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?

[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 .

     

[rp23g7]

 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 .

     

Oh yeah, i forgot about those 2.7's and the 3.3 Chryslers, those things never lasted, dont know how many heads i pulled off for 30,000 mile valve jobs.  Whats up with 350 Vortech?  I was told to find a set of heads for the 350 i am building for Tylers car

[moparstuart]

Stay away from the vortec's I wish i had 50 in stock could sell the hell out of them .,  they were a bad idea , the new 4.8 ,5.3 l ,and 6.0 's are all pretty stout . 

[rp23g7]

Stay away from the vortec's I wish i had 50 in stock could sell the hell out of them .,  they were a bad idea , the new 4.8 ,5.3 l ,and 6.0 's are all pretty stout . 

Oh well, i will just get some rebuilt heads for it

[MoparMotel]

6.0L Powerstroke Diesel. Worst engine I've heard about. I've got a few friends with them, and most of them have blown the headgaskets at least once, not to mention the EGR problems, high pressure oil pumps, ETC.

[Todd Wilson]

Mopar 400



Todd

[68X426]

Didn't Cadillac make a little V6 diesel in the 80s that was a disaster?

[Hemidog]

Mopar 400



Todd

What's wrong with that engine? other that the low compression.

[SFRT]

Cosworth aluminum vega blocks. gaurantueed to fail completely at 50,000 miles

[Belgium R/T -68]

The engine in the Volvo 760, a V6 cooperation between Volvo, Renault and Pegeuot. It was eating camshafts, worst engine
ever produced.

Per

[BigBlackDodge]

 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 .

     

Oh yeah, i forgot about those 2.7's and the 3.3 Chryslers, those things never lasted, dont know how many heads i pulled off for 30,000 mile valve jobs.  Whats up with 350 Vortech?  I was told to find a set of heads for the 350 i am building for Tylers car

I wouldn't they never lasted....I have 175k on my 2.7 2000 Intrepid. It has needed a few timimg chain tensioners over the years but that about it.

BBD

[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 .

     

Oh yeah, i forgot about those 2.7's and the 3.3 Chryslers, those things never lasted, dont know how many heads i pulled off for 30,000 mile valve jobs.  Whats up with 350 Vortech?  I was told to find a set of heads for the 350 i am building for Tylers car

I wouldn't they never lasted....I have 175k on my 2.7 2000 Intrepid. It has needed a few timimg chain tensioners over the years but that about it.

BBD

you have been very lucky  I have 20 of those intrepid bodys here  I buy the whole cars for 100 buck .  If you find a 3.2 or 3.5 car those a great .

[Cooter]

Every auto manufacturer will have their "Mistakes"...

However, for every worst engine you name, there will inevidably be someone that will tout it's Realliability as the greatest since sliced bread..That being said, I have a little list I have compiled over the last 20 years of working on everything under the sun...

1. Chevy Chevette 4 cyl. (Starters SUCK)
2. Chevy 307and early 305's that ate camshafts like candy.
3. Every single engine produced from 1975- about 1983..
4. Big Block Chevy 396-454 Ate pushrods like Candy if it saw ANYTHING above 4500 RPM's...
5. Chrysler 2.2-2.5 ..Wrist pin noise right of the lot..
6. Mitsubishi 2.6..Crack a head if looked at it wrong, and god awful carb's with wax rings for chokes..
7. Chrysler/Mitsubishi 3.0 V6...Burned oil right off the lot..
8. Ford 3.8 V6...Blow a head gasket if you looked at it wrong..
9. Chevy 2.8 V6...Just plain 'ol junk..
10. Ford 2.8-2.9 V6..Carb's first, then F.I., but the engine's Valve train SUCKED
11. Olds 3.4 DOHC engine..Plugs seizing in heads.
12. Chrysler 2.7 V6 DOHC...Water pump T-Chain driven and T-chains are a PITA..
13. Ford Late model 4.6-5.4 Triton...TWO PIECE Spark plugs that cost on average $800.00 to replace all 8 if all 8 break off in head, which they will..
14. 1985-around 1992 Subaru Flat 4...Blow a head gasket if you look at it wrong..Especially, the Turbo ones..
15. Cadillac 4.6 Northstar...Oil leaked right off the lot..Have to pull the engine to replace the oil pan gasket as the Exhaust runs UNDER the oil pan, and calls for over 24 HOURS labor to do..
16. Olds Quad 4...T-chains and coil packs.
17. Isuzu Rodeo 3.5 V6..Burns oil right off the lot..
18. 1982 Honda Civic 1.6 CARB'D..JUNK
19. EARLY Toyota pick ups with 20R and 22R with Carb..
20. Dihatsu Charade and Rocky 4 cyl. Intake manifold stops up with carbon..Only way to fix is replace intake.
21. Mitsubishi Preces? (Spelling?) Or Dodge Colt with 4 cyl..
22. Nissan VG30 V6 oil rings stick and exhaust studs break off as soon as you start it..
23. Dodge Neon 4 Cyl. Head gasket leaks oil right off the lot...
24. Vortec SBC after they changed the intake to only 4 bolts holding it down, of course, it leaks..
More to come, as I can't remember anymore right now......................

