I have an obvious issue that being my engine locked up and need serious help in the way of options that will work for someone with a poverty income.

I have a 1998 3.8 v6 camaro. I was driving hom from work when suddenly my oil pressure dropped and pinging started. I made it to my street before the car just shut off. I was told that on this car a senser shut off my fuel pump when it sensed that my oil pressure hit a critcal low.

I had it towed to a shop and they checked it and called me about an half hour ago.
They told me my crank may be damaged because there was metal fragments on my dipstick, and that my engine is locked up. They said they turned it over a few time but then it was locked.... They presented me with two options that I cannot do no matter how badly I want my car to work. The first of which was a new jasper engine for $5,000 and the second option was a used engine for $3,000.

I simply do not have that kind of money and cannot get a loan.
I am willing to put forth the effort to rebuild the engine if thats a possibility with the idea that it may take some time only buying parts as I can afford them. I am open to all suggestions but keep in mind I do not have thousands of dollars to spend. At best I could save up $1,000 dollars within this year maybe. I do not want to get rid of the camaro, I still have 3 payments to pay it off aswell. This is a sad situation for me.

Ive only had the car for thirteen months.

Thanks for any suggestions.

 

if you know any reputable wrecking yards call and see what they have that will work for u and cost. seems like u could get one thats in your budget range. how many miles on the car? any warranty?

 

most of the 3k the shop quoted u is labor. major savings doing it yourself.

 

sounds like you do need a new engine,the only way to find whats wrong is to tear the engine down.Im betting the engine stopped cause lack of oil pressure

 

Forget rebuilding your motor. As a general rule any motor that has locked up due to running out of oil pressure is not worth fixing unless its rare or you are trying to keep the car numbers matching. In most cases even if you did want to go the rebuilt route you would buy a "Core" from a yard and rebuild that.

On the plus side you have one of the more comon GM engines. The 96 thru 04 "K" 3800 was put in so many models. When I was looking for a motor I found them for as little as $250 out of FWD cars. I went for one out of an 02 camaro for $650 with only 40K on it. The junk yards will tell you that a FWD engine will not fit but as long as you strip it down to the long block and use all your bolt on parts it will be fine. infact if you look up the replacement part number for your engine it list like 20 differnet models of cars it will fit. Just make sure its a "3800 K"

On the down side pulling the motor is not easy. It will be really tuff if its your first one and you do not have a large well equipt shop. Check out the build thread in my sig.

 

As long as you are paying for it still, I still belongs to the finance company, see if they can halp you out, couldnt hurt to ask. Otherwise Gorn is exactly right, you can find an older FWD one and do it yourself. I would at least check the journals on the block to see if it can be salvaged.

 

Thanks for the replies, I did find a company called Fliteline off of ebay motors and based out of arkansas that rebuilds engines and they sell the one for my camaro for like $1700.
It would take me some time to save that amount but its far more douable than the prices quoted me by the mechanic shop.

I'll see if I can find a salvage yard that knows something about there cars they have but for the most part the places Ive been to dont know anything or just dont care. They basically just expect you to figure out for yourself if what your buying is anygood.

If you had the money would you just buy a rebuild with all new parts or would you still go the salvage yard route?

I do plan to keep the engine thats locked up and maybe rebuild it overtime for a future replacement, that seems like a good idea to me for some reason. Gorn, I will check out the build thread I'm gonna need the help as its been many years since Ive done any major work on a car, but I cant afford and dont want to keep paying payments forever.

I dont think the place I bought the car from is gonna help me. I only have 3 payments left, its 11 years old sold as is, no interest payments and direct payments to the car lot.

The used engines sound good because of the price you guys have stated I could get them for, so I will see if I can find out what vehicles have this same engine and see what I can find.

Thanks alot.

 

You need to budget $300-$400 on parts you will have to replace when you swtch over to the new or used motor. Just replacing the O2 sensors, plugs & wires will be over $200
I have about $1500 in mine and only $650 was the motor.

If the motor ran out of oil pressure and was run after that and is now locked up, sell it for scrap. Here is why.

Oil has three major jobs in the motor. The first is as a hydraulic bearing. It keeps metal from touching metal with pressure. Second it is a lubricant, it protects metal without pressure and third it is a coolant. 25% of all heat that comes out of the radiator passed thru the oil. The most hard to cool parts rely totally on oil to cool them. The two that fail the quickest are the piston and the exhaust valve. The only cooling a piston has is from the oil. The cylinder walls are hot and cannot remove heat from the piston. The second you lose oil pressure the piston starts to get hotter it grows. The cylinder does not grow because the coolant is still cooling it. Most of the time when a car with no oil pressure will not run anymore it’s because the piston has seized in the cylinder. Pretty much the same thing with the exhaust valve. Add in the crank is gone almost instantly, Cam too. There is good chance the lifter bores will have galled also.
There is a lot more but you get the point. Like I said you would really need a good reason to try to save that engine.

 

Thanks for the input Gorn,
I have an update that may give some more insight or it may just solitify your above comments. I got my car back sitting in the driveway. I called a friend to come look at it, and while he was there I tried to turn the key and the engine turned. Each time I turn the key the engine turns slightly and acts as if the battery is dead.

I say it acts as if the battery is dead because the battery is not dead. I had the battery checked after assuming it may be dead and it checked 100%. My friend says the engine is not locked up and had me order a oil pump rebuild kit, oil screen, and oil pan gasket.

He is going to attempt to fix the engine that way unless when he removes the oil pan there is something else wrong. We seen no metal on the dipstick as the mechanic shop suggests.

My question is why does the car not start at this point if my battery is not dead?
Is there some safety feature thats not allowing the car to start until the oil pump has been repaired, or is it that the pistons are somewhat seized in the engine and its making it hard to turn over?

At anyrate this next weekend we will be removing the oil pan to take a look.

Thanks and please reply with your thoughts.

 

I did the same route Gorn did. My car blew piston rings and fried oil seals and bent rods...

I went and bought a full motor from a 98 Bonneville for $250 and stripped it down and replaced everything I thought needed it. It will run you WAY less than $3000 doing it that way.