The 8 worst US engines....

[Lucky13]

 

[Torch]

I confirm the Olds v8 diesel was the biggest POS ever made. Had one in a 1980 Cutlass, finally replaced it with my grandfathers 69 Cutlass 350 Rocket v8 which lasted for another 20 years. God I hated that thing.

 

[T Bolt]

The 3.0 liter V-6 that was in the 1982 Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera. Bought one from an Aunt that hardly ever drove it. It was about 12 years old at the time but only had like 20,000 miles on it. My wife drove it for a couple of years putting on only about another 5000 miles when the main bearings went. The rest of the car was in pristine shape so I had a new engine put in it, drove it for a couple more years and sold it to a buddy of mine and the main bearings went again with in a year, probably no more than 30,000 miles on the new engine.

 

[swampyankee]

It's tough to beat the Vega engine for bad. My brother had a Vega, and in the last few weeks of its life, it was using a quart every forty miles. His V6 Jeep Comanche wasn't much better.

 

[Jimbob]

Agreed. The Olds 350 diesel was the biggest POS. A 350 gas engine converted to diesel. Bad idea. I worked for Chevrolet in the 1970's and the Vega engine wasn't as bad as it's rep. The problem was that it took proper maintenance to last. Unfortunately, it wasn't what the US public was used to and GM neglected to properly inform them. A well maintained Vega engine would last many miles. We never could master aluminum car engine maintenance until the Japanese showed us.

 

[Bucksnort101]

I had both a 1979 and a 1980 Olds Cutlass Supreme both the 260 V8's. I think they could go from 0-60 in about 10 minutes. They may have been reliable?, but they sure didn't have much get up and go, thus I called them my "Gutless Cutlass"....

 

[soulezoo]

Another vote for that Olds diesel. It was ghastly and set the US back 40 years in response to consumer level diesel engines.

 

[T Bolt]

I had both a 1979 and a 1980 Olds Cutlass Supreme both the 260 V8's. I think they could go from 0-60 in about 10 minutes. They may have been reliable?, but they sure didn't have much get up and go, thus I called them my "Gutless Cutlass"....

I've got that one beat. My first car was a 1975 Buick Centaury Special (The same size as your Cutlass Supreme) and it had a 231ci V-6 with a whapping 110 Hp. I can remember one time flooring it to turn into traffic and a buddy of mine sitting in the passenger seat didn't even notice it. It was a good running engine, but what a dog.

 

[soulezoo]

All US engines from about '72 through the '80's were dogs due to emissions crap. Corvettes only had mid 200's in HP.

A 1974 Stingray equipped with the L48 had 195 hp (small block 350) the LS6 454 option only had 270 hp.

 

[PWR4360-59B]

Most all that are made now, especially if they are all Al castings. Most all even from other country's made cheap. Some how they seem to work, for awhile anyway. Yeah some are making decent power, but still the construction and not so quality parts makes most of them an expensive throw away item.