Worst engine

[annodomini2]

Ok so we've ad the best engine thread what about the worst?!

IMHO its the rover k-series, but thats a personal gripe!

Whats everyone else think?

[danhay]

The diesel from the old Ford Transit...what a horrible noise!

[Fatboy]

Worst Engine? Hmmmmm. Well, from personal experience it would have to be the pontiac 4 pot in that pontiac sunfire I rented - sounded like a right bag of spanners, thought it was a diesel at first , but I'm guessing a car from Rent-A-Wreck isn't the best example of the marque.

[robbo1]

Early Ford CVH (with dodgy automatic choke) gets my vote. Fail to get the accelerator in the right place when you start it and either (i) it floods, or (ii) it never gets enough fuel to start.

[deltaf]

Define "worst"?

[Pigeon]

Anything made by Briggs and Stratton before they started making old Honda designs in the mid-90s.

Worst *sound* has got to be the VW Beetle - farting through a whistle springs to mind.

[Munter]

Ummm...Lada 1300 or Lada 1500...decisions decisions..

[pentoman]

I'm racking my brain trying to think of one that's been particularly awful, but few are that bad these days..

So I'm settling on the Transit too.. the first (~93-95?) Direct Injection transits were incredibly noisy, standing next to one pulling away is a form of torture.

[Wacky Racer]

The worst engine ever must be a toss up between the Triumph Stag of the early seventies, and the early TVR Speed sixes, both guaranteed to bankrupt their owners before the first set of tyres were worn out....

[pbrett]

Wacky Racer said:

The worst engine ever must be a toss up between the Triumph Stag of the early seventies, and the early TVR Speed sixes, both guaranteed to bankrupt their owners before the first set of tyres were worn out....

Yup I'd vote Stag. I don't know anyone with one that hasn't had a problem. And it's a hairdressers car.

[goboddog]

id go for the rover 200 series i think 95 onwards overheat and forget the repair u need a new engine

[Apache]

Rover SD1 2.3/2.6 absolutely guaranteed to disintegrate. I had one throw a liner into the crank, got it rebuilt and literally ten minutes later the cam seized

[Bearded-lada-man]

Munter said:

Ummm...Lada 1300 or Lada 1500...decisions decisions..

Qualify?

[Apache]

Bearded-lada-man said:

Munter said: Ummm...Lada 1300 or Lada 1500...decisions decisions.. Qualify?

yeah, I was thinking that, simple rugged engines that can burn anything, seem to survive on the original oil and need servicing every decade

[thatphilbrettguy]

Stag or Dolomite Sprint (which is the same engine chopped in half really). For simple maintance pain the Jenson Intercepter takes the biscuit. Change the spark plugs? Take the wheels off.

[Munter]

Apache said:

Bearded-lada-man said: Munter said: Ummm...Lada 1300 or Lada 1500...decisions decisions.. Qualify? yeah, I was thinking that, simple rugged engines that can burn anything, seem to survive on the original oil and need servicing every decade

Ummm well I/my brothers managed to destroy both these engines. Though thinking about it even though they both had little/no oil pressure they still ran......kind of....

[UpTheIron]

mungo said:

Speed 6

Are you the new Jigs? Change the record

[djpt]

Vauxhall Eco Tech - 1997 / 1998

My Dad had a Vauxhall Vectra 1.9 Diesel with 49 000 miles and the piston went in the engine (think it collapsed) at 30 MPH! He did not drive the engine hard and it was well serviced. Six months after it was repaired by a genuine Vauxhall garage, the engine management system failed completely.

After this one, he got a Vauxhall Omega 2.0 Petrol with 28 000 miles and the engine management system went on this aswell! Apparently the Vauxhall Eco Tech engine in 1997 / 1998 was really bad for technical problems. Never bought a Vauxhall since.

[old64er]

fiat punto 55/60 1995 to 1998 these things do head gaskets every 10/20k, i have even changed one at 5k !!!

i agree with the stag also but the punto was made by bic i think

[Marquis_Rex]

annodomini2 said:

Ok so we've ad the best engine thread what about the worst?! IMHO its the rover k-series, but thats a personal gripe! Whats everyone else think?

TOTALLY agree with you, well certainly one of the most over rated. Beware the brainwashed "Roverdrone" types will lynch us!

Over rated because:

The Open deck block design has been so badly executed- that on the "damp liner variants" the block is downright floppy- this is ONE of the root causes for it's head gasket blowing. The Engine ISN'T smooth despite the pro-British Propaganda. Much was publicised about the through bolts that apparently lead to smoothness. In my experience the engine is NOT smooth, even in 1.4 litre form and all the through bolts do is lead to complexity if trying to overhaul! Yes, may be great for the "disposable" engine- but always puzzled me- that these are so favoured in kit cars, when one of the kit car criteria I would have thought would have been ease of overhauling...

About the best things for this engine are it's dimunitive size, and light weight. It also hit a milestone in ease of manufacture. NOT FUNCTION!

edited to say: I won't bother debating with "Rover drone" types who want to dispute this- unless they put a good engineering argument up in terms of FUNCTION from expereince- rather then reciting propaganda from PR broshures/books...etc

>> Edited by Marquis_Rex on Tuesday 31st August 18:14