The fine automobile pictured above appears benign enough. It’s my beloved family heirloom, my first old car, one that I’ve been driving for 22 years. It hates me.
Hate is a strong word, but I think I’m right in this instance. Over the last four years, this has been a most unreliable machine, and it came home on the end of a tow strap again today. To save time, I’ll only discuss the latest incident. Last month, I treated the Mustang to a new aluminum radiator, but noticed that no transmission fluid was flowing to the cooler. This transmission was rebuilt in 2012 by a man who has since retired and unplugged his phone. The fluid was smelling burned, so I pulled the transmission and, not having much automatic transmission experience, took it to a local builder suggested by my machine shop.
I got it back a week and a half later, reinstalled it, only to discover that no fluid was flowing to the cooler. A quick conversation suggested that the cooling circuit of a Ford C4 was, to the transmission builder, perhaps akin to reading Newton’s Principia, and that he might think I’m delusional. I get that a lot. “It has to be pumping fluid.” Uh-huh.
It turns out that there’s a little passage with a check ball that gets clogged up in the transmission’s stator support, which is a part of the front pump, a part that feeds the transmission cooler. This picture is the stator support from my transmission. It was filled with junk and muck, the check ball was jammed to the fluid port, and the spring was broken in three places. Yes, I decided to tear that part out myself, because I’m the kind of stupid guy who’ll do that to a transmission under warranty.
I removed the factory plug and cleaned out and replugged that passage, leaving out the faulty parts after much internet research revealed that as a common solution. Afterwards, I put it back together, put it back in the car for the third time in two weeks, and took it for a drive. It worked fine, until it impersonated a crimson tinged Niagara Falls on my mom and dad’s driveway, leading to another trip home on the business end of a tow strap.
I’m pretty certain that my repair is not the cause of the leak, because it was leaking the first time I started it; however, I just assumed it was venting a little fluid as a result of my adding too much before starting the engine or something. Of course, my warranty is likely voided since I decided to take matters into my own hands, like an idiot. The plug I installed to reseal the cooler passage is a dead giveaway.
Not naming names, but someone on this board is probably going to be learning how to rebuild an automatic transmission on his own dime, and said someone is pretty demoralized right now. Therefore, I’ll leave you with this greatest hits photo from 2013, and look to my Curbside friends for a little moral support, because misery loves company. Do you or have you ever owned a car that hated you?
***UPDATE, 8/7/16: Yesterday, I pulled the cover off the low-reverse servo, and the “professional” used a bunch of RTV rather than the correct square cut o-ring. I cleaned all that junk out and installed a proper o-ring, after which I ran the car on the stands for 5-10 minutes. It’s leak free as of right now.
Now I just have to drive it around locally to see if any other catastrophes present themselves, and move on to the next headache.***
Nope. No way. 2.0 (my Acura) has never given me trouble. Even my old Durango (the Beast) had never left me stranded, even with impending mechanical failure.
I don’t think my POS 78 Zephyr “hated” me. It was a drama queen, constantly demanding attention, and money, but “hate” is personal and that Zephyr treated it’s next owner the same way it treated me. The C4 auto, and the a/c were about the only things I did not have trouble with in two years of catering to it’s every tantrum. The a/c quit on the next owner, about 4 months later.
When are you going to write up the Model T school? Or am I getting senile and missed it?
I haven’t written it up yet, but I’ll get to it eventually. As of late, my permanent home has been on a garage floor it seems. I’ll probably never get to know if the Mustang’s hate is personal, because I’ll never sell it, even if it just sits in the garage, which it won’t, because I hate when a car doesn’t work. I don’t mind when things like clocks and windshield washers don’t work, but the car has to. 🙂
I thought early Foxes had C3 Bordeaux transmissions (Made in France), lighter but more fragile than the C4.
BTW the factory was sold off in 2009 to a French holding co.
I thought early Foxes had C3 Bordeaux transmissions
Maybe the ones with the Pinto 2.3. Mine was the swoopy Z7 coupe with a 302. Pretty sure it had a C4, as I remember thinking at the time that the C4 did not have the greatest reputation. The 302 was a source of grief, multiple times, the 2 bbl carb on it was another source of grief, multiple times. That car, bought new, was like a really bad, needy, girlfriend.
That is one beautiful Mustang Aaron, but it is 50 years old. Transmission issues come with the territory. Seems your problem was in the amateur repair. You might just want to cut your losses, bite the bullet and get a professional rebuild. Millions of these were made and they shouldn’t be a mystery. That is far too nice a car to give up on.
The transmission was rebuilt by a professional. Twice.
My ’64 Falcon definitely does not hate me. It puts up with me. And still starts up despite my infrequent trips into town. If it hated me it could do all sorts of pissy things to make me drag it off to the repair shop. I have zero plans to ever sell it. Much like you and your ’65 Mustang. I have a 2-speed Ford-O-Matic and while it could use a re-build so far I’ve shied away from doing that. I won’t have it rebuilt unless it’s 110% necessary. I do have to warm the car up to a sufficient level or the transmission won’t automatically upshift over 35 mph. I have a fear, apparently not an un-founded one, that if I have someone mess with the tranny the ‘cure’ will be worse than the disease. So I live with the warm-up sessions.
