Anyone here besides me ever have a major failure with a Duke (2.5 Liter 4 Cylinder) or Tech 4 engine?

I'll go first.

Cracked head (smokin')

Rod thru side of block (we're really smokin')

Engine knock at 160,000 miles, 12/30/2005, was severly abused by the 5+ previous owners, rings were shot when I got it (147,000), low compression, oil in the air cleaner, etc. Replaced with a remanufactured engine, which now has about 12,000 miles on it.

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1984 Fiero SE

Snapped a rod

Windowed a block

My 85 overheated and went into limp mode, I made it to the next gas station and called the wife to bring the 3500 to tow me home. It was well below zero and windy as hell at 5:30 am. Have not opened the decklid since, for all I know it might still run, but it was doing some wierd stuff i thought.

Had 130k on one I abused the h#ll out of it and it sucked oil like crazy but as long as you kept it fed (fuel and oil) the stupid thing wouldn't die. Of course its since been replaced with a L67

Bought my first and only current fiero in 2002 with 260k on the clock. Car had been sitting for a few years. Ran good for 6 months then just stopped one day on the highway. Started it the next day and it was a bag of hammers. Cylinder wall broke on #3 cylinder

Replacement engine: put new cam and timing gears in it and put it in the car. It was supposedly completely reworked, everything cleaned and rebuilt as well as being bored .20 over. Put it in the car and it ran like chit, spewed coolant all over the place and ran on exactly 2 cylinders. Took me a few hours to try and diagnose, ended up taking the head off to find a cracked cylinder head.

My list is as follows

Broken cylinder wall taking the entire engine with it

Cracked cylinder head

Im on engine #3 now since I lost interest in the duke for a while after the head deal and sold it. *fingers crossed*

-Joe

- cracked head last year in may at around 190000mls on my 87 ---> got a S10 head
- evil rod knock on my 84 Sport when i bought it in 2005 at 64000mls ---> got a 86 engine with 48000mls

I don't see the point in this thread other than to try to bash the duke. It's a great engine. Here's my track record with it.

I have had a duke that ate through it's main bearings at 130k or so after I rebuilt the top end. I sold it. It was a very abused engine from the previous owner.

My current duke is excellent. 183k on the clock and still going strong, though it eats a little oil if I use 10w-30. 40 weight and it's ok.

Now my dad's friend is on, If I'm remembering correctly, his 5th 2.8 in the same car, and he takes VERY good care of his cars. Am I going to say it's a crappy engine? no. And neither is the duke.

Purchased my first Fiero, an '84 back in '91 with 68K miles on it and drove it for the next 5 years putting another 80K+ miles on it and only had to replace the clutch during that span of years.
Purchased my current '86 coupe in '01 with 48K on it and have put another 23K miles on it since and have only had to replace 2 ignition modules, 1 distributor, and the rest was just normal maintanance. Still use it as a daily driver...................

quote Originally posted by RWDPLZ: Engine knock at 160,000 miles, 12/30/2005, was severly abused by the 5+ previous owners, rings were shot when I got it (147,000), low compression, oil in the air cleaner, etc. Replaced with a remanufactured engine, which now has about 12,000 miles on it.

About the same here with our 1st 84=acuired in 1997. Low compression # 3 cyl, noisy lifters, lower than acceptable oil pressure, sludged up to the bottom of the rocker arms, oil leaked everwhere imaginable, never was able to cure it's tendancy to run hot in slow traffic. Replaced engine in 2005--sold it in 2008, still running as far as I know.

My 88 duke had a spun rod bearing when I got it. Fortunately, the journal wasn't bad, so replacing the bearing fixed it. (I replaced all the rod bearings.) It also had a bad EGR valve, and a bit later the ECM went bad. Nothing since then, and I've put a lot of carefree miles on it. Looks like I need an alignment now, though, because one rear tire is wearing unevenly.

86 duke #1 123000 miles new gaskets everywhere about six valve cover gaskets now up and running good

Mine had a rod knock when I got it. It seized when I was moving the car out of the driveway.

