Which engine has better reliability? 1.9 SOHC or 1.9 DOHC?

Hi everyone,
I recently was looking at a Saturn SC2 and the dealer told me that in
his opinion the 1.9 DOHC is more reliable. Is that true? I know in the
history of GM, most of their DOHC engines are crap so I was wondering if
he was just telling me that to get me to buy the car. For future
reference it would be nice to know which of those two engines is the more
reliable one. Thank you.

 

1.9 has a problem with cracking cylinder head

 

Thats an awful broad statement.

First off the 1.9's are not GM engines. They are of British design and
they kinda vary in quality. I'd prefer the the DOHC myself because it
usually is more reliable. Dealers are usually full of it but in this
case there was truth to his statement.

As for GM DOHC engines would you call a 32 valve Northstar or a Ecotec
crap? I sure as hell wouldnt. The Quadfour and DOHC 3.4 V6 are the only
ones I can think of that have issues. The new Ecotecs have been
excellent and unlike cheepo Hondas they dont use timing "belts" and
neither does the Saturn 1.9's.

 

the '95-'96 SOHC had a casting flaw in the head in SOME cases.

 

quote "First off the 1.9's are not GM engines. They are of British design
and
they kinda vary in quality."

Very interesting, blah blah. I didnt even know that. Not much info about the
1.9 on GM websites. Can you please post a link with more info about the
origins of the 1.9?
Thanx,

marx404

 

later,


tom @ www.ChopURL.com

 

Were they manufactured by the British too?

Thanks,


tom @ www.CarFleaMarket.com

 

Actual GM sites afaik wont mention it and I've google searched the crap
out of and couldnt find anything. Its a been a very hard engine to pin
down. Maybe someone else here knows a good link?

These here are GM's current line ups
http://www.gminsidenews.com/engineguide.htm

Notice the supercharged Ecotec is made in Germany and the NA is built in
the US. I think something simular was done with the DOHC and OHC 1.9's.
Anyhow, calling a 1.9L a GM motor is like calling the 3.5L Honda engine
used in Vue's a GM motor. Neither were adopted as GM corporate motors
and you wont likely find a GM badge on the castings anywhere.

 

Heh. No wonder nothing crosses with GM engines on them.

Varied? They're an interesting design that works well (generally). The
lower end on them is awfully meaty for an inline 4, plus it's got that
funky windage tray in there, which also stiffens things up, I suppose.

Interesting. It works for me, but I'm forever getting noisy lifters. I
think I'm gonna get a few from the u pull it, and really clean them up
and put them in when I do the clutch (gonna drop the whole mess down and
deal with it that way - it's ultimately easier and we've got the shit to
lift the body up that much).

My big gripe is it hates running in the cold and tends to be wimpy or
stall. Not sure what's going on there - I suspect the fuel regulator's
freezing up or something...

 

http://www.saturnperformanceclub.com

Bull! the '92-'96 SOHC had a casting flaw in about 100,000 cases- not
SOME cases. If you can't tell the truth or don't know the truth- give
your keyboard a rest!

 

typed until their fingers bled, and came up with:

Did you get the letter from Saturn? I got 2 copies - have both '95 and a
'96 SOHC. Only 2 years affeced - please do us all a favor - change you
name from "misterfact" to "missBULL"

 

Mistercrap must be on his 1000th keyboard by now so he's not one to
talk.

Yeah we all know that pissant is full of facts. LMAO