2.8L GM engine woes
Kent Snyder
S-10 Blazer w/auto trans. Here's the story:
Long block rebuilt by cheapest shop around (MY MISTAKE). New high volume
oil pump installed as well.
At 5,000 miles, developed bearing knock and broke the crank later.
Builder replaced the crank and bearings only (HIS MISTAKE...read on)
800 miles later bearing knocks reappeared (slivers of crank were left in
the oil passages and they quickly destroyed the replacement
regrind/bearings)
Then the builder completely tore down engine and replaced the crank, all
bearings and rings.I prelubed the engine prior to installation (burned up
my 3/8" drill!!!)
1,000 miles later ...you guessed it , the bearings have started knocking.
Sounds like a lifter at idle but the noise comes from underneath the
engine. Oil pressure down to 30# at idle when hot (was 40#) and 55# on
highway.
My options at this point are to walk away from this investment and find
another shop or deal with this guy under warranty (12K/12 month)
I suspect the block is warped (although he says he checked it with a
straight edge) He says he also checked the rods for warp and plastigaged
the bearings to factory specs ("all were 1 to 2 thousandths") Or maybe
there's more trash from not cleaning the block well enough.
Any suggestions? Someone told me 2.8's just don't work in a 4X4; but how
did this one get 120K on it before needing a rebuild? And weren't they used
in Isuzus and Jeeps? Are these engines that hard to build right?
ATTGeorgeW
>I'm having problems keeping bearings in a 2.8L engine that's in a '88 4X4
>S-10 Blazer w/auto trans. Here's the story:
>Long block rebuilt
>Builder replaced the crank and bearings only
>the oil passages and they quickly destroyed the replacement
>regrind/bearings)
>I prelubed the engine prior to installation.
>1,000 miles later ...you guessed it , the bearings have started knocking.
>Sounds like a lifter at idle but the noise comes from underneath the
>engine. Oil pressure down to 30# at idle when hot (was 40#) and 55# on
>highway.
>
>My options at this point are to walk away from this investment and find
>another shop or deal with this guy under warranty (12K/12 month)
>
>I suspect the block is warped (although he says he checked it with a
>straight edge) He says he also checked the rods for warp and plastigaged
>the bearings to factory specs ("all were 1 to 2 thousandths") Or maybe
>there's more trash from not cleaning the block well enough.
>
>Any suggestions? Someone told me 2.8's just don't work in a 4X4; but how
>did this one get 120K on it before needing a rebuild? And weren't they
used
>in Isuzus and Jeeps? Are these engines that hard to build right?
I had a Jeep Cherokee with the GM 2.8L engine. It lasted 65,000 miles
before the bearings went. I replaced it with a junkyard engine and put
another 215,000 miles on the vehicle before I sold it.
These engines have a bad reputation. I've heard unconfirmed stories that
water leaks in the intake manifold and gets to the bearings.
George
attge...@aol.com
John Yang
run perfectly up until now...but maybe I got lucky and just got one
of the better ones that came off the assembly line.
(Maybe the Blazer, Cherokee engines wear out more quickly because an SUV
is probably too much weight for the 2.8 to haul.)
ATTGeorgeW (attge...@aol.com) wrote:
Oliver Arnd Markwirth
I put 220.000 miles on original 2,8-litre V6 in my Chevy Celebrity. Never
have any problem other than expected excessive fuel consumption from worn
engine. No plan to do anything to the engine other than routine maintenance.
Guess you got bad karma.
Mr. Cc
Eric R Sloan
John Yang <jly...@scws33.harvard.edu> wrote:
>I have an 87 Chevy Celebrity with the 2.8 V6 and the engine itself has
>run perfectly up until now...but maybe I got lucky and just got one
>of the better ones that came off the assembly line.
>
>(Maybe the Blazer, Cherokee engines wear out more quickly because an SUV
>is probably too much weight for the 2.8 to haul.)
Possibly....A friend has an '84 Celebrity with 130k miles and the 2.8
liter. He has had trouble with the rear brake springs, thermo switch for
the fan, loose steering rack, and bad TC switch. The engine has been
almost totally trouble-free. Still uses no oil and starts on the coldest
of mornings with one pump of the acc. and no more than 2 or 3 secs. of
cranking.
