2006 Buick Lacrosse CX 3.8l

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Bought a used Buick , last Monday , with 37,000 + miles . This correlates with Car-fax .

The dealer did an oil / filter change .

From looking at documentation , the factory OCI appears to be 3,000 miles . I have no problem with that .

My question is , I am thinking the NAPA 5W-30 Dexos synthetic oil I purchased on sale ( a month or two back ) for our Sonic , should be OK for the Buick ?

Bought a Fram PH3387A filter this afternoon at Walmart . To have one on hand . Are those Fram filters OK ?

Plan to order 6 - 12 filters from RockAuto.com , depending on there sale prices & freight .

Thanks , :)
God bless
Wyr
 
Yes, that oil should be perfect. The oil filter(PH3387a) is OK for an oil change but buy a step up or two for the rest of your oil change intervals (OCI). Others will chime in with more info.
 
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Doesnt't that year model have an oil life monitor? I pulled up a manual using google and it says to use the oil life monitor unless it is accidently reset, in which case change at 3000. If you have an oil life monitor, you should just follow it and if you want to be conservative, just change at 15% or something. I don't think the 3.8 in those was hard on oil and you will using a better oil than originally specified.
 
Any dino SN oil will be fine for 3k - and any cheap filter will work. That 3.8 is almost indestructible. The NAPA Synthetic you have should be good for at least a 6,000 mile OCI, regardless of time or short trips - just keep it topped off. Sounds like a sweet low mileage car to me.
 
If u are going to get the filters in bulk from rockauto, I would just the oem ac delco pf47 filter. They are better than the fram and a tiny bit less expensive. They can be used for the entire olm or less. If u are gonna do 3k oci, use cheap or clearance oil and cheap jobber oil filters
 
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Originally Posted By: czbrian
Doesnt't that year model have an oil life monitor? I pulled up a manual using google and it says to use the oil life monitor unless it is accidently reset, in which case change at 3000. If you have an oil life monitor, you should just follow it and if you want to be conservative, just change at 15% or something. I don't think the 3.8 in those was hard on oil and you will using a better oil than originally specified.


Yes , I think it has an oil life monitor .

Thanks ,
Wyr
God bless
 
Originally Posted By: bmod305
Replace the coolant elbows. About the only thing on a 3800 that will leave you walking home.

Dave


Is this what you are referring to ?

https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/buick,2006,lacrosse,3.8l+v6,1432026,cooling+system,bypass+hose,2155

How many of those are used on the 3.8l engine ?

Planning on replacing the radiator hoses , maybe heater hoses , maybe thermostat / gasket . And coolant ( Dexcool ) . Due to age , not miles .

Can add those elbows to the list , too .

Thanks ,
Wyr
God bless
 
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Originally Posted By: bigt61
Any dino SN oil will be fine for 3k - and any cheap filter will work. That 3.8 is almost indestructible. The NAPA Synthetic you have should be good for at least a 6,000 mile OCI, regardless of time or short trips - just keep it topped off. Sounds like a sweet low mileage car to me.


Do not know yet it it uses any oil . So , topping it off may or may not be an issue .

We had 4 Chevy Luminas with 3.1l engines . Is this 3.8l V-6 simular / related to the 3.1l ?

Thanks ,
Wyr
God bless
 
Your Lacrosse should have an OLM that calculates an OCI for you, which can be much longer than 3k.

Nothing wrong with the PH3387A, but I'd rather use an Ultra or a Wix-made filter, such as the ST3387 (or any of Napa's house-brand filters).

Napa Synthetic is rebranded Synpower and a quality synthetic oil at a great price when on sale at Napa. While dexos isn't required in your 2006 Buick, there is certainly nothing wrong with using it, and in fact it's probably better than any oil available when your car was brand new.
 
