I've got an update to the problem(*)

Too bad the series III won't work It was worth asking though....

No, I didn't buy the car through a GM dealership. Yes I have the money for the extended warranty, I've got about 2 grand... not sure how much a new engine costs?

The recall that was done in '03 I don't believe replaced the whole UIM it was just some small part wasn't it?

My dad throroughly looked at the engine this morning. He did take the short tube and oil cap and there isn't the "milkshake" that i've seen on other vehicles, but somehow the guy at Autozone was sure it was antifreeze. My dad didn't rule this out but there isn't the milkshake look he was looking for which would guarantee a leak occured. Also, there isn't oil in the coolant when we checked either.

After this, I took the car to Firestone a few hours ago and got the results. They said that the oil has a slimy feel to it which may indicate antifreeze. If their is a leak and considering it has only been one week since the oil was changed, it may not be extremely noticable at this point except for that slimy feel they felt. They did verify that there is a tear or something in the cylinder 3 wire and recomend my spark plugs and wires get changed.... their the original ones that came with the car. They couldn't tell if the fuel filter was original or not. I also got the fantastic news that my front driver'* side wheel bearing is loose! This just added a wonderful twist the the problem, lmao! :?

~Dave

You can check the age date of the Upper INtake Manifold from the pictures in this part of the Techinfo at the top of Bonneville'* page.

http://www.bonnevilleclub.com/forum/...e=article&k=38

So get the oil, spark plugs and wires changed, and get the wheel bearings done. If you're gonna do one, you might as well do both fronts as they recommend you do them both at the same time anyways. Wheel bearing hub assemblies cost about $150/side plus 30 minutes labor (60 minutes if the shop doesn't charge by the half-hour). Good time to have the tie-rod ends and ball joints looked at while doing the hub bearings.

Went for a second opinion on the wheel bearings and theres very very little movement. I never noticed it while driving which is why the news surprised me. The second shop showed me the movement and in their words, "it only moves about the size of a ******' **** hair"... Gotta love shop talk. It litterally is like a centimeter or less of movement so their not getting replaced.

After that, I took the car to the dealership where they agreed to put on plugs and wires, but I'm going to purchase them because I know they'd put on low grade stuff to save money and I only use premium equiptment. I didn't mention the intake yet because I don't have sufficient proof to verify a problem. I should hopefully know as the oil is further from the change date of last week.

~Dave

On buying plugs and wires if I may suggest my 1.5 cents worth!, buy AC plugs and OEM type wires. Don't go for the fancy plugs wires. I had bought one set at PepBoys for an older 3800 and I quickly switched back to Belden OEM from NaPA stores.

Others have posted about stucking with AC plugs and some have posted they've changed plugs. Since you're troubleshooting and don't know what you really have I'd stick with stock to get her back in shape.

Have you pulled plugs to see what they look like? Do you know how many miles are on them?

Ok, now I'm confused. So don't get Boch platinum plugs and Boch wires? Why is this?

I didn't personally see the shape the plugs are in, my dad took one out while I was sleeping Sunday morning and said that it took him 10 minutes just to get it out and that they were stuck in there pretty good and in bad shape. He seems to think these are the original plugs and wires.... if so, than they have 78,400 miles on them!

I need to figure out what I'm getting though soon becaue I have to go buy the plugs and wires.

~Dave

go buy autolite 605 coppers... cheap plugs but work great in our cars...

then pickup the belden lifetime warranty wires from napa.. they are dark blue

its just a standard that NO bosch products go into bonnevilles

True story...do a search on Bosch Plugs and you'll see many,many, many, many, many discussions over them... in general, most get better performance out of AC Delco or NGK (or whatever it is).

So who carries these autolite 605 coppers? I still don't get why cheap plugs and wires work better than Boch'* lmao... whats it about the coppers that seem better with the 3800?


What does happen when Boch products go in the engine?

here...I did a search for you:

http://www.bonnevilleclub.com/forum/...ht=bosch+plugs

http://www.bonnevilleclub.com/forum/...ht=bosch+plugs