Do like me and start looking for a career changeo No: I plan on gettin' out while the gettin's good, and before GM's cars get any worse.
COOLING SYSYEM roberta, do you mean the dex-cool is cheaper in effectiveness or price? around our area dex-cool costs more than the green anti-freeze used for years.
You just gotta love these things. I get this thing all back together, and I get a new leak at the front of the intake. So I find this little jewel has a crack in it right where the Oring sits in the groove. Can you say....cheap! Anyone who has had these apart has seen these little elbows.... nothing holds them in, except the intake positioning. :af: The only way to get this tiny little elbow out is either pull the timing case cover or repull the lower and upper intake. Way to go GM....... LOL! :laugh: I suppose it could be worse......I could be putting an alternator on a 95 Monte Carlo with a 3.4 DOHC. Heck...... I tore my 70 apart, cleaned up the engine and did a new cam, springs, rockers, intake and all in less time it takes to do that alternator.......... I need a time machine. :grin: I miss the pre-computer days!
Light Vehicals Bite Me I've have been interested in this set of threads because I have been in the trade for almost 30 years and got smart about 15 years ago and got in to heavy equiptment. I started with motor coaches(40 foot Corvairs :laugh: ) and now on Coca-Cola trucks, tractors, and trailers and has been good to my back and hands :grin: . I still work on light vehicals as long as it is at list 30+ years old :grin: . AL
gm bite me mike, i know what you mean on the gm 3.4DOHC. if you ever tackle one of those alternators again, heres what i do. get a trans jack , place it underneath the cradle, take 2 cradle bolts out, loosen the other 2, lower the trans check and youll have plenty of room. ive found this procedure really saves time. this particular alternator job pays 3.2 hours and ive done them in 1.5 hours.
3.4 Dohc's are a misery... Starters are even a pain but the biggest nightmare is putting a knock sensor in one.... You get to drop the trans-axle... no shortcuts allowed... you can barely touch the thing with a bent coat hanger! sigh... I sure don't miss those days... Regards
Re: gm bite me Comes out with out the output shaft removed? hmmm...have to try that next time. I did a 96 Taurus with the 3.0 DOHC the other day that wasn't too bad.......still though, I had to pull the shaft out to get the Alt. to drop out. That thing did not want to come apart anywhere! Mike
After getting a few $500+ quotes to have the spark plugs and plug wires changed on my 1996 Z-28, I decided to do it myself. It took me just over 7 hours to do it--and that's with some mechanical experience and all the right tools on hand. Most of it was just trying to manipulate things by feel, but the alternator did have to come off. Oh yeah, I also had to wash my mouth out with soap when all was said and done.
Dale......it was the water pump going out on my '96 Riv that made me do the belts. I had the belts for about a year now, 'cause the originals were looking a little worn, but after looking at the SC set-up, I decided it could wait for a while. Glad I waited, otherwise I would've had to do it twice within a year when the water pump gave out. What a royal pain!
3800 gaskets i had to replace rocker gaskets on both sides of my 98 gs . took most of the day as i did a little cleaning . u have to remove a lot of hardware to replace the gaskets . had to buy a deep socket for one stud on the alternator bracket . the 3800 engine is notorious for leaky rocker arm gaskets . also , the covers are plastic & can warp , so u have to check for trueness . leaks are fixed now . however another problem , expensive , has again reared its ugly head . the climate control unit , i believe has crapped for the second time . first time was under warranty in jan 2001 . a/c ran all the time , no heat . now the opposite is true - heat but no a/c . these climate control units are known to be defective & p?ss poorly engineered . removing the battery cable & reattaching it can smoke the unit . would u believe that crap ?? in canada, cost is ~~ $750 . can buy from gmpartsdirect for `` $300 u.s. . will have dealer diagnose & if it is the climate ctrl unit , i will buy from gsmpartsdirect .
The intake gasket of my 91 also had an external leak for about 4 years but I never replaced it. But I had to replace the engine at 235000 Km as it was knocking.
