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[RotaryGeek]

Any body got one? My neighbor is this dumbass  who doesn't know shit about cars. He has a 95 buick lesabre deluxe edition or whatever. It has a loud clank in the top end. I told him that it will need a new motor. He is like 19 and has a newborn with his girl and doesn't have any money, so he said $200 for the car and if i don't buy it, it will just end up in a junkyard. I got the car to my house and pulled the valve covers off and it looks and sounds like it has collapsed lifters. It needs a new battery, stereo, headliner, and put the a/c compresser back on, but other than that, its mint. 44k miles on it. Its a pretty smooth car considering my dd is a 94 civic fo do, and my girl drives a yoda echo. Is it worth dumping money into? My dad will be helping me out with the money part, ill pretty much just have to do the work. Im not 100% sure its collapsed lifters, but all the cylinders were opening and it does run. Just has this loud clanking in the top end. So what do you all think?

[snm95ls]

They are good cars, but with only 44k miles on the clock, it has obviously spent a large portion of its life sitting.  That shit is almost as bad as not maintaining a car.

For little to no money, you could have a damn good car.  The 3800 is a solid fucking engine, and I can't think of any major issues with the H body cars.

[RotaryGeek]

Well i have never touched a buick before, so i don't know. I do see that the oil pressure light is on, and the pressure gauge says 0, so im thinking a failed oil pump. Almost no oil is coming out of the lifters at all. I am thinking collapsed lifter/ maybe an oil pump. But for $200, it has got to be worth it. It gives me an excuse to hang out with my dad some more, and i haven't really gotten to work on a car since i moved out almost a two years ago.... so it will be nice getting dirty again.

[snm95ls]

If it is clattering and there is no oil pressure, that engine is fucked.  That is a shame since it did have low mileage.

GM made millions of those engines, so finding one should be easy as long as Cash for Clunkers didn't kill off a bunch of them.  i kind of doubt C4C did though.

[Ravage70]

recycle it and make an extra $100

[turbostd]

Those are pretty nice cars. watch out for the plastic intakes though if its a series 2 motor they like to let coolant into the cylinders. Had to replace the intake on my dads 95 park ave twice now and the car only has 125k. Ours is now low on oil pressure at idle for some reason. we think its all the coolant i has ingested ate the bearings :/ 95 was an oddball year for those too so some stuff is 95 only.

[RotaryGeek]

I don't like single year only things..... But it does have the plastic intake manifold. Ill make damn sure i won't over tighten those bolts though. So far, the general concensus is good about the car though.

[Sinister]

I beat the piss out of mine to 180k miles before shit started to fall apart. Solid car  :yes:

[RotaryGeek]

I beat the piss out of mine to 180k miles before shit started to fall apart. Solid car  :yes:

Thats the kind of stuff i want to hear. My real only problem with it is i think i might be too white to drive it. Its kinda gangsta.

[arsenio]

twankies.

[snm95ls]

I beat the piss out of mine to 180k miles before shit started to fall apart. Solid car  :yes:

Thats the kind of stuff i want to hear. My real only problem with it is i think i might be too white to drive it. Its kinda gangsta.

They were predominately old white folks cars.

Intake manifold leaks are nothing out of the ordinary for GM vehicles.  Luckily they are pretty cake to take care of on most.  3800s are super easy to work on in a big chassis such as an H car.

If you pick up another engine, do yourself a favor and do a complete intake reseal on it.  This includes lower intake gaskets, upper intake gaskets, and possibly a new intake manifold, as well as the coolant bypass elbow.

Follow the torquing procedure for all of the intake bolts, and use a damn torque wrench on them.  

[arsenio]

I beat the piss out of mine to 180k miles before shit started to fall apart. Solid car  :yes:

Thats the kind of stuff i want to hear. My real only problem with it is i think i might be too white to drive it. Its kinda gangsta.

They were predominately old white folks cars.

Intake manifold leaks are nothing out of the ordinary for GM vehicles.  Luckily they are pretty cake to take care of on most.  3800s are super easy to work on in a big chassis such as an H car.

If you pick up another engine, do yourself a favor and do a complete intake reseal on it.  This includes lower intake gaskets, upper intake gaskets, and possibly a new intake manifold, as well as the coolant bypass elbow.

Follow the torquing procedure for all of the intake bolts, and use a damn torque wrench on them.  

if it has the plastic manifold, i think replacing it is the only way to get it to seal.

[97Econobox]

Why don't you help him fix it instead of buying it from him since hes 19 and has a baby.

Help him out, not everyone makes great decisions but its not to say that makes him a bad dude.  you never know someones story.  I just cant imagine 200 bucks helping a guy that has a newborn if it means he now has no car.

granted i dont know the back story.

[snm95ls]

if it has the plastic manifold, i think replacing it is the only way to get it to seal.

Not exactly.  The main failure is the gaskets themselves.  The plastic carrier likes to crumble after a billion heat cycles, and the neoprene seals turn to mush over time.  I think the issue with the neoprene seals is the general lack of coolant maintenance which probably leads to a nice fat pH imbalance.

[arsenio]

if it has the plastic manifold, i think replacing it is the only way to get it to seal.

