worst motors of all time
- Thread starter pishta
- Start date
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Don't bother they were horrible. Nameplate was only thing that was Plymouth. Think British Leyland.
Frankie
Member #9641
How about the GM/Caddy 4-6-8 V8's. I think those engines had a life expectancy of about an hour.
Great idea, terrible execution
Great idea, terrible execution
pacuda59
pacuda59
GM introduced a 6 cylinder version of the Northstar in 1999. I had one in an Oldsmobile. Within 20,000 miles it was eating a quart of oil every 2500.
YellowDart69
Well-Known Member
I'm not a mechanic, but i do have an 02 Sebring Convertible with a 2.7l. They seem to have two problems that lead to engine failure. A weak waterpump, that leads to internal leakage of coolant into the crankcase, hence the sludge. There is a plastic part that sits over the thermostat, that diverts coolant, for quicker warm-ups, that crack with no warning. Ask me how I know! Other than that, they work great.
Late 70s early 80s Honda 4 cyl wiped out cam bearings, my 1.5L Civic lasted almost 20,000 miles due to poor oil distribution & poor metal.
The recent Toyotas V6 engines that sludge up should be included too.
I also thought of the 4-6-8 GM engines.
If you've seen the Cars 2 movie the "worst" engine ever mentioned in the Aluminum V8 that GM sold the tooling to the British and was used in Land Rovers and Triumph Tr8s. Well that engine was the base for the Formula 1 engine used by Jack Brabham to win the world championship in '66 and the next year by his team mate Denny Hulme.
The recent Toyotas V6 engines that sludge up should be included too.
I also thought of the 4-6-8 GM engines.
If you've seen the Cars 2 movie the "worst" engine ever mentioned in the Aluminum V8 that GM sold the tooling to the British and was used in Land Rovers and Triumph Tr8s. Well that engine was the base for the Formula 1 engine used by Jack Brabham to win the world championship in '66 and the next year by his team mate Denny Hulme.
bad440
everything,all the time..
Ditto on that...in a big way...and the four cyl. Vega abortion....
sscuda
The best there is, the best there ever will be.
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Over the years I've been stuck with "turkeys".
My first was a '67 Dodge Monaco 500 2dr H/T that I bought used for the wife to drive. It had a 318 poly that didn't like to get wet. I tried everything to prevent it from stalling when she drove through puddles or a rain storm. I finally sold the car out of frustration.
My second was a '84 Olds Toronado 350 Diesel that my buddy (who owned the GM dealership) talked me into. I'm glad it had a good warranty because the GM dealer had it more than I did. After two years of hell I begged him to take it back and they finally relented.
My third and forth lemons were a '05 Lincoln LS V6 (mine) and a '06 Lincoln LS V6. (wife's) These cars were living nightmares. I cannot begin to tell you how bad these two POS were. The Ford Service Group gave me the usual lip service and nothing ever was resolved. Finally I traded my '05 LS in on an '09 MKS (in late '08 and the problems continued. My wife traded hers in on a '09 RAM and never looked back.
My 5th lemon or turkey was the Lincoln MKS. That car was pure crap. I made a vow never to buy another Ford product as long as I lived.
My DD driver today is a 2013 GM product and it's been problem free so far.
:glasses7:
My first was a '67 Dodge Monaco 500 2dr H/T that I bought used for the wife to drive. It had a 318 poly that didn't like to get wet. I tried everything to prevent it from stalling when she drove through puddles or a rain storm. I finally sold the car out of frustration.
My second was a '84 Olds Toronado 350 Diesel that my buddy (who owned the GM dealership) talked me into. I'm glad it had a good warranty because the GM dealer had it more than I did. After two years of hell I begged him to take it back and they finally relented.
My third and forth lemons were a '05 Lincoln LS V6 (mine) and a '06 Lincoln LS V6. (wife's) These cars were living nightmares. I cannot begin to tell you how bad these two POS were. The Ford Service Group gave me the usual lip service and nothing ever was resolved. Finally I traded my '05 LS in on an '09 MKS (in late '08 and the problems continued. My wife traded hers in on a '09 RAM and never looked back.
My 5th lemon or turkey was the Lincoln MKS. That car was pure crap. I made a vow never to buy another Ford product as long as I lived.
My DD driver today is a 2013 GM product and it's been problem free so far.
:glasses7:
The 2.5 R or U code (iron duke) engines were some of the best GM ever produced. I worked at a GM dealer in their heyday and they were long lasting little buggers. Headbolt breakage was the only major problem. I owned a 82 Skylark and sold it to my brother-in law with 230,000 on the clock. He drove it to 260+ and sold it to someone else.