Hopefully you won’t have to spend too much time and money to get your ‘Stang road ready again.
I hope not either! Unfortunately, I just pulled off the low/reverse servo cover and found that, instead of using the correct square cut o-ring, the “builder” just loaded the channel with RTV! Man oh man, this is three things this guy did wrong. I hope that three’s the charm.
I have to wonder, considering the age of the car, whether the mechanics had much or any experience with that transmission. Since you took the transmission out of the car, they were probably not able to test it when they were done. Since you found gunk in the stator support section, it seems to me that they did a poor job of rebuilding the transmission.
I think you have a good case for getting some or all of your money back. This might require going through small claims court, but this is not difficult, I have done this a number of times and won. Before going that far, the shop should have a choice of fixing it right. They probably need to have the whole car.
My 2002 Seville had the solenoid fail on the lock up torque converter clutch. They needed the car all day to fix it, and had the car late the day before and I got it back the morning of the day after (if I remember right). I think I got it back on a Friday, so driving home it seemed to work right, except for one shift that seemed unusually rough. I thought perhaps an air bubble was just working its way through. But then over the weekend a few (2 or 3) more unusual shifts made me think something was not right. Monday I called them and they had me back. The wrong set of gaskets had been installed.
I had bought the Seville from the Oldsmobile-Cadillac-GMC dealer. When this part failed, Oldsmobile was gone, and the dealer bought out the Pontiac-Buick dealer. But GM said they could only keep the GMC franchise, so Chevrolet got the Cadillac franchise. So I have to assume that the Chevrolet dealer, where I went for service with the Seville, had little experience with Northstar transmissions.
You need to decide what you would really like to do about the transmission. The repair shop ought to be willing to fix it right at no additional cost, or at least minimal cost. I am not sure that they really know enough about old transmissions, but then is there a transmission shop in your area that does.
” The transmission was rebuilt by a professional. Twice.
”
.
No , it certainly wasn’t .
.
Having read your articles , I have confidence you’ll teach yourself to overhaul slush boxes and will do a better job because YOU CARE unlike the average
” mechanic ” (parts changer) who only wants to bang out the job at hand and go pound some beers .
.
-Nate
With the passage of the decades, people with first hand experience working on C4s routinely, that are still working, must be getting rare. There must be someone expert in the care and feeding of the C4 though. Ford cranked out C4s like Mickey D’s turned out burgers. I’d say hook up with a Mustang owner’s group, if you haven’t already, and ask for referrals.
That very fact is leading up to my inevitable conclusion…if I want something fixed, I have to learn to do it myself. I already do almost all of my work, but I’ll farm out stuff I don’t want to do/have room in the garage to do.
For some reason, automatic transmissions have always scared me a bit, but I’ll have to get over that. I’ve done rear axles, manual transmissions, engines, and all that, but not an automatic.
You will be fine. As someone who has rebuilt several automatics, including C4’s, I can’t think of a better transmission to learn on.They are about as simple as a automatic gets. One thing I cannot stress enough is getting the end play correct, to avoid internal leakage. If you have to run to the parts house 3-4 times to get the correct thrust washers, do it! “Close enough” is simply not acceptable.
Oh I understand your frustration. You leave repairs to experts who end up screwing up the job and taking your money, and cannot fix it even when you take it back. Its happened to me many times where its easier for me just to fix the deficiency instead of arguing with the mechanics. Realign a new exhaust system so it does not rub? Check. Rebleed a new brake line? Been there. Fix a seeping gasket? Bingo.
Just last week, I taught myself the basics of front end alignments because the local shop could not align my Mercury after FOUR attempts. I used a digital level, made a toe-gauge and used basic geometry to get it done. Its easy and fixed the problem.
Really, I’m simply astounded if a shop fixes something right the first time.
This is exactly the point! Ugh, I’m glad I’m not alone in this. I so infrequently take work to professionals, and when I do, I often regret it or could have done a better job myself.
I too have done my own front end alignments since I was a kid. I think the Mustang has had a professional alignment once, when I first got it on the road in 1994, and that was just toe-in.
There is a former Ford mechanic who has done some excellent videos on how to rebuild the C6 and C4. Very worth while as they helped me rebuild my C6. Look up Bad Shoe Productions.
Frankly I’d much rather do that then try to seal an FE intake onto a newly rebuilt 390 and having it leak 7 times now over a year.
Speaking of the old knowledge. Dragged my ex-wife’s Gran Caravan to a transmission shop near me after the tranny ate itself at highway speed. I wasn’t sure how I felt about the shop – and it was a seriously “old style” shop. I made the comment that I wanted nothing to do with the inside of the transaxel and had not cracked open a transmission case since I rebuilt a Powerglide with my dad ages ago.
