the other pieces that hit them, NOT a pretty picture
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Old 03-20-2008, 10:40 AM
 
1 posts, read 4,943 times
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Default Same just happened to me - Broken Camshaft - 1996 Pontiac Grand AM SE

I have the exact same problem and car up here in Ottawa, Canada. My car is a V6 Pontiac Grand AM SE.

I brought the car in for a wheel realignment on Friday, March 14. This was not my regular mechanic, because he does not do realignments. Just prior to the visit, the car died at an intersection and the battery light came on. I thought it might have just been from a cold start, but I mentioned this to the garage, and they suggested a comprehensive vehicle inspection (-$70). They found some problems with the brakes, wheels, and a small coolant leak. They estimated repairs at $2,400. I only had the oil changed and wheel realignment done. I made an appointment with my regular mechanic for the other work.

After leaving the garage later in the day, I immediately noticed there was something wrong when accelerating. I got onto the highway and the car was having trouble going beyond 40 m/hr. I figured that maybe it was due to tire warping. A little later, it died completely. The oil light came on followed by the battery light. I had the car towed to me regular mechanic (-$120). He told me the camshaft was broken, and that there were many reasons that this may have happened.

Great, so I bought the car with a new 2-year-old transmission 2.5 years ago, and tried to maintain well up to now. I think the resale would have been about $2-3k. It had 112,000 miles on it. Now it's worthless. The body was beginning to rust a bit.

Any thoughts? Should I just send it to the scrap heep? (+$100) According to my mechanic, the engine would need to be replaced, and with the parts and labour, it just doesn't seem worth it. I feel this is such a loss. Now, I'm probably going to be walking for a while (I'm a city dweller...).

As for the original person that posted, the only thing I can say is that I've never been happy with this vehicle. I had a 1986 Chevrolet Celebrity prior to this car and it worked extremely well until some guy decided to front-end my car. The Pontiac on the other hand has had one problem after another. The only thing I'll miss about that car is the speed. V6 engines really do add quite a bit of comfort in terms of what you can do and ease of driving.
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Old 03-20-2008, 11:13 AM
 
Location: Clear Lake, Houston TX
8,376 posts, read 30,594,764 times
Reputation: 4718
Ew, 3.1 = cam-in-block design as billb said. That whole engine will need to be pulled, and it may need 2 new (aluminum = expensive) heads on it and some cam bearings, which require machine shop work. AT THE LEAST. So it probably makes the most sense to trade that whole engine in for a different one. Rebuilt long blocks will probably run close to $2,000.
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Old 03-20-2008, 11:23 AM
 
Location: Hopewell New Jersey
1,398 posts, read 7,692,009 times
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see if you can make a package deal on the car AND one of the trailers..or motor home...
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Old 03-20-2008, 11:45 AM
 
582 posts, read 2,032,769 times
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buyer beware!i can almost guarantee that you are going to need a lot more than a cam.try a new engine and that means that a 96 pontiac that needs an engine is worthless so i would see if you got it for free and even then an engine for that xar with parts and labor would be about 2g's.i would pass.
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Old 12-11-2012, 10:00 AM
 
Location: virden
9 posts, read 10,989 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mrs1885 View Post
Was offered a 96 Grand Am with a broken cam. They said it costs less than $150 for the part to replace it. Offered to sell it to me for $500.

Is that a good deal? Does the cam being broken mean there's potential for other problems that may be affected by it?

I'm looking at it as a project for my 17 year old son. He's a mechanical genius - mostly self taught from tinkering around under the hood of cars - and thought it would be something to put in the back pasture we don't use to keep him occupied.

However, if he gets it running he'll most likely sell it to his brother and I want to make sure if I do this it'll be worth it.
it happens more often then people think i am fixing one right now and you do have to pull motor to do this but it is not hard and you would want to check and see if anything that you can see once intake is off and cam is out was the cause but most likely the cam just snapped from wearing out and dirty oil was running right off it and bearing dried up and cam locked up as long as bearing is not scared then you can just slide new one in line it up and thats that if timing chain is loose you will want to replace and you could change lifters if you want if you replace timing chain bearing lifters and cam its a little over 300.00 to do so you can even get a used cam cause it dose happen but it dosn't just happen all the time
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Old 12-11-2012, 10:08 AM
 
1,263 posts, read 2,042,304 times
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Holy thread bump, Batman!
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Old 12-11-2012, 10:10 AM
 
Location: Northern MN
3,869 posts, read 15,128,519 times
Reputation: 3614
I snapped a cam on a ford Windsor 390ci
Threw 2 lobes threw the block.
I think the flailing connecting rod had something to do with it.

If the cam is broken the valve train/head needs repair maybe even a piston and rod too.
And is this a interference engine or not?

When the cam broke it sent metal shaving threw the whole engine.
What is the cost of a replacement engine, block, heads?
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