Holden 308 engine.

[Xavie]

Hi folks. Following on from a previous thread about if to sell the disco or not and if so what to buy I have decided that it is not necessary to sell the disco but that I might get a cheapo car and just let the disco sit under a carport and then have it for later use as it is in good condition...

So, I found a holden V8 (308) on gas, rebuilt, comfortable, lots of things replaced as has done something like 500,000 km's and it all seems to go extremely nicely. On the gas it is fine for fuel costs. Talking to the mechanic who I have read about online as knowing Holdens and all that sort of business he has said on rebuild they thought they might put in a new engine but it was in excellent condition so they rebuilt it instead. I don't believe everything I hear but it is credible as this vehicle was going to be given to the owners daughter and only after the rebuild when she drove it did she say it was to big and she won't drive it so it is now on the market.

Anyway, The price is right and it ticks all the boxes for the travel I'm looking at but is the engine as good as people say? It does have high kms for any engine in my uneducated opinion so should I just stay away? If it did die I would of only lost a few grand so could pick something cheap again which is hopefuly better like an excel or give up and keep using the disco :eek:.

I would of gone to a holden forum but after reading some of them not as a member I couldn't bring myself to post.

Thanks for any help,
Xav

[Fusion]

Hi Mate what year is the car ? there were 3 different 308's . Red , blue and black motors . But all 3 of them are great motors . I have had a hand full of 308's and never had a problem with any of them . probably the only thing that lets them down are the lifters as they will tick when buggered or the oil needs changing . Go they mighty 308's :twisted::twisted::D;)

[Xavie]

Hi Mick. It is a 97... Last of the 308's?

I would like 100,000 kms out of it. Once uni is over it can vanish in to fat air and it won't bother me. If I have to put a couple of grand in to it I don't even mind that and I'm happy to keep filters and oil changed but I do need some reliability.

I did look at a couple of ford V8's with around 150k on them for about 5 grand and they were on gas. Nice enough car but the holden is cheaper and interests me more until I'm told it would be a silly buy.

Xav

[Fusion]

Ah injected 304 . tough as nails engine and a sheet load of parts for them . and you can get heaps of parts cheap for the Commodore too . you won't kill that motor if you look after it :cool:;).

[mcrover]

VN V8, great car and great engine for the P plater who has no power restriction on their licence :p

Just a word of warning,

They are not in the least cheap to run, they are not even a bit expensive to run, they are bank breakers, espesially if you like to hear it roar.

They are very tough on rear tyres, even old guys on pensions cant resist doing a burn out in a VN V8.

You are very likely to want to spend about 3 times the value of the car on a stereo on purchasing it.......dont know why but it seems to be the thing to do.

Sorry, Im a ford fan, but Holdens to have a place......normally last place but it's a place.

Good luck with your purchase if you buy it, I know the engine will deffinatly out live the car.

[rovercare]

Good luck with your purchase if you buy it, I know the engine will deffinatly out live the car.

Pretty much that, EFI 304's are EXTREMELY sound, reliable and cheap to run........Its just a shame they came in a commodore:(

A mate just chucked one in a GQ, just over 300k, NEVER opened, the things runs like a clock, no blow by, no smoke, prefect still

[Xavie]

Thanks for the replies so far. They have been helpful. I don't prefer either holden or Ford, I don't get the rivalry I mean to me they are a totally different car to drive. When looking on the forums both have sticky threads which have endless common problems but the big thing people seem to come back to is how good the 308 is.

[Fusion]

Good luck with your purchase if you buy it, I know the engine will deffinatly out live the car.

:wacko: the car will last as long as the engine . same thing applies . look after it and it will look after you . and that goes for any car .

[isuzurover]

:wacko: the car will last as long as the engine . same thing applies . look after it and it will look after you . and that goes for any car .

I don't see anything wrong with McRover's statement. I have seen 110 countys that are buckets of rust on their last legs, but the ISUZU 3.9 engine still runs like new.

Just the same, I am sure there are plenty of V8 commodores in the same condition.

Sure - IF you maintain everything properly and keep it rust free it will last just as long, but Xavie already essentially said he doesn't care what happens to it as long as it gets him through uni.

Back on topic. I can't see how a V8 can be especially cheap to run - even on gas - but as others have said, commo parts cost almost nothing. Dad has had a few V6 commos, and I think he pays less than $50 a pair for brake pads, rotors are about as cheap, oils and filters are cheap, etc, etc...

[Xavie]

Yeah, I was wondering how would it be cheap to run but then I did the figures... So, parts are generally very cheap, V8 on gas running 13-16 litres per 100 will put me at about 10 bucks per 100 as opposed to say an excel for example running at 7.5 litres of unleaded coming to the same price but for a much less comfortable car and not very safe.

Also the reason V8 over V6 was in my experience V8's just seem to last better. I don't care for power and don't want it because I need my license haha. But coming up mount victoria it will be nice :)

[isuzurover]

Yeah, I was wondering how would it be cheap to run but then I did the figures... So, parts are generally very cheap, V8 on gas running 13-16 litres per 100 will put me at about 10 bucks per 100 as opposed to say an excel for example running at 7.5 litres of unleaded coming to the same price but for a much less comfortable car and not very safe.

Also the reason V8 over V6 was in my experience V8's just seem to last better. I don't care for power and don't want it because I need my license haha. But coming up mount victoria it will be nice :)

You are banking on the LPG price staying low relative to Petrol though.

Dad had a VN V6 which he traded at 350000km (bought it with 30k km on it). In that time, apart from servicing and pads/rotors/tyres, it needed:
1x harmonic balancer
1x crank sensor
1x fuel pump
2x batteries
cracks on exhaust welded
new struts/shocks

The auto was quite worn by that shage and the shifting was pretty clunky. Engine was a bit tired but still ran OK. It didn't need a replacement plugpack which many of the V6s need.

