The oil issue was related to overheating if I recall correctly. The engine was unique. It was an aluminum block with no sleeves. The aluminum was high in silicates (and this may be an incorrect description )The aluminum was etched back to leave only the silicates as the wear surface. It worked fairly well as long as the engine was not overheated. The heat caused problems that resulted in either bad oil consumption or outright seizure. Operating it here in Canada where the temperatures are not as hot for as long probably was better than trying to do so in the southern USA. The other problem was that there was really no way to resurface the block in the field. Got to give GM credit for going with an advanced design even if it ultimately bit them.
Randy -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of David Brodbeck Sent: Tuesday, November 29, 2005 2:19 PM To: Mercedes mailing list Subject: Re: [MBZ] OT GM bashing R A Bennell wrote: > I had a 74 Vega brand new. The sheetmetal was recycled and rusted and it was > noisy but it was a cheap fuel efficient car and served me well for the > roughly 3 years that I drove it. I'm in Canada so the prices may be out of > whack for you but I paid $2850 for it brand new and got $1450 on a trade for > a 77 Mercury 3 years later. Depreciation of less than $500 per year on a new > car is not bad. > They had a *terrible* reputation in the U.S, and not just for rusting. They supposedly used so much oil that GM did a recall to link the ignition to the oil pressure sender, so the engine would shut off if you ran the car out of oil. My dad bought one new and had a really hard time getting rid of it -- car lots would only deal with him if he promised to drive the Vega back off the lot instead of trading it in. _______________________________________ For new parts see official list sponsor: http://www.buymbparts.com/ For used parts email [EMAIL PROTECTED] To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://striplin.net/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_striplin.net
