Hi,
I'm pretty new to this place so i guess u gotta bare with me. Currently, I was looking at an 89 Camaro Rs v6 with 93,000 km's on it. The body is in mint condition and all of the mechanics are good. The only thing i was worried about is the engine because i was told by my mechanic that 2.8 l v6 mpfi engines aren't reliable. Is this true? What problem areas should i also look for? I would really like to get this car because of its condition. Everything in the car is original.
Thanks
Chris

 

I'm sorry to say this, but your mechanic is wrong. The chevy 2.8 is on the strongest v6's ever made by chevy. I have a 89 RS also with 150,000 miles and she still runs strong and is a very reliable car that is driven/raced daily.

 

The only reliability problem is that the 2.8 doesn't like abuse. They tend to drop rods through the block if they're abused. The best way to judge the car is on overall condition. Are the tires bald? Oil burnt? Transmission fluid burnt? Low levels?

Then ask yourself why you're interested in a V6 Fbody... if its because you want to go fast, then definitely pass. A V6 Fbody won't scratch that itch very long and making it faster costs more money then the same car with a V8. Parts aren't cheap anymore. They aren't hard to work on, but at the same time if you don't know what you're doing its just as hard as any other car.

With regular oil changes, and 10w-30 oil, a 2.8 should be able to go 150,000 miles with no problem.

 

[QUOTE=Drew]The only reliability problem is that the 2.8 doesn't like abuse. They tend to drop rods through the block if they're abused. [QUOTE]
lmfao ive got a 2.8 here with 135,000 on it it sees 7,000+rpm daily,if thats not abuse i dont know what is,and the cars never missed a beat

 

Exactly dave, i do the same thing, these motors are SOLID. just change the oil every 2,500 at most or when its black.

 

What do you guys want? A picture of 5 2.8 blocks with daylight showing through the holes? Keep em turning 7,000+, I hope you have another engine ready to go in. Get em hot, let the oil pressure drop and they'll blow just as easily as anything else out there. If you don't believe it you've never been around many of them.

 

i also used to beat the hell out of mine... i think drew means "boost" style abuse. as long as you leave it mostly stock i don't think you will blow it up no matter how hard you try. believe me, i tried

but one thing is for certain... drew is right, they are not fast. they "can be fast", but so can anything with money. i spend under 5K and bought myself an 88 Trans AM GTA, 350 V8. that is a fast car. makes the 2K i bought the v6 for and the ~3K i spent building it up (suspension mostly) look like a waste of money. great cruisers though. also alot of fun in the corners... handles way better then my GTA. another thing to be aware of. my well tuned GTA gets 15.5 MPG . the 2.8 in ok tune got 23 MPG. at one point when it was in better tune (and more stock) i got 35MPG highway (portland to LA in two days)

also if it's an auto run away. you will hate life. nothing is slower then an auto 2.8. my sister used to have one. it's almost as much of an embarassment as an iron duke (2.5L 4 cyl)

 

I have an auto 2.8 and its not UNbelievable slow, it has some nice power to it with a few mods here and there.

 

xophertony mines an auto,though its far from stock but it is a 14sec car now soon to be much faster with the new turbo motor

 

The 2.8 is inclined to high rpm failure. Check with the guys who run them and they'll tell you the same thing. It doesn't take much to knock out the bearings and catastrophic failure isn't far behind. Treat them right and they'll last, but abuse them much and they won't hold together.

ps the 700R4 is junk regardless of what its bolted to... put much power to it, abuse it, and it'll cause all kinds of grief. Not to mention its extremelly expensive and difficult to replace. The labor is easy, finding a good used one or getting one rebuilt, that's the hard part.

 

one thing i agree with is the 700r4 in stock form is junk,mostly prone to losing 4th gear,and just gennerally burning up behind anything with power,mine happens to run the 2004r swaped out along time ago,but with the new turbo engine going in im swaping back to a built 700r4 and converter(deff was not cheap)
drew gm rates the bottom end in stock form to 7000 rpm,but granted if u run anyhting hot/low on oil/old oil etc @ hi rpms its not gonna last long,same goes for detonation pinging etc,the engine must be kept in top tune/running order to survive under these conditions

The only problem ive had with mine is valve start to float around 7,8-7,900 rpm,but that should be fixed with the new ls1 valve springs on the turbo motor

 

thanks guys, this will help me out alot! Yeah i'm not the one that abuses cars,

 

i would liketo point out that everyone who said their auto is not slow has modded it. i am talking 150K stock engine. plus autos suck. i want to put a six speed in my GTA.

 

my auto 2.8 is pretty slow. It is also the only motor i've ever had that doesnt turn the oil black in a hundred miles. My 2000k oil is almost the same color it went in.

 

Funny, after my 12 years of driving my car, I've got it up to 286,000 miles- and I regularly stomped the throttle. The only internal thing I've done was the timing chain.

Then again, I never pushed it up to 7000 RPMS. I'd expect any production 80's motor to fail at that point!

 

ANYWAY, to the starter or this thread, if the price is right, the car is in good shape, and you just want a cruiser, BUY IT, ive had a blast with my 88 2.8 maro AUTO...she only has 71 going on 72 k but still, no issues, granted it has nothing on my x 85 trans am but, like i said above, go for it! any motor head can swap in a 350 in a weekend with a couple beers down the road....