The later Ecotec engines seemed to not be as reliable due to the leaner programming (or so I have heard).

[B92 8NW]

The auto was quite worn by that shage and the shifting was pretty clunky.

Ahh the good old VN auto:D. Personally I really like the TH700 autobox, it's got a good low stall and a mega low first gear (ideal for an off road 4wd perhaps:angel:).

By 300k they tend to crap out. My mates one is running an almost pure mix of Nulon G60 and it needs to be shifted manually, flares to hell 2-3:D.

[rovercare]

Ahh the good old VN auto:D. Personally I really like the TH700 autobox, it's got a good low stall and a mega low first gear (ideal for an off road 4wd perhaps:angel:).

By 300k they tend to crap out. My mates one is running an almost pure mix of Nulon G60 and it needs to be shifted manually, flares to hell 2-3:D.

Except for the fact they snap mainshafts, screw clutch packs................and don;t get me started on when you actually abuse them:D

Plenty of arfermarket bits for them though and yea 3:1 first gear is:cool:

[B92 8NW]

Except for the fact they snap mainshafts, screw clutch packs................and don;t get me started on when you actually abuse them:D

Plenty of arfermarket bits for them though and yea 3:1 first gear is:cool:

...perfect for smoking takeoffs at the lights:wasntme:.

[rovercare]

...perfect for smoking takeoffs at the lights:wasntme:.

Fisrt gear, is only there to make it easier to grab second under brakes:firedevil::burnrubber:

[Fusion]

to be honest i prefer the turbo 400 from the auto's .... never buggered one and have wasted a lot of tyres with them when i was younger :twisted::twisted:.

[rovercare]

to be honest i prefer the turbo 400 from the auto's .... never buggered one and have wasted a lot of tyres with them when i was younger :twisted::twisted:.

Yep, but that's comparable to a 4L80, not 4L60

I fried my 4L60 in 1200klms, from putting my Jag together, only a stinky stock Gen3 with Cam and valve springs:D

[Basil135]

I have the 308 bored out to a 332 in the boat.

Rock solid, and she goes like nothing else...

It is a bit tricky to start sometimes, but that might have something to do with the 4 barrel Webber carby sitting on top.... :angel:

[Xavie]

Okay. Had a second look at the car today. I took note of the temp gauge whilst driving. The temp gauge was sitting almost at the "H" and I don't think I have ever seen a car go above the middle section... sooo normal or not?

It did not go to the red. It was a 35 degree day outside. It never went down to the middle and always operated in that range above the half and up to "H". Type of driving done was motorway and stop start probably over about 20kms. LPG and Petrol are flawless in operation and car feels better on lpg. Only noise was from tyres and rear muffler needs to be fixed as it was lose.

When opening the hood after it had run it was seriously freaking hot. Like you'd need to leave it for 7 or 8 minutes minutes at least with the hood up before you even decided to stand in front of it and look.

I realise it is an 8 cylinder and would operate hotter (I would of thought) but is all this the norm?

Thanks for any help.

[B92 8NW]

I'm a little confused, you say its a 97, is it a late VS or an early VT? On the earlier ones (VN-VS) the gauge was not as stabilised as most other cars and tended to move around quite a lot depending on the weather, load, hills etc. If its a VT they were "normal" by that point and it shouldn't move off halfway.

I've not had as much experience with the V8 engines, but I think they have a plastic engine driven fan with viscous coupling. If I'm wrong and its like a V6, the fuse and jesus relay for the cooling fan might not be working, which would allow it to run hot. The fuse is under the bonnet, drivers side in a plastic casing.

If it was 35 outside, were you running the AC? I have found the AC on VN-VSs can push the temperature up a fair bit, check that the electric fan comes on with AC. At some point they ditched big single cooling fan for two smaller ones that could operate independantly.

It's hard to say but I'd err on the side of caution and say its not normal.

[Xavie]

IT isn't the VT. It is the VS II I'm pretty sure.

Fans were working in that they were on. They had in fact installed a second fan in front of the original fan but it looked like that was related to the A/c and not the motor.

[Fusion]

By the pics you sent me mate . It's a VS Statesman and that shape stayed around for awhile too . They are a very nice car and have a great ride . you should be pretty pleased with it :D;):cool:.

[Xavie]

Haven't bought it yet Mick. I'm concerned about the temperature business. 3 posts up I explained the prob. You might know about it with any luck?

Xav

[Fusion]

Okay. Had a second look at the car today. I took note of the temp gauge whilst driving. The temp gauge was sitting almost at the "H" and I don't think I have ever seen a car go above the middle section... sooo normal or not?

It did not go to the red. It was a 35 degree day outside. It never went down to the middle and always operated in that range above the half and up to "H". Type of driving done was motorway and stop start probably over about 20kms. LPG and Petrol are flawless in operation and car feels better on lpg. Only noise was from tyres and rear muffler needs to be fixed as it was lose.

When opening the hood after it had run it was seriously freaking hot. Like you'd need to leave it for 7 or 8 minutes minutes at least with the hood up before you even decided to stand in front of it and look.

I realise it is an 8 cylinder and would operate hotter (I would of thought) but is all this the norm?

Thanks for any help.

Hi Mate , It could be that the thermostat has stuck shut . Or the radiator is blocked with crud . But at a guess it's a buggered thermostat . :)

[B92 8NW]

Ahh VS Statesman. Ahh *everything falls into place*:D ----> Water pump, check it for noise, leaks around the bearings, and excessive end float.