What is the V8 version of a Buick 3800 ?

[CR94]

Originally Posted by Trav
... the earlier ones used a totally different oiling system (that was the weak point on them), even the 300 and Rover 3.5 (the 215) had the issue.
They used a distributor driven twin gear oil pump in the aluminum front cover, the cover acting as the pump body with gears and a relief cover, after some time the timing cover got worn and oil pressure became a real issue ...
Yeah, the same front cover that also served as the back of the coolant pump and sprung a coolant leak in my parents' 300. I wonder whether the oil pump weakness you mention had something to do with the rocker arm problem in that engine. I never understood exactly what went wrong.

That '64 Buick took the prize as the worst engine my parents (or myself) ever owned. Ironically, the rest of the car was pretty trouble-free. It was their first with a V8, air conditioning, power steering, automatic transmission, alternator, or PCV.

 

[Trav]

No doubt a weak pump could have effected the valve train. Doing an oil pressure test on some of these Buick engines was startling to say the least it was so low but the idiot light went out at 2-3 psi.
Keene Bell Buick IIRC was one of the companies that sold a mod kit for these, that would have most likely taken care of it if caught early enough and the bearings had not been beaten up.

 

[dave1251]

Originally Posted by oil_film_movies
GM should have put it in pickup trucks as the cheap work-truck engine after 2008 when they stopped production. Their supercharged version maybe too. It was perfected.



No thanks the 4.3 Vortec was better and the current 4.3 Ecotec is light years beyond this dinosaur.

 

[CR94]

Originally Posted by Trav
No doubt a weak pump could have effected the valve train. Doing an oil pressure test on some of these Buick engines was startling to say the least it was so low but the idiot light went out at 2-3 psi. ...
Thanks, Trav! Maybe that answers a 50-year-old mystery. The oil pressure may well have been low, but we didn't know. I guess having to replace the front cover due to the coolant leak doubled the time before the oil pump issue would've shown up.

My father hated that monster, but procrastinated replacing it because my mother liked it.