Biggest POS engine

[LouDawg]

What is the biggest POS engine you've ever had?

I'll go first...without question, the old 1.6L 4-cylinder on an '82 Ford Escort. Bought it used with 65k on it (I didn't know any better at the time), it had zero power, then went through three cracked heads before it got to 87K miles. Finally ended up selling the pile of #@$%! for scrap. And I was a poor, struggling young man at the time and could least afford it then.

Funny thing is, other than that, I've always had great luck with Fords and am a "Ford guy" when it comes to the domestics.

 

[toocrazy2yoo]

My Dad's old Malibu Classic 1981. Some kind of 6 banger or another. Garage kept, regular OCI, driven easy, and at 67,000 miles, leaked like a sieve front, back and top. After that, a 351 Windsor engine in a 69 LTD. Slow, ate a lot of gas, tough to keep running smoothly..

 

[PRND3L]

318 with the "electronic spark control" box-on-the-air-cleaner --'79 Diplomat. I think it was more of an issue with the "computer" than the engine though. That car gave me all kinds of surprises at inopportune moments.

 

[BrianWC]

94 Ford Probe 2.0. The thing was only running on maybe 2 cyls when I traded it on my Honda. I had all sorts of electrical issues. At one point, when the starter was going out, I got shocked every time I touched the sheetmetal. It did handle well, but man, that was an awful car/engine.

 

[BradC]

2001 Chevy Malibu.

Motor replaced at 42,000 kms (26,000 miles) due to piston slap damage.

 

[CBDFrontier06]

1978 Chevy Monza 2.5 I4 (Iron Duke?) The coarsest, noisiest engine on the planet. Clattering lifters on a cold start (replaced lifters, and it still did it) and anything over 4000 RPMs would vibrate the screws out of the dash and drown out the stereo. Ran like a top when tuned up, but had all the refinement of a $1.99 bottle of wine.

 

[LouDawg]

So far I count 3 Chevy's, 2 Ford's, and 1 Chrysler...

 

[Pablo]

PRV - 2.8L V6, and not in a DeLorean. The car was a 1981 Volvo 262C Bertone. AKA Volvo 2-Dr Chopped Top Mafia Mobile. Car assembled in Italia.

I loved that car, but why Volvo didn't put the turbo 4 in it...I digress. What an infamous POS motor. The later B28F didn't flatten the cams in 20K miles, or have all the oiling problems, but still, 130HP??

It was a coop engine (PRV=Pugeot, Renault, Volvo) Engine was used in some Volvi and was the worst because I guess Volvo did the heads, some weird AMC platforms (Renault), I have heard the Pugeot variant was OK, but I doubt it. Why they used this boat anchor in a "sports car" I can't figure.

 

[sky jumper]

86 chevy 2.8 V6. biggest hunk of garbage I've ever started.

 

[Quattro Pete]

From the ones I've owned:

1.9l I4 ('85 Escort)
2.4l I4 ('91 Stanza)
3.0l V6 ('00 Accord)
1.8T I4 ('01 A4)
3.0l I6 ('02 530i)

Honestly, none of them was a POS. The Escort as a whole was a POS, but the engine itself ran OK. Some may say that the VAG 1.8T engine is a POS, but IMO it's a matter of proper maintenance. If you take good care of it, you shouldn't have any issues.

 

[BatmanLS1]

Mitsubishi 3.0 V6 stuffed in a Plymouth Acclaim. What a piece of #@$%!. Leaked oil from every seal imagineable. Valve seals were smoking by around 95k.

Every old Caravan you see that leaves a ghost at the stoplight...has a Mitsu engine under the hood most likely.

 

[CBDFrontier06]

I had a very different experience with my 93 Sundance 3.0. Still holds the record as being the best, most trouble-free car I've ever owned. Never smoked, never used a drop of oil and never visited a shop for any mechanical fault. It got a new battery in 1996 and that was its only issue. It had 75K on it when I traded it, so I guess it could have turned into a smoking POS within the next 20K miles, but I doubt it.

 

[sw99]

The GM/Jeep 2.8L V6 -

LR2
The longitudinal LR2 was a truck version produced from 1982 to 1990. It used a 2-barrel carburetor and produced 115 hp (86 kW) and 150 ft·lbf (203 N·m).

Applications:

1982-1986 Chevrolet S-10/Chevrolet S-10 Blazer
1982-1986 GMC S-15/GMC S-15 Jimmy
1984-1986 Jeep Cherokee
1986 Jeep Comanche
1990-1991 Isuzu Trooper

 

[Warlord]

From what I see here I think it's safe to conclude that modern engines are much better than those of the 70's and 80's and you probably can't go wrong with any new motor. Not surprising really. I have never owned a car that I would call a POS. I have always owned GM vehicles and one Ford.

 

[wavinwayne]

Never had a POS engine. The engine in every car I've ever owned ran just fine, right up to the day I sold/traded the vehicles.

 

[caprice_2nv]

^ I disagree completely. I'm still trying to think of what the worst engine I've had is. back soon.

 

[MKR]

I never had a bad engine either, one thing thats changed for sure is the timing chain durability on v-8s. Back in the 60s and 70s they would never last much more than 100k. Now they seem to last forever.

 

[caprice_2nv]

Quote:

---

My Dad's old Malibu Classic 1981. Some kind of 6 banger or another. Garage kept, regular OCI, driven easy, and at 67,000 miles, leaked like a sieve front, back and top. After that, a 351 Windsor engine in a 69 LTD. Slow, ate a lot of gas, tough to keep running smoothly..

---

The 351 that he had sounds like it was more likely a tuning issue than a problem with the engine itself. The 351 Windsor was a reliable engine actually.

The 229 V6 in the Malibu, I don't know much about them as they are rare and weren't produced for long but I've heard of some of them going a lot of miles without problems and they were basically a small block Chevy with 2 cylinders cut off.

 

[caprice_2nv]

^^A lot of the older timing chains had nylon coated gears on them to reduce noise and the nylon would eventually stress and crack not only allowing the chain to jump eventually but also dropping pieces of nylon into the oil pump pickup. Another thing to consider is that older vehicles were much more prone to detonation, as they didn't have computer controls and knock sensors, so if someone ignored the noises from under the hood and kept driving eventually they would do damage. This is not the engines fault itself, more like a lack of "stupid proof". Nowadays people even have warning lights to remind them to change the #@$%! oil. Some of the older engines were relying on people actually taking care of them and in a lot of cases this does not happen.

 

[JakeR22]

Chevy 3.4L dual overhead cam jobber. Had one in a '91 Lumina Z-24. Broke timing belt at 60k, put another one on, lasted another 30k and broke, got rid of that POS after that.