Yeah, a lot of people bought those @#$%-boxes, thought Iacocca was "really onto something there"!
Biggest POS engine
- Thread starter LouDawg
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Yeah, a lot of people bought those @#$%-boxes, thought Iacocca was "really onto something there"!
Suzuki Vitara 2.0L Engine. I don't even want to talk about it.
I had a canadian spec. 1985 Ford Tempo with either a 2.2 or a 2.4 I belive with a single barrle carberator. The engine had 50,000 miles on it when I bought it and it was in ok condition. The engine was shot before 100,000 miles and I even ran synthetic in it. The wireing on the car was even more dreadful then the engine. Ever week I had to replace bits of the harness that would catch fire.
Now the worst engine I have ever seen put into a car was the 2 cycle gravity feed random spark air cooled engine 2 cylinder that the then East German Trabants had. I was working in Germany as a Tech./Aprentice when the Berlin wall was amde defunct. THese things came across the border like roach's. These things made Ford Model T's look high tech and inovative!!!
Now the worst engine I have ever seen put into a car was the 2 cycle gravity feed random spark air cooled engine 2 cylinder that the then East German Trabants had. I was working in Germany as a Tech./Aprentice when the Berlin wall was amde defunct. THese things came across the border like roach's. These things made Ford Model T's look high tech and inovative!!!
My 96 4.0 has almost 130K on it and I've never had to spend a dime on it, other than routine maintenence.
Easily the best engine I've ever had in anything.
It goes without saying that one should never buy a French or British made car unless one likes to swear and tinker a lot!
The motor in the Chevy Vega I had years ago was a piece of work I tell ya.
I think it's funny how people have different experiences with the same car. I had a 82 Ford Escort Wagon with the HO 1.6 Bought it with 60K and ran it almost another 300K after that. Even towed a small 4X8 box trailer with it. Never had any problems with it - other than I changed the timing belt about 5 times.
I would agree that the Chevy Vega engine would probably top my list for the worst engine ever. Of course the Pinto 2.3 wasn't exactly the greatest either. I rebuilt so many of those! Lots of cracked camshafts, and valve jobs around 50K miles.
I would agree that the Chevy Vega engine would probably top my list for the worst engine ever. Of course the Pinto 2.3 wasn't exactly the greatest either. I rebuilt so many of those! Lots of cracked camshafts, and valve jobs around 50K miles.
When we were first married, my wife had a 1968 Renault R-10 her parents had given her. An insidious plot to bust up the marriage early on. I still have nightmares about that car.
6.5L turbo diesel from 94 up in GMC trucks and some hummers. I had to replace the injector pump on that thing about 3 times in 50000kms.. at $1400 a pop.. fortunately they extended the warranty so I didn't have to actually pay for it. It died out of warranty and I put an older mechanical one on it.
I'll give another vote for the 2.5 Iron duke in my old Cutlass Ciera. That thing had no power at all, and had so many problems with the engine. I could hardly stand to drive it, there were so many squeeks and rattles. I gave it to a junkyard.
Best engine I've ever had I still own, '93 S-Blazer, 4.3 v-6, 300k and still running strong, though the body is rusted out.
Best engine I've ever had I still own, '93 S-Blazer, 4.3 v-6, 300k and still running strong, though the body is rusted out.
Don't remember the engine, but by far the worst that we ever had (in my family growing up) was a Pontiac Phoenix from the early '80s. I think this was the rebaged Chevy Citation. Can't remember every detail, but it ran "rarely". I don't remember the engine, nor do I want to.
Then I owned a '78 Triumph Spitfire. Oh boy! Yes, in college I owned this car and actually delivered pizzas in it. Coolest thing around when it ran. It broke down every two weeks or so... not necessarily engine related... most of my mechanical abilities today can be traced back to my needing to keep this car running. Chicks dig the roadster.
The best? 1986 Honda Prelude. 40 miles per gallon, or more... this thing would pull strong in 5th gear while going up the mountain passes near our home. Simply awesome and never had problems.
Also the best, any Datsun. I'm surprized that someone mentioned a Datsun B210. We had one... and it went and went and went and was simply unstoppable until my sister totaled it one day.
Life was a little more exciting back then. It's much less common to break down on the road these days.... (IMHO)
Then I owned a '78 Triumph Spitfire. Oh boy! Yes, in college I owned this car and actually delivered pizzas in it. Coolest thing around when it ran. It broke down every two weeks or so... not necessarily engine related... most of my mechanical abilities today can be traced back to my needing to keep this car running. Chicks dig the roadster.
The best? 1986 Honda Prelude. 40 miles per gallon, or more... this thing would pull strong in 5th gear while going up the mountain passes near our home. Simply awesome and never had problems.
Also the best, any Datsun. I'm surprized that someone mentioned a Datsun B210. We had one... and it went and went and went and was simply unstoppable until my sister totaled it one day.
Life was a little more exciting back then. It's much less common to break down on the road these days.... (IMHO)
Was the HO different than the regular one?
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Funny ..that 2.9 was the engine that cracked heads for no good reason. There was an unpublished 50/50 agreement with Ford on that better idea. $600 (parts on Ford). I didn't know this until I bought my coworker's 89 Ranger with the same engine. No issues with it until my son traded it in on a 00 Cherokee. He really wishes he kept it.
GM 3.1/3.4 with leaking intake manifold gaskets
Pretty much all Saturn 1.9L engines before 99 for terrible oil consumption problems.
Pretty much all Saturn 1.9L engines before 99 for terrible oil consumption problems.
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I'll triple this. My Pukeout 504 diesel was a piece of junque~`. Actually, the engine iteself was okay. No excessive consumption ..delivered 29 mpg regadless of how I drove it. Just about everything attached to it had "issues". The water seperator was too small. You had to knock the half doughnut out of it if you got a bad load of fuel ..and you always got a bad load of fuel. The alternator slip rings became egg shaped and wore out a set of brushes in about 3 months.
The real kicker was when the impeller of the water pump let loose @ 90+ mph and gouged the water jacket in the alloy head. They wanted to pull the head to heliarch it (tig/mig weld) but I declined. It cooled fine ..but I ditched that thing asap. It cost me over $4000 in maintenance and repairs in a year (I was driving over 300 miles a day). Oddly enough ..I really liked the car and missed it. It had the best frontend of any car that I've ever driven. Mortar bombarded roads were truly nothing for this thing to handle. The ride was absolutely perfect for such a responsive frontend.
The second worst engine I had was in a Chevette. The timing belt crank cog was driven by dowel pins. It had a key way ..but for some reason the dowel pins would work loose and you would be sitting there with loose belts. It was easy enough to fix ...for the third time. Fortunately it wasn't an interference engine.
Lou, in the Ford L/M where I worked at back in 1990, we had an '85 Escort come in for "running rough" condition. The tech pulled the head and there was NO piston nor rod ANYWHERE. They melted. The crankshaft had melted spots in the missing cylinder. He took the oil pan off, found just a few shavings of metal...and you could see clean through to the floor. Dunno what ever happened to that repair, but we were all amazed that the thing even RAN with only 3 pistons.
Not really - the engine itself was the same - the H.0 had a different exhaust manifold, and I think the carb. jets were slightly different. Enough for about 10 extra horse power!
Most repair books say the H.O didn't come out until 84, but mine was a late model 82, and it had the different exhaust manifold, different carp. jets, and the vin number matched for the high output engine (if you can call 80 horsepower high output!)
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