OT: Talking Cars Tuesday - Failure Stories

Submitted by JeepinBen on

As suggested by http://mgoblog.com/users/umgradmsudad UMGradMSU Dad, let's hear about when your cars have failed you. Blow a tire and ruin the chance of a hot date? Run out of gas when you're trying to break up your ex's wedding (that may have been from a movie)?

Did you stumble upon a broken down car full of girls in need of some desperate help? Did it go real swell and end up at the Eastside Motel?

Was it your fault? (As an automotive engineer I can guarantee it was either your fault... or the corporate bean counters' fault)

Let's hear when your cars have failed you - or when you failed them (they need gas to work!)

The Mad Hatter

June 21st, 2016 at 9:54 AM ^

I usually give them two chances.  Once I'm stranded for a second time the car is left for dead on the side of the road.  A few times stick out though...

Dead battery in the middle of a packed Windsor tunnel at around 2am.  The cars behind me were pretty pissed.

Complete brake failure on Ford Rd near 275.  My driving skills saved the day.  That and the concrete light pole base that I eventually used to stop the car.

Dead battery on the way to Lollapalooza in 93.  Was offered a ride to the show by a van full of hot girls all wearing bikinis.  Of course my dumb ass was too concerned about getting my car fixed to realze that I was probably just invited to a mobile orgy.  I will regret not getting into that van until my dying day.

PopeLando

June 21st, 2016 at 10:28 AM ^

I think you missed his point lol..

Hey man, I would love to live in a world where a mobile orgy wasn't a high risk move. But unless the "mad" in Mad Hatter refers to the syphilis which is slowly driving him crazy...skipping an early-90s orgy was probably the right call.

Or maybe I'm bitter that I never got invited to those kinds of parties.

theytookourjobs

June 21st, 2016 at 9:56 AM ^

I drove a Delta 88 that kept overheating.  I decided to pretend to be a mechanic and tried to change out the thermostat.  It was a real mother to get to and in taking the old one out I accidentally punctured my fuel line.  I didn't know about this unfortunate side effect at the time.  Once I put in the new thermostat, I gave myself a pat on the back, told my girlfriend how awesome I was and started up the car.  Whole engine burst into flames and we both went running for the hills.  Luckily there wasn't much gas in the tank so it didn't explode, but I did $1,500 worth of damage changing out a $12 thermostat.  I would consider that a failure

Petr89

June 21st, 2016 at 10:03 AM ^

Thread jack (sorry!)

Just bought an '09 VW GTI and fiddled with the stereo a bit. Apparently I need some cable/software interface to "flash" the radio setting called VAGCOM/VCDS. My understanding is it takes 3 minutes but the dealership charges $150.

Any MGoBrethren in SE MI have the VCDS hookup and 15 spare minutes to help a guy out?

CGordini

June 21st, 2016 at 11:04 AM ^

Out of curiousity, could you talk to a place that specializes in audio equipment, like Mickey Shore or A2 Customs?



I know for the engine tuner for my Mustang, that is coded to my VIN and I can't just share it with other cars. Which is kind of stupid, from a technology/software standpoint, but brilliant from a business standpoint.

Petr89

June 21st, 2016 at 11:54 AM ^

I'm not really a car guy.  I love driving my new zippy stickshift but couldn't really explain the first thing about how it works.  I think the audio guys would be less likely to have the right equipment as its not just for the radio but pretty much diagnostics/settings for the whole car (and if they did, they'd probably charge just as much). 

I have a sense that there's a pretty decent group of VW/GTI enthusiasts out there and I thought maybe I'd be lucky enough to find one on here with his/her own VCDS thing-a-ma-bob. 

Here's a quick blurb from the wiki page which I think addresses the question of "share-ability:"

VCDS will perform most of the functions of the expensive electronic diagnostic tools available only to official dealers, like the current VAS 505x series diagnostic tools.[4][6] In the past, these dealership-only tools have prevented owners, and many small independent repair shops from performing some fundamental tasks, such as diagnosing problems, diesel ignition timing, modification of convenience options such as automatic door unlocking, coding a replacement electronic control unit (ECU) or key to the vehicle, and monitoring of many vehicle sensors for diagnosing problems.[6] Unlike generic on-board diagnostics (OBD-II or EOBD), VCDS uses the more in-depth Volkswagen Group-specific manufacturer protocol commands,[5] which allows the user to access all diagnostic capable vehicle systems — even in vehicles which are not covered by generic OBD-II/EOBD (e.g. pre-1996). In general, there are two ways to use this software, either as a package (software and hardware) distributed by the manufacturer or their agents, or, by building your own interface hardware and using it with the publicly available but limited shareware version of the software.

