Quote Originally Posted by Chargerx3 View Post
What year was the -3? Ill check my fill plug to see if the recall was done, if not is the recall still active?

Not too keen on the lower end of your SOHC but at least the rods, pistons and I think the oil pump are different. Im betting you ran into some oil starvation. This may have been caused by spinning doughnuts in the parking lot and all your oil not reaching the oil pickup. 6g7# motors are very finicy when it comes to getting proper oil pressure and volume. I think even our capacity is more iirc.
The -3 SHOULD be the newest one with an actual stick for the transfer-case. As for the year I couldn't tell you, but that should be a start at least. In my research I have found a whopping two threads on that trans, and they detail mostly on fluid setups and synchro issues. There is a service manual available in PDF that will give you a good bit of info on them (excluding their respective torque max's unfortunately). Just google V5MT1 and you should find it in the first page. As for the recall still being active I couldn't say. I'm not an expert in them, but I've picked up a fair bit of info in my searches and personal experiences.

There is conflicting info on our pistons, but this thread claims that we were blessed with the best oem cast pistons for boost... go figure. The rods are for sure the same (at least for the early 2 bolt main DOHC motors), The first gen cranks seem to be the same, and you are correct in saying we have different oil pumps (rendering ours un-upgradable). The montero guy I got my donor truck from claimed that he slapped a 24v SOHC crank in a project of his to get higher compression (10:1 vs 8:1) and a stronger bottom end. I can't confirm it, but it is definitely interesting.

Admittedly I hadn't considered oil starvage, but the design of the pan makes it... unlikely. Go out and look at yours to see what I mean. The part that the sump sits in is the only low point and it is at least twice as low as the rest of the pan. Another thing to consider is that my motor came from a Montero, not one of our 2nd gens, and had an external oil cooler to feed. It takes 6 quarts when dry, and it was about 1/2 quart low (I knew I should have replaced those damn valve seals) when I checked it immediately after noticing the sound.


Quote Originally Posted by dash View Post
I'm thinkin oil starvation too. Death to any motor. Is the oil pan adequately baffled ?
The turbo junkyard $90 build early in the thread made a believer out of me, as I've always wondered what a stock SOHC V6 could do if boosted. Very impressive. Wouldn't want or need the vider VR4


I personally would love a boosted stock caravan 3L, mated to a 4spd auto, to power a daily driven, lowered 2wd mighty max
Should be smooth running torquey FUN - ala buick grand national style

Read on sigma galant, that the bellhousing was the 5spd weak link. So much so that they sold boxes without em ?


Anyway MOST OF ALL.... Great build & detail!! Thank u
The 4x4 V6 pans had the sump in a well baffled low point that took up maybe 1/3 of the total pan area and was twice as low as the rest of it. Does that rule out oil starvage? No, not necessarily, but it seems a little unlikely to me. At the end of the day however something had to have failed. Oil starvage is an easy scapegoat for that, so I will do my best to investigate.

If you have to use a caravan motor for your build watch out for the dipstick/oil pump orientation. Van motors have that stuff on the wrong side from our trucks, which may cause fitment issues. You do get lighter cam pulleys and a bigger throttle body though for your trouble .

I'm not done with it yet, I'll continue to add what I know here and give y'all progress info and pics of course. I've been incapable of finding torque limits on our parts, but it's looking like I will be breaking more stuff in the future so that you won't have to .