I won't argue your points. The fact remains that I DID have an '87 LeSabre with the 3.8 brought to me with the front rod bearing spun. When I tore it down, I found the cam bearings appeared brand new and the oil pump screen and bottom end were full of the same residue I'd seen in 3.0's with a fiber cam gear shredded.
I always thought I'd never gotten the full story on the car. I couldn't prove the fiber cam gear 'cause it had steel cam gears that appeared new. The car had 77K miles on it and the cam gears didn't show the wear they should have. At 77K, the cam gears should have shown at least slight wear indentations from the timing chain. They didn't. I theorized the engine had had a fiber cam gear that had shredded, someone replaced the timing gears without cleaning up the bottom end, and shortly thereafter the bearings went.
The full story on the car was, in the mid 90's a banker gave the car, with the rod knock, to a brother-in-law of mine on the condition the car not be parted out or go to a salvage yard. The banker said it had been his wife's car and she died six months before.
My BIL brought me the car, and I went to work on it. Then the banker went to my BIL and wanted the car back, said it had been his wife's car, she'd always loved it, and he couldn't bear to let it go. My BIL told the banker he couldn't give it back 'cause it was in his BIL's shop having the engine rebuilt. The banker said he'd gladly pay for the engine rebuild if he could just have the car back.
Upshot was, when I delivered the car back to my BIL, along with the bill for the engine rebuild, my BIL added $500 to the bill and wrote me a check. My BIL said he'd get the $500 plus a few hundred more for a handling fee when he gave the car back to the banker. Which he did, and as far as I know the banker was glad to get the car back and lived happily ever after.
Too many things didn't add up in the deal. Two facts stood out, though. For one, the steel cam gear that was in the LeSabre matched perfectly a defunct gear out of a 3.0 that was in an iron pile by my shop, and with steel timing gears, a 3.8 should never have had timing gear/chain problems at 77K miles.
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Today's Featured Article - Listening to Your Tractor - by Curtis Von Fange. Years ago there was a TV show about a talking car. Unless you are from another planet, physically or otherwise, I don’t think our internal combustion buddies will talk and tell us their problems. But, on the other hand, there is a secret language that our mechanical companions readily do speak. It is an interesting form of communication that involves all the senses of the listener. In this series we are going to investigate and learn the basic rudimentary skills of understanding this lingo.
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