Early Buick 3.8 turbo one of the 10 worst engines

[oehm]

See it to believe it (about half way down the page)

Poor 3.8 Turbo gets no respect

 

[Welby]

Your title is misleading... They're talking about the very early 3.8 turbos. Would you want one?

 

[MeanBuicks]

There might have been problems with the earliest attempts but you got to give them credit for having a vision and sticking to it. Look what it led to. Hell, with the supercharged 3800 Series II, they're still benefitting from that 'terrible' little engine that could.

 

[salvageV6]

If the Ferd 3.8L ain't on that list it is TOTALLY BOGUS.

Early 3.8 turbos were okay, if you take the development path they led to there's no way they'd make that list.

 

[INEEDAGN]

That chrysler 2.2 they dog will withstand almost any abuse that a human being could dream up, and I've done every bit of it to mine , with only one head gasket failure at 150K. What a pile of crap . So much for popular hot rodding.

bob

 

[b4black]

And I bet the author never owned any of those engines.

Magazine authors at the time praised the engine and Buick sold more in 1978 than 1987. It outperformed the 350 and got better gas mileage. No PR? Buick advertised that motor everywhere and every magazine got a car to test. Even Consumer Reports!

Max boost was 9 psi, so an intercooler would have been ineffective. Draw-thru is better than blow-thru on a prodcution car (the carb isn't pressurized). I've never heard anybody complain of idle issues unless the had a vacuum leak (just like any engine).

The black box is not a boost controller at all. It's an every version of ESC and works very well.

The author's a Chevy guy, enough said.

 

[b4black]

Originally posted by Welby
Your title is misleading... They're talking about the very early 3.8 turbos. Would you want one?

Yes I would, and plenty of other people around here do to.

Most people don't know enough about them to judge them. Compared to 86/87 SFI/IC motor, yes they are dudes. But then so is just about everything else. Compare them to other motors of their time and you'll be impressed. Aside from Corvettes, the Carb/Turbo Regals were GM's fastest car at times.

 

[INEEDAGN]

The author (ray bohacz) is also the "tech guy" that answers the engine questions in Hemming's muscle machines magazine. Good mag, but if I remember correctly he had an article about how it was pointless or even more harmful to warm up an engine in the winter before driving it, and he meant not to take it easy on it either.

bob

 

[BuickMike]

I've got a '97 Cavalier with 180K miles and a 2.2 that won't quit. I've had zero problems with that motor and his has more low end torque than any other 4 banger I have driven.