why DOHC to pushrod?

[Lyle's GTP]

Shit I get 30's right now. Maybe it's a 94'+ thing. But anything less than 30 for a stock V-6 doesn't seem right to me.

Lyle

[LQ1]

I get horse shit mpg, city i get 16-18, over the winter i was getting 11s every week. Highway i got around 21-22.

[Anonymous]

Maybe I'm doing it wrong, but I ran mine from literally dead empty, added 10 gallons, and computed my daily(so mixture of low highway and a lot of city, and an occasional race...) and got 24mpg...

[RednBlack]

Maintenance!! DOHC is a mechanics car. If you ignore it for a minute, it bites you in the ass! My ass is real sore! But just think what it would be now, if GM had kept developing this motor. More aftermarket parts. Hooker headers. Just about anything you want would be available. Unfortunately there wasn't a big enough market for the HP companies to build our stuff. Hence we have to fabricate most of it. Kudos to this website! My Cutlass is getting no mileage at the moment due to another bite in the ass!

[RidgeRunner]

Maybe I'm doing it wrong, but I ran mine from literally dead empty, added 10 gallons, and computed my daily(so mixture of low highway and a lot of city, and an occasional race...) and got 24mpg...

Fill it full, keep track of the mileage you drive, fill it again and record how much it took to fill it back up. Then do the math.

[Mitch DOHC]

gas miledge is definatly not a 94+ thing..... i get about 20 to 21 on the highway... and 14 -15 in the city...... the high way miledge i just checked on the way back from the beech like 2 weeks ago

[demonte1997]

I get really good mileage with my DOHC. Probably around 24mpg on backroads and 30 hwy.

I spoke to a GM technician about my engine. He said that he's fairly certain that GM axed the DOHC because OBDII code was never written properly for the engine. He said there are glitches in the software that, as far as he knows, were never corrected by GM. Glitches may cause erratic transmission shifts, faulty idle and the harsh start/no start condition. He said that this is not the only reason GM got rid of the engine, but as everyone knows, it is high maintenance so GM went with the 3800. It was much more cost effective for GM to just go with the pushrod after 1997.

There seems to be direct evidence of PCM failure in many 1996 and 1997 Monte Carlos. Many were bought back by GM because they could never be fixed properly. This would seem to support what the technician told me about the OBDII code. I also understand that the build quality of the DOHC went down a little on the latest versions of the engine. That doesn't help either.

All in all, it's bean-counters at GM running their cost-effective analysis. It's only fair to them, since they are a large corporation.

This is partially why I'll be trading in my Monte in a couple days.

[Zboy]

The biggest reason GM got rid of the engine was HIGH COST. High sticker price, high maintanence, and high insurance. It makes sense, GM had to spend more money to produce the DOHC so they had to charge more for DOHC equipped cars. Now why would the average consumer pay more for a car with a whiny bitch of an engine when they can get a 3800 series II for less initial cost and WAY less maintenance? The DOHC engines also got a very bad reputation from the start. Ask any GM tech,salesman, or just people who have owned DOHC cars what they think about them. Almost all of the people I've asked have said that the 3.4 DOHC was fast but a PAIN IN THE ASS. Broken timing belts, head gaskets blowing, bearings going to hell, too many people got burned with the DOHC and GMs lack of concern for the problems with their cars. GM had a great engine, but in typical corporate fashion, dropped the ball in build quality and customer service and gave a great engine a bad name.

[93LuminaZ34va]

Back to the gas mileage...... i usually get around 23-25, with %70 of it being in the city. Now if I take a road trip..... she gets about 32-35 mpg. Thats providing I don't tip into her any. Now if I play, the mileage gets down into the 17-21 mpg range.

[Anonymous]

Back to the gas mileage......

Back to the topic of the thread......

Zboy you are right. There were many reasons and as far as business goes, it was a good decision. But I still see today's 3.2 Acuras and DOHC V6 Hondas and it pisses me off how good they run, but that they are still dependable as hell even when making some 260hp.

[RednBlack]

But I still see today's 3.2 Acuras and DOHC V6 Hondas and it pisses me off how good they run, but that they are still dependable as hell even when making some 260hp.

My point exactly! If GM would have developed this engine for a few more years.....Bye Bye Rice! And we would have aftermarket parts to do our dirty work!! No use cryin' over spilled gas though. Of course at $2.14/gal., it does tend to bring a tear to my eye to mow the grass. Wasted gas...............

[Anonymous]

but the powerband is still going to be undesirable. The 3.2s are worse than ours down low. BUt once they get moving, they move. THEY REALLY MOVE.

[93LuminaZ34va]

Well developed variable intakes and variable cam timing would help that..... just look what all the other car makers are doing with their engines.... Honda's 2.0 that turns 8500 RPM and 240 HP..... Chevy's new 3.6 and so on, the 4200 I-6 with 276 HP..... It'd be interesting to have all these on our DOHCs.....

[blk92z34getrag]

It's nice to be able to smoke 5.0 Mustangs with a "whiney bitch" of a V6 though. Especially when you know how to do all of the work yourself

[bud36light]

It's nice to be able to smoke 5.0 Mustangs with a "whiney bitch" of a V6 though. Especially when you know how to do all of the work yourself

aint that why we are here? Bitch behind the 6\60 got something ta do with it right?