Petr89

June 21st, 2016 at 1:26 PM ^

Thanks.  I might bug you for that info later.  For now, I found a list on reddit of guys willing to help out with the necessary equipment.  There's a local guy so I'll see where that goes...

Wolverine Devotee

June 21st, 2016 at 10:04 AM ^

My first car was a 2002 Chevy Prizm.

No A/C, crank Windows, 120K miles, no driver's side door handle.

Thing ran perfectly though. And it felt like a fast car. It survived the polar vortex my senior year.

I get my newish car, 2009 Ford Focus with A/C and all the amenities. And the first week it dies in the parking lot of one of my classes in January when it was a single digit day.




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Blazefire

June 21st, 2016 at 10:04 AM ^

Never had a car completely fail on me, but I did have a failure experience related to the failure of a car.

I was heading home from work when I saw a minivan stopped along the side of the expressway with a woman walking towards the nearest exit. I figured she was out of gas, so I pulled off to offer her a ride up to the next station and back to her car. I got stopped about a quarter mile up from her.

When I stopped, she stopped walking. I put it into reverse to get back to her. She threw her hands up and ran screaming into the woods beside the freeway.

I sat for a moment, pulled back on the road and hoped whatever it was she was afraid of didn't get her.




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jackw8542

June 21st, 2016 at 10:07 AM ^

Bought a new Pantera in the summer of 1972 and owned it for 13 months.  I once performed a calculation and determined that it was in the shop for repairs 11 of the 13 months, if you added up all the days the dealer had it to fix something.  One day when I was stopped at a light while driving it back to the dealer in Ypsilanti, someone ran up to me to tell me my car was on fire.  I looked back and saw smoke pouring out but calmly told him it was only smoke, as a head gasket had apparently failed.  Just another day in the life of a Pantera owner.

PopeLando

June 21st, 2016 at 10:08 AM ^

1985 Ford LTD. The wood panel station wagon you saw in all those 80s movies (Detective Murtaugh drove one).

It liked to stall at stoplights and flood. So I'd be out of commission for about 5 minutes each time with a lot of justifiably angry motorists around me.

Also, it weighed like 4,000 pounds, so pushing it to the side of the road by myself was... challenging.

Hail-Storm

June 21st, 2016 at 10:09 AM ^

I was dating a girl who lived in Lansing area, I was with my folks in Holland. My first trip to see her in my VW, I had bad directions, a girlfriend who didn't answer her phone (house phone back then), and a car that started to act up. It went downhill from there. 

I'd spend every weekend headed over to lansing and her stupid horsebarn (horses and drassage have got to be the most boring thing ever) while my car continued to have ghost issues where I had to continuously give it gas while it sputtered for about 10-20 minutes before it'd start to act right. Whenevr I took it to the mechanic, it'd always run well too. Eventually he figured out that a hole had rusted through to the gas tank inlet right above my passenger rear wheel so crap kept getting in my tank.  An expensive fix later and it ran ok. I think I'm more pissed about giving up my weekends on lake Michigan though. 

Hail-Storm

June 21st, 2016 at 10:12 AM ^

This is something I do sometimes when I'm bored.

If you were a teenager with $3-4,000, what car would you buy right now and why?

The budget can be different, but this is roughly what I had for my first car in late 90s. You could also do same question with different budgets. Do you go for an old cheap sports car, a truck, a jeep, a van, why?. Manual vs auto. HIndsight is 20/20, so what would you get if you were a teenager now. 

Petr89

June 21st, 2016 at 10:16 AM ^

2004 Buick Rendezvous circa 2006. On the way from A2 to Rochester for rehearsal dinner with fiance and two bridesmaids dressed to the nines.  Total blowout of one of the tires.  Ended up changing the damn thing in rush hour, in my best suit, on the side of 696, with histrionics from the bride-to-be the whole time. 

Not a good omen for the relationship.  In retrospect, I probably wouldv'e been better off if I had lost control of the vehicle and crashed into a fiery Bolivia.

