That IS BS.GaryG92 wrote: Went in to pick it up, and they charged me $300. Apparently they took the CV joint out to see what was wrong, couldn't find a part soon enough, so they put it back in to get it off the lift, and then took it out again to replace it.
Gotta love those transmission problems, huh? How was your Mazda? I probably should have known better. When I was around 12 or 13, my parents had a Mazda MPV minivan. They decided the MPV stood for Mostly Parked Vehicle, due to all the problems it had. I don't remember them all, but I do remember breaking down in Wyoming during the summer one year.trb wrote:Wow, that is a lot of problems Gary! Sorry you had to go through all of that hassle!
My first car was not as bad, but it did have a lot of problems. 1981 Olds Cutlass LS bought "new" with 3,900 miles as a driver's ed car. My grandmother financed it for me and I paid her $184 a month until I graduated high school and then she gave me the title. I did all kids of mods to it, like adding the painted steel Cutlass wheels, RWL BFG Radial T/As, bucket seats and console from a Cutlass Supreme, tinted windows, headlight covers, driving lights, stereo and equalizer/booster and rear antenna.
Now it had a few issues during the 5 years I owned it. Being a young kid, I messed up the transmission trying to manually shift it for more speed. (it had 105 hp!) Luckily for me, the dealer covered it under warranty. Then the brakes wore down to the rivets, and I ended up needing the pads and rotors replaced. I swear, there was no wear indicator on it. Then the catalytic converter clogged up. It would not even go 40 mph with the pedal on the floor! Also covered under the emissions warranty. The intake manifold gasket also failed, letting water unto the cylinders to be evaporated, so that was replaced on my dime.
Then came the repairs I had to make, such as the AC fan breaking and power steering gear box that was leaking. I ended up getting a used box, but somehow stripped the inlet hose threads, so I used a lot of JB Weld to seal the hose. Not pretty, but it worked. Then the transmission started to slip, I swear I didn't cause it! My wife and I had just gotten married, and before we went on our honeymoon trip to South Padre Island, my mother paid to have the transmission rebuilt.
Then a few months later, I could not get the car started one day. It just cranked and cranked. I looked and made sure the car had spark and fuel, and it had both. I had no idea what was wrong, so we had it towed to the corner gas station that still had a mechanic shop. It was the timing chain that broke at 105,000 miles. So several hundred dollars later, it was running again. But by that time I decided to get a new vehicle and bought one of the first Mazda B2000 CabPlus extended cab trucks in town. Ended up selling the Cutlass to my sister who drove it for a couple of years and then she sold it to another relative.
It was a nice car, but it had WAY more problems than any of my subsequent vehicles. All in 5 yrs and 105,000 miles!
Yeah, I don't really know what the extra charge was for. Maybe because the part was difficult to find? It took them probably a week to even find the part. I remember the total was $150 for the part (Outrageous) and $150 for labor.lannvouivre wrote:That IS BS.GaryG92 wrote: Went in to pick it up, and they charged me $300. Apparently they took the CV joint out to see what was wrong, couldn't find a part soon enough, so they put it back in to get it off the lift, and then took it out again to replace it.
My Vibe is a breath of fresh air! It's reliable and easy to work on (from what I've done so far)joatmon wrote:I bet the Vibe is a dream car compared to your first one. I'm the same height, and I like the interior of the Vibe, it feels a lot bigger than it looks from the outside.
The worst thing that happened to me in my first car was a broken motor mount, which doesn't sound too bad, but it was a while before I figured out the problem based on the symptoms. When under enough torque, the engine would lift off the broken mount, which pulled the throttle cable, and also dislocated the shift lever so you couldn't drop into neutral. Was an old Dodge, 318 V8 RWD, and sometimes when taking off, like when a traffic light turned green, if you stepped on the gas too hard the engine would jump to full throttle and stay at full throttle until you got up enough speed to reduce the torque and let the engine fall back into place and take the tension of the throttle cable. Some scary times in the middle of stopped traffic at full throttle in gear, praying the brakes would hold. But it was my first car, got me through college, Still, I miss that car, but more for memories of what we did in/with it rather than the car itself.
It had the 2 liter motor and a 5 speed manual and was a great little truck. We sold it to my BIL in 88 since we bought a house and needed to get rid of a car payment. He actually drove it until 2004 or so and put almost 200K on it. Now he rebuilt the top half of the motor a couple of times, warped head issues, and it needed the cam timing redone a few times, but he kept it running a good long time IMO. It was my second new vehicle and I didn't really want to sell it, but I wanted to keep my 87 Mustang 5.0 more!GaryG92 wrote: Gotta love those transmission problems, huh? How was your Mazda? I probably should have known better. When I was around 12 or 13, my parents had a Mazda MPV minivan. They decided the MPV stood for Mostly Parked Vehicle, due to all the problems it had. I don't remember them all, but I do remember breaking down in Wyoming during the summer one year.
Grandpa to the rescue!ctgottapee wrote:My first car - a 4 door black Chrysler Lebaron - at age 16 broke down on the way home from the used car dealer.
Mechanic said someone tried to overhaul the engine and put in several things backwards (nice)
The dealer told me to get lost..... that is until I returned later with grandpa who just so happened to trade in a buy a new vehicle every year.
I'll never forget the look on the GM's face when grandpa said, "meet my grandson here"
Got my money back and they gave me another cheap clunker that actually ran. A red Pontiac Sunbird.
