You are not lying, Brother. We have a 1998 Buick LeSabre and a 2004. Both of them have the venerable 3800 Series II V6 engine. Cheap, durable, fuel efficient, comfortable, and ubiquitous parts.🙏
I bought an 02 Buick Park Ave last year with 87k miles in really nice shape for $1000. Really happy with it. Think I'll be driving it for years to come.
I wouldn’t push any engine beyond 8k for an oil change. But I would certainly change the filter more periodically if I did. Today’s engines running full synthetic and practically zero weight isn’t the issue. It’s debris buildup.
My brother-in-law had one of these and he loved it. He never had any problems with it until.... One day when he started it he heard a loud bang and the car caught fire. He insisted someone put a bomb in his car. The police and fire marshall were called to investigate and didn't find any evidence of a bomb. When I tried to load it on a flatbed to take to the junkyard I noticed the aluminum subframe was broken and the engine was falling out the bottom. It apparently pulled off the gas line when It broke and dumped gas on a hot engine. The bang he heard was the aluminum casting breaking. I called the cop who was investigating. Case closed. I checked the internet and found that this wasn't a unique experience for these Buicks. There wasn't a recall so maybe it didn't happen that often or maybe because GM was going bankrupt and covered it up.
Yup they leaked there easily replaced with upgraded metal ones. Also the plastic intakes tend to leak after many years especially in dry climates that are harder on plastics
My favorite GM engines that are everywhere and proven. Small block V8- in several iterations. 455 Big Block Buick. 4200 Inline Six. And of course the Series II 3800. I have heard that the Series III is also very good. I invite your thoughts.
@duranbailiff5337 Great Question Really any GM Overhead Valve Engine OHV was good. Buick was noted for their quality in their heyday and even distinguished themselves apart from Chevy and other GM engines because they just went a step ahead in terms of quality and reliability. Skip forward to today and that simply isn't the case GM is GM across the board for better or worse they really all went downhill after the mid 2000s financial crisis. I think back to the Ford 5.4 V8 Trition 2V was an amazing engine they can run 300k plus too until 2004. Ford swapped out the 2 valve for a 3 valve and added Variable Valve Timing was great unitl they oil ports clogged and slugged up the VVT system and self-destructed the motors. All that extra power just sent it to the junkyard faster! This is also about the time to the manufacturers started extending oil drain intervals and reducing the viscosity of oils to the thinnest possible oil they could. All bad ideas
They also had the supercharged 3.8 as an option in a car built by GM's Australian subsidiary, Holden (rest in peace to that brand, sorry to say). It was the Commodore, and it had the supercharged variant available from somewhere in the late '90s until they put the 3.6 high feature V6 into them instead. I was an engineer at Holden during the GFC, and when I was unsure whether we would be staying open or not, I bought a VZ Commodore - the first one with the 3.6. It was down to this or a top-spec supercharged 3.8 from a few years before. Given the troubles I've had with the 3.6 (not an absolute deal-breaker, but still a bit of a pain), I wish I had bought the supercharged 3.8. My parents have a '95 Commodore with the 3.8 "Ecotec" engine (I think that's the "series 3" 3.8 - note that the supercharged engine was the previous series continued past its normal use-by date). Their engine and mine have about the same mileage on them (about 320,000km, or 200,000miles), and their 3.8 definitely has more life left in it than my 3.6, despite how they've had a blown head gasket and I haven't. Theirs doesn't use much oil at all, and mine has the usual oil-drinking problem (though, I've found that using a semi-synthetic oil made for gasoline direct injection engines seems to have reduced the oil consumption from 1L / 1qt per 1000km / 600mi to about 1L per 5000km, which suggests that my engine's problem was probably an oil that misted too easily and went through the PCV breather). Australia made our own 3.8 (except the supercharged ones) and 3.6 from the late 90s until Commodore was no longer made in Australia. Word on the street was that if the 3.8 hadn't "thrown a leg out of bed" in the first 100km (not a common issue - it happened to an engineer's lease car in his driveway the first day he had it, so it was a bit of an in-joke), it was good for at least 300,000km, as long as it was maintained properly. I've heard of a taxi getting more than a million km (600,000miles) on a 3.8 in Sydney without anything more than regular servicing. If they're treated right, they're essentially bulletproof.
