I bought a 1994 Lexus LS400 at an inop sale recently for all of $900 (plus $120 auction fee).
A new serpentine belt was put on and, miracle of miracles, the car ran fine. Every single button works and even the thin wood for the time has a remarkably nice sheen to it.
The leather seats are immaculate in spite of 197,000 miles on Georgia roads, it looks to be the perfect finance car at $700 down and $60 a week.
There is only one problem with it. I can’t keep the damn thing running.
I added a bit of fuel, replaced the terminals, checked the starter, left the key in it so that it could reset itself, sprayed in a bit of starter fluid, restarted it, waited, restarted, repeat, rinsed, swore like a used car dealer, tried to start it again, pondered the old IBM PC commands of ‘Abort, Retry, Ignore, Fail’ and decided to go out for a beer.
Then I had the fuel pump replaced, replaced the throttle position sensor, replaced the battery, took it to another shop. They saw a few misplaced wires underneath the steering wheel which usually reflects an aftermarket alarm system or remnants of an aftermarket radio system. They can’t figure it out.
I take it to one more place… nada. They ask me about everything else I already replaced. Except maybe I need a new master key. Maybe the ignition is screwed up. Maybe some wire, somewhere in the deepest haunts of the vehicle, is playing the hokey-pokey with a loose fuse. Maybe I need a new computer.
Maybe… I need another vacation.
So while this Lexus is busy kicking my financial ass and molesting my mechanic’s minds, maybe you have a tale to share.
Feel free to post it here. Misery always loves company and I’m about sixty seconds away from brooming away this son-of-a-bitch to another dealer auction.
Have you considered adding more gas?…..and a match?
Add a camera + youtube to the mix. Otherwise you’re doing it wrong.
Where’s the “Like” button?
I knew a guy who bought a rough running V12 Jaguar with an horrific thirst and dismal performance.Several £100 later it was back to square one the brute never ran properly in the 6 months he owned it.The next owner had no better luck
You obviously have a short in your catastrophic converter.
if the fuel filter is plugged it would make it hard to run! Was it changed with the pump?
I’d change the O2 sensors as well… since they control the mixture… cleaning the fuel injectors ultrasonically might help!
my 1997 car runs a dream after these ‘changes’…
Maybe some wire, somewhere in the deepest haunts of the vehicle, is playing the hokey-pokey with a loose fuse.
LOL I always worry that is going on with these newer old cars. The worst is when someone who doesn’t know what they are doing has “worked” on the car.
Good luck!
That would’ve been my 1996 Mercury Sable wagon, which cost me about $3000 in successive repairs after the head gasket failed. Coming in second is my first 2003 Toyota Matrix, which needed a $3500 transmission.
Traded my 03 XR Matrix at 55K mi. for a new Tacoma in 06 , probably was getting close to the bearings failing in that 5 speed – I consider myself lucky by dodging that bullet. Had a 4 year old 1988 VW Fox GL that I was not so lucky with . Water leaked into the headlights , wipers would intermittently stop working , horn would go off all by itself when starting the car sometimes , and when the brake pedal went to the floor after the exhaust melted the rear rubber line I had had enough and got rid of it !
Crank position sensor?
For me, a 1988 Land Cruiser almost drove me to bankruptcy. Bought it out of B.C., seemed a good deal for $3500, but it needed an out of province. Turns out what looked like solid metal underneath was all fibreglass. Thought it would be no big deal, cost me $3000 to fix, and it passed safety.
Then the fuel tank started leaking. Got it fixed, the guy didn’t replace the padding between the straps and tank. Rubbed through the tank, need a new one. Cost me $1000, guy says he’ll reimburse me, but in the time it took to receive the new tank he closes down and skips town leaving behind a trail of unhappy creditors. Then a passing truck on the gravel road shoots up a rock and takes out the back hatch glass, another $500. Jack up the truck to do an oil change and the driver’s front spring pops loose, the pin had rusted away inside the bushing. Ended up replacing all the shackles and bushes, another $200. Next, started running rough, and backfiring. Carb sent out for rebuild, another $550.
