Toyota's loyalty lead

No, I'm remembering the 2.5 that was in my mother's '85 Turismo, and
a friend's '85 LeBaron.

 

Yeah, the valve guides inserts tended to slip. Didn't affect the
basic soundness of the engine.

 

It happened -- according to my machinist, the valve guides didn't have
a tight enough interference fit, and could slip which would cause oil
burning.

 

About 1980. I had it in a 1981 Horizon.
One great tough engine,
as was the follow on slightly larger 2.5L version which I had in an
'86 L'Baron GTS.

 

True, that can happen with any aluminum head, especially if overheated.
The aluminum heads on the 2.2/2.5 also tended to develop harmless cracks
between the intake and exhaust seat inserts, which scared the bejeebers
out of a lot of people when they first pulled one apart, but they rarely
caused problems.

OTOH, you could look at a Mitsubishi 3.0 with your eyes crossed and the
guides would fall down and rattle around the valve heads, and dump a
quart per 100 miles through the engine and out the tailpipe. Maybe you
remember better than I do, but wasn't the final "fix" to that engine to
install guides with a machined groove near the top and then install a
snap-ring in the groove so they would only drop so far and then stop?
Pathetic. I still shudder to think how close I came to buying a '92
Lebaron 5-speed 3.0L when they were closing them out in the fall of '92.
Pretty car, cool ergonomics, but rotten Mitsubhishi engine and the
turbos were all gone for the year.

 

Oh, I never claimed it was in the same league as Mitsu! I thought the
final fix for that engine was to have the car towed to a wrecking
yard.

 

That is the final fix, not the final factory "fix"

 

I have a 2001 Harley Sportster 880 & it has never been in the shop. Frequent
oil changes & standard maintience help to keep it going strong.