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From: quint@caip.RUTGERS.EDU (Amqueue)
Newsgroups: net.auto.tech
Subject: Re: Dodge Omni (Warning, long list of info)
Message-ID: <1658@caip.RUTGERS.EDU>
Date: Fri, 28-Mar-86 08:08:00 EST
Article-I.D.: caip.1658
Posted: Fri Mar 28 08:08:00 1986
Date-Received: Mon, 31-Mar-86 08:20:39 EST
References: <2188@watdcsu.UUCP> <261@ucdavis.UUCP>
Reply-To: quint@caip.UUCP (Amqueue)
Distribution: net.auto.tech
Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J.
Lines: 169
Keywords: even longer list of personal experiences with same
Summary: you probly dont want to read this if you dont have one

I never saw the original article, nor do I know how to reply to just
the message id, so Im stuck with posting. sorry. It really is long...

In article <261@ucdavis.UUCP> ccrse@ucdavis.UUCP (Steve Ehrhardt) writes:
>>        I have a '78 Dodge Omni. I am interested in hearing the positive
>>        and negative experiences other people have had with such cars.

My boyfriend owns a '78 hatchback model (as opposed to the sports
model), currently with (we believe) 130K+ miles on it. We bought it
with 91K+ about 2 years ago, but there were some indications that the
milage was off, but we are not sure if it was high or low. There were
signs that it could have been either. It seemed to have been well
maintained, and then neglected for a period of time just before we got
it. Problems it had when we bought it included a dead front wheel
bearing, lack of bumper side guards, damaged grill, crappy tires, lack
of bushings in gear shift linkage (it is a stick shift). However, it
was an incredible bargain, so we took it. The body is in excellent
shape.

     We have done most of the fixup work ourselves. To get it truly
road worthy took about $1200. The front bearing was so bad it sounded
*better* after taking the car through a car wash. We took the front
end apart and got the wheel bearings out, took them and a new set to a
machine shop, who were only too happy to press the old ones out and
the new ones in. 

>with them overall.  They have tended to occasionally bug me with a rattle or

The car does rattle. securing the modesty panel on the hatch seemed to
help most of that, though. The entire dashboard is rattling now, tho,
and we havent traced it down yet. (yes, obviously it is loose and
needs tightening, but how did it get loose?)

>The '78 model is a first-year car, using an engine and transaxle manufactured
>by Volkswagen, and very similar to those used in the Rabbits of that era.

yep, the engine has a label on it saying made by volkswagen. the
entire car is a rabbit clone, with slightly more room (about an inch
or two in the interior) and slightly inferior interiors.

>
>Carburator - '78-'83 models have carbs mounted on rubber shock mounts, which
>             tend to deteriorate.  This could be the cause of the gasoline

Also be careful of the spring clips holding the air filter in place.
Ours have been rather flaky, and at times that entire assembly has
gotten loose enough to vibrate alarmingly. It is also an incredibly
rotten placement and orientation, and if you have to do anything with
the carb it is likely you will have to suspend your self upside down
over it to see what you are doing... bletch.

>Valves - Like the early rabbits, and many other cars I could mention, it's not
>         uncommon for these cars to start sucking oil past the valve

yeah, we have to add a quart of oil about every 2 tankfuls of gas...
about 400-500 miles. havent been able to find where it goes, either. 

>Distributor - The early Omnis tend to eat distributors due to bearing

havent seen this, but it is possible that it was before our time...

>Alternator - There was a recall associated with this a number of

I believe we have replaced the alternator once. Havent had any other problems.

>Transaxle - The Volkswagen transaxle had a bad combination of problems.  They
>            tend to leak, and some bearings in them run dry if they loose only
>            a fairly small amount of fluid.  (By reputation, the automatic 

We have a problem with the shifting, in that the stupid thing does not
like to go into first. We *think* it is a problem with the linkages,
but it is just possibly a problem with the transaxle. I can report
that the rabbit transaxle is a problem, tho, cause another roommate
who has a bunny had it trash its transaxle on a long road trip, $150
worth of towing from anywhere at all. (for those interested in a
story of a trip fraught with cranky cars, mail me personally and I
will relate further...) This is an automatic. 