Then a brief lull where everything actually worked for a whole six weeks. Next, pulling away from a mailbox (I’m a rural mailman), notice huge plume of white smoke, followed immediately by a gawdawful banging. Head gasket gone, coolant filled a cylinder and didn’t compress, bent the connecting rod and wrecked the block. Bought an engine from what was supposed to be a reputable source for $1500. Head was sent for magnaflux (just to be sure) and cracked beyond repair. Also big end bearings are scored, whole engine NFG. No other engines available at any price except out of the USA at a cost of $4500 delivered. Threw up my hands at this point and fire saled it for $1000. Legal proceedings were started against the engine supplier, but the most recent contact was from a bankruptcy trustee so I imagine that money is gone as well. Burned through $9000 in a little over eight months with nothing to show, so yeah, you could say it kicked my ass…
Steve, ever thought about parting cars out on the side? I’d think you could get that money back in parts, surely the engine’s worth a fair bit, and the front cut would be worth a fair bit?
We use the engines for speedway and the alloy nissan V8s great in a tank you can add more armour
It was a 1986 BMW 7 Series. Picked it up for $100 from a friend, wouldn’t start. Got a new battery (under the old one’s warranty), got it to start. Took a test drive around the neighborhood & discovered instead of 10 & 2 it was more like 12 & 6. Brought it back home & called it quits for the day.
Next day, it wouldn’t start. Took apart the intake and discovered it was caked in crud. Cleaned it out, installed new air filter, spark plugs & still nothing. Then found shoddy mechanic work on the electrical lines coming from the battery. Then discovered more electrical problems. Fuel Pump wouldn’t come on. Electric seats quit. New battery wouldn’t hold a charge. As I chased down the problems I found a bad relay switch under the dash. Replaced that. Still wouldn’t start.
Then I got underneath it and found that the reason the steering was jacked up was from a worm gear system that had sheared some teeth. That’s a lovely problem. Still can’t figure out how my friend drove it for so long in that condition.
So, between looking at a massive bundle of wires that came through the firewall and would make a NASA tech cry, the horrific steering problem and trying to decode European Wiring Diagrams, I decided to ditch the 7 and keep my sanity. Fortunately, I was in about $175 total and found a salvage yard that would take it for $300.
I hope this isn’t a re-post, lately I keep getting a message saying “Invalid data, try again” when I try to post here. Frustrating, much like your situation. My advice is to run far, run fast. Why not donate it to a local vocational school, take the tax deduction, and if a student figures out what’s wrong with it hire them.
The LS 400 is notorious for burning up the caps in the computer … I had to replace mine when everything else I tried would not make a difference … So I had mine rebuilt by an outfit in Tennessee and that resolved the problem. While it was out, I found a couple from wrecked cars and ran the car with them … Still have them.
Steve, if you want a computer for the Lexus, be happy to donate one to the cause. Lemme know where to send it ..
Thank you! 4378 Shiloh Trail Powder Springs, GA 30127
All the best!
I’ve often fancied a Lexus,I’m not so sure now after reading this
I wonder if it has anything to do with a built-in alarm?
Throwing parts randomly at the problem is not going to solve it. That’s error #1 when working with electronic cars.
Can you put more data up to help know what’s your issue there? Any codes?
Does it start? can it keep its idle? how does it dies? does it stall on acceleration? the diagnosis tree for that kind of failure is LONG.
No codes. Turns over but won’t crank. Then it cranked three times in a row without a problem and has no problems on the road.
You’re right. The decision model for this particular issue is as big as a Sequoia.
Is the fuel pump working?, is it working while turning? are you getting enough pressure? Old FI cars are a biatch because not all of them have the Schreader connector at the end of the fuel rail to easily check for pressure.
You can check if you got spark while turning.
How long was the car sitting? It took me 3 hours to start my previous Isuzu Impulse (it sat for around 2 years)
Fuel pump ran fine. I parked it. Seven seconds later it turns off but doesn’t crank.
Fuel pump usually works when you switch the key to ON position and then stops, priming/pressurizing the system. The PCM turns it on again when the engine starts turning (key on START).
By “turns” I understand the starter is working.
As I see it you may not have either fuel or spark in there. Spark can be checked straight away removing a lead and shorting it against a metal part while turning (but your mechanic already knows that).
If you’re not having enough fuel pressure it won’t start.
Anyway, good luck.
Any high end Japanese or European car at an auction like that is an absolute NO NO!
The only time I buy inop cars are old ones or ones that are very simple.
I bought a 79 Rolls Royce Silver Wraith II for $8500 that didn’t run right but it’s a 79, you can figure it out the problem with Rolls is parts are so expensive.
The question is do you lose fuel or fire?
I am not sure I would even finance a car like that. So many things could go wrong and expensive wrong over two years and the usual suspect bottom feeder that would be willing to string along payments on a car like this shouldn’t be driving a car like this.