The early 231's were not good. Buick borrowed the aluminum timing cover/oil pump housing design from their v-8's at the time. (bad design) After some miles the oil pump would wear and low oil pressure at idle. Buick had a oil pressure sender that would turn the idiot light on at 0#. The stock sender was a 5# switch. That was their fix! LOL The computer/carb. engines were pure garbage. In Late 1985 the figured out how to make injection work and that changed the 231 for the better. A few years after that they put a gearoter type oil pump on the crank snout and turned it into one of the most dependable engines GM has ever produced. I lived through the transformation. We had many customer cars with 200,000+ on the clock.
A quart every 2500 is very normal oil usage. A quart/750 is considered excessive.
moparmat2000
Well-Known Member
Late 70s Oldsmobile 260 inch diesel V8 optional in the G body cutlass, when fitted you might as well call it a gutless
22 seconds to cover a quarter mile from a standing start. **** you could check its quarter mile time with a sun dial LOL.
22 seconds to cover a quarter mile from a standing start. **** you could check its quarter mile time with a sun dial LOL.
grassy
Well-Known Member
Nah...if you did any preventative maintenance, it was a solid runner. Drove mine for multiple winters. No electrical problems but the heater didn't work really well in the Canadian cold. ...which really didn't matter much because I always drive with the window open...better to hear the exhaust note..
the only problem I even had with it was when I let another mechanic work on it because I didn't have the time. Mistake. They were never ment to be driven like jap cars and only do occasional oil changes..
grassy
Well-Known Member
Chevettes. Motors worked but that was about all. It's role was taken over by he Neon. Wonder what the next colossal lemon will be...
C130 Chief
Mechanical Genius
I've had a few Fiats and British cars, and once I undid all of the "fixes" the previous owner did they were fine.
BUT the worst piece of shiz I ever owned was the 85 Ford Tempo my wife was driving when we got married. It cost me a fair bit of money to get rid of it, and that ranks as one of the best investments I've ever made.
BUT the worst piece of shiz I ever owned was the 85 Ford Tempo my wife was driving when we got married. It cost me a fair bit of money to get rid of it, and that ranks as one of the best investments I've ever made.
DaveBonds
Garage Trash
This is odd. I keep hearing bad things about the 3 cyl. My uncle has one with 500k running great. Simple engines. Another friend put over a million miles on his Metro, went through 3 engines, delivering for Pizza Hut. He figured out how to do a long block swap in 4 hours without a hoist and got it down to do on his day off.
These are the throttle body injected 1.3L engines. I don't know if they had two different 3 cyl engines or what the fluke may have been, but I know the early Metro/ Suzuki Swifts got good engines when they were set up and maintained right. Super easy to work on. There is practically nothing under those hoods.
100k spark plug change for a reason. When these came out, I decided that I would never own a FWD, in fear of "due maintenance interval component set changes", like having to replace a good water pump or distributor, when doing a timing belt, because they decided to run it off the shared cog belt. Bunch of dealer money grubbing BS. Engineering wallet gouging. Brilliant.
Yes! Absolutely the worst idea for the adaptation of the Olds engine to Chevy, used as a diesel, they are as worthless as the big Ford diesels, BUT... the lower ends were strengthened and do make fantastic short blocks for hotrodding and can usually be had for nothing, because people hate them for their Diesel characteristics.
They put those in Jeeps too. I don't know what the hell they were thinking, outfitting those engines in trucks. They do not have enough power. With that being said, and aside from some quality control issues, they can serve long lives in the right vehicle.
They were a shared drivetrain between Toyota and GM, like the '80s Novas. Good drivetrains, the cars though...
And the Neon... Tried 2.2/2.4 BOTCHED. If you want a car to overheat, buy a Neon. The radiators and thermostats, as well as the plumbing systems are completely insufficient.
My least favorite engine, at the moment; GM 3100 3.1L V6.
Contrary to the 3.8, which is a fantastic engine, this piece of crap is infamous for warping cylinder heads, has an externally plumbed water pump that buries everything and they are notorious for harmonic balancer/ serpentine pulleys coming apart and shred belts.
The cars they stuff them into, namely W body GM cars (Lumina, Monte, Grand Prix, etc.)
I replaced the battery in the hand me down we're giving to Amy's brother. I counted 24 pieces of hardware, brackets, parts and 4 bulkheads I had to remove, including the washer bottle that has the pump grommeted near the bottom and leaks everywhere (no choice), to get to the battery.