Bob

quote Originally posted by 86fierofun: I don't see the point in this thread other than to try to bash the duke. It's a great engine. Here's my track record with it. I have had a duke that ate through it's main bearings at 130k or so after I rebuilt the top end. I sold it. It was a very abused engine from the previous owner. My current duke is excellent. 183k on the clock and still going strong, though it eats a little oil if I use 10w-30. 40 weight and it's ok. Now my dad's friend is on, If I'm remembering correctly, his 5th 2.8 in the same car, and he takes VERY good care of his cars. Am I going to say it's a crappy engine? no. And neither is the duke.

I don't think it's just to bash the Duke... there is bound to be some relevant info in this thread for White 84 concerning what to watch out for...

Had a bad rap/knocker in an 85 that I bought, replaced it with a junk yard engine out of an 86 but it used oil and smoked. The junk yard had one from a Celebrity that ran great so I put that in and was very happy with it. I tore the one with the rap/knock apart and found nothing wrong that I could see

My daughter's 85 had to have the timing gears replaced at about 80k.

It's a good economy engine. Very easy to work on and maintain. Just don't let it get overheated or abuse it with sustained high rpms

The idea is not to bash the duke, merely to count the failures. Most engines fail sooner or later & not just the Duke.

My black 86 2M4 is on it's 5th duke.

Second owner let the original engine get too low on oil. Her parents replaced it with a junkyard 1983 duke.

We bought it w/ a cracked head. Replaced the head and had a rod go thru the side of the block a couple of years later. Bought a junkyard short block and built it using new parts and parts from engine #2.

Engine # 3 several years later started running low oil pressure, so I bought a reman duke. They first sent an S10 engine and took it back & sent the correct Fiero engine. Installed Engine # 4 and it sounded terrible, lots of clatter at idle. Pulled the engine & sent it back to the remaunfacturer. It was bad & under warranty. Remanufacturer sent me a third engine which I installed & runs great.

Thus engine # 5.

BTW I've gained a slight bit of knowledge on pulling & installing Dukes.

[This message has been edited by 30+mpg (edited 12-24-2008).]

I certainly dont think this thread is about bashing the duke. I love them, my post was definitely not meant to bash it.

Look through all these posts, lots of us here who had duke failures replaced them with *gasp* another duke.

I would love nothing more than a 3800sc Fiero, but I couldnt own one without having a duke car as well. Something about it, maybe the MPGs in these cars, maybe because they are easily fixable, or maybe we all just love the sound of sewing machines?

Far as I can tell its just a thread to find out what is the most common failure maybe.

-Joe

Quarter-inch crack in the head, bearings were starting to show severe wear, oil pressure was always good though.

I have an 84 coupe with a blown rear main seal.....it's oiled the ground pretty good.....

I just love what Joesfiero said above -- ".....or maybe we all just love the sound of sewing machines..."

I knew my duke's sound reminded me of something. Now I know. Thanks Joe.

quote goldiron:I just love what Joesfiero said above -- ".....or maybe we all just love the sound of sewing machines..." I knew my duke's sound reminded me of something. Now I know. Thanks Joe.

More like the sound of a diesel wannabe.

quote Originally posted by 86fierofun: I don't see the point in this thread other than to try to bash the duke. It's a great engine. Here's my track record with it.

Its all on how you interpret it. You could look at it as 'see how much abuse they have gone thru before they die'.

Not that i have ever had one, mine are all V6's, but i can appreciate their resilience to being mistreated. ( and have to be easier to work on then the V6 in the so cramped compartment )

had an 84 and had to replace the head because it cracked.

My 88 duke hasn't failed......yet. But I have a feeling it's getting close. With 95,000 on the clock it makes some awful weird sounds at times (like a heat shield rattle, but coming from INSIDE the engine), and when the air cleaner cover is removed there is a nice puddle of oil covering the bottom of the air cleaner box!

I believe the reral point here is to discover how long the Duke engine can last. The answer is quite a long time. My wife had a Duke in her olds Cutlass and it went over 125K miles before she gave the car to her cousin. Last we heard ole stumpy was still running 5 years larer! With proper maintenance and care, and if you keep the max revs below 4500 RPM the Duke will last a long time. Its a good solid engine for economy/mileage and does well what it was designed for. Regardless of what you read on this forum, the Duke never was and never will be a serious 4 cyl. racing engine mainly due to the light duty block, rods and pistons.