“Aluminum or cast iron?” the mechanic asks me.
I felt just fine leaving the van there after that.
Hmm, that’s a toughie.
My 62 Triumph was indifferent to my suffering, but it didn’t really hate me.
My RX-7 hated me when I first got it. Every time I had it ready for the safety check something else would break. After three weeks we had settled into a relationship of acceptance tinged with distrust, but not outright hate.
My 78 Gold Wing motorcycle was vicious, but it was like a dog that had been beaten by its owner so I never took it personally.
So I guess my answer is no.
The CC affect strikes again, just hopefully not in an ominous way. My future Curbside Classic (as I plan to keep it even if I get a new daily driver to give her a rest) is pictured below. My transmission cooler (one of what seems like 3 radiators in the front of my car) started to leak onto my pristine brand new concrete driveway. Talk about incentive to fix a problem immediately!
Ever since I got the car back, there is a noise coming from the transmission that sounds like a whine, like gears that are not quite meshing. It’s been getting louder. Of late, under spirited acceleration, the 170,000 mile 2007 Mustang sounds like she’s powered by a turbine.
Unfortunately, the 5 speed auto in these cars has no way to check the transmission fluid easily, as Ford, in their infinite wisdom or lack thereof, provided NO DIP STICK! In the past, when I’ve had a car with low transmission fluid (including the featured C4), the car does not shift correctly. This car continues to shift just as smoothly as it did when I took delivery of it in early 2008. (Find me some wood to knock on here ;o)
I may have my mechanic throw the old girl on the lift to have a look-see this weekend, as I have to help someone move and will not have much time for her, sadly.
Oh, and Nice ’65 Aaron. Now I know why you chose Aaron65 for your screen name. I’m sure your car doesn’t hate you, considering the obvious care and love you bestow upon her.
But some cars are just evil, and the more you shower them with love and affection the more miserable they make you. They are usually Mopars. 🙂
The most evil vehicles today are Hino trucks. They are engineered to be obstructive. Minor issues will result in the electronics shutting down the truck down and leaving you stranded and your shipments undelivered. Errant stone stuck in your ABS sensor? Too bad. Can’t find DEF to refill the tank in time? Sorry. Exhaust brake out of adjustment…. well, we’ll give you 30 mph to get to the next state. And don’t touch it yourself, its a dealer adjustment only.
Just evil, I tell you.
I used to call my fully restored 69 Dodge Polara a b*tch fully corresponding your described atittude. The last time she screw me was just few days before my wedding with check oil signal on idle, resulting in the low oil pressure.. I took several weeks to address the problem in revange. She has been good for a while, but I await some problem comming soon since I spoke well about her now.
It happend couple of times with my Ford, thinking for myself its running well for its age/milage getting back in matter of 20sec check your engine light or getting something broken (flying clutch pedal support spring away etc).
Cars are fun, arent they? 🙂
My 69 Polara loved to have the Idle kickdown stick, and no matter how much I cleaned it, or stomped on the pedal, it would still scream at high idle. And this was on a 33K mile example approximately 18 years ago.
“But some cars are just evil, and the more you shower them with love and affection the more miserable they make you. They are usually Mopars”. ?
Actually in my experience they are always GM
I tell you what, I’ve got a 1967 with perfectly good engine and transmission but needs extensive/expensive floorpan work.
Let’s trade. 😛
I’ve done floorpan replacement a time or two. 🙂
My 1975 VW Dasher hated me. Every two weeks it was something, some niggling little irritation, and it kept on and on like an evil spirit until the little irritations became expensive ones. I finally exorcised it. I hated that car so much that I went carless for three months, riding my bicycle to work. And the money that piled up as a result! I was paying no insurance and no maintenance, I wasn’t fueling it…The savings just poured into my bank account. Finally the weather turned cold, and I bought a brand new Chevy Monza. That car had its own problems eventually, but nothing like the Dasher, and the little Chevy was not without its charms. To this day German cars make me want to spit.
’75 Dashers don’t hate anyone in particular, they focus their hate on all mankind.
My father acquired a new one back in the day, and discovered that Volkswagen chose to have the initial owners complete the final development process.
My 03 Accord loves me 🙂 It’s never let me down.
Old cars don`t really hate you. They just get crotchety in their old age, just like some people do.
I agree with Phil b. After all you’ve done to keep this beauty running and looking good, it loves you like an old dog loves its owner. But the vet/mechanic bills do rise over the years.
Age is hard on everyone and everything.
My cars don’t hate me but they’re still relatively young compared to the subject family heirloom. I have steeled myself for fearsome future failures. The recent death of my 18 year old Mazda’s fuel pump required a short ride on a AAA carrier/hauler but that was easier than a bad transmission.
I don’t know — I think there’s a distinct difference between a car that’s old and tired but trying its best and one that is full of hate, either toward its owner specifically or the world in general. I’ve been fortunate enough (and owned few enough cars) to not have had any of the latter, but I know they’re out there.
