3.5 liter V6
 

That would have been awesome if GM would have put that engine in our aleros....215 HP stock.....230 torque!

I found a complete 3.5 liter engine at a wrecking yard for sale...9500 miles....$1600 bucks plus installation....

If I put dual exhaust and a intake in my 02 3.4 GLS I would be LUCKY to get 190!

190 hp Alero would be rad!

If you want to know why.....it was heavy, unreliable, and expensive. Three strikes and it doesn't get into a bread-and-butter car.

you can do a top end swap off of the newer 3.5 engines........i am

I think he was referring to the LX9.....3.5L DOHC, more commonly known as the Shortstar.

shortstar?

As compared to the Northstar v8 used in the 8cyl Aurora.

exactly how unreliable...we are thinking of tradin in the womans ecotec cav for an intrigue, but unfortunatly we cant find a 3800 from 2000 or newer(i assume they changed) and we cant find a lower mileage 3.8 so we have been looking at 01 and 02 gls intrigues...reason is we need another 4dr since we are gonna have a baby, and i want another Olds

u should pimp out a silhouette. didnt they come in AWD?? :scpimp:

This is probably the most ignorant thing I have ever read on this entire forum, and that is saying something because there have been some pretty idiotic things posted here. I think we are all dumber now for having read that. You are awarded zero points and may god have mercy on your soul.

The only part of that posting that is even remotely close to something rational at all is the fact that the shortstar was expensive, which many believe is why Oldsmobile went out of business, don't believe me count how many Intrigues you see on the road and multiply that times a $3,000 loss per unit.

First off I find it incredibly ironic that GM decided to stick a 3400 SFI in a "bread and butter car" an engine that goes 40k-60k before needing an intake seal and maybe 100k before needing head gaskets, lets not even talk about the cam issues wth the experimental tube swaging (swaging is a diametrical upset type of casting) cam technology, this caused many of the early 1999-2000 engines to have snappage issues with their camshafts, I wont get into oil pump drive seal issues either... talk about reliablilty.

The truth of the matter is in regards to reliablity the 3.5 liter DOHC is nearly bullet proof, I have owned at least 10 of these cars with these engines and currently own 3 Intrigues 1,700...157,000...100,000 miles respecitively and an Aurora 17,000 miles with this motor. I never have once replaced an intake seal or head gasket and never will. I once owned an Intrigue with over 200k miles that had 1 mechanical problem with the engine and that was a crank sesnor. My best friend works at a GM dealership as a mechanic and routinely does work on 3.5s and that's oil changes, thats about it. he drives a 3.4 Alero and after 3 intake seals he's looking for an Intrigue to drive for his driver. The only issue with these cars is after a while they start to use oil, The oil rings on the pistons spin and let trace amounts of oil into the combustion chambers and this will burn off 1 quart of oil every one thousand miles (that's the worst case I have seen...and that was a car with 200,000 miles on it)..It's a 6 quart system car and there is a low oil warning light that comes on when it's a quart low so if you can read a warning light it's not an issue. The Aurora I have was in a front collision which broke its oil pan and dropped al 6 qts of oil on the ground and was left running on more than one occasion with out oil. I replaced the pan and put 6 new quarts and there is no lower end issue with this motor. Some times the AIR regulators on the exhaust manifolds on the 3.5s can throw up false check engine codes but this is very easily fixed with a new set froma salvage yard. The crank sensor and those regulators are the only problems with these engines I am aware of.

In my experience, the Northstar (that includes the Shortstar) series of engines are currently the best engines offered by GM period...I will not buy a car as a driver that uses the cast iron 60 degree v-6.

In terms of weight...it is an all aluminum casting even though the heads are huge for the DOHC setup it's still lighter than any 60 degree v-6 GM has produced (that includes the 3400)...don't believe me compare gross vehicle weights on 1998 Intrigue with the 3800 Series II and compare it to a 2000 Olds Intrigue with a 3.5 Shorstar there is about 240 pounds of difference, think thats the weight of other options...I don't think so. The foot print of the engine is large, it's a wide engine... but it's more than possible to stuff a 3.5 into a Alero it was done with the 2000 OSV Alero and GM still had room for a supercharger.

As for buying a used Intrigue it's probably the wisest choice for a used car out there. I don't have time right now to post all the reasons why but if you want more info on the car PM me and I will explain.

That's my $.02 on this issue.

lol...i actually thought about it for a minute, but they still have the same engine issues as the alero, and the other electrical gremlins that plague the venture/silhoette/montana sliding doors...etc.....

we are going to go with an intrigue mainly cuz its a bigger safer car, and since i walked away from a nasty wreck in one...its a logical choice on our part

You are of course entitled to your two cents, but what I stated was qouted verbatim from a GM powertrain engineer several years ago.
Let's see.....oh yes, he also had a hand in stuffing the 3.5L on the 2000 Alero OSV. Yes, stuffed is the right word, and there was not a supercharger on that application. The only blown (and intercooled) OSV Alero was the 1999 variant that had the 2.4L inline-4.
And he also built several of the blown 3400 Grand Ams for GM, including a version with a Getrag 5-speed (hint....it was actually a X-vinned 1998 car). He also married a 4T65-E HD to a 3400 in several GMX170 cars (That's the 1999-2005 N-body) - yes, I know bolting an engine to a different trans is child's play, but then mount it into a chassis and connect it to stuff that it was never designed to work with.....you get the idea.
Last I heard, he was heading the export program for the Cadillac CTS. The point being that he knows his stuff, and I'll give him the benefit of the doubt, Thank You Very Much.

I never said the 3400 is perfect, so don't try to make it sound otherwise...everyone here knows better. I have never had any personal experience with the 3.5L DOHC, so take what I said however you want. If you have had positive experiences, good for you. But no need to be a jackass about it.

the '99-05 N-Bodies are GMX-130


You're referring to weight differences between the 3.5 ShortStar and the 60°V6 yet you bring up the 3800? The 3800, like the 3.5 ShortStar is a 90°V6. Are you sure that 3.5 is even lighter than the new 3.6 60°V6 in the LaCrosse, etc.. (which BTW tops out a 275HP)

I brought up the 3800 because it was installed in 1998 Intrigues and some 1999s...I would be highly interested in knwoing any durability issues with the Shortstar that this engineer is aware of. The shortstar was canned because it cost too much money.

I own a new 3500 gm and am very happy with it. I hope I didn't offend anyone saying that.

im pretty sure thats a totally different engine.

word. 3400, 3500, and 3800 are merely the "NAMES" of those engines, and are generally close to their displacement in CC's, however, the 3.4L (mentioned in 2fst4u's thread) and the 3.5L here are different engines, even though some parts between them are compatible (with some work, obviously)

or maybe I'm wrong. to end all confusion, we should just all learn the code names for these engines and use them. like my 2.4L is the LD9.

the displacement is relatively close but the 3500 is not DOHC, i believe it has the OHV layout

edit: the 3400 is like 50cc's short of 3.4L. info on the 3500 is below from wikipedia

Yes I am referring to the newer 3.5 3500 enigine. I have the lazy (LZE)

in that case

yes... I know