It impresses me a lot more than the 2.5 Pont. engine that some
people say is about bullet-proof. I've known more than one person (2) who
lost piston rings in less than 100k.
--
Eric Sloan
sl...@iastate.edu
Danny Fitzsimon
At> before the bearings went. I replaced it with a junkyard engine and
At> put another 215,000 miles on the vehicle before I sold it.
At> These engines have a bad reputation. I've heard unconfirmed stories
At> that water leaks in the intake manifold and gets to the bearings.
Consider it completely confirmed. By myself and no less than 1 GM serv.
mgr., and 2 independents. Alum. intake mating to iron head, intake
sealing surface begins to give way due to uneven heat exchange rates
causing vac. leaks or coolant infiltration into block.
This info covers the 2.8L GM at least until the mid-80s.
Danny
... Documentation - The worst part of programming.
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Pete Chestnut (140ft)
At> before the bearings went. I replaced it with a junkyard engine and
At> put another 215,000 miles on the vehicle before I sold it.
At> These engines have a bad reputation. I've heard unconfirmed stories
At> that water leaks in the intake manifold and gets to the bearings.
Consider it completely confirmed. By myself and no less than 1 GM serv.
mgr., and 2 independents. Alum. intake mating to iron head, intake
sealing surface begins to give way due to uneven heat exchange rates
causing vac. leaks or coolant infiltration into block.
This info covers the 2.8L GM at least until the mid-80s.
Danny
Conformation #2: I had to replace lifters, oil pump, & cam shaft in my S10
at 40,000 due to water leaking thru the the intake. Then at 42,000, it threw
a rod through the side of the block. ( G.M. paid for the new block. )
I know of two other people that had the same water problem.
Pete
Radu Boghici
[...]
> At> These engines have a bad reputation. I've heard unconfirmed stories
> At> that water leaks in the intake manifold and gets to the bearings.
>
Well, I guess it's a matter of personal luck. I've got a 2.8L
in an '84 Chevy Celebrity, and I didn't spend a penny on it,
except for regular maintenance, of course. It's got 150,000 miles,
and it's perfect.
Radu
Nick Parker
> At> that water leaks in the intake manifold and gets to the bearings.
>> Alum. intake mating to iron head, intake
>> sealing surface begins to give way due to uneven heat exchange rates
>> causing vac. leaks or coolant infiltration into block.
>Conformation #2: I had to replace lifters, oil pump, & cam shaft in my S10
>at 40,000 due to water leaking thru the the intake.
Before I bought my '89 S10 Blazer (used), I asked around all I could
about this, and the conclusion was that this (coolant leakage, as
described above) was a major problem in the early versions of the
engine, but it was resolved in later versions, i.e. late 80's. ?
--
Nick Parker - nspa...@ingr.com - Intergraph, Huntsville, AL
Statements/opinions are my own, not necessarily Intergraph's.
Cahit Gezgin
D
I think there are two different GM 2.8l V6. One of them is used in trucks SUVs
the ither is used in X-body cars and some other GM cars. The troublesome 2.8l is 90 deg. V6 while the other one is narrow angle 60 deg V6 which was specifcally developed by Chevy for X-body cars.
cahit
>In article <24.482...@pcohio.com>, danny.f...@pcohio.com (Danny Fitzsimon) says:
>[...]
>> At> These engines have a bad reputation. I've heard unconfirmed stories
>> At> that water leaks in the intake manifold and gets to the bearings.
>>
>> Consider it completely confirmed. [...]
>Well, I guess it's a matter of personal luck. I've got a 2.8L
>in an '84 Chevy Celebrity, and I didn't spend a penny on it,
>except for regular maintenance, of course. It's got 150,000 miles,
>and it's perfect.
>Radu
--
Cahit Gezgin
Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta Georgia, 30332
uucp: ...!{decvax,hplabs,ncar,purdue,rutgers}!gatech!prism!gt0592c
Internet: gt0...@prism.gatech.edu
Mike Rintzler
>>> Alum. intake mating to iron head, intake
>>> sealing surface begins to give way due to uneven heat exchange rates
>>> causing vac. leaks or coolant infiltration into block.