Dude. You ought to try farming with 50-60 year old equipment! I’ve learned that farming is 10% putting seeds in the ground and harvesting, and 90% fixing stuff, usually when the hay is down and rain is moving in. My Hesston 6400 hay cutter (/6 powered, FTW!) sprung a hydraulic leak when I used it a couple days ago (dumped $75 worth of fluid in it just to get finished cutting), so that’s my latest “tow strap” story.
My high school friend’s ’65 boxtop Mustang got pulled home behind his Dad’s truck numerous times, and it was only 15 years old at the time!
FWIW, this kind of stuff seems to come in waves. Keep at it, and you’ll eventually get it sorted enough to enjoy a lengthy period with no (major) breakdowns. That, or you’ll sell it right before said period starts (for the next owner)!
“FWIW, this kind of stuff seems to come in waves.”
+1
Exactly true. After enough stuff has been taken care of, the runners (well-designed cars) tend to get into these happy grooves. A shop queen, however…
None of my machines hated me. They were just real tough teachers. They used the “suffer the consequences” method of driving their points home.
My 77 Olds started treating me bad 3 years ago. During that year damn near everything went bad – fuel pump, water pump, power steering pump, wiper motor, calipers, and more. Spent more time under the hood and under the car than anything else. Finally had a wheel bearing disintegrate and leave me stranded. I had had enough and bought a 13 Mustang GT but kept the Olds for winter driving.
Not sure if it’s trying to get in my good graces again but absolutely nothing has broken down since. Go figure….
Mine is just a little prissy at times.
Drive me for ten hours at 70 to 75 mph? I’ll use over a quart of oil! Drive me for eight hours at 55 to 60 mph? I won’t use a drop.
Driving through town on a hot day, with lots of stops and starts? I’ll make the throwout bearing for my clutch become annoying. Drive me on the highway and I’ll behave nicely.
Drive me in town and I’ll swill fuel like a jet. Drive me on the highway and I’ll amaze you with efficiency no contemporary six-banger could easily achieve.
Sometimes it isn’t being hated so much as there is simply no winning. Much like a cat, an old car has its way of doing things and we cannot alter that mindset.
Not really the same, but this week I worked on 2 cars with “opposite” problems. My sister’s 240 SX killed her battery due to the brake light being on all the time (a plastic spacer got crispy and broke, so the plunger on the brake light switch didn’t have anything to press on to turn it off when the brake pedal was released). My elbow is still bruised from leaning on the gravel and pebbles on her floor (she doesn’t keep the car vacuumed) trying to get the brake light to be off normally.
My car, on the other hand had 2 brake lights off (both left and right sides)…fortunately the 3rd brake light (CHMSL) worked, so I knew it wasn’t the switch…to make a long story short, one of the bulbs was burned out, and the other was missing (not sure how that happened, I had my car worked on by someone last month, in my mind I was thinking “no one (of good judgement) would take a brake light bulb from a working car and move it to a non-working car, would they?”. The repair I was having done had nothing to do with the rear of the car (not even electrical at all)…but I don’t know why the bulb would be missing (unless it fell out and I couldn’t find it, which I think is also unlikely)).
So I think my car and my sister’s car ganged up on me ….”he’s not worked on brake lights for awhile…we’ll test his troubleshooting skills to see if he can figure it out”. Though I’m glad I didn’t need a new battery on my car, it chills me to think how long I might have been driving without brake lights (in an urban environment). Thank goodness the CHMSL still worked. Guess I need to check my lights more often (no one told me it was out, was getting ready for inspection)…guess that’s one good thing about inspection, it gets you “less lazy” about checking things you normally take for granted.
Cars all have personalities. Some are drama queens, others love to run. That’s the fantasy take. In reality, it probably has more to do with (a) how well things were designed and put together to begin with, (b) how well things were put together during rebuilds/maintenance.
Although, I gotta admit it was completely weird when early in my current car’s ownership I had the audacity to park it next to a “for sale” F-body and explore the Camaro very closely… and then later that evening when adding some washer fluid the hood (spring operated) first jammed then released too quickly and hit me on the head. Then again, it might have something to do with needing some white grease or something.
The ghost stories are more fun, of course 😀
Your car is thinking “You’d better not sell me. I’ll be in your driveway some early morning with 50’s rock playing from a non-existent station idling away menacingly”
The car that hated me or was the most unlucky was my ’73 Sport Bug, that I bought in ’76. Mechanically it was fine, even the 1835cc engine I built for it gave me little trouble.
But in less than 2 years of ownership it was hit 3 times, twice while sitting at red lights and once while parked. Rear ended once, T-boned once, and backed into crushing hood and both front fenders. And just for good measure, the steering column lock pin engaged in a parking lot while driving locking the steering wheel.
That car really hated me. I was glad to get rid of it when my insurance cancelled me for being an “unlucky” driver, despite having no violations (tickets) on my record. I was still making payments so it had to go.