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87GT - 3800SC Series III engine, 3.4" Pulley, N* TB, LS1 MAF, Flotech Exhaust Autolite 104's Custom CAI 4T65eHD w. custom axles, HP Tuners VCM Suite.
87GT - 3.4L Turbocharged engine, modified TH125H
" I'M ON THE LOOSE WITHOUT THE JUICE "

when i first bought X it had a seized duke with 167k on the clock. Not sure what the failure was, but it wasnt good.

Connecting rod through the block.

does it count if I keep trying to kill the same duke?? Four valve cover gaskets head gasket now a thermostat cover gasket clogged cat and 124000 miles

179,000ish kms on the duke.
took the head out. the pistions rocked back and forth in the cly walls like a rocking horse.
thats when i decided to do a ring job and did cleaned up the valves and new seals.
i drove it 7kms and i havnt drove it since augest

quote Originally posted by Dennis LaGrua: With proper maintenance and care, and if you keep the max revs below 4500 RPM the Duke will last a long time.

I once turned down a road I shouldn't have in my 90 Grand am with the duke in it, it probably had 130k on it by this time, and came up on a cable strung across the gravel road in the middle of the night for someones private property. I hit the brake and clutch so fast I also hit the gas pedal. That sucker redlined for a few seconds, (it was either that or I could let off and hit the cable). Smelled like carbon for a while, but it didn't mind otherwise. I think it may be bad for them if you drive it like some kids drive Hondas down my street, redlining each shift.

Seems there are a variety of qualities out there in dukes, mainly as with most engines its how well you care for them.

[This message has been edited by 2.5 (edited 12-29-2008).]

Mine had 230k miles on it when I rebuilt it several years ago, running fine but burning oil (86 coupe). I rebuilt it to 125HP with Holley TBI, Hooker headers, Accellerated Motion mild cam, Crane rollers, ported and balanced.

bUmP

my 84 duke blew the head gasket and over heated severely trying to get it home. It boiled all of the oil out of it, and warped the head about an 1/8 of an inch. It died at 172,000 miles. I have a recall engine in it from another fiero with only 57,000 miles on it. She has been a great little car. The only other thing my 84 has issues with is her wiring.

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Thank for the sig. Bobadoofunk
1984 White Fiero Sport Coupe (Juliet)
1988 Red Fiero Standard Coupe (bella)
1990 Black Buick Reatta (Noir)
2002 White Chevy Impala base(Haylie)

[This message has been edited by 1984whitesc (edited 04-10-2010).]

Head gasket at 152,000. Crank sensor around 130,000 Module around 140,000. 88 duke has 158,000 as of today.

70K mile Indy I owned. No warning, just a boom and a lot of smoke. Crack in the head chamber side of the same cyl. not sure what came first the chicken or the boom.

[This message has been edited by FieroMonkey (edited 04-10-2010).]

Timing gears went on my at 117000 miles, tore engine down and found spider cracks around the valves. Bored to .030 over and replaced the head cam and timing gears been running great. The cam was perfect and is still 100% original no machining. Car now has just under 135000 miles. Starts every day whether it is -35 or +95. Have had the car for over 20 years.

Rich

mine hasent been driven in about a year but its got 206000 on it and has had the same oil filter on it for like 3 years, i nko i know not good but it leakes like 2 qts of oil a week when im driving it but none when it sets, and its never stranded me with and engin problem just a few issues with the brakes, but i do have a spare motor out of an 84 i think, are they the same in 84 and 85 or are somethings diffrent

quote Originally posted by zetabird: mine hasent been driven in about a year but its got 206000 on it and has had the same oil filter on it for like 3 years, i nko i know not good but it leakes like 2 qts of oil a week when im driving it but none when it sets, and its never stranded me with and engin problem just a few issues with the brakes, but i do have a spare motor out of an 84 i think, are they the same in 84 and 85 or are somethings diffrent

pretty sure 84 - 86 are interchangeable.

Wow - we dug this one up from awhle back! I have one to add. 88 Duke siezed. Never tore it apart to see why - swapping in a 4.9 now and hauled the Duke off to the scrap yard - that's the ast Duke I will ever own.