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3800 Series II crapped out...

mjsmith1223

By mjsmith1223
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mjsmith1223 Enthusiast

mjsmith1223

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Someone here must know something about the GM 3800 Series II powertrain. Last evening while driving up into the boonies to see my wife's sister our '95 Olds 88 LSS started to miss. As I was pulling over to turn around and try to limp it home, it just up and died. It would not re-start. The low coolant light came on, so we checked the level of coolant in the radiator (after it cooled for awhile) and added enough to fill the radiator back up as it was somewhat low. There were no apparent leaks, no fluid anywhere under the hood. No water in the oil and no oil in the water. Where'd it go?

 

Any ideas as to why the engine would die and then not re-fire? It will turn over. It's getting fuel as I can smell it after cranking for a few seconds. No spark. My father-in-law checked for spark as I cranked and nothing, nada, zippo. We tried resetting the computer and that did no good. Might this be a coil pack or ignition control module problem?

 

Any ideas are appreciated.

 

Thanks!

 

Mike

Grand Haven, MI

mjsmith1223 Enthusiast

mjsmith1223

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Ah well, we know what's wrong now. The intake failed which allowed the engine to suck coolant into the cylinders. By some sort of miracle we avoided a hydraulic lock situation. Now we know where all the coolant went and why it wouldn't run. Our mechanic sees this problem often enough in the 3800 engines that he stocks the parts to fix it. Now I know what to spend our tax refund on :smash:

 

Mike

Grand Haven, MI

CMNTMXR81 Senior Enthusiast

CMNTMXR81

Posted
Posted

Well, you beat me to it with your own investigative results.

 

Gasket/intake plenum failure is a common albeit not large problem with 3.8's.

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