I know that when I buy an old clunker of a car, there is a price to pay. Cars deteriorate and things need to be replaced. I’ll probably need a new muffler, new brakes and a new clutch sooner or later. You get what you pay for, and I’m aware of this. Buy a cheaper car and spend money on repairs.
I don’t really need a good car. I need something to get around town in, do some grocery shopping and such. So January this year, I bought a used ’91 Ford Escort Wagon for $3.250. Nothing fancy and I saw that I’d need to get new tires within 6 months. The suspension was a bit soggy and there were some other small stuff to fix. No problems, thought I.
After about a month, when I came out one morning, it didn’t start. Numerous tries and nothing. Fully charged battery and gas in the tank. Huh? So, I enlisted the help of a friend and we towed it to the dealership. A lot of muttering about the warranty, but they finally agreed to check it out. This is not a Ford dealer, but one of those that take older cars from the brand dealers. Also to note here is that in Sweden, the warranty for such an old car is one month and only extends to traffic safety issues.
Well, fine. A couple of days later they call me and say they found the problem. The fuel pump on this model is located in the back, by the fuel tank. They said it was the wire, feeding power to the pump, that had come loose.
Gaspode is a happy camper, well driver, again.
Two months pass by and I have a little fender bender, not my fault, in traffic. A guy in a Ford Galaxy cuts me off and the car gets a small dent. Had it been my fault, I wouldn’t do anything about it, cause it isn’t worth $300 for such a small thing on such a cheapo car. But it was ruled to be the other guys fault and since the repair was free for me, I booked time at a body shop to get it fixed. There was a waiting period and during this time, I noticed that the car almost stalled in traffic a couple of times. Same problem again, the problem I had when I just got the car. It’s also getting harder to start and takes 3-4 tries every time. “Damned wire to the fuel pump,” I think and ask the guys who’re gonna do the body work to re-attach it, when they lift the car up to get it fixed. “Sure,” they say. The day before it’s due at the shop, the damned thing won’t even start. No matter what.
I enlist help of same friend, tow the car to the other place and think that everything will be fine.
I should have known. One is at the mercy of auto mechanics only when one can’t fix it oneself, or when someone else (e.g. Insurance Company or employer) pays the bill. They can tell you any number of things and you just go… “Uh-huh?! OK? How much?”
“Well”, they say, “it’s the juxtaposition pendulum”. Fear grips your heart like a cold glove. You haven’t even heard of such a thing. “Is that expensive?”
Now the guy smirks a little: “Well, the part is only $10, but the labour… You know, we have to lift out the whole engine. It’s about two days work in all… figure on the bill being $450. Well, I fork up. Because there is no way in hell I can get out of this situation as a winner.
Well, this did indeed turn out to be the case. I call back to find out how it’s going and they tell me it’s not the fuel pump. The wire is attached just fine. But why won’t it start, I ask. They have no idea.
So I call up the car dealer. Well, the warranty’s expired, but I plead to him. The conversation is going well, until he hears that another mechanic has checked the car. “We don’t have any responsibility any longer.”
What? He claims that since that other place might have done something to the car, this means the dealer will no longer have control over what’s happened to the car and all my claims will be void. I try to tell him that they only checked the wire, which he, a couple of months earlier, claimed to be the problem.
“We don’t know that. It could be a new problem or one caused by their bad work. We don’t have a liability.”
To make this rant a little shorter, I can say that he’s right. The dealership gets three tries to fix the car, under Swedish law, but if someone else work on it, there liability is gone. I feel really stoopid at this point.
So what to do now? The only way out seems to be to take it to the expensive Ford Dealer where it was first sold. If anyone should be able to fix this, it’s their mechanics.
So I get it towed there, ask how much and they say they charge $75 to locate the problem and then, depending on what the problem is, it could run up to $500. But they’ll check with me before doing anything.
Two days later, they call and say that it’s been fixed. And they’ll only charge me those $75. The relief. Oh, the relief. I was seeing a lot of money being thrown away and suddenly, it wasn’t that expensive.
I pay the bill, pick up the car, and that same evening, it stalls, while I’m driving.
Now, this is not a fancy car, it’s manual transmission, 1.6 liter engine. But it does have power steering and brakes. When the engine dies, everything goes and it’s neigh impossible to manoeuvre. Of course, it was in city traffic, and a lot of other drivers got really pissed off. I manage to push that damned piece of shit to the side of the street and leave it there. I call my friend, go to his house and when I come back, there is of course a parking ticket. Another $80 down the drain.
We tow it to the Ford place and leave it there over night. Next day, I go there and tell them what’s happened. Well, they say, the problem turned out to be a little switch that releases if the car flips over. It cuts the fuel to the engine to prevent fire. They show me where this is located (inside the car, thank you), and I drive away. The emotion is not happiness, but at least some moderate feeling of being in control.
This is now in the middle of the summer. My dad was in hospital, getting treatment for lung cancer and the suspicion was that he didn’t have long to live. He ended up dying in September and during summer I was, of course, very much in need of the car. Going home to my mum, go to the hospital, getting things.
So a car that actually starts, and doesn’t quit on me on the expressway, is premium. I don’t care about anything else. It might leak in rain, guzzle gas or oil, have large rust holes, but it damned well needs to start.
Well, the car survived my dad but shortly afterwards, the problems started again. I fiddled with that damned switch, but to no use. Finally, I ripped the whole contraption out and the car worked for a week or two, then it died again.
New trip to Ford. Question marks in their faces. Checking the car. Leaving it there. Next day, they tell me that they found the problem. It’s gonna be $270 in repairs. I’ve given up at this point. I just want to get rid of it, but there is no way, if it doesn’t start. Fine, do it, says I.
Two days later I pay the bill, drive away and get a whole mile before it stalls again. I call them on my cell phone and they show up to tow the car, looking apologetic.
Next day the verdict is in: “The car starts, we think it ran out of gas.” Now I feel apologetic and stoopid. So I pick up the car, goes to the nearest gas station and fills up the tank.
You know what’s gonna happen, don’t you. Get the poll ready. How long did it go before stalling again?
Five miles.
I call them back. They tow it and they had it for two weeks, running tests, trying to figure it out. Last week, they said that it starts every time they try. It might be the fuse box ($440), but since it starts all the time….
I picked it up last Friday. It stalled again, outside my house, about two hours ago.
Right now, it’s $4.000 worth of junk, and the only way I’m getting any money back is by selling it for parts. I could let them change the fuse box, but will it fix the problem? Or is it even more money down the drain?
And why in the name of all that is holy and un-holy, why can’t the damned fucking moronic mechanics at Ford find out what’s wrong with a Ford Escort? I wish I could add some more and better aimed foul language, but I’m just so totally fucking beat. I just want it all to go away. I want the nightmare to end.
I just want a car that starts, and I’ll never buy a Ford again.