In that car, I'd use SuperTech 5w30 Full Synthetic at Walmart for a great value (Warren Oil Company). Although, if NAPA has a $3/quart sale on their synthetic, then go with that, a re-branded sodium-additive Valvoline, a great deal. 5w30
df1dfb8c-e9ed-4932-9454-c30fda1ad0e8_1.17b1ebaacd9babc9b6ca93a7102db37c.jpeg


The best oil filter is a Fram Ultra (wire-backed media, silicon ADBV, best filtering performance), again from Walmart, costs about $7 bucks more than cheapo brand oil filters.
 
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Originally Posted By: WyrTwister
Bought a Fram PH3387A filter this afternoon at Walmart . To have one on hand . Are those Fram filters OK ?
Plan to order 6 - 12 filters from RockAuto.com , depending on there sale prices & freight .

The Fram PH's are fine. Fram's Ultra is XG3387A (note the "XG" part). Ultra is clearly the better one, but the PH's have good reputations, and the PH's do have some glass fibers mixed into the cellulose paper filtering media which helps performance.

The main thing: Never buy Purolator. They have horrible reputations for ripping holes in the filtering element.
Any oil filter except Purolator will do. (Although the more expensive Purolator Boss model is OK.)
 
That Buick 3.8L is a good one. Iron block, iron heads, all iron. Great torque and MPG. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buick_V6_engine
GM should have continued making it and they should have put that low-end-torque monster in 1/2 ton pickup trucks as the perfect choice for the low end Work Truck models and cheaper base 1500's.
 
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Think the NAPA synthetic was about $ 4 a quart . Bought 24 quarts .

Thanks ,
Wyr
God bless
 
Originally Posted By: oil_film_movies
Originally Posted By: WyrTwister
Bought a Fram PH3387A filter this afternoon at Walmart . To have one on hand . Are those Fram filters OK ?
Plan to order 6 - 12 filters from RockAuto.com , depending on there sale prices & freight .

The Fram PH's are fine. Fram's Ultra is XG3387A (note the "XG" part). Ultra is clearly the better one, but the PH's have good reputations, and the PH's do have some glass fibers mixed into the cellulose paper filtering media which helps performance.

The main thing: Never buy Purolator. They have horrible reputations for ripping holes in the filtering element.
Any oil filter except Purolator will do. (Although the more expensive Purolator Boss model is OK.)


How about Bosh ?

Thanks ,
Wyr
God bless
 
Originally Posted By: WyrTwister
Think the NAPA synthetic was about $ 4 a quart . Bought 24 quarts .
Thats pretty good. SuperTech (Warren) 5w30 synthetic is $18 per 5 quarts, or $3 per quart, but the NAPA is very decent synthetic, a good choice too.
 
Originally Posted By: oil_film_movies
That Buick 3.8L is a good one. Iron block, iron heads, all iron. Great torque and MPG. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buick_V6_engine
GM should have continued making it and they should have put that low-end-torque monster in 1/2 ton pickup trucks as the perfect choice for the low end Work Truck models and cheaper base 1500's.



Was not aware it was an iron engine . I assumed it was an aluminum engine . Also did not know it was a 2 valve push rod engine . Gotten kind of used to the DOH 4 valve engine in our 4 cylinder Chevy Sonic .

Thanks for the link to the history of the 3.8l . :)

Wyr
God bless
 
I go by the OLM on our three Buicks (all have the same engine as yours). I can verify that the engines hold up well. Watch your coolant level though, the intake manifold gaskets can be an issue. I change my coolant every two years (simple drain and fill), much more frequent than the maintenance schedule. No intake gasket issues yet on any of them (fingers crossed).

I would recommend doing a trans pan drop and filter now, and every 30k miles thereafter. I certainly will from now on. Our 2003 is in great shape, except the trans is on it's way out. I serviced it every 60k-70k miles, maybe more frequent servicing would have made a difference, fluid and filters are cheap compared to a trans rebuild.
 
Originally Posted By: oil_film_movies
In that car, I'd use SuperTech 5w30 Full Synthetic at Walmart for a great value (Warren Oil Company)


The ST is actually by WD/WPP (Warren Distribution), which is a different company than Warren Oil ("Coastal"). Both are based in NC. Two companies with different names
smile.gif
 
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