[TeeWJay426]

Oh yeah, i forgot about those 2.7's and the 3.3 Chryslers, those things never lasted, dont know how many heads i pulled off for 30,000 mile valve jobs.  Whats up with 350 Vortech?  I was told to find a set of heads for the 350 i am building for Tylers car

3.3 Chryslers? Never lasting? They've had good reputations from all I've heard, and from personal experience, I got 198K + out of my last one with nothing but tuneups and regular oil changes.  

[moparstuart]

Oh yeah, i forgot about those 2.7's and the 3.3 Chryslers, those things never lasted, dont know how many heads i pulled off for 30,000 mile valve jobs.  Whats up with 350 Vortech?  I was told to find a set of heads for the 350 i am building for Tylers car

3.3 Chryslers? Never lasting? They've had good reputations from all I've heard, and from personal experience, I got 198K + out of my last one with nothing but tuneups and regular oil changes.  

I agree the 3.3 and 3.5 old intrepid and LHS are great motors .  Also the newer 3.2 and 3.5 's are great motors , hard to sell they almost never go bad .   Not changing oil or shop left oil plug out are the only times i get to sell those .

[Cooter]

Again....

"However, for every worst engine you name, there will inevidably be someone that will tout it's Realliability as the greatest since sliced bread.."

[LeesRT]

I guess I'm lucky.  My 2.7 V6 in my 2002 Intrepid has 190,000 miles on it and it still runs great.  I do very regular maintenance to it.  The last mechanic that looked inside it (water pump change) said that was the cleanest 2.7 V6 that he had ever seen.

[bmoparmofo]

I agree with the Ford 3.8 V6, I have a 95 t-bird, just hit 47,000 miles. The head gaskets have been replaced twice already. I have never seen anything like it. There should have been a major lawsuit over this thing. They only extended the warranty, what a crock.

[chargerboy69]

7. Chrysler/Mitsubishi 3.0 V6...Burned oil right off the lot..

Every time I am sitting at a light, and see a big puff of white smoke several cars ahead of me, I always think to myself early 90's Chrysler minivan. Those are good for one thing. A mosquito fogger.

[Tilar]

Early to mid 80's 3.1 GM engine. You could not keep an oil pump in that thing, But the easy part was it was external and could be rebuild in less than an hour.

Mid 80's For escort would eat a head anytime the timing belt broke, Which was about everytime it was due for an oil change. Made a small fortune putting heads on those things.

[jaak]

My vote is for a Chevy 2.8 V6.... I had a 4x4 S-10 with a 2.8, that thing wouldn't pull a  greasy hair out of a lard bucket!

Jason

[200MPH]

AMC 401,360
Oldsmobile 307
ford focus 2001  2.0
Chevy Iron duke  should have been the iron Duece
Ford fiesta

[Sendero]

I owned a 71 Vega with an Iron block. Ate oil but it ran and did not break

[b5blue]

1st gen. Vega blocks were not sleeved, that was the problem there. They sleeved the blocks in 73 but then they changed from Opel 4 speeds to regular Chevy ones tripling the weight it had to pull and adding mass to the drive line. That made it work harder and was hard on the mains. Probably that's what killed the Cosworths. Renault Alliance engine gets my vote, along with the early "self destructing" GM diesel V8.