Nissan Micra – I loved that little car but sadly it didn’t love me. I replaced everything in the ignition system and it still wouldn’t run quite right.
Sounds like stretched timing chain to me, if it was a K11 or K12 model.
A w126 300SE. The damned thing wouldn’t start unless tilted down (pointed downhill). Tried a whole bunch of fuel pumps, a few local Benz specialists… Never got it sorted out.
And then the a/c, and the heater core…
In less than a year, I spent more than the price of the car… And that’s saying something, because I thought I was buying a pristine, needs-nothing S-class.
I had a Freightliner get struck by lightening: fried everything with a diode plus engine and transmission ECU’s. Even had to replace wheel bearings. Then figured out the head gasket had cooked (lightening must have hit the exhaust stack and traveled through the exhaust into the engine).
Diagnosing lightening related problems is a real grind: you replace some parts, start the truck up and see what works and what does not. Figure out what is not working, replace those parts, take Advil, repeat.
Two months later (after signing off on final insurance settlement) the engine compression dropped; turns out piston rings and cylinder liners had been cooked but took awhile to show the damage. Time to rebuild the engine.
Lightening strikes can cause all kinds of problems that take forever to sort out. I hope your Lexus did not share the fate of my Freightliner.
Had no idea lightening could do that to a vehicle. Even wheel bearings and piston rings, damn. Love learning new stuff like this.
Me too
We lost our 2006 Grand Caravan to a lightning strike (hit and vaporized the radio aerial, blew out two tires). Insurance company initially thought they could repair, but every time they turned the switch on, something else would burn out. They called us back a week later and said they would be totaling it out.
I thought cars weren’t supposed to be able to be hit by lightning .
Tell that to the lightning!
Only when they hit 88 mph.
I remember hearing this story before. I am surprised, especially considering the insurance payment, why bother to go through all of that. Scrap it, part it out. Time to fish or cut bait.
I bought a 1977, 49 state VW Scirocco in 1980. It was a little worn around the edges but by the standards of the time ran like stink and handled great too. But one thing after another broke, or stopped working: water leaks through the un-grommeted antenna wire caused corrosion and shorts in the fuse box; master cylinder failed – along with half the brakes – when a friend was driving it downhill in San Francisco; ignition switch shorts that caused mysterious electrical gremlins (horn honked when you stepped on the brakes); lots of interior trim broke; and much more. After 6 months I traded it in on a new ’81 TransAm … they gave me what I paid for it, though I paid sticker for the Pontiac (my first new car) . I saw the VW sitting on the Pontiac dealer’s lot for at least 6 months, the price on the windshield slowly dropping, until it disappeared … probably to auction. But the electrical problems caused by the corroded fuse box and the flaky ignition switch really tested my troubleshooting skills. Oh … and the reason I bought the VW was to replace my Vega as a daily driver while I raced my Ford Fiesta in SCCA showroom stock. But I ended up putting a lot more miles on the Vega AND the Fiesta while the VW was non-op.
A car whose horn honked when you stepped on the brakes would ge a great running gag in a comedy show, I could see Micheal Bluth driving such a vehicle.
My first car, a 1984 Plymouth Turismo that I could never keep in tune no matter how much money I (well, Dad) threw at it. The damn thing would die at stoplights unless the cold idle was set to 1,200 rpm.
This problem was exacerbated when my family moved from Omaha (1,000′ elevation) to the mountains east of Albuquerque (6,000′) and we unloaded it shortly after that. Shame, too, since in hindsight it was an almost perfect first car otherwise.
Did you check to see that there was no banana in the tailpipe?
LOL
One new transmission, three head gaskets, one cracked head, four (unnecessary) ECMs, one starter motor, one bent wheel (my fault), coolant temperature sensor, MAP sensor, torque convertor clutch solenoid, one spark plug broken in half by an idiot, ignition coils, fuel pump, new wiring to fuel pump, heater core, inoperable A/C @ 60k miles (never fixed), leaking windshield seal (poorly fixed w/silicone), new carpet and headliner due to mold/mildew from leaking windshield seal, a few relays, many dash/interior bulbs, vacuum hose or three, re-painted professionally TWICE and still looked like shit and wouldn’t run properly when it went to the crusher just shy of 90k miles.
…and that’s all I can remember. There was honestly probably more. ’89 Cavalier base model, automatic hand-me-down from my mom. It was the first (and last) new car she ever bought, and I only invested all that time, energy and money in it because I was a naive (and stubborn) 16-year old just excited that it was mine. By the time I had gotten as deep as $300 worth of machine work on a junkyard cylinder head (the previous two head gaskets and transmission were from when it was a new car under warranty) I was either gonna see this fucking thing through or die doing it.