And just as a going away present, the new owner discovered I replaced the ’73 engine ( I sold the engine I hot rodded to a co worker) with a stock ’71, and threatened to sue if I didn’t give him money because of the incorrect year engine. The rear main started to leak shortly after he bought it and the shop he used brought the engine year to his attention. I did wind up compensating him, my memory has blocked the exact amount.
That was the car from hell.
Eventually you will get your transmission sorted, the Mustang seems to just be going through it’s midlife “crisis”.
As I’ve alluded to before, my ’79 Accord hated me even when it was running the way Honda calibrated it from the factory. And by 25K miles, all manner of things started to fail, even the jack.
It’s not just old cars that can make your life miserable.
My truck doesn’t hate me but my toys love to punish me for cheaping out and buying the oldest, cheapest ones available. My ’91 ATV, ’97 snowmobile and ’81 camper demand constant attention despite my efforts to prevent issues. Fix something, works great in the driveway, take it out in the back country and then further issues usually present themselves. Repeat process the following week with the additional hassle of finding obsolete parts .
Frustrating for the first while but once things are finally sorted out it’s (barely) worth it. Trust issues always remain though. I can still never justify buying any new toys, way too expensive.
I drove a ’71 Audi Super 90 wagon for 11 years. I won’t say it hated me, but it was the most trouble-prone vehicle I’ve ever owned. Highlights included dropping an exhaust-valve through #2 piston, requiring a replacement head and partial engine rebuild, and getting the transaxle overhauled after a failed pinion bearing.
However, those old Audis were known for certain weaknesses, it did have over 100K when I bought it, and it was my main transportation (Including winter beater) most of the years I owned it.
Plus, it was a rare car, I loved how it drove & handled, and it was relatively easy to work on for a FWD design. And I’ll always have fond memories of my epic cross-country 1982 road-trip to California in that car. The only problems on that 7000 mile vacation were a flat tire and a temporarily stuck inlet needle on the Solex carb. Otherwise, it ran flawlessly, including an early morning cruise across the Mojave Desert at probably 90 mph, and a back-road run to the top of Big Sur just in time to see the sun setting above the cloudbanks rolling in off the Pacific!
Eventually, rust from years of winter driving and the inability to get parts finally took the car off the road in the early ’90s.
Happy Motoring, Mark
When you are using old machinery, things are going to break. As for transmission rebuilds, my experience has shown me that they are screwed up at least half the time. Were I to need to change the transmission on my Acura, I’d spring for a new unit at the dealer. It may seem more expensive in the short term, but it’s going to save me a lot of time down the road.
When I undertake an automotive task, I always ask myself, “Could I pay someone to do this for less than my time is worth?” The answer is always “yes,” but of course it’s fun to wash and wax my old TL. However, for the time it took, a professional would have done a better job for less of my time.
I love other people’s old cars, just like I love other people’s boats and aircraft. I just can’t be bothered dealing with them.
“Could I pay someone to do this for less than my time is worth?”
Years ago Peter Egan wrote a column about all the jobs he has fired himself from. Yes, he could do the work in question, but he knew someone who could do the job better and quicker. For instance, he noted that, after years of practice, his welds “look less like volcanic eruptions” than they used to, but he knew a guy whose welds were a work of art. I forget what all the jobs were that he had given up doing himself, but he was OK with being fired, because the results were better than the work he could have done.
I am VERY fortunate to have a shop that I can trust, and coming from a shop background, I am a hard man to please. It has always shocked me how much shoddy work there is in the car business, even at the dealer level. It is all about having good management and a good shop attitude, and it is amazing how rare this can be in a work place.
For those of us who don’t have tools or space to use them (setting aside the question of ability, which is another can of worms), it’s not so simple as that, but I would agree about the new versus rebuilt transmission. Even older transmissions with fewer gears and notionally less complexity are kind of like building one of those complicated 3-D puzzles without actually taking the pieces out of the box, and as Aaron found, an odd moment of carelessness with any of a hundred different little details can foul up the whole thing.
At one time in my life, I owned and drove a ’73 Volvo 164. It was a great riding and driving car, but it did have issues. It had been used by it’s previous owner to tow a boat and trailer. This was bad for the transmission! Anything that did need repairing or maintaining I tried to do myself and usually failed. This resulted in money spent at the Volvo dealer almost always. I loved my Volvo when it worked!!!
With some of the odd old cars I’ve owned, the question became “Could I find someone COMPETENT ENOUGH to work on it, AND pay him less than my time is worth?” Over the years, for me the answer has usually been NO. I DID have to take my Audi transaxle to a specialist for rebuilding, but I removed and installed it myself.
Happy Motoring, Mark
I completely rebuilt the suspension and brakes on my Spider. After I was done, I took it to my mechanic to grade my work. He gave me a (barely) passing grade but told me it would have cheaper to just do the work than check mine and then fix my errors.
In my case, it’s wasn’t a car, it was a motorcycle. A 1972 Triumph T150 Trident.