>Brakes - The rear brakes on all Omni's (till '83, I think) are *manual adjust*

yup. pain in tush to get to the star wheel, also. One thing we had to
do to get the car roadworthy was change the front brakes... the disks
looked like a record album, lots of really nice, concentric, deep
grooves. We have not since had problems with warped rotors, but we are
also rather good about keeping the readjustment current. It is
definitely noticeable when the car is braking with only it's front
brakes. the nose dips *lots*.

>CV joints - This is common to FWD cars in general, but it still bears mention.
>            Be sure to check the rubber boots on the drive shaft constant-
>            velocity joints for cracks or tears at *least* at each oil change.
>            Replacement of the boot and lubricant is not too difficult or ex-
>            pensive, but failure to catch the problem in time can make repairs
>            very expensive indeed.

heh heh heh. this was one of the things we had to fix to get hte car
driveable. some <expletive deleted> had fixed a crack in the boot with
*black plastic pseudo-electricians tape*. We were not amused. 

Other things we have had problems with: 
The gear on the driver's window was stripped... had to be replaced 3
times, twice by us and once by Dodge, who finally found out that it
had been reengineered to prevent this and got the right parts. It
still sticks when being rolled up. 

If you push on the lock button while holding the handle in, the pieces
can slide past each other and you can no longer open the door. This is
the only way we found to reproduce the problem... we have no idea how
it happened the first time. We became very good at taking the door
apart... 

The bushings (or dingbats, as my boyfriend calls them) on the linkages
are plastic and prone to wear. If you dont have them on, the linkage
parts can unhook themselves and you can find yourself with only 2
gears... usually the most useless two for the situation (ever try to
drive in traffic with 3rd and 4th as your only gears?). We are
currently still lacking one, mainly cause we cant figure out how to
get to the place where it belongs. I think to do it we might need to
pull the transmission... ha ha ha. 

The steering wheel is cracked in two places by the smaller ring around
the steering column itself. It doesnt seem to affect steering however.

the accelerator cable froze, and the clutch cable frayed. But the
clutch is easy to adjust...

we cant find the timing mark to save our souls... we think they have
it in invisible ink or something... 

We *think* the rear wheel bearings are going... the car has a strange
vibration at about 60-65 mph, and we have tightened the castle nut
(?terminology?) on one side 3 times in the past 1000 miles... btw, you
have to remove the rear wheel bearings to get at the rear brakes, but
not to the nut to adjust for the brakes (thank ghu!). 

At the start of a long trip last summer, the car started overheating.
The nearest we can figure is that the fan was randomly deciding
whether or not to run... We arent sure what we did, but we jiggled all
the connections and it started working again... so we called it good
and kept going. No repeat that we have detected... (yes, this is the
same trip as the aforementioned illfated one... it was fun!)

We have factory installed air conditioning... an interesting tidbit is
something called the Anti-Diesel Relay which sits under the dash on
the passenger side... as near as we can tell, it turns on the A/C to
stop the engine when you turn the car off... (no lie, that is what hte
circuit diagram looks like! the behaviour of hte car bears it out...)
I would love to know what happens with a car with no A/C...

If you want to work on the car yourself, and have a mechanic for a
friend, do your best to get the Shop Manual for it. It is much more
detailed than the commercially available books, and is necessary for
some things. 

Warning!!! I dont know how common this is, but the car recently tried
to immolate itself. There was a small leak in the gas line in the
area to the left of the engine as you look toward the windshield,
which dripped on something electric... the only reason my bf noticed
was cause the hood insulation caught fire and made smoke. Dodge
"fixed" this by running the gas line *over* the engine... which now
makes it even more difficult to maneuver the wiring harness...

ack. this is too long already. If you want more info, I can grab my bf
and sit him at the tty to tell all, but I think I have covered most
everything. (sorry folks... ) I think the car is a beauty, and we
havent had major problems. Good luck with yours, whereever and whoever
you are..... 

vrooooooom!
/amqueue