German cars among worst for engine failures
#31
Lexus Test Driver
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The 3800 Series I engine had 160-ish hp and yeah that was a dog above 60 or 70 mph, but the Series II and above made 200hp at 5200rpm and had more than enough power, especially compared to the 190-200hp Japanese 3.0's of the time. And I thought it was turbine smooth for the most part, maybe become just a little more mechanical sounding above 5k.
Earlier Toyota 1MZ-FE engines had the oil sludge issue and needed timing belts, Nissan VQ's loved to go through knock and other sensors all the time requiring you to tear apart the top half of the engine, and the Honda J-series have been reliable but still to this day require timing belt and water pump changes at 100k miles when everybody else has gone to chains.
Earlier Toyota 1MZ-FE engines had the oil sludge issue and needed timing belts, Nissan VQ's loved to go through knock and other sensors all the time requiring you to tear apart the top half of the engine, and the Honda J-series have been reliable but still to this day require timing belt and water pump changes at 100k miles when everybody else has gone to chains.
#32
Lexus Test Driver
For some cars in this list (especially #1 and #2, could part of the reason be that the owners are driving them way too hard?)
And hang on, why is Porsche even there? AFAIK, out of all the German auto brands, Porsche should be the most reliable.
I can understand a VW being on that list...........but not a Porsche.
And hang on, why is Porsche even there? AFAIK, out of all the German auto brands, Porsche should be the most reliable.
I can understand a VW being on that list...........but not a Porsche.
EDIT: Just to be clear, I did not intend to imply that Bosch was responsible for the problems in the 335i. Given the number of people who replaced HPFPs (occasionally multiple times), I'm convinced there were multiple design flaws on BMW's part.
Last edited by gengar; 02-03-13 at 08:08 PM.
#33
Lexus Fanatic
Actually, relatively few cars had turbos in 1984, at least compared to today. And, of course, engineers did not have much experience integrating turbos back then. There was long lag-time, short turbo-lives, and a number of special operating procedures (and oils) required. Even now, they still require some special sercice and operating procedures.....just less-so than in the past. The part that I disagree with, though, is that turbos are causing recent engine fires...from what I can tell, electronic gremlins, especially in the German makes, seem to be the main culprit.
#34
Pole Position
Thread Starter
There seems to be a trend where turbo/supercharged engines perform better on EPA rather than in reality.
#35
Some of the biggest failures and issues with German engines now are the Direct Injection systems/HPFP. Audi, VW, Mercedes(have not read as many issues), BMW, Porsche, have a lot of problems with them and they cost tons of money to fix/replace/clean. Some companies are offering extended warranties but I have read Audi is denying claims in many cases leaving owners with huge bills. Cooling systems has also been a big problem with many German engines especially in the past.
Toyota AD diesels had issues with oil consumption due to the block design, as well as some injector issues and cat issues. But generally not turbo's or high pressure fuel pumps..
AD diesel issues have been probably the biggest unreliability issue that Toyota ever had in Europe (ZZ engines were 2nd), and yet Toyota still finishes 1st or 2nd in all these surveys... that just tells you how bad others are ;-). Cars with those engines are now backed with 8 year/115,000 miles warranties.
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