Many car chapters have been part of my life, and occasions of timing, finance and facts of the day have lead to situations where I’ve had to function with a dysfunctional traffic mount for some period.
A few years ago my trusty steed, a BMW 320i I’d been driving for eleven years, lost both 2[sup]nd[/sup] and 3[sup]rd[/sup] gears, in rush hour traffic, of course. Well, it took me about two weeks to organize the solution, which was a new (to me) car. During the interim, I had to drive the near-gearless (not really, I had 1[sup]st[/sup], 4[sup]th[/sup] and 5[sup]th[/sup]) beast in traffic. I found I could really wind out 1[sup]st[/sup] and get it to the point that it would just barely not stall in 4[sup]th[/sup].
Two weeks of that in rush hour was plenty.
More recently, a couple of months ago, while on my way to a DFW Dopefest, I first detected something amiss in my ride’s steering. The occasional unplanned lane change was both subtle, and alarming. I came to find out that my steering gearbox had come loose. I only found that out when I took it in before attempting a drive to a New Orleans Dopefest. It’ll flat wear your ass out to drive a couple of hundred miles on the Interstate with a loose steering gearbox. I’d decided before I took it in that if they didn’t find anything wrong, I was going to get my inner eardrums checked out.
So, what automotive defects have y’all had to live with for a bit?
I had my reverse gear go out in my previous car. I drove it with no reverse for well over a year. It was interesting, trying to find places to park which I could roll out of, or just drive forward from. Occasionally I would get somewhere, and just have to open the door and push backwards with my left foot, and even had to just completely get out and push while attempting to steer with one hand still in a few times. The same car had a slightly bent left front wheel, that would scrape the inside of the fender if I turned left too sharply, so I often would just make three rights instead. This scraping caused excessive wear on the tire, and once while driving to Austin I had the tread come completely off the tire. I had no spare, but luckily, it stayed inflated, and I managed to drive it into the next town, and get it replaced. Of course I had to push the car back out of the garage, since I had no reverse.
When my stepfather brought me my car (1988 Jeep Cherokee) at college, it came with two pages of handwritten instructions.
Highlights include:
The rear passenger-side tire, and to some extent the others, leaks air. It must be refilled at least once a month, preferably once a week. This is very unpleasant in cold conditions.
Burns oil.
If I don’t drive it at least once a week, the battery runs out. This appears to be a permanent condition of the electrical system, as the battery is only about a year old.
I have to keep and eye on the rear bumper, it’s only held on by a piece of wire he wrapped around it.
The steering is incredibly loose. Other people are not allowed to drive it for this reason.
The brakes, well, they’re not all they could be.
Thank god I’ve moved to a state that doesn’t require car inspections…
My first car was a 1988 BMW 325iX. '88 must have been one of the last years when things were built that you could fix by hitting them.
In its old age this car began to suffer failures of various electrical items (temp guage, trip computer, dash lights, power windows) that could invariably be fixed by pounding my fist on whatever part of the car was affected at the moment.
(I realize that 14 years isn’t all that old for a car, but 3 teenage boys learned to drive on this one, and it still runs and looks great)
I managed to bend something in my ancient Nova’s axle. I couldn’t turn right. I spent a lot of time going around the block before I finally donated it to the junkyard and walked instead.
My next car, a well-used cadillac cimmaron, blew out it’s electronic keyboard. No idea what speed I was going, how much gas I had etc. was quite …liberating. I drove from Connecticut to Georgia that way.
I had a 75 Dodge Colt many years ago. One day the ignition switch locked up in the off position. I had to replace the lock tumbler and was able to buy a new one. But in order the replace the tumbler, the switch had to be in the on position. I used a screwdriver and a wrench to physically turn the tumbler and ended up breaking the part that held the tumbler. This also broke part of the switch itself. To start the car after that required turning what was left of the switch with a screwdriver, flipping a toggle switch to supply power to the starter, releasing the toggle switch when the car started and pulling the screwdriver from the broken switch.
That reminds me of another past beast of burden. I had a '65 Ford Fairlane with a three-on-the-tree. The top part of the fitting where the shifter attached to the steering column broke off down to the retaining pin, so the shift lever would not attach. You had to hold it in while you drove, thus necessitating that all other tasks, like steering, be done with the left hand.
Of course it made the car virtually theft proof, as I’d just take the shift lever with me in my back pocket when I parked the car.
While I don’t have any stories of my almost-always-reliable steed, I do have a brain cramp at the moment.
No matter how hard I try, I cannot get the Conjunction Junction song out of my head. Aaaack! I’m going to permanently change my version to Dysfunction Junction, though. Has a nice ring to it.