05 Lesabre here with 239000 miles on it. Not finicky about oil changes and other maintenance. Some knowledge and lots of common sense goes a long way on these. I am looking at several hundred to get the upper intake replaced because of oil leakage. Also running into unobtanium on bushings for the rear suspension. My wife is on me constantly to replace it because of cosmetic issues. If I end up with something that has the 3.6, I wonder if a 3800 could be swapped in. The 3.6 can be long lived with high diligence and punctuality in maintenance, and there is more to it than keeping oil changes under 5000 miles on the 3.6
3800 would likely not swap very easy there is always someone though that could find a way to do some hack job and make it work the ECU or computer as they say would not be compatible. The reason these 3.6L came along was for more power and better emissions
@@FixYourCar-Eric Uhm yeah, there are shops that build custom harnesses for plugging the engine with its ECU into the receiving car. And yes, the 3800 probably got discontinued because they had reached the limits of what could be done with one lonely cam in the middle of the block. That said, engines with dual overhead cams and cam phasers for VVT are a much more complex system that is more susceptible to oil sludging and gumming and varnishing that occur with the extended oil change intervals the manufacturers give these engines. I wouldn't go over 5000 miles on an oil change with these engines. Along with that, direct fuel injection does NOT clean the intake ports and back of the intake valves. An oil separator (catch can) in the PCV system helps alleviate that. The GM 3.6L engine in particular has issues with the PCV valve clogging and allowing crankcase pressure to build and then blow oil past seals, causing an increase in oil consumption, with high risk of running the engine low on oil and destroying it. I haven't researched where the water pump is on the GM 3.6, but there are a number of engines that have the water pump inside and driven by the timing chain system. Water pumps do leak eventually, and the ones inside the timing cover will contaminate the oil, causing major damage to the engine. For me, I see the GM 3.6 as an engine that has some shortcomings in design and is high risk failure prone if not modified, upgraded, and maintained by higher standards than GM's design. Oh, and the gas mileage is questionably lower on the 3.6 than the 3800.
dont know much about that one ill look into it though turbo engines imo are to be avoided then need more frequent oil changes than NA cars do. And less than 25% of folks take care of their cars properly
My parents have the 3.8L in their '95 Holden Commodore (GM car made in Australia), with over 320,000km (200,000mi) on it, and it has never had the timing chain replaced, and it's still going strong. The thing about timing chains in any engine is that they need the oil to be replaced regularly to keep the engine from getting sludge build-up and wearing (AKA: "stretching") the chain. People look at the extended oil change intervals and fail to look at the notes that say that if they're not doing virtually 100% free-flowing highway driving with the engine up to normal operating temperature, then the service interval needs to be halved. So they're servicing their car half as often as they should be (or even less), and even then, they think "it's only a little bit over the service interval," and they wonder why their engine dies prematurely. In Sydney there was a Holden Commodore taxi that had over a million km (600,000mi) on it, and it had only ever had normal servicing done. Unless the engines for the Australian market got better quality timing chains than the engines for the other markets (which would've been unusual for GM's purchasing policies - at least the way they were while I worked for the company), there should be no difference between the Australian engines and the ones for the rest of the world. Perhaps you might be conflating the timing chain in the 3.8 with the timing chains in the 3.6?
You are not lying, Brother. We have a 1998 Buick LeSabre and a 2004. Both of them have the venerable 3800 Series II V6 engine. Cheap, durable, fuel efficient, comfortable, and ubiquitous parts.🙏
I bought an 02 Buick Park Ave last year with 87k miles in really nice shape for $1000. Really happy with it. Think I'll be driving it for years to come.
I wouldn’t push any engine beyond 8k for an oil change. But I would certainly change the filter more periodically if I did. Today’s engines running full synthetic and practically zero weight isn’t the issue. It’s debris buildup.