Sambojangles

June 21st, 2016 at 10:20 AM ^

Not really a failure story but sad nonetheless: 2014, I'm driving a 1978 Cadillac Seville, handed down from my grandmother. White with a dark red top and red leather seats. I convince the family that I should get it because I will park it safely underground instead of on the street at home. I am away for a weekend to attend my sister's graduation, leaving the car there. I get a call on Saturday morning saying there was an incident with my car. I get back to see it, and a 4 foot chunk of the concrete ceiling had fallen directly on top of the roof, crushing it. Car is totaled. After more than a year, we replace it with a similar car (76 with a tan top, it actually looks better than the other one) that I'm driving now, but not after a lot of pain and suffering. I'll never forget how the old one looked.

SoDak Blues

June 21st, 2016 at 10:20 AM ^

I was driving with my future father-in-law in my Wrangler playing it very cool - top down, beautiful day (it was early on in my relationship with my now wife). We were on 96 coming back from the airport when the entire car just turned off for absolutely no reason without warning.

Being the car guru that I am, I quickly slammed my hand down on the dash board and she fired right up again. That made for some fun conversation for the rest of the drive. 

JeepinBen

June 21st, 2016 at 10:25 AM ^

Typically when dropping my now-wife off at her place early winter mornings. I'd coast to turn left and the engine wouldn't idle, it'd die. So I'd make the turn (without power steering and with 32x11.50" tires) and start her back up. Never diagnosed it, just kept it in gear when slowing down for the first 5-10 minutes on really cold days (when I could remember)

SoDak Blues

June 21st, 2016 at 10:28 AM ^

Mine only did it twice that I can remember - once with my father in law and once when I was alone. Slamming the dash board worked both times. 

Funny thing is, all of the gauges would occasionally just turn off (including the odometer). Slamming the dash would also work for that, but I eventually stopped doing it becasue I realized it was not continuing to count the miles when the gauges were off. I am pretty sure I put about 1,000 extra miles on her that no one will ever know. 

MGoBat

June 21st, 2016 at 10:23 AM ^

I had a Grand AM with power locks that if you slammed the door too hard while it was running, the doors would lock. Bit me a couple times on the way to class so I started leaving the drivers side window cracked enough for my hand to fit through whenever it was running.

Cranky Dave

June 21st, 2016 at 10:23 AM ^

Was a '77 Rabbit. I might have forgotten to get the oil changed which would have possibly alerted me to the fact that there was no oil. Engine blown. But not my fault, no
Light came on.

a different Jason

June 21st, 2016 at 10:26 AM ^

This was my brother in law, but still a failure story. My wife just had to go visit her sister so I ended up going to check out this Chevy S10 at a used car lot. It honestly had a circle of soot below the muffler. I even put my foot under it to show him it was happening at that moment. I told him no, do not buy. The genius buys it anyway and approximately 3 weeks later it threw a rod or something and he had to buy a crate motor.

BlueMan80

June 21st, 2016 at 10:30 AM ^

While a college student, I had a summer job at a trucking company that was located about an hour away from home.  The job was "second shift" so my hours were usually 4pm-midnight unless we had peak shipping volume.  Most of the drive was expressway, so the drive home was pretty boring.  I didn't have my own car, so I was driving mom's Chrysler Cordoba with cloth seats.  No fine Corinthian leather to be had.

A radiator hose blew one Friday night while I was halfway home which blew my plans to meet up with friends for some late night partying.  It took me a while to notice the plume of steam coming out from behind the car.  I decided to nurse the car along to get to a rest area about a mile down the road.  Went back the next day to replace the hose and get some water in the radiator to get home.  Well, I probably shouldn't have driven the car as far as I did.  Over the next year, every hose failed and needed to be replaced.  It was an exercise in paranoia driving that car for years.  You always looked under the front end looking for green puddles of coolant before you drove anywhere.

MaizeAndBlueWahoo

June 21st, 2016 at 12:09 PM ^

Coolant is involved in my own car failure story.  14-year-old me was navigating one of the driving school's Chevy Corsicas around the parking lot driving range, and like the rest of my classmates, fanatically obeying the 10-mph speed limit they gave us by acting like the gas pedal was kryptonite.  I was minding my own business when a whole bunch of steam came out from under the hood.  I pulled off to the side, got out and got the instructor, and by the time I came back there was a Great Lake of green stuff under the car.  Some piece of the cooling system decided to say "fuck it, I'm outty" in a very big way.  Was sure I was going to get the third degree, what did you DO?!?!? kind of thing, but driving school is great, you blow up a Chevy Corsica, they just shrug and hand you another one.