I can’t say I wasn’t warned, by my best friend back in Johnstown who was (along with his father) the Triumph dealer when those bikes were new. Take a T100 500cc vertical twin, a paragon of virtue as British bikes go. Now add 50% more parts, which somehow turns into 400% more complexity.
But I always wanted one. And so I learned.
First trick: There are two fuel petcocks off the tank. The right one is the normal one, the left one is (supposedly) reserve. Except, if you don’t run them simultaneously, the left cylinder runs so damned lean that it’ll hole the piston.
Read that in a book on vintage Tridents once.
Six months after I did it to the engine.
$2400 and two years later and the engine is rebuilt. Then there were the parts falling off at 80mph on the Interstate (including the Loctited ones), the fork seals that didn’t – after four rebuilds. And finally, Lucas electrics took over. Every fourth ride, something electrical failed. The final straw was the day I hit the horn and had the entire electrical system short out.
It was taken to the York. PA swap meet three weeks later and sold out in the parking lot. Didn’t even see the building. And this was the only British motorcycle that ever gave me problems with Lucas components. Averaged in with the other five I’d owned (all of which were flawless), I averaged out to the usual expectations of Lucas failures
Dammit, when that bike ran, it was magnificant. I’d be burning 1000cc Gixxers on the back roads with it.
When it ran. Well, I’ve owned a Small Heath Trident. And I’ve no desire to do that again.
When I was like 20, I had an 850 Commando for like six months. It was the same kind of thing for me, although I had to throw in the towel early due to school. It was a bear to kick over and the electric start never worked. I took to parking it at the top of a long hill.
When it ran, however, it was wonderful to ride.
I don’t know if it hated me, but my 77 New Yorker Brougham treated me with more than a little contempt. Maybe it was just that I was not ready for a high maintenance drama queen no matter how much I loved it. And I did love it. It was 5 yrs old at purchase and 8 years old at trade. The color, the trim, the equippage were all perfect. And it was simply gorgeous.
But then it started slapping me around. The regular transducer replacements for the Lean Burn system. The way it was the hardest to start of anything at my house. The nagging vibration in the front end that I could never eliminate, other than at random times when it just disappeared for long enough to make me hate it all the more when it came back. The little flare between the 2-3 shift. The Lean Burn elimination and valve job that I thought would cure it, but it still ran like crap. Only a different kind of crap. On the day that the electrical short that started draining the battery showed up, pegging the ammeter on “charge”, I decided to get off the fence and buy my first new car.
On the day I traded it in on the 85 GTI, I still loved that New Yorker. Call it Battered Owner Syndrome. Come to think of it, the GTI sort of treated me like shit too.
Let me guess: you bought a Passat after that.
A 20 year old 20K mile 66 Fury III that treated me like a king. 🙂
My cars have been fairly easy to live with cars. The two show-stopper issues on my 77 Chevelle was it tossing a timing chain (damn GM nylon cam sprocket failing after 100,000 miles and 35 years) and it ate a starter on the way home from the ’13 PowerTour in Mississippi after running the whole tour nearly flawlessly, sure it needed 6 quarts of oil and drank gas like a wino.
It is finicky at times though, drive it at 75-80mph and it’ll use a quart of oil per tank, and get 18mpg. Drive it at 55-65, it hardly uses any oil, and knocks down 20+mpg with the A/C on. Now it’s been sitting a lot more its got some issues popping up, mostly in the way of a leaky transmission.
Easy–my wife’s ’00 Alero. As far as the big stuff goes it was a good car–had almost 180K miles when we got rid it, the transmission had never been touched (other than one odd issue where the pan needed welding, not the car’s fault), the head had never been off the engine, and no rust. But the little stuff nickel-and-dimed you to death. There was *always* something wrong with that car, most of the time multiple somethings. I went into more detail in the COAL article, but it was a constant exercise in “what needs fixing today?” Probably the best example being the infamous recalled GM ignition switch, but this was well before the recall, so I had to replace the stupid thing myself. In the winter, in an unheated garage. Seemed to require disassembly of half the dash and a LOT of swearing. But considering the issue can kill you under the right circumstances…yeah. Hateful.
My wife had to deal with that thing for 8 years and hated it right back. I drove the car for the last 1.5 years that we had it, and ended up perversely liking it in the end.
GM cars of that era were, to be blunt, crap. I was working as a GM service advisor then, and anything made 1998-Belly Up is very much best avoided. The basic motors and transmissions were gravelly rough things that could go a long time (and leak all over your garage floor, too) but the entire rest of the car, in fact anything that wasn’t emission or overtly safety, was totally crap.
Meanwhile, my 16 year old Acura runs like a Swiss watch.
To be fair they could still screw together a decent car from time to time. My mother’s 2004 LeSabre was a pretty good car with a few minor problems until 2015 when it started to become a money pit. She got rid of it early this year. As hard as she is on cars (a lot of miles on a car in the Chicago area can be brutal) I feel 12 years was a decent run.