I helped a friend do the intake gaskets in his 97 minivan with the 3.4l, what a pain in the butt. I have seen the 'embedded' style gaskets before, we use them on our aircraft, but they are made of aluminum, not plastic....GM should stop cheaping out so bad, people are getting sick of it already. later tim
Hey Mike? Is the GM red antifreeze bad stuff even for a 4.3L V6? I got 65K on a Jimmy, should I change it?
Re: Hey Mike? I would get it out of there early! They say it's supposed to run 150,000 miles.........ya, right! GM must be drumming up repair work through bad chemistry. Get the proven "green" antifreeze in there as soon as you can. I have seen everything from plugged heater cores, plugged up heads to destroyed radiators. This stuff crystallizes like mad! Take your radiator cap off and see if you see a little crust starting to develop around the cap..... Although the 4.3 isn't affected so bad because of the limited amount of aluminum in the engine....... Maybe it's just the cars with aluminum heads thats causing this......I dunno. The stuff is just bad news though. Mike
So......was it worth it ??? I paid to have the wires, plugs, O2's, ALL hoses, Optispark, and Water pump done on my '94 Roadmonster wagon. I think he hit me for just over $600 in labor I was thinking about doing it myself but it needed to get get done before a long trip (in that car) so it wasn't an potion. I did order the parts, online - he said he wouldn't warantee the work but that was OK because I saved over half what he wanted for the parts. Now...my Wife's wagon could use new plugs and wires and I'm wondering if I should attempt the 7 hour surgery. 7 Hour spec time to replace plugs and wires.....you're right !! Bite Me...GM !!
Yeah, it was definitely worth saving $500! But the plugs and wires that came out weren't really all that bad. The car had 56,000 miles on it and the plugs had already been changed once. The hard part was trying to stuff MSD 8.5mm wires in the wire guides that keep them from rubbing on the accessory belt (near the optispark). I didn't even bother trying to use ALL the factory wire clamps--impossible! As for the plugs themselves, the entire left side of the motor was done from underneath the car and the entire right side was done from above. The #1 hole (right side front) was the most difficult for me as it was a bad angle to work at. Are you familiar with this site? camaroZ28.com It's the BPG of F-body message boards--lots of great information and cool people. Don't believe them, though, when they tell you to remove the starter, exhaust cross pipe, and air pump in order to change the plugs. I didn't have to do any of that. I only used an assortment of fairly commone 3/8" drive extensions and one wobblie. Oh yeah, a stubby 3/8" ratchet came in handy. I'd say go for it if you've got an afternoon to kill and don't mind a cramped fingers!
3800 WOW I must be real lucky or something. I just traded in a 96 Olds 88 with the 3800 Series 2 engine an it had 144,000 completely trouble free miles. I purchased a 2000 Buick LeSabre with the same engine and 31,000 miles. Hope my good luck holds out. GM vehicles have been good to me for the last 40 years and still despite some of their engineering/management mistakes, I still am LOYAL to GM and Buick! :beer Ed
gm ed, every carmaker has had problems with one thing or another. some people dont realize that for a car to give you many trouble free miles you have to do the proper maintenance. i see many vehicles come into our shop that have .not been serviced in ages, yet the owner will bitch when he has multiple problems. a lot of you are too young to remember the days when you needed a tune-up every 10,000 miles. cars today are made better, but with more technology you are gonna have some problems.
3800 John, I see and fully understand your point about poor to no preventive maintenance by owners. I was surprised by the bad vibes coming from this thread that seemed to be coming from professional maintenance people. I have had at least one of may cars for the last 30 years with the 3.8 Buick engine and have only had one that gave me even the slightest bit of problem, just strong reliable performance on demand. True, todays cars are considerably more complex but more reliable. I have always done more than the required maintenance on my vehicle and they have responded with long service. As an aviation maintenace technician I value preventive maintenance. That old advertisement so aptly put it "Pay me now or pay me later" still applies. :TU: Ed
