Hi everyone. I've been doing some reading here for the last few days and it looks like this is a really good forum.
I just bought an '03 GT for my 17 yr old daughter with a 3.8 (n.a.) and 70k miles. The car looks great but she drove it 6 days and the trans is now slipping and the engine is knocking. She doesn't have a lead foot. We have a 3.8 in our '05 Le Sabre, but that's the first 3.8 we've had and it's been great. I believe the noise is a bad rod bearing. I noticed the UIM has fresh gasket sealer showing, so I called the guy we got the car from. He has a body shop where he did some body repair and I asked him what he knew about the history of the car. He said he got the car with damaged doors and repaired that, which I knew, and one of his employees had changed the gaskets when he noticed an external leak there. Long story short, I'm going to pull the motor and trans and check the crank. He has offered me, for free with no urging from me, a 3.8 and the trans from an '02 GP if I need it. I've pulled motors and rebuilt motors and transmissions before, but they were always ones that sat in the car the "right" direction.A guy at a salvage yard told me the '03 trans was a 1 yr application? Is he right? Can I use the '02 trans in our car, and if so, do I need to make some changes? Any how-to links will be appreciated. It's late and I have to get up early for work. Thanks!
Dan
