3800 Question on Plastic Intakes

[IDOXLR8]

I bought one of the better aftermarket plastic intakes and there are no details on the PCV valve or spring or anything to do with putting it together. I have the GM service manual and it shows the unit complete like plug and play but there all kinds og "O" rings and plastic parts in the kit. Anyone have any pictures that can be faxed or e-mailed? Thanks AL.

[zz2h33]

Al, you might get a better response if you ask over at www.regalgs.org or www.clubgp.com.

Sorry, I cant help directly.

[psuiewalsh]

Al, I know that we make and assemble some of those manifolds in our plant. If you could give me the part number of the factory manifold I may be able to get some info.

Keith

[jamyers]

Which year 3800?

I've found good info like that over at The Automotive Forums' Buick section (http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=727).

I just got a bunch of info on replacing the Upper Intake Manifold on '95-'98 Series II 3800's. It's got .pdfs of chassis manual pages, plus a bunch of pictures and notes on replacing the upper intake, plus info on drive belt replacement, thermostat and cooling repl, etc.

If this is what you're looking for, let me know and I'll email it to you. It's just over 3MB in size zipped.

[IDOXLR8]

Thanks for the posts! :3gears: :beer It was a no brainer and went together well. The bad part was after it was together it ran great then started lossing oil pressure to the upper end and now the engine needs to come out, AL.

[jamyers]

Uf-dah. Sorry to hear that. :(

[IDOXLR8]

Uf-dah. Sorry to hear that. :(

I talked to Ed Marod about this and said thats normal for this engine to fail after a plastic intake failure. So it looks like I'm pulling the 3800 and will more then likely replace it with a reman, AL.

[70lark]

I talked to Ed Marod about this and said thats normal for this engine to fail after a plastic intake failure. So it looks like I'm pulling the 3800 and will more then likely replace it with a reman, AL.

Why is it normal for the engine to fail? I've just got back into a 3.8 and that makes me nervous.

[IDOXLR8]

Why is it normal for the engine to fail? I've just got back into a 3.8 and that makes me nervous.

He said the coolant is the killer. I had a major failure where the coolant entered all the cylinders. The thing to look out for is if you start seeing a loss of coolant with no leaks and if you catch it soon before a major failure you will be okay, AL.

[jamyers]

Yup, watch your coolant level like you do (should) your oil level.

I really really like the 3.8 / 3800 engines, but this is another example of GM's bean-counter "management" style costing them customers right and left. GM could have acted via recall, warranty, or something, and they could have fixed/re-engineered it a couple of years sooner, but - instead they just wait until its out of warranty and then say "oh, well".

And their latest solution? Replace the LeSabre and Park Avenue with the unbelievable crappy Lucerne / Lacrosse, neither of which is half the cars they replaced. Oh, and MORE SUV'S!!!

I'll get down off my soapbox now...

[IDOXLR8]

I'm now in the market for a new 3800. I saw one one ebay asking $500.00 with 70K miles, but it scares me to buy a engine I never heard run, AL.

[Sturmgewehr]

I'm now in the market for a new 3800. I saw one one ebay asking $500.00 with 70K miles, but it scares me to buy a engine I never heard run, AL. Understand your frustration Al--I bought my supercharged 3800 3 years ago with 75,000 miles it has 116,000 right now
it has run LOW 14's in the quarter--these are TOUGH engines--Ive had 5 in
the last 10 years--one had 180,000 and would probably still be running except
my son got totaled in a rearend collision! Maybe you could spend a little more
and get a running engine---I figure my 10 year old Regal with EXCELLENT
body and 116000 miles is only worth $3500 and I KNOW it runs. Pete
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