1988 3800 Head gasket?

[hrhoward]

Hello,
I am working on a 1988 3800 and it has a really rough idle. I started with the basics and they finally led me to do a compression check.
#1-75
#3-0
I didn't go any further. I would like to know if the heads on these engines tend to crack or is a gasket all that might get this thing back on the road?
I suspect it has been run hot recently.

Thanks

[fastech]

Any GM engine can crack a head if it gets hot enough though these aren't prone to that problem normally. Sounds more like a worn out engine. I'd finish the compression test.

[n0dih]

I haven't head of the 3800's (VIN code "C" Series I) prone to much of anything back in that era. Mine was well over 270K and the engine never got touched. I had a small oil leak on the LIM, but snugging up the intake reduced that to almost nothing. Mine had some small rattly noise in the lifter valley, but I couldn't pin it down and just left it, it never caused problems. I think the only engine part I ever replaced was the harmonic balancer when the rubber tore and it make some hellacous racket...

A friend of mine had one he thought was a bad head gasket but it was an ignition coil bad and he was driving it on 4 cyls. He never did a comp check, he wasn't a mech, just taking a good guess that I figured out in about 5 min looking at the car.... The clue for me was he was complaining of smelling fuel, it was still spraying in the 2 dead cyls so tons of raw fuel was coming out he exhaust leak he had under the car....