I use a lot of paddock found used parts, lately I have a squawk from a front wheel bearing, the front axle I fitted had sat for 10 years that I know of in an open field so having to replace a wheelbearing isnt a big deal or a big surprise, strangely enough the motor and gearbox harvested from the same wreck still work fine, the motor is a bit fumey but uses hardly any oil, it loses water but water is readily available so I just keep driving it.
I must say though any shop that ‘rebuilt’ a transmission and didnt clean out the cooling passages and fix broken springs therein isnt going to offer a warranty worth claiming on, youmay as well just fix it yourself or put in a second hand unit.
Most of my vehicles have been pretty friendly, but then , there is the ’64 Galaxie that hated me. Like some folks, it was nice to look at, but hell to live with. Don’t get the idea that this was a recent old car of mine that time had caught up with. No, I bought it in 1968 as a college student with not a lot of extra money. I sure wanted that ’65 Mustang at the Olds dealer, but let myself be talked into buying the ’64. The first ordeal was my fault. Two weeks before my first payment was due I rear ended a ’57 Ford making the ’64 undriveable. Then the Galaxie took over. The Ford dealer I had bought it from had painted it, that should have raised a red flag on a 4 year old car. The paint job looked stock but was actually odds and ends of paint mixed up to make light blue. The body shop mixed 7 batches of paint to get a match on the repairs. Then my Dad picked it up from the shop while I was at school. He drove it 50 miles to Evansville on an errand and promptly blew the engine. The replacement engine from a junk yard lasted for about a year before pumping copious amounts of oil. My brother in law to be rebuilt it for me and a month later a rear wheel bearing went bad. Next was the fuel pump. It was one thing after another and I didn’t even drive it that hard. While in Army basic training one of the things I looked forward to at completion was to trade that turkey off. I came home and after sitting for 6 months the car started right up like it was a new car. I traded it off a week later on a ’67 Mustang, a car that liked me. Just before I traded the ’64 in I noticed that a lifter was making noise. That thing had to get in one last dig.
The car that loved me the most would probably have to be my ’03 Mustang. After a series of trucks it brought joy in driving back into my life. Once I pulled up to the mailbox at the post office to mail a bill. The wind caught it and it flew up into the air, finally falling down and lodging under the driver side windshield wiper. I reached around and picked it up and then dropped it in the box. I then told my wife ” See, I told you this car loves me”. My present ’09 Mustang likes me, but I don’t know if it loves me.
1975 FIAT 131. Bought new with Dad, it tried to freeze me to death on long drives in the winter. I drove it with a blanket around my feet. Points went twice, fuel pump once, all in one year of ownership. What a shame, because it was the perfect package. Traded it in on a ’76 Aspen, also partnered with Dad. That car didn’t hate me, but it bored me to death, the Slant 6 totally strangled by emissions.
It’s just the natural ebb and flow of owning a classic and/or modified car.
There are times I am convinced my Volkswagens are cursed and times I curse at them and wonder why in the hell I like the old things. (Que last Saturday when my diaphragm ripped apart in my fuel pump, obviously making the fuel pump in operable but clogging up the carb with the pieces on a busy four lane highway)
However, after I suffered through the ordeal on the roadside as I have many times and got it back on the road I once again experienced a feeling I’ve felt many times as the engine was purring along, the wind was in my hair and people were giving me thumbs up, I thought “God I love this old thing!” Because when it’s good, there’s nothing like it.
You have to be a special (read crazy) kind of person to really love cars.
Maybe what you need to do is a 4-speed swap. Automatic transmissions are the devil’s work. Once his wrath has been unleashed by a loss of case integrity, there’s no putting his minions back in the tube.
I have a NOS 4-speed shifter. It’s a start!
Guessing it hates you because you make it wear seasonal adornment. Maybe it is allergic to evergreen.
Ha ha! That was my wife’s doing for our annual Christmas card. We use one of the cars every year.
I’ve mentioned this before in other articles’ comments sections (usually on GM G- body articles or something like that), but when I was a kid, a car that absolutely hated us was our 1980 Monte Carlo, which we had bought used in about 1983 or so.
–terrible paint quality. It was already on its first re-paint job by the time we had bought it, and we had painted it in 1988 or so
–the transmission was junk. We were having to re-build it every couple of years
–soft stock cam, to which we needed to replace
–build quality was extremely poor. Outer bumper molding plastic with metal foil inside of it would yellow, and the foil would disintegrate
–doors never seemed to shut with a convincing click, instead they felt mushy
–huge rust problem on the underside. Rear floorboards rusted out completely, and we found this out on a road trip in winter, where snow was getting trapped in between the metal and carpet. The only thing keeping me from falling through the floor was that carpet (!!!!).
–the motor had no power or balls, whatsoever. I suspect that the soft cams and poor build quality may have made it have compression problems very early on
After dumping thousands of dollars into this car, my parents finally gave up and sold it, essentially as a parts car, in early 1991, when it was burning oil. Dangerous, unsafe and unreliable–a huge part of a huge Deadly Sin for GM….and a car that truly hated us.