I have a 97 and I agree with this review.
My brother-in-law had one of these and he loved it. He never had any problems with it until.... One day when he started it he heard a loud bang and the car caught fire. He insisted someone put a bomb in his car. The police and fire marshall were called to investigate and didn't find any evidence of a bomb. When I tried to load it on a flatbed to take to the junkyard I noticed the aluminum subframe was broken and the engine was falling out the bottom. It apparently pulled off the gas line when It broke and dumped gas on a hot engine. The bang he heard was the aluminum casting breaking. I called the cop who was investigating. Case closed. I checked the internet and found that this wasn't a unique experience for these Buicks. There wasn't a recall so maybe it didn't happen that often or maybe because GM was going bankrupt and covered it up.
That is a crazy story man and sounds like a freak accident as well.
I believe these engines also suffered from coolant leaks due to plastic water jackets. Easily replaced.
Yup they leaked there easily replaced with upgraded metal ones. Also the plastic intakes tend to leak after many years especially in dry climates that are harder on plastics
My favorite GM engines that are everywhere and proven. Small block V8- in several iterations. 455 Big Block Buick. 4200 Inline Six. And of course the Series II 3800. I have heard that the Series III is also very good. I invite your thoughts.
@duranbailiff5337 Great Question Really any GM Overhead Valve Engine OHV was good. Buick was noted for their quality in their heyday and even distinguished themselves apart from Chevy and other GM engines because they just went a step ahead in terms of quality and reliability. Skip forward to today and that simply isn't the case GM is GM across the board for better or worse they really all went downhill after the mid 2000s financial crisis. I think back to the Ford 5.4 V8 Trition 2V was an amazing engine they can run 300k plus too until 2004. Ford swapped out the 2 valve for a 3 valve and added Variable Valve Timing was great unitl they oil ports clogged and slugged up the VVT system and self-destructed the motors. All that extra power just sent it to the junkyard faster! This is also about the time to the manufacturers started extending oil drain intervals and reducing the viscosity of oils to the thinnest possible oil they could. All bad ideas
Didn’t Pontiac supercharge a 3.8? It had coolant leaking issues but if done correctly nice upgrade.
@rolandthethompsongunner64 yes i beleive they put that engine in certain firebird/trans am in the 90s.
They also had the supercharged 3.8 as an option in a car built by GM's Australian subsidiary, Holden (rest in peace to that brand, sorry to say). It was the Commodore, and it had the supercharged variant available from somewhere in the late '90s until they put the 3.6 high feature V6 into them instead.
I was an engineer at Holden during the GFC, and when I was unsure whether we would be staying open or not, I bought a VZ Commodore - the first one with the 3.6. It was down to this or a top-spec supercharged 3.8 from a few years before. Given the troubles I've had with the 3.6 (not an absolute deal-breaker, but still a bit of a pain), I wish I had bought the supercharged 3.8.
My parents have a '95 Commodore with the 3.8 "Ecotec" engine (I think that's the "series 3" 3.8 - note that the supercharged engine was the previous series continued past its normal use-by date). Their engine and mine have about the same mileage on them (about 320,000km, or 200,000miles), and their 3.8 definitely has more life left in it than my 3.6, despite how they've had a blown head gasket and I haven't. Theirs doesn't use much oil at all, and mine has the usual oil-drinking problem (though, I've found that using a semi-synthetic oil made for gasoline direct injection engines seems to have reduced the oil consumption from 1L / 1qt per 1000km / 600mi to about 1L per 5000km, which suggests that my engine's problem was probably an oil that misted too easily and went through the PCV breather).
Australia made our own 3.8 (except the supercharged ones) and 3.6 from the late 90s until Commodore was no longer made in Australia. Word on the street was that if the 3.8 hadn't "thrown a leg out of bed" in the first 100km (not a common issue - it happened to an engineer's lease car in his driveway the first day he had it, so it was a bit of an in-joke), it was good for at least 300,000km, as long as it was maintained properly. I've heard of a taxi getting more than a million km (600,000miles) on a 3.8 in Sydney without anything more than regular servicing. If they're treated right, they're essentially bulletproof.
