I recently purchased a 1997 Camaro RS with a 3.8 liter V6 (Buick powered ha ha) for 500 dollars. The man I purchased the car from told me it was only good for parts because the motor was running like crap. He started it for me and he was right it did sound like crap. I spent a few nights doing some homework and thought ok if the engine is crap I will just have a rolling chasis.

So I picked up the car, had it towed actually back to my place and plugged my OBD reader in and found that cylinder 3 had a misfire. So I went and got some new plugs and wires and changed them out. What a pain in the butt. I did find that jacking up the car helped so I could get underneath. While I was changing the plugs I took out my old coil packs off the wifes car. They worked perfectly fine so I figured ok why not.

Well I got it all done and the car would start but not stay running. I looked at the gas gauge and found no gas in the tank. There was a full tank the day I went to look at it. So I guess the guy drained the tank, no worries. Well I put in a few gallons and she fired right over. It doesnt make the noise it was making. It still does have what I would call a rod knocking but only at idle. When I start giving her some gas the noise goes away. So my guess is the harmonic balancer could be out of whack or a bent pushrod.

Anyways, OIL PAN, I noticed the oil pan looks as if it was run up on something and has a few bends and creases in it. It looks as if it leaks out near the gasket but its anyones bet where the oil is coming from. So I am trying to see if anyone has changed an oil pan and has some advice. I changed one in a 1999 Buick Regal, that was a pain in the *** and a 1985 Buick Regal as well.

I wish I could post the picture on this message but I dont see a way to do it.

 

there is a sticky telling how to post pictures. oil pan is a pain on most cars. dont have a 6 so not completely sure but believe u will need to lift the front of the motor as high as u can and may have to losen the trans mount.

 

Camaro is going to be tuffer then the Regal. The pan will not clear the cross member so step one is raise the motor about 5 inchs and all the fun that goes with that. That knock is most likley a rod knock. Oil pan is a pretty big project to do on a questionable motor. You should be 100% sure of the knock

 

No it's not. You're confusing yours with the original, and Series I Buick 3.8 engine. The series II 3.8 is what you have, which came out in 1995, and is a GM "corporate" engine, not Buick. Just thought I'd let you know before you try to unsuccessfully slap any old style Buick parts on your engine.

 

I know the motor became "corporate" and that its GM and not Buick, but I still like to think powered by buick just for sh*ts and giggles. As far as the engine having the knock it could be a harmoic balancer or some bad rods. I am not a newbie when it comes to motors, this car to me is a hobby I can turn too after a bad day in the Army or just as a way to get rid of some stress in life. I would like to put a LS1 in there someday (when I am not in Hawaii) and just make it a street/strip car. Just a few thoughts. I at least have a rolling chasis at the most, and since I have a 1999 Camaro I could easily put the RS kit (minus the front valance) and make my Convert a little bit more exciting.

 

The car is named "Neglect" because I would assume that when the motor started going south the last owner stopped paying attention to it. The original coils were replaced. Coil 3,6 was a different coil compared to the other two so I figured someone needed to replace a bad one they had in another car and just swapped them out thus cylinder 3 misfire. Well that fixed the misfire and now the bulletproof 3.8 corporate motor sounds better, except at idle.

The 99 Regal I had was a pain in the *** to fix. I had to jack the motor up and at that same time replace the motor mount. Well the reason I had to change that one was because someone spun the bolt and broke the welds inside the pan. So the oil was still in the pan when I had to take it down. I drilled a hole in it and drained it overnight. It was still a pain in the butt, now it doesnt leak and that motor has 174,000 miles on it and I just did the lower intake manifold. I am sure I could get another 20,000 miles on that motor with no problem but since I am on an island that might be harder to do then most would think.

Thanks for reading and responding to my thread, I figured I would start on the bottom of this car and work my way up. Sad thing is with my 1999 it has the same leaking oil pan and it gets on the exhaust and smells like burning oral. YUCK

 

Ahhhh, gotcha! I caught the giggles part in the first post, just not the sh*ts!

 

Youll run into the same problem everyone does who tries to sue on an oral contract: you need to prove the existence of the contract. Maybe you were still negotiating, maybe you werent. If you can prove it, youll need to deal with the issue of deposit. She asked for 500 deposit; you never gave it. Sure you never gave it because she kiboshed the deal, but still. And if you succeed, what do you hope to get? Likely the items have been sold.

 

Great news!
XRumer 5.0.12 Palladium was released, just ask Google for more info

 

And how does this great bit of useless news apply to oil pan replacement??