Not exactly.  The main failure is the gaskets themselves.  The plastic carrier likes to crumble after a billion heat cycles, and the neoprene seals turn to mush over time.  I think the issue with the neoprene seals is the general lack of coolant maintenance which probably leads to a nice fat pH imbalance.

no, im right.

wile you are in there, that the "runner" sleeve out and manke it just one huge plenum. it makes power.

[Doug]

Fix it and flip it. Almost everything has a price in my book. If I'm going to make a profit it's going to get sold.

[RotaryGeek]

Why don't you help him fix it instead of buying it from him since hes 19 and has a baby.

Help him out, not everyone makes great decisions but its not to say that makes him a bad dude.  you never know someones story.  I just cant imagine 200 bucks helping a guy that has a newborn if it means he now has no car.

granted i dont know the back story.

Lol he drives a nice new honda element, so im not feeling bad for him. This all sounds pretty good though. Plentifull motors, not a whole lot of problems, and a decent platform to start off with.

[onlyflash944]

I had a 96 corsica with the v-6 and it did the dissapearing coolant trick.  was on my way to work, about 40 miles, and before i even got out of town, the temp gauge was pegged.  pulled over, threw some water in it and drove to work.  went to leave from work, checked the reservior and it was empty again with no signs of leaks.  checked dipstick and it was about 3 inches higher than it should have been.  towed it home and drained about a gallon and a half of water out of it, then the rest of the motor oil.  i was really suprised that it didn't hurt the bottom end but i guess i got lucky.  put some new 'upgraded' uper intake gaskets on it and sold that shit first chance i got.  drove the car for about 15k miles and still made 300 bucks on the deal  


btw, new lifters aren't that expensive if you really want to fix the car

[snm95ls]

no, im right.

wile you are in there, that the "runner" sleeve out and manke it just one huge plenum. it makes power.

Ok.

[Sinister]

I had the palstic intake mani, since mine was one of the recalled ones it had a new plastic IM on it that never had issues.

You could swipe an old metal 3.8 intake from an 80's gm if you really felt the need, but you'd have to relocate the maf/filter/etc since it'd be pointing the opposite direction 

[nock]

we found a lesabre in the pits by donas truck stop in marysville when i was a kid (like 15) i think it was older than '95. we got all the field mice out of it, got it running, jumped it, tryed to roll it, crashed it, drove it around with a 35 foot long tree in back seat, tryed to jump it with the tree in the back (bad idea) finally ben crashed it into this big fucking rock it didnt start again. so we dropped the tank and torched it. awhile after that we stuffed the trunk full of wood and made a BBQ  now everytime i see one of those piles of shit thats all i think about, a big ghetto ass fuckin tale gate party.

[Robb]

They give us those 3.8 buicks to drive to school in atlanta.  Keeps my white ass safe in the ghetto.  Nobody looks twice. 

The s2's have pretty decent power imo.  I would have one as a daily.  Intakes arent that expensive anymore. I remember when they were $200, I think they are below $150 if you buy one from GM (fuck that).

[arsenio]

there is a newer buick running around jacksonville that someone turbo'd, i will look for the videos
.
ok, so its a regal from stage6, and its a little newer. But it has basically the same motor.


http://videos.streetfire.net/vidiac.swf?video=81afdebc-c5cb-44c7-9782-9a6f00479638

[Joseph Davis]

Why don't you help him fix it instead of buying it from him since hes 19 and has a baby.

Help him out, not everyone makes great decisions but its not to say that makes him a bad dude.  you never know someones story.  I just cant imagine 200 bucks helping a guy that has a newborn if it means he now has no car.

granted i dont know the back story.

Lol he drives a nice new honda element, so im not feeling bad for him.

So he's 19 with no education or real income, and now he's not only saddled with th kid and a new car payment he can barely afford, but the family is down to one car.  Class act, justifying it because he's

this dumbass 

[RotaryGeek]

Oh quit bitching jd, this guys mom pays for everything. And they live at his girls moms house and she pays for everything that his mom doesn't cover. I don't even feel a little bad about getting the car off of him cuz they are well taken care of. I on the other hand, could really use a better 4 door car for my son too, becuase the civic is unreliable and the echo is 2 door.

[Joseph Davis]

In that light I'd have told him the car's worth $100 tops and beaten him down on the price.  You should have stated that and left the stuff out.

[RotaryGeek]

In that light I'd have told him the car's worth $100 tops and beaten him down on the price.  You should have stated that and left the stuff out.

But its true. He is  as hell. He is a gangsta. Seems like everytime i get drunk around him im trying to fight him for some reason too.

[Joseph Davis]

In that light I'd have told him the car's worth $100 tops and beaten him down on the price.  You should have stated that and left the stuff out.

But its true. He is  as hell. He is a gangsta. Seems like everytime i get drunk around him im trying to fight him for some reason too.

Because you're racist?

[onlyflash944]

In that light I'd have told him the car's worth $100 tops and beaten him down on the price.  You should have stated that and left the stuff out.

But its true. He is  as hell. He is a gangsta. Seems like everytime i get drunk around him im trying to fight him for some reason too.

Because you're racist?

i'm not racist, my best friend was african american until my dad sold him

[HiProfile]

Those are hydro lifters right? No oil pressure gets you tons of valve lash.

The good thing is 3800's aren't gold like hype-r's, the bad is it may not be worth the time.