I am totally ****ed....

[Chevelle454]

I think I have it figured out. The 3800 is well known for their problems with the plastic intake manifolds. Everyone is telling me it is warped. I pulled the plugs and turned the motor over, anti-freeze shot out of the plug holes everywhere. I have a new GM manifold, I'm about to put it in. Hopefully this will have solved the problem. Otherwise I'm no farther then I was before...

[bpmcgee]

They've given you a good suggestion -- crate motor.

That has the benefit of also eliminating future recriminations -- "It was never quite the same after Johnny worked on it!" "The radio quit working, must be because you were racing that one time!"

Just my two cents. Sorry to hear about your troubles. Some lessons are expensive, eh?

Brian

[>X<]

good luck man. cars are just metal, school is alot more important. i'm going to have to sell my 71 to pay off my s10 that gets me the 80 miles roundtrip to school, but school comes before trucks, most of the time, hahah. the day i got my license i had my 71 already but i had to go pick up a girl so i borrowed my moms new 4 runner. i was getting my cd case off of the floor and i nailed a mailbox- on the next street over from mine. luckily it had fold back mirrors and it didnt do any damage. i had to buy my neighbor a new mailbox though. hopefully you can fix it. live and learn. i'm only 19 so my stupid days werent that long ago.

[lukecp]

Yeah, i also agree with all said above. School comes before automobiles. My education right now is much more important than my truck. I've already got more invested in my head than in my truck, lol
Anyway, you really don't want to wait a year to go, often people that say that don't end up going. Fill out the FAFSA as soon as possible, see what you can get. You may get some pell grants, and most people get student loans. You can do it, and education is proably the best investment you can make.
Remember, it is NEVER as bad as it seems

[shade67]

I'd say your best bet is a good salvage yard motor, some will guarantee the engine will be good! some you can check in the car before its removed! Just to be forewarned the mount on the front of the engine to the right fender well is a mother to get out!!

[cableguy0]

heres the problem most likely it is that damned plastic intake. the problem is that motor had water in the cylinders you cant compress water. a rod is probably bent not to mention the bearings and everything else that has been soaking in water for days. im 19 myself and your parents just dont seem right to me if they are going to make you pay them for the car instead of going to school. that car is barely worth 3 grand imo probably less. no way is it worth 7500

[hobby67stepside]

It's hard for me to believe that this post from a kid who admits he toatally disrespected his parents and abused their car is getting this much attention. (And I just added to it)

[Chevelle454]

I know you guys think I'm immature and just a stupid kid, and I can see why. Looking back I can see how stupid my actions were.

The car is now fixed. Me and a friend worked on it for 10 hours straight. We tore apart the entire fuel injection system and put the new intake in the car. Fired it up, runs like a million bucks. Total cost: $300.

I am extremely lucky and very very thankful that I could fix it and for so very cheap. I have learned my lesson, thats for damn sure. Thanks for the support guys, I really appreciate it.

[doughby82]

hopefully your parents are just really mad,maybe they will cool off and think about it.simular think happen to me when i was alot younger.i owed my parents 2500 for a car i did a no no to.i worked all spring ,summer and fall,mowing lawns and such to pay them back,everything i earned went to them.the following january they give me all my money back plus some to put toward college and they gave me the car.

[Chevelle454]

If the car is keeps running like it is supposed to, my mom will just keep the car and we will forget the whole thing. It all turned out okay...

[71Rat]

CONGRATS on fixing it. but still i think we all have had a lesson to learn when we were younger. As for me i blew up a 4l60E and a 10 bolt in my tahoe (the car my parents lend me to drive daily.... because it is reliable) well yeah at the age of 17 when i just got my licnese went to race some truck and had a stupid passenger who put the truck into gear as i was reving it to show off the strength of my 350. Well i paid A LOT for that mistake. granted i want to kill that kid now. i have learned my lesson and now at the age of 18 i am going to college to learn how to work on/ fix cars for a living. in my opinion if you were into cars at a younger age you made a mistake and had to pay for it. I wish you the best of luck with your parents, mine just joke about it now. Now you have learned your lesson so dont mess around again or you will lose your truck.... i lost my 70 k-5 blazer...... jasper trans's and rear's arent cheap!



Best of luck on your truck now!!!!


Rat

[FRENCHBLUE72]

Bummer, I have also blown up the parental unit's car racing on saturday night's and I had to rebuild the motor and pay for the part's outta my own pocket's..

[krazy_texan]

if it makes you feel better, i once "borrowed" my dads 62 vette while he was out of town, was showing it off on a wet night and that 455 olds engine and the ford 9 inch got ahead of me i spun the car 4 times before going through a mailbox and into a tree. I am still paying for that mistake and that was 3 years ago but glad to hear you got it fixed

[>X<]

krazy texan wins!

[krue]

Originally posted by &gt;X&lt;
krazy texan wins!

NO KIDDING!

[jimfulco]

No wonder they waited to put in that pool!

[krue]

It is a wonder they waited this long to kick him out!

[gonebad2]

Heck, I bet that car doesn't book for more than $3,000. Have em take you to the peoples court. They'll figure it out. I bet that car only cost $13,500 in '97. With 200,000 on the clock, anything could have happened. You were just the unlucky guy behind the wheel. Keeping you from an education seems kind of harsh.

[sixty8chev]

Maybe this isn't my place but I came here to read about trucks. And i hope nobody takes this as me saying what he did was smart, but i swear some of you guys forget what its like to be a teenager.

If you can tell me that you never revved up your dads car on a friday night, threw a party while your parents were out of town, never snuck out at night to go meet some buddies or committed one potentially stupid act when you were 17 then I will retract every word of this, but if not, give this guy a break.

He admitted that he screwed up, and he was doing his best to try and fix the problem, and ya know what, thats more than a lot of people will even try to do nowadays.

He was looking on advice on how to fix this car, and he could have phrased the question differently, " I think I blew a head gasket in a 3.8 what other things could it be? perhaps. Then somebody would have told him the intakes on them were crap...end of story.

So lets get back to the trucks guys, and just be glad that we have ours and he still gets to keep his.

[71Rat]

I agree with Sixty8chev! but also i think even if it isnt a truck and someone needs advise with it or some kind of help they should ask it.

[Grim Reaper]

Originally posted by Chevelle454
Thanks for the ideas guys. I am going to pick up the car right now to start working on it. My parents no longer want the car, they would rather have the "$7,500" that they think it's worth...it's a 1997 car with 200k miles. Looks like I'm not going to tech school next year...it's okay though. Hopefully I will have enough money saved to attend the year after that. Live and learn...

Your parrents don't subscribe to reality about hte value of that car. Prices in the sunday paper are not even close to real.

www.kbb.com says that car with those miles on a open sale is worth $4035.00 on a private party sale (the way you would get the most if you were selling it). Trade-In Value $2,635.

Go buy a $700 junkyard motor and be done with it Or parted it out and give them the $3k you might make off of it.