I'm a little afraid to open this up because I don't want anybody to take it the wrong way. The thought is to bring up KNOWN bad points about various makes. This is for information and amusement only -- I don't want to start any wars (mods please shut this down if you think it's too controversial)

To keep it in bounds, it should be limited to Ranger/F series types of vehicles from maybe the mid 80s till now.

Probably gas engines only

(Thus I won't be mentioning that mopar Caravans had issues with their serpentine belts and their automatic trannies)

To start

1. Chevy -- some of the 350s in the 80s used to be famous for wearing down the camshaft.

2. Ford ( gleaned from FTE)
5.4 spark plug issues -- blowing out (1st design) and breaking (2nd design)

3. yoda
Camshaft issues in the first year Tundra

4. mopar
-- Not familiar with these trucks


Anybody?

 

If I could find the guy who thought up some of the crap on my Suburban, I'd choke him into a coma. Here's a short list:
700R4 trans, absolutely horrid. Ours had not even towed a trailer, yet had three of them before 70,000 miles.
Two piece intake. I envisioned some engineers sitting around thinkning of how to drum up business for the service departments when they came up with this one. I promise your will leak, and it's not a cheap fix.
Steering speed sensor. Another totally worthless part installed just to make the car unsafe when it fails.
Quick-connect heater hoses. Evidently GM didn't get the memo about water passing between dissimilar metals becoming corrosive. Not only will it fail (100% fail rate) but GM no longer makes the parst to fix it! To add insult, when mine failed, it squirted directly into the rear of the alternator, killing it.
Since the wafer-thin metal the heater hoses were made of seemed so strong (not) GM chose to plump the rear A/C with it as well, and not only that, but they ran it through some rock-hard plastic grommets. By 40,000 miles ours wore a hole in it, which isn't a big deal until you get the bill and find out the entire rear interior has to come out to get to it. Actually cost more to fix than the transmission!
I could go on and on with the list of failed parts, batteries, alternators, water pumps, fuel pumps, broken power seats, warped brakes, failed belt idlers, ect, but hopefully you get the point by now. It's also for sale, but I'm not holding my breath on that one, it seems that everyone seeing your vehice on a slide-bed Ford tow truck repeatedly in a small town makes it a tough sell. Now you know why I bought a Ford...

 

What about brakes. May, some of the GMs I've driven have had some major brake issues.

 

Mopar - Over the past decade, both the Ram & Dakota are pretty well known for tie rod & ball joint wearing out at early & frequent intervals. Along the same lines, the tie rods are known for bending a bit easily. Front rotor warping is a common issue across the board. And, the coupe de grace, both platforms are known for transmission problems in those trucks that are used as a work horse or on the trails.

Speaking from personal experience, the transmission in my 2000 Dodge Dakota Quad Cab went south within a year of starting to two a 5x10 enclosed trailer between Colorado & Denver on the holidays. Truck had a tow rating of 6,000lbs while the trailer (loaded) only clocked in at about 3,500lbs.

Fortune was with me though. About the time that the transmission started slipping, Ford was doing their original Employee Pricing. I not only got to rejoin the Ford family, but I also got a smoking deal on my (first & new) Super Duty.

 

Ford -- E4OD trans (major), 2.9/4.0 V-6 cork valve cover gaskets (minor, but almost universal), noisy power steering pumps, push button 4x4 tcase and auto locking hubs.

'yoda -- early Tundra brake calipers, lower ball joints (recall), frame rust

GM -- Dexcool, plastic intake manifold leaks

Jim

 

Ford: Sparkplug issue not limited to 5.4s, but 4.6s as well. Idler pulley and O2 sensors as well. Mazda transmissions behind the V6s....and they suck. 97-98 4.2 F-150s, warping heads, leaking coolant into cylinder, results in a blown motor.

chevy: It has a bowtie on the front.

Toyota: The very name tells you this vehicle is nothing more than a toy.

Dodge: Look up the name "To avoid, stay away from"

 

Jimmy,

Can yoiu elaborate on the Mazda transmissions? Does this include the new auto transmissions in the V-6 Tauruses and Mustangs?

 

So far as I am aware, it is only the 5 speeds, it is in my '02 F-150, which means it is probably in the '97-current 4.2Ls This means that it would bolt up to the 3.8 in the slightly older V6 mustangs, but I do not know if they used them in those applications. The new(er) mustangs use the 4.0 if I remember correctly, which is a completely differant engine than the 3.8 and 4.2 (the 4.2 is just a bored 3.8) and may have a differant bolt pattern, so it may be using a differant transmission, I do not know for certain though

But this POS mazda tranny in my truck, sounds like it uses alot of plastic internals, including gears.

 

ford 3.8 V6 head gaskets.
gm V6 intake gaskets.
gm pickup tie rod ends.
ford 4.6 plastic intake manifolds that would crack at the thermostat.
gm 5.7 diesel.
the EPA regulations that killed all the good engines, forcing us to run the current junk engines.

 

Actually, This was a problem with Chevys since the 60s, maybe even earlier. There was even a class action law suite over it in the 70s. The problem never fully went away until Chevys went to roller lifters.
Regards, Eric