Worst Engines Ever Made

THE WORST ENGINES EVER MADE? Well these are some of them.
Today on Idealist Trav runs through some of the most unreliable and poorly designed engines of all time. Let's go!
#ideal #worstengine #lemon

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[jonkeau]

I worked at a Subaru dealership as an express advisor, we had a technician that would come out and talk to every single customer who had a turbo Subaru, especially people in the process of buying one. His job was to inform them that if they let the engine idle for 30 seconds to a minute after a drive so the turbos can cool down and change the oil every 2500 miles instead of every 5000 because turbochargers cook the oil that their engine would last much, much longer. We had a LOT less of those going bad, like guys could go hundreds of thousands of miles regularly.

[lemans]

I use to work for Advance Auto Parts. I sold a lot of engine parts related to the engines mentioned on this video. When I mentioned the flaws with the customer's engine, I got the classic Pikachu face.

[bill_clinton]

There's a KIA Sorento with 600k miles that had the Theta II engine. The owner had a unlimited mile 10 year warranty. In the 600k miles, the Sorento went through 9 engines, 4 transmissions, 203 oil changes, and 20 transmission flushes. That basically means a new engine very 67k miles, new transmission every 150k miles, an oil change every 3000 miles, and a transmission fluid flush every 30k miles.

[tjroelsma]

The main problem with many German engines is mentioned in the vid: the absurdly long oil change intervals. A close second being the obsession with saving weight and making all kinds of parts from plastic.
Changing the oil and the oil filter on a much shorter interval doesn't fully solve a lot of the problems, but it will definitely help keep the engine running for a much longer time. Eventually the problems will show their ugly heads, but that will be much further along the road.

[simian]

Had the Kia 2.4
One day, suddenly, it sounded like I’d dumped a load of .5” ball bearings into the motor. Voided the warranty because I did a couple of the oil changes myself. Dealt with them for a couple months & ended up paying 3500 for a new engine.
I was reimbursed after the recalls.
MF’n vultures.

[givemerodeo]

Former 2.0 '14 Forester XT owner here. I did oil changes every 3k, carefully warmed up the engine, amd let the turbo cool. Head gaskets went at 80k and again at 130k.

[RAL-AIM]

Also, wife got a used Kia Optima... she had it a week and the motor started grating itself internally and was running so rich, it was literally rolling coal. Yes, we got our money back.

[carllinden]

I happen to own a Trabant! I think the reason they've stuck around so much longer than other comparable cars is because of their superior simplicity, no water pump, fuel pump, cams or valves. Also it's impossible to neglect oil changes when you need to add it to the gas every time.

[aluminumfalcon]

As a former VW tech I can confirm I have seen each of those items fail, but you forgot the carbon build up around the intake valves which needs to be cleaned every 60k-100k. The gen 3 TSI engines have many improvements over the gen 2’s you are referring to, which is probably why you stopped at 2014.

Edit: I didn’t expect to get this many questions. I was a tech at VW for 6 months and I didn’t see every scenario, so my ability to answer questions is limited.

[joshuavisser]

I've worked on enough Ford 5.4l v8's, I think you had the sparkplug issue mixed up though. The ford 5.4l 2 valve engines would eject the plugs due to having only 4 threads in the aluminum head to hold them in and Ford's torque spec was also inadequate. On the other hand Ford had the brilliant idea of making the 9/16" two piece plug that would snap inside the head on the 3 valve engine's 😉. However your not wrong on the overall lack of accountability in these manufacturer's doing nothing about it, hoping problems would slowly fade away, and basically telling people they don't care.

[jimsanders]

Every time I think about replacing my 2003 F150, 5.4L Triton “2 VALVE” (it has 285K+ miles on it and runs fabulous), I look at what’s out there and forget the whole idea! I bought it brand new and love it! So glad I got the last year for the 2-valve engine, because I’ve seen what the 3-valvers are like.😝
At least mine takes “regular” style spark plugs!!🤣🤣

[faceup]

I'm definitely not a GM fan but one of the best engines I have ever owned was the 3.1 liter V6 in my 1989 Cutlass Supreme, and I'll never understand why. It was fast, reliable and very fuel efficient.

[ozzierabbit]

I've owned two Subarus over the last ten years, one with an EJ engine I bought used, the other with an FB engine I bought new. I've never had any problems with the engines of either one.

[zzbear]

I think you’ve missed one rather obvious engine disaster: Porsche mid-2000s IMS self-destruct which was the subject of a major lawsuit. There are some other classics such as the under-engineered 145hp Chevy Monza 5L-V8 where you had to drop the engine to replace two of its spark plugs.

[GLICKMIRE]

I thought sure the Chevy Vega engine would be on the list. But, it's from the 1970s and probably before your time. One of my coworkers had a Vega with its controversial aluminum engine and he claimed that all bad rumors were unfounded. Then one day, his car started showing some smoke in the exhaust and shortly after, his engine was toast.

[jfanreva]

When my daughter was little, we were out taking a walk around the block and she noticed a Yugo parked in a neighbor's driveway (they didn't own it). She looks at it and asks "Dad, is that a real car?" I hesitated before answering. Lol!

[johnmiller]

I had a 99 Ford expedition with the Triton V8 5.4L. although it did spit out a spark plug in 2017, I heilly coiled it & never had an issue again. it was still running when I sold it with 395000 miles on it.

[chrisg]

I once had an 04 F150 with the 5.4L 3v, ran it over 210k miles and no problem whatsoever. Keeping up with regular maintenance often makes it very reliable even though the world loves to hate on it lmao…

[nathanielwagner]

one American v6 you couldn't talk about here was the Buick 3800

[Jabootie-ozcb]

Retired Used Vehicle Dealer I am; whom has reconditioned over a thousand vehicles. Travers is short for "Needs new transfer case every 40 to 60 KM." The designs of today requires oil as thick as water 0/20 viscosity, to pump oil into tiny holes through hollow con rods and cranks. A speck of anything will clog the channel. IF I owned such a beast, LOF would be done every 3k at most. Lowest cost of the recondition of lot by far was Toyota 4cyl, followed by Honda 4cyl. Japanese V6 are not near as durable, especially of similar displacement. 2400cc dived by 4cyl = 600 cc per cyl. 2700 cc divided by 6cyl = 450 cc per cyl. smaller pins and rods dose not make a more robust engine. Any time vehicles have internal belt driven anything design, creates costly maintenance. Putting starters and water pumps inside the engine, coupled to an INTERFERENCE DESIGN insures expensive service.. I knew what was happening to the industry, that's why I bought a CORROSION FREE including the under carriage, No EGR 7.3 F250 29500 km, It's as good as Cummings, slightly more difficult to work on, but the frame and drive train is superior to Dodge. I replaced the entire transmission as torque converter was on it's way out at purchase. Jobber wanted $1800 Can. to make converter good, with a 1 yr feel good warranty. Vs brand new Upgraded from the original design Transmission from Ford with a 3 yr unlimited mile warranty covered anywhere in North America for $2700 Can, Dealer cost. Today's transmissions are $13, 000 plus range. Also own an 04 4cyl Camry 119.000 km zero corrosion as well. I despise all the new stuff.