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Just a few days ago on a road trip I was driving a Buick LeSabre with a 3800 engine which overheated. I had it towed and dropped of at a repair shop and continued on my way with someone else. I was told the engine was seized. I’m curious if you believe that to be the case with the information below.
Things that happened that caused the engine to stop.
1. Driving and suddenly started losing speed and car was unresponsive.
2. Looked down and saw temp gauge in red.
3. In middle of traffic saw a Pilot station < 1 mile and pulled into it. 4. Car died in the parking lot. 5. Let sit for 20 minutes with hood open. 6. Started it 20 minutes later just fine and moved it 200 yards or so out of the way of the busy traffic. 7. Shut it off. 8. After awhile mechanic came out told me to start the engine and he poured water in the radiator outlet while engine was running. Engine then shut down after a few minutes. 9. Tried to start it again and that is when I got no response and engine wouldn't turn over. Thoughts? Thank you!
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It’s a 1998. I can’t say for sure if it’s plastic or not since the car is out-of-state currently. It’s the original engine.
Some years of the 3800 have a plastic intake manifold. Unfortunately I’m not sure what year GM starting using it.
They would burn through at the EGR passage and allow coolant to enter the engine, enough to cause the engine to hydraulic lock. Removing the spark plugs and cranking the engine will empty the cylinder(s) and allow the engine to crank.
Remove the throttle body and fill the cooling system while watching for coolant leaking inside. If it leaks the plastic manifold will need to be replaced.
Grrrrrr.. I hate it when “mechanics” pour water into a hot engine. When an engine overheats and you determine it is low on coolant, you always want to let it cool sufficiently before dumping water in! You can cause more damage than the overheat initially caused in that instance! Heat up a glass bottle over a flame and then dump some water on it and see what happens!
Hopefully your block is still ok, and is just hydrolocked like wysetech pointed out.
Good luck!
If the plastic intake doesn’t yield a result, then perhaps the engine is done. One way I often make that determination is to rotate the engine by had with a ratchet. You might remove the plugs when you do this. If you can’t rotate the engine, or there is a lot of resistance, then it’s likely your engine is done and needs to be replaced. If you find that to be the case, I recommend replacement over rebuild for best results.
Good luck and keep us posted.
[quote=”EricTheCarGuy” post=110460] I recommend replacement over rebuild for best results.
Good luck and keep us posted.[/quote]
I think we have two worthwhile machine shops left in my area that service/refinish blocks & heads (if you’ve got a good core to work with). Rebuilding an engine is almost a thing of the past with crate engines so readily available.
wysetech stated:
Some years of the 3800 have a plastic intake manifold. Unfortunately I’m not sure what year GM starting using it.
They would burn through at the EGR passage and allow coolant to enter the engine, enough to cause the engine to hydraulic lock. Removing the spark plugs and cranking the engine will empty the cylinder(s) and allow the engine to crank.
Remove the throttle body and fill the cooling system while watching for coolant leaking inside. If it leaks the plastic manifold will need to be replaced.’98 has a plastic upper intake manifold. 99.9% probability that’s your problem as wysetech stated. Easy fix nevertheless.
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