Hello everyone I'm a new guy here and I need your expertise. A friend and I recently purchased a 97 convertible with a 3.8L for cheap with the intention of flipping it and making a few bucks. I replaced the plugs,wires,coil pack for 5-2 because it was misfiring,fuel filter,battery and changed the oil and filter twice just to b sure i got all the swamp muck out of it. when I started it the check gauges light was on and oil pressure read 0, so I changed the sending unit. Still 0psi! So I checked it with a mechanical oil pressure gauge, still 0psi. my neighbor is a mechanic and he says I need a new motor.
My father tells me "drop the pan clean the screen and check the pick up and pump for clogs motors still good". The car has not been driven. It was towed to my house and has no tags so it has idled for about an hour in front of my house but hasn't been driven in its condition, at least since i've had it. I haven't noticed any metal on the dip stick.
I guess my question is if it has no pressure runs rough and is clicking pretty loud but hasn't siezed or really been driven. Then is it really time for new motor or am I being hosed. thanks for your great site and all your help.

 

Also forgot to mention that I had to hollow out the cat because it was glowing red and smoking at idle. I drilled it out and no more smoke just really loud. mechanic says don't replace cat till engine is in order. ( oil pressure and misfire in cylinder 3). Don't know if any of that is relevant but trying to give all the info for accurate responses. Thanks everyone, your input would be greatly appreciated.

 

When you say oil was "swamp muck" what does that mean? If your oil had antifreeze in it and you now have zero oil pressure then the short answer is yes your motor is shot.

It sounds like you know what you are doing why in the world would you buy a car with mucked up oil? Back in the day GM made us fix all motor problems. We did not start using crate motor for warranty repairs untill the 90's that is in all cases except when antifreeze got into the oil. Those engines where concidered non-repairable and a crate motor was order. Of course anything can be fixed it was just not worth the cost.

As a general rule a hollowed out Cat will not glow red. Once it is hollowed out it is just another section of pipe. In normal operation a Cat will get very hot. If it is getting hotter then normal its because it is either partly blocked or its working hard doing it job and the motor is not running clean.

 

A misfire in cylinder #3 could very well be making the engine run rich, and that will make a cat glow (that's what it's supposed to do, it's burning up the excess fuel). The problem wasn't with the cat, it's with the way the engine is running. I'm curious too what the swamp muck looked like, and what caused it. Was the car in a flood? 0 oil pressure is a very bad sign, but at this point it would make sense to see what it looks like inside the pan. Maybe the inlet on the oil pump got mucked up, but I have a feeling you may have already done some damage by letting the engine run like you have.

 

Thanks for the replies. I have limited mechanical knowledge but i'm pretty good at following directions so if I can find info i'll follow them. As I said a friend and I bought the car and he checked the oil. I had no idea how bad it was until it got to my house. By swamp muck I mean thick brownish green,clumpy, like something out of a muddy pond. I didn't drill out the cat till I saw that it was glowing red. I figured it was plugged and since it had to be replaced I just drilled it out to release the back pressure in order to get it to the muffler shop.
Replacing the motor and having it installed will be like repurchasing the car all over again. So if it can b saved for less than a $700-$900 used engine plus $300 for my mechanic to install than thats the way i'll go. I mean I never meant to keep the car in the first place. (although I don't want to sell someone a car that will be toasted in 5000 miles either).
Thanks for the help, and for the record I never would of bought a car that wouldn't start in the first place. As I said my friend picked it up and towed it to me.

 

These things have gear driven pumps built into the front cover, the pumps almost never fail, very reliable. Sounds like you had coolant in the oil (though shouldn't be green, stock coolant is orange dex cool, is the coolant still orange, or green now? Can be flushed and swapped no problem, just curious). If there was coolant in the oil, the bearings are most likely shot, possibly the lifters and cam bearings, even the cam as well. Any moving part in the engine lubricated by the oil will be affected.

For the no pressure, this could be related to the bearings. Or the pressure control valve could be stuck, it's in the housing your oil filter is attached to, consists of a spring and piston. If it gets tarnish or physically affected due to oil contamination, it'll stick.

Also, if the oil was contaminated, the filter may have clogged. Check the oil bypass valve to make sure it closed up again. If it's still open, the housing should be thrown away and a new one bought (stealership). The valves sometimes open, stick open even, and the oil bypasses the filter causing the bearings to fail. Most of these things die from LIM gasket failure or bearing failure usually, the bearing failure is often linked to the bypass valve, though not many know this for some reason.

Personally, depending on the condition of the car, you have to really think about whether or not it's worth the repair. It could get rather expensive quick, and these cars are getting older and older, their value is shrinking quick. Might consider parting it out.

 

Did a mechanic quote you $300? If he did he either does not know what involved with the job or he is really fast or really cheap per hour. We have talked about it before and I think we ended up with 12-14 hours to swap in a used motor. Concidering most shops a $50-80 an hour $300 is a great price.

 

Although My Camaro is Running smoothly, I wish I knew as much as you guys did. My New Bronco Needs some help and I'm always waiting for my dad to come and teach me.

 

Thanks for all the advice everyone. It's greatly appreciated this forum is amazing. I'm on the search for a motor,we'll see how it goes. My neighbor is a mechanic and he quoted me $300 for the swap (sorta...didn't quite commit to it) I was thinking of doing it myself with help from a more experienced friend of course. It would be good experience but 12-14 hours WOW! Maybe it's more than I bargained for. I've had a couple people tell me it's a fairly easy swap is that not true? Am I setting myself up for a headache?
B great to get some opinions from those that have done it.
Thanks

 

I was quoted $300 from a person as well but decided to do it myself. It is not all that bad if you have the space to work.

Things that will make it alot easier are if you have a repair manual, cherry picker or access to one, hydralic floor jack and a furniture dolly to lower the engine cradle on for easy moving, a couple boxes of bandaids. I changed out my engine last year, taking it out the bottom and have already done another one. Kids even helped out.

Do yourself a favor and take some pictures under the hood so you will have something to refer back to in case it sits awile. Same for the tranny and torque arm. If you get in a bind, then theres always this site!

Also, replace the plugs and wires and anything else you think you might need to replace on the donor motor before you put it back in the car. I also removed the rear engine lift bracket before putting the engine back in the car so I can get valve covers off on that side in the future.

Google removing engine out the bottom of camaro and you will find several people who share their experience with pics and the whole nine yards.

Good luck.