My first car was an old Toyota with over 100,000 miles on it. It had a few quirks including a headlight switch with loose wiring. You had to jiggle it to get the headlights to come on and sometimes on a bumpy road the lights would suddenly flick off. This happened to me once in the middle of the night on an interstate in the back of nowhere. That little experience was delightful. The car also developed this peculiarity whereby it had to be driven every 10-12 hours or so or it wouldn’t start. I used to have to get in it just before bedtime and drive around the block a few times so I would be able to get to work the next day.
My mother’s old car, a Plymouth Fury I think, had a more annoying problem however. The passenger’s side door wouldn’t latch properly. I remember my mom once driving with one hand on the steering wheel the other holding my sister who was holding the passenger door shut.
Sure is nice to be able to afford a real vehicle now.
Within the past nine months I’ve replaced a flat tire, the battery, and the brake pads on my car. The mechanism which causes the trunk to open and stay open automatically is lying broken on the floor of the trunk. The dome light fell out one night, and I haven’t bothered replacing that. My mom backed into my car the other night (for the second time, but not this year).
The steering column had to be replaced due to a safety recall a couple years ago. The door leaks what appears to be tar.
I’ve been sitting at my desk at work for the last hour and a half waiting for the towtruck to show up and fix my latest flat (different tire). I just had all four tires replaced, and I wasn’t particularly looking forward to buying any new ones.
Air conditioning no longer works (not good in NC summertime!).
Power steering disconnected (it runs off the same belt as the AC).
Overdrive relay disconnected.
Goofy turn signals: one doesn’t auto-cancel coming out of a turn, the other blinks twice as fast.
Only one working door speaker, twitchy volume dial on radio (has a fairly loud minimum volume).
Dashboard clock stops below 40 degrees F.
Rear fuel pump/sending unit whines when gas tank gets low.
OK, I’m gonna just stop there. The list goes on and on, but it’s kinda too depressing to think about it all at once…
I had a ‘66 Ford pickup, real nice muscle truck, complete with shift moved to the floor (8-ball shift knob!). The problem was, the linkages on the tranny were all weirded out and bent due to the change from column to floor. They would bind together sometimes and I had to carry a crowbar with me to pry them apart. This meant getting under the truck. Which, at one memorable moment, found me flat on my back, wrestling with the beastly things, in the middle of an intersection with a cacophony of others’ horns in the background.
My now-grocery getter has lost its will to keep the hatch open. Either you have to stand there holding it up with your head while you load the back, or you prop it up with something. Alas, all these years of propping it up on the same side has twisted the hinge, and now the hatch won’t close properly. So I’m probably half crazy from exhaust fumes.
Heh. Brought to mind another one. A 1975 Plymouth Gran Fury Police Interceptor became the taxicab that put me through college.
While it was most definitely a nifty ride. many of its parts were heavy-duty, special order items that were expensive.
So, when the power boosters for the power steering and power brakes went out, I just had to learn to live without 'em. That car became my mobile Nautilus gym.
Up until this past May, I drove a series of used Escorts. The last one, at 200K miles (a month or so after my mechanic – an honest man, og bless him – said, “you know, it’s time to stop throwing money at this car”) developed a short in the electrical system. I had to unhook the battery every time I was parking for more than half an hour or so or else the battery would completely drain.
I went out an bought my first-ever new, new car – a Kia Rio, which I love. Yeah, having car payments sucks – but being able to go out, get in the car, and not have to wonder what (if anything) will happen when I turn on the ignition – “priceless.”
In August of 1992, I bought a brand new 1993 Escort. I will never own an Escort again.
Within the first 9 months of owning this car, it was in the shop 8 times. The ignition fell out and had to be replaced, the electrical system went haywire twice, the idle ran at 40mph, the dashboard lights went out, the radio died (ok, not a big deal to most, but it was to me), it started making a grinding noise when turning, and the exhaust system leaked. Thank God I had a warranty.
Of course, as soon as said warranty ran out, it all started again. I put 156K miles on it, and retired it for a while when I lived within walking distance of my job. I drove that car into its grave, practically. I sold it in September of this year to a girl whose uncle is a mechanic. She paid $650 for it. I hope her uncle is a benevolent guy.
Now I have a '94 Chevy Cavalier, which ::knocks on wood:: I haven’t had a single problem with. 5 speed, excellent condition, and can make a trip to Baltimore to see my Rebound Guy in 7 hours. I love this car!
and had to be replaced, the electrical system went haywire twice, the idle ran at 40mph, the dashboard lights went out, the radio died (ok, not a big deal to most, but it was to me), it started making a grinding noise when turning, and the exhaust system leaked. Thank God I had a warranty.
I love this car!