I had an ’86 Ford Tempo that I bought in desperation to get me through my last 10 months of college. It was in a garage being fixed for one major problem after another, 11 times during that span. After I graduated and had money coming in, I quickly replaced it with a then-brand-new Elantra. My sister needed a car, and I gave the Tempo to her, warning her that it probably wasn’t going to be very reliable, but she needed it and took it. It ran flawlessly for her.
One day about a year later, I was back home visiting family, and I was asked to take her car into town for something, and the brakes failed, but fortunately I was going slow enough when it happened that I was able to get the car to stop without hitting anything. That car absolutely hated me.
Wow. That Tempo seems to have been possessed by gremlins when you drove it!
All my hateful cars came from general motors. I had an 80 Oldsmobile delta88 royal brouugham. It was horribly.put together. It rusted where the paint fell off it. Washing it took off even more paint. It was always breaking down. I had it about 1 1/2 years and at 8 year’s old the seat broke so you sank to the floor. The hood ornament fell off on the interstate and somehow cracked the windshield, the top of the drivers door fell off when I shut the door, I had to climb in the trunk once to try to fix the speakers and the lid fell and knocked me in the.head and locked me in, the coil failed, the trim fell off, the locks stopped working, the headliner fell, the cruise failed, the exhaust fell off, the cruise was on the turn signal and if you made a turn and bumped the button 5 seconds later as you were turning, it would accelerate by it self quickly up to your preset speed, heaven help you on wet pavement. Driving the old’s in rain was like driving a crown Vic in a foot of snow. The car was an oil burner, first start it blew out clouds of smoke and also when accelerating. It got 7 miles to the gallon. All the Windows went down slow and if you tried to raise them going over 30, the wind caught them and they went outside the rubber track and didn’t seal right. The car broke down constantly with ignition and vapor lock.issues. it leaked oil. The rattily wire hubcaps fell off, as did the drivers mirror and rearview mirror. The radio died, the alternator died as did the starter. It developed a burnt valve, the heater core blew, it jumped time, by this time I was tired of fixing the evil thing. I was at the old’s dealer getting some part and I saw a 78 Ltd an old man was taking the tags off. I ended up buying it for 800$ that car was so much better than the old’s. The old’s had new tires, so I took both cars to a shop to have them switched to the Ford. The dude doing tires wanted the old’s. It had Been painted and I had fixed everything and he thought it looked good, but needed a tune up. Didn’t.tell him it had a burnt valve and was a 7 cylinder 350. He bought the evil thing for 500$. Good riddance. Ironically I think he got his money’s worth because I saw he same car I got rid of in 89 in 2014. Looking ragged, but still running. I know it was the same car because it had a bandaid bumper. Sticker on it which was on there when I got the car that said ouch where the bumper was pushed in. Still there but faded to nothing and still had a plastic cow hood ornament that I put on there when the old’s one fell off and broke the windshield. It thik that car hated me. The replacement didn’t. It. Never broke in the 5 years I had it. That Ltd was bigger and more comfortable and faster and got 4 times the gas mileage the old’s did. I wonder how that thing was still running all those years later. I think it hated me.it tried to kill me multiple times. How did it last another 23 year’s when it was iffy if it would make a 2 mile drive with out issues? Did I fix everything but the burnt valve, which the mechanic must have done and it had one of those happy Grace periods after that? Surely he wouldn’t have put up with its usual stuff like breaking down for no reason in horrible places like the fort mc henry tumble in Baltimore, or on a railroad crossing or at a place I wasn’t supposed to even be. I have a feeling it hated me personally and probably ran for decades just to spite me. That car started my hate for gm which endures to this day.
UPDATE: Yesterday, I pulled the cover off the low-reverse servo, and the “professional” used a bunch of RTV rather than the correct square cut o-ring. I cleaned all that junk out and installed a proper o-ring, after which I ran the car on the stands for 5-10 minutes. It’s leak free as of right now.
Now I just have to drive it around locally to see if any other catastrophes present themselves, and move on to the next headache.
So, a week has gone by, have you driven it some more? And has it leaked?
I’ve probably driven it a hundred miles, and it hasn’t leaked a drop. The fluid temp is normal (I just check the sump with my infrared) and it’s shifting normally. So, as of right now, it’s fixed!
Thats a good sign I think. At least nothing major is wrong, like the wrong set of seals. Hopefully they did not leave a lot of crud inside.
I thought my 2003 Caravan hated me last year because I spent about $2,000 to keep it running since various original factory pieces such as motor mounts, coil pack, tranny solenoid, etc. were wearing out. Even had to replace the oil pan and rear shocks since a decade of New York living had corroded the metal. The original headlight bulbs also burned out last year. I started 2015 with 98K or so and ended with 107K or so and so far so good in regards to Edward the Caravan. In 2016 The tranny solenoid job needed some further under warranty work and the under warranty coil pack might be failing, but no other shop visits and I rather deal with the devil you know.