>
>>Conformation #2: I had to replace lifters, oil pump, & cam shaft in my S10
>>at 40,000 due to water leaking thru the the intake.
>
>Before I bought my '89 S10 Blazer (used), I asked around all I could
>about this, and the conclusion was that this (coolant leakage, as
..
I had an 86 Cherokee with the 2.8L V6. I was very lucky. I got to 90k without any
MAJOR problems. Then one of the heads warped, sending coolant into the oil.
The funny thing is, I was driving on the highway, so even though I no longer
had any coolant left to flow through the system, it was able to stay cool because of
high speed. And before the boiling coolant blew open a regulator valve and I realized
that something was wrong, I was thinking to myself how smooth the engine was running.
I never lost oil pressure. And it didn't overheat until I got off the highway. After that, the
engine was never the same. The carborator went, and I couldn't get the idle below
2000 RPM. I sold it before that killed the tranny.
Everytime I went to get it worked on, and told the guy what engine it had, I could see the
dread in his face. My girlfriends father had and Olds with the same engine, and that
went twice. (actually, they had it replaced so it was two different engines)
-Mike
James Kueneman
: bogh...@mail.utexas.edu (Radu Boghici) writes:
:
:
: D
: I think there are two different GM 2.8l V6. One of them is used in trucks SUVs
: the ither is used in X-body cars and some other GM cars. The troublesome 2.8l is 90 deg. V6 while the other one is narrow angle 60 deg V6 which was specifcally developed by Chevy for X-body cars.
Close, the trucks used the 60 deg first then then around 88' (don't
quote me) they added the 90 deg.
I worked at GM dealership for almost 10 years and when I left the
Chevrolet dealer ship in '89 we were starting to see alot of 60 deg V6
coolant in the oil problems. "Most" of the problems were in the fuel
injected throttle body engines, ie. S trucks. Although, a carb engine
would have a problem every once in a while. Since they had pretty much
over come the crankshaft eating problem the V6's had in the early
eighties, they had come up with a new problem to end the eighties.
Jim Kueneman
: cahit
JD
: Close, the trucks used the 60 deg first then then around 88' (don't
: quote me) they added the 90 deg.
: coolant in the oil problems. "Most" of the problems were in the fuel
: injected throttle body engines, ie. S trucks. Although, a carb engine
: would have a problem every once in a while. Since they had pretty much
So I have a 89 ciera with the 2.8 v6 multi port FI (I think), don't know
weather it's a 60 or 90 deg. My biggest problem w/65k miles so far has been
a fouled Idle air control valve. What should I be concerned about?
Dennis Henderson
had a valve lobe go flat at 92K miles. Symptom was loss or power and
spitting back through the intake system.
I removed the engine, had the engine rebuilt *and* balanced, (and
reinstalled it), and now I have a better than new engine.
The shop indicated the common failure on this engine is that the
intake manifold gasket fails and coolant gets into the oil. Lubrication
failure follows.
The intake manifold is aluminum on a steel block. '87 and later
2.6L engines from GM have an aluminum head on a steel block. The
mix of aluminum and steel is typically risky.
Otherwise I like this engine.
...Dennis Henderson
Gerald Kalas
lugish than it did when new, but has been quite reliable.
--
Jerry Kalas
Ian R. Campbell
>In article <24.482...@pcohio.com>, danny.f...@pcohio.com (Danny Fitzsimon) says:
>[...]
>> At> These engines have a bad reputation. I've heard unconfirmed stories
>> At> that water leaks in the intake manifold and gets to the bearings.
>>
>> Consider it completely confirmed. [...]
>Well, I guess it's a matter of personal luck. I've got a 2.8L
>in an '84 Chevy Celebrity, and I didn't spend a penny on it,
>except for regular maintenance, of course. It's got 150,000 miles,
>and it's perfect.
How many miles were on it when you got the '84 Celebrity? Because my
brother has an '82 Skylark which blew its intake and cylinder head gaskets.
The mixture of coolant-oil went through every leak in the motor causing this
Vomit color liquid all over the underhood.The motor went at 80,000 miles.It
took 3 days to get the motor out of the bloody motor.
--
Ian R. Campbell i...@penrij.UUCP