98 3.8 after WOT, NO oil psi and chirping from bottom end??

[shaguar_red]

After a lil Friday night fun at WOT, I stopped at a light and see the check guages light come on. My oil PSI needle was laying at the bottom of the guage and I turned the radio down to hear the bottom end going "chirp chirp chirp" It was idling fine just chirping, so i let it idle to the nearest parking lot and had it towed home. Its been in my driveway since.

A little background info, I just changed the upper and lower intake gaskets 500miles before this happened. I changed them because I had oil in my radiator. The sludge I pulled out of the radiator I noticed had metallic flakes in it. I knew I probably shouldnt be romping on the car, but you know how it goes. My oil psi guage has always kinda bounced around. I figured it was a bad sensor. My oil psi was generally around the 1/4 - 1/2 mark depending on how many RPMs I was at. But sometimes at idle it'd bounce around all erratic.

The car has 170k on it. This cant be good..

[Mogobs30th]

Re: 98 3.8 after WOT, NO oil psi and chirping from bottom end??

Sounds like you have some rod or crank bearings going bad.

[shaguar_red]

Re: 98 3.8 after WOT, NO oil psi and chirping from bottom end??

With that kind of mileage Im not suprised. Now the question is, should I swap in an L26 or rebuild?

[Mogobs30th]

Re: 98 3.8 after WOT, NO oil psi and chirping from bottom end??

Anytime you have to crack open the bottom end of an engine, a swap should be kept in mind. The 3.8l crank is strong, VERY strong, but from what I have seen in the past, if the journals have to be turned due to them being scored (from a broken or spun bearing), it GREATLY reduces the strength of that crank.

Now, you can use an L26, for the exception of some top end parts, intake being the part that is not interchangeable between the L36 and L26. But the bottom ends are identical.

[shaguar_red]

Re: 98 3.8 after WOT, NO oil psi and chirping from bottom end??

Ive heard you swap the Intake, accessories, flexplate and oil pan. I also heard there is some modification with the oil pick up or oil pump? something like that.

[Mogobs30th]

Re: 98 3.8 after WOT, NO oil psi and chirping from bottom end??

I don't think the oil gerator pump has to be changed, my guess would be due to the fact that the pan would have to be changed, so would the pickup. Id read a little more into it before you do the swap, but its all definitely feasible to do so, and you would have a much newer motor.

[ssms5411]

Re: 98 3.8 after WOT, NO oil psi and chirping from bottom end??

Go with the L26, you need your front cover with the oil filter adapter since 3800 RWD faces straight out and the L26 goes down and back, so you need upper/lower intakes, oil pan with pickup and flexplate , front cover and oil filter adapter, heads will be fine aslong as the L26 is a N/A motor.

[shaguar_red]

Re: 98 3.8 after WOT, NO oil psi and chirping from bottom end??

I thought the L26's were all N/A motors. Im gonna call a few junkyards to see what they have.

[Bird_Of_Prey]

Re: 98 3.8 after WOT, NO oil psi and chirping from bottom end??

www.car-parts.com Just use an 06 Grand Prix as the vehicle of choice, it will cross reference that with anything else that has an L26 in it.