Engine died, need suggestions

Well, my 3.8L with 165,000 miles just took a divebomb today. Oil spewed everywhere in my garage right after I started it.

I am debating on what to do. I have a friend that owns his own shop and he could surely put a new engine in it for low cost. Here are the options.

Option A: Have my friend put in a new 3.8L V6.

Option B: Find a low mileage LT1 and have my friend put that in.

Option C: Rebuild the current 3.8L V6 with more performance related parts.

Now obviously if money was no concern I would just slap in an LS1 and be done with it, but my salary cap is going to be at 1,000, not including labor. What do you think I should do?

have you looked to see where the oil came from?

build up the 3.8 if it looks good when you tear it down. you can get some real good power out of those motors

The oil went EVERYWHERE, but most of it seems to have come from the passenger side. Unfortunitly my skills as a mechanic are limited to bolt ons and minor things. I don't think I'd be very good at ripping out the engine/trans and fixing them up.

Ok I get the point oil went everywhere, my question is from what. It doesn't take a skilled mechanic to stick his head under there and see a loose oil filter, missing drain plug, knocked off hose, or whatever. I mean it'd be kinda silly to go and replace a whole motor when it could be something goofy.

Was anything just done to the car?

Is the motor seized now?

Ok, I stook my head under there and the oil is coming from the back of the engine. All the hoses are connected and the oil filter is still there. The oil is leaking down from teh back of the engine and going onto my exaust pipe where it connects to the headers.

oil pressure sending unit

did the motor completely freeze and die or did you shut it off?

I shut it off, it was shaking pretty violently.

gO with option A or C. If you go with option C, head over to fullthrottlev6.com and check otu the group purchase going on for Abbott's cam packages, and while you're buying from him get some ported upper and lower intakes, an stage 3 heads. Also might wanna get a l67 (GTP) bottom end, cuz they came forged.


this is assuming an unlimited budget tho lol

I wish savage, but the cap on this is about $1,000 in parts.

well you can score an engine and the cam package for that, with some left over...

The engine is probably still good. If you shut it off right away, figure out where the oil came from, fix the problem, put oil in and try it again.

If the engine was running when you shut it off it isn't locked up, and is not dead. You might be able to take care of this with $20, plus oil.

3.8s are strong engines, and can handle more abuse then most engines.

Rebuild that 3.8.. sounds like the cheapest and seriously best option because that new 3.8 would cost more than your budget I bet and finding a low mileage LT1 would go waaaay over your 1000 budget.

dude, I'm soon to pick up an 80k 3.8 motor with all accessories for $250. Nothing wrong with it either, the car was in a wreck, guy on my local board bought it and is parting it out. Plus once I sell acessories I don't need my actual price will be more in the $150 rangs at least.