90' Eighty eight specs question

I was wondering what was the problem with the 1990 olds eighty eight Royale 3.8 3800 engine? Someone said the heads warp and the blocks break easy.

Can i get some shorsepower specs for this engine?? I cannot find specs anywhere for it. I saw 231 and 140 then 160.

The engine itself has a silver thing on top that says 3800.

THANKS

231 horsepower

Are you sure its 231? the 1996 Olds 88 is rated at 205...

I got 140 170 and 230(wow i hope its 230 heh) and then i got 140 from another place. Geez i woulda thought it woulda been easier to get this kind of info heh.

I think it's 160hp. There is nothing specifically wrong with the 3800 VIN C engines or heads. My 90 has 110,000 miles and no problems. It is better than the old VIN B engine but all 3.8 or 3800 engines are essentially the same.

3800 vin "c" engines were rated at 165 hp.

my 3800 has had no problems with it, nothing that causes big damage, actually no problems ever with the engine internally, things like alternator and radiator have been changed, but nothing inside, ever, it could be that i take extremly well care of the car, or that it just is good luck

The "Silver Thing" you saw is called the plenum (air intake).Properly cared for 3800 engines will last along time (148,000 Miles on my 94 Olds) I never had to do any internal work to my engine. I had to change the alternator,And replace valve cover gaskets.Just routine maintence is all I do Oil changes Spark plugs,ect.Thak care of your engine and it will take care of you..Have a good day!! Diesel 1962

the Vin C 3800 is rated at 165 hp at 5200 rpm and 220 ft/lbs of torque at 2100 rpm

i have never heard of heads warping on older 3800's the heads are cast iron so its very unlikely unless severely over-heated currently my 89 has 182,000 miles on it and it runs just as strong now as it did when it was brand new and i am looking at making 250,000 miles bets have been placed

that 3800 is a hell of a motor though i know someone with an 89 like mine with 350,000 miles on it and still running strong take care of them change the oil and let them warm up and thats what a good ole 3800 will give ya

Yeah since i posted this thread i have gotten to know the car better. Its a 1990 BTW. I know i have a small radiator leak but i think thats the only thing wrong. I change the oil often (like 2500 miles).

Also another thing i noticed that i dont like about it is how high it revvs to get to second if you floor it(you gotta do it sometimes.. Once a run maybe, i usually drive pretty slow most of the time) it gets t0 45 mph in first! I am afraid of keeping the foot to the floor bc it sounds like its going to blow so i usually let of at 38 or so.
Then my second last till 75 and who knows what 3rd ends at. How fast do your cars go in first? Is it a normal thing for it to shift at 45 MPH?

I have heard of the trannies going out at about 100,000 miles (mines at 107,000, pretty low mileage for a 1990 but i still hope it will keep livin') I can already see symtoms of its age. When the car is warmed up i can shift into reverse or drive and it will jerk pretty hard(no, i never have done neutral drops and i always come to a complete stop when going from D to R or vice versa.
It also is not as smooth from 1'st to 2'nd to 3'rd but not too bad, but when i get to 4 (overdrive?)it sometimes goes from 3'rd to 4'th to 3'rd to 4'th etc.. pretty rapidly. Sometimes it will shift into 4th at like 40 mph and stay there and i can give it like half gas and it will stay in 4'th and accellerate pretty rapidly(theres the 220 ft of torque at 2200 rpm.. just wish it stayed 220)

One other thing is that it doesn't have as much punch after warming up for 15 mins as it does 5 mins. Maybe i am just getting used to it.

Just some notes..

yeah its completely normal for the car to shift from first to second at 45 rpm i dont know if you have a tach or not but i installed one in my olds and it shifts at about 5100 rpm which is right at 45 mph so dont even worry about it it's not going to blow its completely normal peak power is at 5200 rpm and redline probably isn't til about 5500 rpm and yes mine lasts til 75 to get into third as well

about the tranny if it has 100,000 miles on it and it didn't have the fluid changed atleast every 30-40,000 miles just leave it alone dont flush it because it'll go to hell as soon as you do you either gotta be religious with flushing trannys or not do it at all i flushed mine at about 145000 miles and it went to hell soon after

THX man...!

OO BTW how do you install one? I have wanted one(just out of curiosity of rpm's) for a while but dont know how to install it.

to install the tach you've gotta find the tach wire and tap into it

i tapped into my tach wire where it come out of the ignition module which is underneith the coil packs you will see a strip of wires the tach wire is the wire on the far right or the second one in im not sure but it is a white wire so find the white wire on the right and you've got it, it doesn't have any black strips on it either i believe just a strait white wire but to make sure i stuck a needle through the insulation and hooked it up to the tach just to make sure i got the right one and i got it so good luck with that tachs are nice

to install the tach you've gotta find the tach wire and tap into it

i tapped into my tach wire where it come out of the ignition module which is underneith the coil packs you will see a strip of wires the tach wire is the wire on the far right or the second one in im not sure but it is a white wire so find the white wire on the right and you've got it, it doesn't have any black strips on it either i believe just a strait white wire but to make sure i stuck a needle through the insulation and hooked it up to the tach just to make sure i got the right one and i got it so good luck with that tachs are nice

One question tho. What if i never had a tach? Will there still be a wire?

my car was never equipped with a tach from the factory but since it is a distributor-less ignition motor the computer and the ignition module must know how fast the motor is spinning so whether or not it came with a tach from the factory or not doesn't matter there still has to be a tach signal somewhere for the computer to read so yes there still will be a wire

So, one more question and i think i will be done.
Where exactly is the wire and how do i get to it. Also, how big is it?

im looking for the tach wire too, i installed a remote starter, and i think it holds the starter on the car for too long, it goes by voltage variance, but i think it would be better under the tach wire.

when you look under your hood your coil pack will be on the left hand side under the alternator then look below the coil pack there will be a long plug connector with probably about 10-15 wires coming out of it and all the way on the right of that plug there will be a white wire with out any colored tracers on it just a solid white wire which is your tach wire its either the one all the way on the right or the second one in i cant remember off the top of my head but when you find it you will have to tap into the wire the best way would be to strip and it and solder the wire from the tach on to it and tape it up to keep moisture out of it but careful not to cut the wire or mess it up because your car wont run without it

Thanks yet again.. I am going to go see if i can get a cheap tach for like 20 bucks and see what happens. kool.

Ok, i installed the tach but am cornfused. I got a cheap one from Advanced auto parts for $34 and it was an easy install. The redline for my car is 5000 rpm but doesn't it say its 5500? Can you have a rev limiter on the tach that you can move freely?