Worst engines ever.

[rp23g7]

Another slow day at work, a few guy around here were talking cars and what they thought were the best engines made, so I thought about how about the worst engines ever made.

Most of the ones I can think of are hearsay, as my family and I have been a Chrysler family, I cant even think of a bad Chrysler motor. Even their 2.2 in the 82 Dodge 400 went 150,000 without major issues.

Ones I can think of or have heard of,

Me neighbor when I was growing up had a 79-80 301 Turbo Trans Am, I remember he was constantly working on it, were these garbage?

Everyone remembers the 350 Diesel motors they made in the late 70’s, never see one of those anymore.

The Cadillac 8-6-4, I don’t remember these ever working right, I have worked on a few of these cars and everyone has the system disabled.

Everyone complains about the Vega motor, I never have worked on one, were they really that bad?

What about the Ford 360 motors, they used to be a lot of trucks with these?

What happened to the GM 400’s, were they really bad, no one ever builds one anymore?

My grandmas 88 Olds with a Quad 4 had constant vibration issues no one ever could find, that little car moved though.

What engines do you guys hate?

 

[satellite66]

We had two Vegas when I was a kid. After a few years, we had to carry a case of oil around with us in one of them. They both wound up blowing smoke like they were chainsmoking winstons.

 

[moparstuart]

the chrysler 2.7 in the 98-03 intrepid and other chryslers. junk junk junk and completely killed the resale on those cars .
gm have a bad one i sell every day 96-00 350 vortec motor , 3.1 's all of them . 2.3 & 2.4 quad 4's . 3.4 l , 3.8 super charged and non . I sell these motors everyday .

 

[RGAZ]

Not to dispute your Chrysler, but the 2.2 in my old K-car leaked oil forever from the valve cover. The valve cover design was very poor. Also, the electronic carb regularly had issues.

Personally, i think the Ford 302 oil pump pickup method is beyond stupid. having a 10" long pencil shaft driving the critical oil pump from the Dist is just poor design planning. When it breaks it doesn't really "break" it shears and slides by which gives you "some" oil pressure but not enough. Just enough to cause damage. If i can find the Ford engineer who did that, he'd get my boot.

The base engine in the 2000 Dodge intrepid had many electrical and sensor problems. Not really an engine problem, but got me stranded more than once.

90-91 Honda Predule Si engine (yep i am going to bad mouth a Honda engine) had the worst designed oil control rings ever! They coked easily and stuck in the piston causing almost immediate oil burning issues. You had to change oil in that baby every 2500 miles or she'll burn.

lastly, early 90's Nissan Altima 2.4L. Great engine from a reliability standpoint, BUT the timing change tensioner would start rattling at 10K miles and did that forever. Every one i have EVER seen makes the same exact noise at idle. It doesn't hurt anything (mine went more than 140k) but talk about a poor quality perception.

I am sure I will think of more, every manufacturer has one.

Randy

 

[moparstuart]

I beg to differ on the intrepid 2.7 l , they have way to small of oil galley, not only do they shell bottom end way before 100k miles , they also run hot and blow head gaskets .

You are dead on correct about the altima motors , they have a steal timing chains guide that the chain slaps agains and also break the lip of the guide off and it rattles around .

 

[CoroneTT]

the engine in NX2000 did it alot as well if i remember correctly. I havent seen one of those in forever either!

The 89 2.0Si engine in those honda preludes were tough and that four-wheel steering was definately badass.

Ford Contour engines are crap, the plastic mating piece in the coolant system was stupid, especially on the block cuz eventually itd shoot chunks of plastic thru ur coolant and we all know thats plain awesome.

 

[wannadrag]

Vega engines were crap,aluminum block and cylinder,most were junk at 50,000 miles.They shoulda used the Iron Duke that there sister the Pontiac Astres used.
The reason you dont see anyone building SBC 400s is the drag and dirt track guys got them all used up.They make a excellent race engine lotsa cubes and 200lbs lighter than a BBC
Buddy had a new trans am with that 301 and the thing was a slug

Another slow day at work, a few guy around here were talking cars and what they thought were the best engines made, so I thought about how about the worst engines ever made.



Ones I can think of or have heard of,

Me neighbor when I was growing up had a 79-80 301 Turbo Trans Am, I remember he was constantly working on it, were these garbage?



Everyone complains about the Vega motor, I never have worked on one, were they really that bad?



What happened to the GM 400’s, were they really bad, no one ever builds one anymore?



What engines do you guys hate?

 

[65-440]

chrysler 2.7 all the way .... completely junk, and scary to think you can still buy a new car with the same motor !! have to disagree on the above comment about electrical issues on the intrepids... the downfall was definately that 2.7 ......

 

[khryslerkid]

2000cc PINTO:no:

 

[rp23g7]

the engine in NX2000 did it alot as well if i remember correctly. I havent seen one of those in forever either!

The 89 2.0Si engine in those honda preludes were tough and that four-wheel steering was definately badass.

Ford Contour engines are crap, the plastic mating piece in the coolant system was stupid, especially on the block cuz eventually itd shoot chunks of plastic thru ur coolant and we all know thats plain awesome.

i drove one of those 4WS Preludes, they are a kick to drive, really easy to park too

 

[Meep-Meep]

Hey, this thread looks like fun :grin:

I vote the original Vega hands down. Someone said they go for 50 K miles??? Man, you had a good one :rolling: My buddy had one and in our effort to make it stop smoking we drained the engine oil and put in 90 WT gear oil, STP and used gear oil from a MoPar rear end - just because we ran out of the clean stuff :rolling::rolling: That thing still smoked! And probably killed 50 HP!

