3.4L GM Pontiac... Piston slap???

Ok so I recorded this for smart heads to tell me whether this is the infamous piston slap or what! Note, there is plenty of oil in the engine. Notice that around 3:50 the noise completely stops.

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• piston
• slap
• 02
• grand
• am
• pontiac
• 3.4L
• ticking
• engine

[Czcrd]

This sure as hell wasn't spark knock or wrong octane. The car ran 87 with 1 fill up of 93 per month. As for the dispute the MANUAL says 87 Octane! I still have the manual!!!

The car had the LIM go. Even with regular oil changes and synthetic oil, the LIM failed and let antifreeze into the oil creating an orange mayonnaise under the oil cap. I highly blame dex-cool and the amazing formula to keep running for 150K and eating gaskets. Car is long gone, traded it 2 weeks after this video was shot :)

[HEDONISTA65]

that noise is NORMAL In that engine.. cold start produces that noise,,, When engine is heat noise reduces.... Piston grow up and cleareance between piston and cylinder decrease......DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT.

[bigblockcutlass123]

clean the top of the pistons off. Crabon build up. There is less than .020 clearance between the head and pistons. A little bit of carbon and it nocks cold. Warms up and the clearance increase a bit.

[PkerMechanic]

@SuperTurboDiesel2 Sometimes, ya gotta keep it simple hahaha

[SuperTurboDiesel2]

@IDIDieselJohn: You were reading a little too far into the point I was trying to make. Anyhow, we are both basically correct. BTW, the bubbles actually implode, not "pop" (aka: explode), and the DCA4 converts the existing steel & rust that is present within any cooling system / engine into a hardened layer that helps to prevent cavitation. :-)

[SuperTurboDiesel2]

@IDIDieselJohn: Thanks, I already know about cavitation in diesels. I studied it in college years ago, and have also rebuilt several engines over the years that were victims of it. Cavitation is caused by piston slap harmonics, which creates a micronic cylinder liner wall expansion and contraction, forming little bubbles that bore through sleeves on wet sleeved engines. A side benefit of DCA4 is that it increases the useful life of coolant, by adding a protective layer within a cooling system.

[SuperTurboDiesel2]

@stunner72370: All I can say is pay me now, or pay me a helluva lot more later... LOL But hey, you do as you wish.  I'm not telling you what to do, it's your money. What I do know is that if you hang on to your GM product long enough with Dex always in it, it's only a matter of time before we'll see you in the repair shop. Bwahahahahahaaaaa!

[aluczaj2]

@SuperTurboDiesel2 I can repair almost anything on my car and have including the lower intake manifold gasket. I was just fishing for info. from an expert. Thanks.

[stunner72370]

@SuperTurboDiesel2 Okay, let's get specific here: Dex-Cool isn't corrosive. Metal (specifically, aluminum) DOES begin a disaster-in-the-making, inevitable corrosive death caused by AIR (which enters any improperly maintained cooling system) and its interaction with Dex-Cool. How many times have you done this repair for any of the millions of people driving GM vehicles with Dex-Cool inside a perfectly functional cooling system? That's what I thought. If it ain't broke, why would you fix it?

[stunner72370]

@WWBZT1 My aunt has a 2001 Impala with the same engine; that's how I became aware of the gasket issue. It only took 8 years and 98,000 miles (she doesn't drive much) for the coolant to eat it's way out of her car. When it happened, water leaked out as fast as I could pour it in the radiator. Oddly (I would have told her to skip it), she had bought some kind of warranty somewhere that towed the note for the $700 or so Mr. Goodwrench charged to replace the gasket, etc. Stout engine, though.

[SuperTurboDiesel2]

@WWBZT1: Yeah, don't get me wrong, I love the 3.1L, 3.4L, & 3.8L engines. Take care of the intake gasket (and lifters if necessary) issue early, keep the engine oil changed properly, and they are great engines that do seem to run "forever"! Especially here in the rust belt state of NY, where cars never outlast their engines b/c if the engines are worth a damn, the bodies always rot away first, no matter who builds 'em. Manufacturers will keep building 'em cheap as possible, that won't change.