Could only keep one

I'm going to buy my wife an SUV so i got no need for three 4 doors (park ave, lucerne, Corolla). I'm going to keep the stick shift Corolla for fuel economy or long trip/back up car and sell one of my Buicks to fund the new SUV some more.

If you ever owned one or both which one would you keep between a 2000 park Avenue ultra or a 2006 lucerne. Both have the 3.8. The park ave has a series 2 with a super charger and the lucerne has a series 3.

 

I plan to rest my truck and her Corolla at home still ready to roll, and her drive the SUV and I drive the Buick daily.

 

Made my decision and I'm going to go with the park Avenue because it seats one more and has more space in the inside and trunk. I also did not like having a battery under the back seat in the lucerne.

So I started to work on the park Avenue and got it running. I bought the car for 500 with out hearing it run. the super charger belt was gone and the idler pulley on the sc belt was was gone or worn down. When I started it, it made a racket so I captured it on utube for some advice. I tried listening with a long stick to isolate the noise but it's so loud it all sounds the same. Car will go in reverse and forward.

 

Thanks Brad, if it was that would make this car worth more fixing right?

 

Cars are expensive. Looks nice from what I can see. Drop in a used 30k motor.

 

Aww, c'mon, rev it right up.

 

Def a rod bearing. Dig a hole.

 

Should be able to locate another engine and swap it. You only have $500 in it. My son bought an sc3800 for $600 and it came with wiring harness, trans, computer and such. Just have to locate one and get it swapped in.

 

Where are you located? I have a low miles SC3.8 and trans from a '98 Riviera, in CT.

 

He lives in Ca.

 

That can be a problem...

 

There is one glimmer of hope that I can think of, Ronnie. Pull the inspection cover on the bottom of the transmission and make sure the torque converter bolts/nuts are tight, and see if you can see the flexplate, check it for cracks. I've heard loose coverters and cracked flexplates make some horrible knocking noises. If the converter is tight and the flexplate looks good, that engine is almost certainly toasted.

EDIT: Oh, and you better make sure all your cars have a step on the brake to shift feature! Junior clearly knows how to make the car go

 

Open oil filter and look for debris.

 

If its not the flex plate and is a bad rod, then you could do the old used car lot fix where they would drop the pan, remove the offending rod cap, remove what's left of the bearings and install a strip of thick leather or 2 strips to take up the slack then reinstall the cap, pan and done. Just make sure the strip(s) are slightly wider than the rod cap, this will make it harder for the leather to pop out.(I have never tried this, just heard the story from a used car lot mechanic and he swore by it back then)

If the crank isn't to damaged the above repair can last 5 minutes or 10,000 miles?

If you do get a used engine for the car, make sure you hear it run before you buy it or its just a core so spend appropriately.

 

Dang guys thanks for all the responses. Today I plan to do what Lucas said then pull the pan to check all the rod caps for play. If nothing then I'll pull all the caps off and check the bearing life.

Little Eli learns fast, I learned that when he took my car keys a while back and tried to stick them in his car push toy to power it, I guess he wants more torque and hp like most of us.
@1972Mach1 what do you mean a step on the brake?. Even tho the little guy weighs 22 lbs he has so much strength so soon I see him moving that shifter

 

If I go buy a used engine I would need a supercharged one right? So the computer wont give me the gremlins right?

I seen some but ugly ultras that are running good for 600.

 

First I'm going to find the problem, this is fun.