05 Lesabre here with 239000 miles on it. Not finicky about oil changes and other maintenance. Some knowledge and lots of common sense goes a long way on these. I am looking at several hundred to get the upper intake replaced because of oil leakage. Also running into unobtanium on bushings for the rear suspension. My wife is on me constantly to replace it because of cosmetic issues. If I end up with something that has the 3.6, I wonder if a 3800 could be swapped in. The 3.6 can be long lived with high diligence and punctuality in maintenance, and there is more to it than keeping oil changes under 5000 miles on the 3.6
3800 would likely not swap very easy there is always someone though that could find a way to do some hack job and make it work the ECU or computer as they say would not be compatible. The reason these 3.6L came along was for more power and better emissions
@@FixYourCar-Eric Uhm yeah, there are shops that build custom harnesses for plugging the engine with its ECU into the receiving car. And yes, the 3800 probably got discontinued because they had reached the limits of what could be done with one lonely cam in the middle of the block. That said, engines with dual overhead cams and cam phasers for VVT are a much more complex system that is more susceptible to oil sludging and gumming and varnishing that occur with the extended oil change intervals the manufacturers give these engines. I wouldn't go over 5000 miles on an oil change with these engines. Along with that, direct fuel injection does NOT clean the intake ports and back of the intake valves. An oil separator (catch can) in the PCV system helps alleviate that. The GM 3.6L engine in particular has issues with the PCV valve clogging and allowing crankcase pressure to build and then blow oil past seals, causing an increase in oil consumption, with high risk of running the engine low on oil and destroying it. I haven't researched where the water pump is on the GM 3.6, but there are a number of engines that have the water pump inside and driven by the timing chain system. Water pumps do leak eventually, and the ones inside the timing cover will contaminate the oil, causing major damage to the engine. For me, I see the GM 3.6 as an engine that has some shortcomings in design and is high risk failure prone if not modified, upgraded, and maintained by higher standards than GM's design. Oh, and the gas mileage is questionably lower on the 3.6 than the 3800.
A Bonnevile SLE would be a god alternative to it
3.8 is a good engine, I`d take a Crown Vic.
What about the 2011- 2016 Buick Regal GS 2.0 Turbo RWD or Awd and fast really fast.
dont know much about that one ill look into it though turbo engines imo are to be avoided then need more frequent oil changes than NA cars do. And less than 25% of folks take care of their cars properly
@FixYourCar-Eric agree, but this car has a 2.0 Turbo 4 cylinder so cost is not that bad and this engine is used in the Chevy Malibu.
BS GM couldn't make a timing Chain to save their own lives...250K and its toast and its a shit expensive job to do
A timing chain shouldn’t last that long. Not to mention it’s an easy change on a 3.8.
My parents have the 3.8L in their '95 Holden Commodore (GM car made in Australia), with over 320,000km (200,000mi) on it, and it has never had the timing chain replaced, and it's still going strong. The thing about timing chains in any engine is that they need the oil to be replaced regularly to keep the engine from getting sludge build-up and wearing (AKA: "stretching") the chain. People look at the extended oil change intervals and fail to look at the notes that say that if they're not doing virtually 100% free-flowing highway driving with the engine up to normal operating temperature, then the service interval needs to be halved. So they're servicing their car half as often as they should be (or even less), and even then, they think "it's only a little bit over the service interval," and they wonder why their engine dies prematurely. In Sydney there was a Holden Commodore taxi that had over a million km (600,000mi) on it, and it had only ever had normal servicing done. Unless the engines for the Australian market got better quality timing chains than the engines for the other markets (which would've been unusual for GM's purchasing policies - at least the way they were while I worked for the company), there should be no difference between the Australian engines and the ones for the rest of the world.
Perhaps you might be conflating the timing chain in the 3.8 with the timing chains in the 3.6?
The good ole ecotecs
Never late in a 3.8 mate