In my opinion, you made the right choice keeping the mustang! I've wanted a mustang for awhile, but never really pursued the idea. If anything, I'd like to get a 60s model mustang.trb wrote:It had the 2 liter motor and a 5 speed manual and was a great little truck. We sold it to my BIL in 88 since we bought a house and needed to get rid of a car payment. He actually drove it until 2004 or so and put almost 200K on it. Now he rebuilt the top half of the motor a couple of times, warped head issues, and it needed the cam timing redone a few times, but he kept it running a good long time IMO. It was my second new vehicle and I didn't really want to sell it, but I wanted to keep my 87 Mustang 5.0 more!GaryG92 wrote: Gotta love those transmission problems, huh? How was your Mazda? I probably should have known better. When I was around 12 or 13, my parents had a Mazda MPV minivan. They decided the MPV stood for Mostly Parked Vehicle, due to all the problems it had. I don't remember them all, but I do remember breaking down in Wyoming during the summer one year.
We always leave the bad part after confirming it's bad, check for the part, call the customer, and just leave it alone until the part is in. I don't think they needed to pull the CV off to check it..GaryG92 wrote:Yeah, I don't really know what the extra charge was for. Maybe because the part was difficult to find? It took them probably a week to even find the part. I remember the total was $150 for the part (Outrageous) and $150 for labor.
I'm not really sure what all they did and charged me for. I was just desperate for my car back, after it had been in and out of shops the whole 1 1/2 years I've owned. This August will be 2 years of ownership, I put 30k+ miles on it even with it being in the shop so much. Over $2000 in repairs, which I guess compared to some other cars isn't too bad, but for me it's quite a decent amount of moneylannvouivre wrote:We always leave the bad part after confirming it's bad, check for the part, call the customer, and just leave it alone until the part is in. I don't think they needed to pull the CV off to check it..GaryG92 wrote:Yeah, I don't really know what the extra charge was for. Maybe because the part was difficult to find? It took them probably a week to even find the part. I remember the total was $150 for the part (Outrageous) and $150 for labor.
She's pretty! Just curious, how did the motor get damaged so bad?trb wrote:Here are some handy pics on my photobucket.
It is not exactly stock, but it has a lot of later model (94-04) upgrades to the interior and brakes/suspension. It needs a paint job and rebuilt motor.
Back when I had the 2010 GT, post blown motor:
This is how it sits now:
Slightly damaged crank, and a few other parts:
My ultimate plan is to try and build a 65 fastback restomod some day. My father bought a new 65 fastback when I was born since he needed a "family car" (one with a back seat, he meant!) and I want to have one for myself. Probably won't get it until I'm retired though!
Thanks. Black interior from a 90 Mustang and leather seats from a 2002 GT. I enjoyed it as a daily driver for 24 years. As for the blown crank, I was in the process of getting it ready for an inspection. Since it had one more year to actually pass the tailpipe emissions test, I ran some Seafoam through the intake to try and clean it up a bit. Usually I would change the oil the next day, but this time I didn't. I was driving it a couple of days later, (leaving the Hyundai dealer after looking at a new Sonata 2.0T - I think it might have been mad at me!) and when I was accelerating on the freeway feeder road, it just blew, BANG and the motor died. I trailed a stream of oil down the road and onto the side road I pulled off onto. Left a nice puddle of oil that I carried cat litter back to clean it up with. Apparently, and I'm just guessing, something worked loose in the motor from the Seafoam and lodged in the oil pump pickup, causing oil starvation to the crank and it decide to break in half right at the first two cylinders. Threw the timing chain, belt, and broke the timing chain cover, along with a connecting rod through the oil pan. But then again, I got 306,8xx miles out of it over those 24 years, so it served me well.GaryG92 wrote:
She's pretty! Just curious, how did the motor get damaged so bad?
Also, the interior looks amazing. I love it!
My first car was a 1994 Bright Aqua Metallic Sunbird LE Sedan! My parents bought it brand new in January of 1994. When I got my license in the summer of 2000, they passed it down to me. We had to have the transmission rebuilt on it in late 2003, but other than that, no major issues. We ended up selling it to a local junkyard in January of 2013 because it was in need of some repairs, but was so badly rusted, it had kind of become unsafe to even drive. It had 268,010 miles on it and it still ran great, but as I said, the rust was terrible. The rocker panels were pretty much non-existent. We got $275.00 for it from the junkyard.ctgottapee wrote:Got my money back and they gave me another cheap clunker that actually ran. A red Pontiac Sunbird.
I believe it was an 87 sunbird. perfect affordable car for a 16 year old, and lots of good times.vibenvy wrote:I enjoyed reading your story Gary! It certainly sucks to hear about all the issues you went through with your first car, but the Vibe should treat you much better for a long time to come .
My first car was a 1994 Bright Aqua Metallic Sunbird LE Sedan! My parents bought it brand new in January of 1994. When I got my license in the summer of 2000, they passed it down to me. We had to have the transmission rebuilt on it in late 2003, but other than that, no major issues. We ended up selling it to a local junkyard in January of 2013 because it was in need of some repairs, but was so badly rusted, it had kind of become unsafe to even drive. It had 268,010 miles on it and it still ran great, but as I said, the rust was terrible. The rocker panels were pretty much non-existent. We got $275.00 for it from the junkyard.ctgottapee wrote:Got my money back and they gave me another cheap clunker that actually ran. A red Pontiac Sunbird.
On a bit of a side note, we also had a 1989 Gray Metallic Sunbird LE Sedan. Again, my parents had bought it brand new in the fall of 1988. My dad got in an accident in it in 1997. It was totaled. My parents got $1200.00 from the insurance company. My dad said it had around 315,000 miles on it when it was totaled. Great little cars for sure!