Before my friend bought his A-108 last summer, he had a '98 Grand Prix with the same engine. It's coolant overflow bottle or system had a leak that we couldn't find and it would eat antifreeze. Did a leakdown check, we sealed the engine, after replacing the heads, thermostat and everything else, due to warped heads. It was after/ outside of the radiator cap. I spent over $350 last month, fixing mundane crap on the Lumina. Battery was rubbing on the apron, burned a hole in the side, left Amy stranded at school one day.
I cannot get away from those stupid engines fast enough. I'll be so glad to give that car away this month.
Mopar to ya
Well-Known Member
Of course, here in the business, back in the 80's the line was Just Say No To Renault.
fastoldman
Well-Known Member
All I can say about a Vega is my wife had one when we got marrried. Less than a year old it started to rust. The motor seemed to run fine( chirp the tires in third gear ) lol. Nobody wanted it, couldn't sell it. The local Chrysler dealer only allowed $1000 for trade- in on a 70 AAR with only 7000 miles on the clock. Goodbye Vega, hello MOPAR!
jaimus
Old School ASE Gold
Ding,Ding,Ding,Ding,...We have a winner, I was the happiest Dealer mechanic when Chrysler bought out/got out from under these rolling roadblocks calles Renault...The joke at Mansfield Massachusetts training center was the rear pond by the back entrance was brown cause that's where all of the "buy back" Renaults were dumped....And who wishes they could forget those horrible Premier/Monaco's....
/6 Matt
30 Degrees Crooked
How about any interference motor ever made that had a timing belt? Especially ones with the timing belt driven water pump.
66plyValiant
Well-Known Member
nothing wrong with the 2000+ neon, I have one now with over 300,000 on it, works perfect
only thing is they need an aftermarket trans cooler infront of the rad, but thats not a big deal
one of the last chrysler cars built with cheap to buy parts, thats easy to work on if need be, and I rarely open the hood except oil changes
kazooom
Well-Known Member
I think the aluminum block Vega has got to win this one. My Uncle and his son, my cus bought both cars new and went thru 5 engines between the 2 of them covered under warranty within the first year... nuff said!!! that being said, I went to Speed "O"Rama in Toronto same year and saw a Vega wagon with a jet engine in it. ( no room for the driver ) but don't stand behind it when she lit up, ha ha... was a very cool looking car
pishta
I know I'm right....
man I love this thread! I had 2 71 Honda AN600's sedan and a coupe at the same time just so I could keep 1 running. Air cooled 2 cylinder, bicycle chain timing with a hydro tensioner. Lose oil pressure or just start it wrong and the chain would whip and it would jump time, got to repair it in under 15 minutes with a 10mm and a 17mm wrench If it were not for these as my first car(s), I probably would not be a gearhead today as I learned to repair cars FAST with these getting me to school, them or my 10-speed..not cool. Ran it for 4 months without a starter as it, I push started it! I think the thing weighed 1100 lbs and I could lift the rear up and swing it into a parallel parking spot just by nosing it in. (My buddies put it on my front doorstep one night for kicks)
My 96 Breeze blew 2 head gaskets before Chrysler advised me there was a redesigned head gasket and paid 1/2 of the final one's labor way outside of the warranty, still in there.
And I gotta agree on interference motors with timing belts, and transverse motors that have the mount inside the belt/chain path or buried integral water pumps. Love old no smog L6/V8's-everything is in front.
My 96 Breeze blew 2 head gaskets before Chrysler advised me there was a redesigned head gasket and paid 1/2 of the final one's labor way outside of the warranty, still in there.
And I gotta agree on interference motors with timing belts, and transverse motors that have the mount inside the belt/chain path or buried integral water pumps. Love old no smog L6/V8's-everything is in front.
PocketAces
Well-Known Member
My dad commuted long distance in a Chevy Vega. He kept a 55 gallon drum of Quaker State 20W50 in the garage.
moparmat2000
Well-Known Member
Used tp do the grey poupon commercial while roding in my buddys red chevette scooter. Used to tell all the chicks he had a red."vette" LOL.
DaveBonds
Garage Trash
An inline six timing chain mill always puts a smile on my face. I have more cars with them, than I do V8 engines.
cjh
Well-Known Member
Isuzu 1.6 inline 4's.....they mill the timing covers too when the chain tensioner sh!ts itself, and it goes through a water passage too.....so you get creamy oil.
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