Mine just hit 170,000 miles in my 2000 Grand Prix. It is one very reliable engine. The only work I have done to the engine is the valve cover gaskets and a few intake gaskets that commonly go with the stupid plastic intake manifold. It still has great power, only burns about half a quart to a quart of oil in 3000 miles, still has great cylinder compression. Honestly the whole car in general has not given me too much trouble for a GM. The struts are still doin pretty good, the exhaust is still original with no holes in it, still original balljoints. The springs are sagging pretty bad, for some reason it goes through front wheel bearings all of the time(im assuming thats because of the cheap ones from the parts store, but I got a lifetime warranty so they are free). Over all the car has not been that bad to own.
RIP GM 3800
- Thread starter Geesie
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It has it's flaws, notably the timing cover/oil pump combo that likes to wear out and kill crank bearings. I got around 200k out of mine when I heaved it out of the engine pay to put in a mild 355 Chevy in it's place. I pulled it running, and the funny thing is, I delivered pizza with it one last night, then had it, the trans, and all the accessories yanked about an hour or two after shutting it off ( so, about 2am). I later sold it running for $150.
Chevyman85, I have one of those fangled 5 cylinders. Anyone I ever talked to who once had the 4.3 V6 says the same thing. I have heard about head problems on those engines too. I am contemplating trading the thing in. It has 50k miles on it.
just for reference, i rented a kia rio with the tiny little 4 banger for a trip, and the best it could do was 35 mpg. the 3800 almost got that in cars 3 times heavier. the 3800 is a great motor, lots of Fiero guys swap them into their cars.
as far as the canyon/colorado goes, a guy i know is a service writer at a gm dealer and while normally he slams most of his products, he admits the colorado platform is gms best. he never sees them come in for service besides oil changes and brake pads. he said the front end is especially robust.
as far as the canyon/colorado goes, a guy i know is a service writer at a gm dealer and while normally he slams most of his products, he admits the colorado platform is gms best. he never sees them come in for service besides oil changes and brake pads. he said the front end is especially robust.
The funny thing is, the Colorado is NOT a GM design in the sense that it was not developed by GM of North America. It was actually developed at the behest of GM by it's partially owned subsidiary, Isuzu of Japan. Ditto the Duramax Diesel engines. GM has had a big stake in Isuzu since the mid 70's when it was GM's "Captive import". Even back then, the T car platform was sold here as an Isuzu ( I Mark, Impulse) as well as the lesser domestic branded Chevette and T-1000. The original S-10 in 1982 also used Isuzu powertrains in the 4 cylinder variants and diesels.
the real problem with chevy engines isn't the design so much as the morons building them. they don't follow torque specs on anything. that's why the 3.1 and 3.4 were always blowing the intake gasket.
i wasn't a fan of the 3800 series 1 and the s-2 was ok, but the s-3 had some freakin balls. and the supercharged version ...
i wasn't a fan of the 3800 series 1 and the s-2 was ok, but the s-3 had some freakin balls. and the supercharged version ...
megaladon6 said:the real problem with chevy engines isn't the design so much as the morons building them. they don't follow torque specs on anything. that's why the 3.1 and 3.4 were always blowing the intake gasket.
i wasn't a fan of the 3800 series 1 and the s-2 was ok, but the s-3 had some freakin balls. and the supercharged version ...
The series 3 really is a better engine. I believe they used coated pistons and stronger rods, maybe some other stuff also. I dont see those engines having any reliability issues.
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