The 2 liter Pinto is actually a tough little engine! Plenty of them are raced even these days. But the stock one in my buddies 71 Pinto was pathetic!!

I'll admit the oil pump drive on the 302 looks fragile but not many SBF's I have seen fail as a result of it. That's another engine that pretty much impossible to blow up.

The ED1, ED2 Honda from the 70's!! Yep, I'm ripping on them too :grin: The oil pump runs off the middle of the cam and the distributor runs off the end. When the oil pump starts to seize up (and that was common) it would shave the gear teeth of the cam until it stopped turning. Now in any other normal engine the distributor would stop too since it's connected and the engine would die. But NOOOO, this thing keeps running until a rod flies out the side of the block :black_eye:

 

[69 Runner]

It's my understanding the only real problem with the 2.7 is caused by NOT keeping the oil clean and changed regularly.

I could be wrong though

 

[RGAZ]

t
The 89 2.0Si engine in those honda preludes were tough and that four-wheel steering was definately badass.

My sister's 89 2.0L went 300K miles, my 91 prelude with the 2.1L POS didn't make it to 130k without burning more oil than gas.

Only the 2.1L in the 90-91 ludes (3rd gen) were crap.

My 2.7 intrepid must have been a fluke then on the electrical. Cam position sensor, throttle position sensor, every freakin sensor on that thing broke.

Now when we have the "who makes a shitty tranny" I got LONG, LONG list...

 

[moparstuart]

My sister's 89 2.0L went 300K miles, my 91 prelude with the 2.1L POS didn't make it to 130k without burning more oil than gas.

Only the 2.1L in the 90-91 ludes (3rd gen) were crap.

My 2.7 intrepid must have been a fluke then on the electrical. Cam position sensor, throttle position sensor, every freakin sensor on that thing broke.

Now when we have the "who makes a shitty tranny" I got LONG, LONG list...

no one realy make s great tranny any more , all the manufatures have problems in one way or another , I sell the hell out of trannys , especially 4x4 's heat is the enemy , put bigger external coolers on all your trannny , even if they already have a factory one .

 

[scotts74birds]

The 2.7 had undersized oil passages through hi-heat areas. The lack of sufficient flow could cause the oil to overheat and "coke-up" in these restrictive areas, limiting flow even further! Most rebuilds address this. Running synthetic oil in these motors can be an effective band-aid. The saddest thing about it was the "f#ck you" the customers got from Chrysler over a problem that was well known at HQ. Just "google" chrysler, 2.7, problems, you will have hours of reading that will sicken you. They refused to honor warranties unless every oil change was made by a dealer, and at the recommended mileage or less. Even then, the only guarantee was a hard time. Sad.
Every manufacturer has problems, the only difference is how they handle them. On the happy side, I have a 99 Cirrus with a 2.5L {Mitsubishi I think}, that was rolled upside-down into a flooded ditch and filled with water at 112k miles. I removed the spark plugs and turned it over. It looked like the fountains in Vegas! It was beautiful! After I dried it out I have put another 120k on it!!!

 

[65DODGE]

chrysler 2.7 junk junk junk i sell parts for those things all the time ford contours and there sister car mercury mystique 2.0 4 cyl and 2.5 v-6 junk,gm 3.8 and 3.1 and 3.4 v-6 good engines just have head gasket and intake problems all of them except the first gen 3.8 and 3.1 i could go on and on and tell you what to stay away from being in the new parts business i see them all but i also see the ones that you never sell much more than regular wear parts for like brakes and so on and so for if you want to get an idea on what cars to stay away from just talk to your parts guy he will have a good idea and those car makers cars from over seas sure they last a long time but when they break dig real deep in your pocket book because it aint gonna be cheap most those cars replacement parts for them are usually double or more than a domestic car.

 

[Shakota]

Wow, I suppose I am lucky. My two 1969 Simca 1204 cars ran great, as did my two 225 powered cars, my two polyhead 318 cars. The 20R in the Toyota I had was great. The 351 in my wife's Country Squire was good. Her 1986 Cougar had a strong 3.8L, as does her 2001 Windstar. Let's see, my 1988 Omni with a 2.2 was good and faithful and the 3.1 in my Lumina was okay. Well, that one gave me fits with a leaky intake and a goofy engine design. Let's see, the 1988 Dakota with a 3.9 is good as is the 2000 Dakota with the 3.9 engine. The carb on the 1988 2.2 Dakota gave me fits. Hmmm, Yep, I'm lucky I guess.

Anybody need a bunch of Mitsu 2.5 junk?

Oh yes, I do have a 350 GM DX diesel if anyone wants to see one.

Blessings,
Shakota

 

[CoroneTT]

i drove one of those 4WS Preludes, they are a kick to drive, really easy to park too

I still wish my buddy had his. the engine ran til like 400k before it was pulled by the current owner. man that car took corners like a beast. Really wish they made a 4WS mopar!!

 

[BigRichieO]

I totally agree with everyone above that list the Chrysler 2.7, we had one in our 2000 Intrepid. I guess we were one of the lucky ones that got our motor replaced when it blew up? I made 100% certain that our oil was changed every 3000 miles or less after that though, and I made sure that I kept the same brand and weight oil in it all the time. I ended up giving the car to my nephew last November and he ended up totaling it out in a wreck at the end of May, before he could blew up the motor again. Poor Intrepid :sad:

 

[BuckNeccid]

I gotta add one engine to my favs. Jeep 4.0. I think that's just an update on an old AMC design, but those engines seem to run forever with few problems, good power and low maintenance