I died… it just wouldn’t run right, and to this day I have no real idea why. It haunts me, it pops into my head randomly and I start thinking “gee, maybe there was a short somewhere in the wiring from the ignition control module” – which probably wouldn’t have fixed it either. These parts weren’t replaced all willy-nilly either. Every free moment of my life, for a solid year, that wasn’t spent turning wrenches on this piece of crap was spent with my nose buried in the factory service manual. That’s the only good thing I took away from the experience… it taught me everything I’ve ever needed to know about cars – including the sad reality that some cars are just damned and there’s no way to break the spell. Everything Falls Apart, the Sentra cannot hold.
Before I came to that conclusion, a friend gave me an ’83 Cavalier wagon with lots of noise and zero oil pressure. I wanted to yank the ’89 engine, tear it down completely, re-build it from scratch and swap it into the wagon… but then I figured if I was going to go through all of that trouble, it might as well be something better. So I ended up with two non-operable Cavaliers and a Sunbird 2.0 Turbo engine in the driveway and two unhappy parents. Didn’t last too long before I finally (was forced to) stop the insanity and put them all in the trash…
This is the only picture that remains of this car. The one next to it, the first vehicle I actually bought, was no picnic either…
Bought an 89 Lincoln Continental for my wife, Valentine’s day present, 1992. Beautiful car in burgundy with matching leather interior. We loved it in many ways – smooth ride and the seats were wonderful, quiet, very roomy, self-closing trunk lid. Almost right away though we noticed a problem with the HVAC. Couldn’t get heat in cold weather, couldn’t get air conditioning in warm weather – most of the time but sometimes it would work. Usually it would work only on those occasions when we would take it to the dealer to get it fixed. At one point the service manager kept it for a month and gave us a Mercury Tracer as a loaner. Got the Lincoln back with a clean bill of health so he said, but no paper work. It was still the same. Also the car would overheat for no apparent reason. After about 18 months of frustration we traded it for a new 93 Nissan Maxima that we kept for 10 years and 250,000 miles.
I bought a 75 Sunbeam Rapier in 1980.in 3 years I went through an engine rebuild,auto box rebuilt,2 batteries,new alternator,ignition & indicator switches,exhaust, 3 head gaskets,new radiator, coil,fuel pump and passenger window winder.That’s on top of welding it’s many outbreaks of rust.It finally ran on 3 cylinders and I sold it for £20.I did learn a bit about car repairs with this POS.At the same time a friend from school had one which he never laid a spanner on and treated the way a peasant treated a donkey and even raced it up the drag strip at RWYB.It never missed a beat and ran like a Swiss watch.
In 2011, I bought an ’82 Ford Taunus with a 1300 cc OHC four.
It was meant to be my daily driver while I would save my other car (a ’75 Opel Rekord, I still have it) for weekends and long trips.
I paid 1150 € for the car.. And nearly killed myself while bringing back home because of misaligned front brakes (I hit the brakes at 35 mph before entering a sharp curve and I almost got into a spin and hit a wall).
1000 € to rebuilt the front brake system (and a major tune-up).
Then I discovered that this car was equipped with a variable venturi carb (whose only known deed was to make Weber richer).
Basically, the car was difficult to start, slow on acceleration and a gas-guzzler.
I paid another 290 € for a Weber 1-bbl replacement carb…
…And 320 € to put it on the car.
It appeared to solve anything until, one day, the car wouldn’t start. At all.
Back to the drawing board and to my mechanic who discovered a lack of compression on cylinders 1 and 2 because of burnt valves on cylinders.
1150 € to fix that.
I took it on vacation with my girlfriend and did 900 km on highways.
Didn’t do any good to the car : it got another lack of compression because of burnt valves on cylinders 3 and 4 (I still don’t know why the mechanic – which is no longer my mechanic – didn’t change the whole valvetrain, instead of only replacing it on cylinders 1 and 2).
Basically, the car was sounding like an helicopter and wouldn’t go over 40 mph.
100 € more to adjust the valves, hoping that they didn’t need a replacement.
Back to Paris by the highway, where I discovered that they did need a replacement (that lack of compression. AGAIN !).
Moreover, it wasn’t such a good car : 80 MPH stop speed, 20 mpg, and the worst road holding I’ve ever seen.
I ditched the car for 350 € after 9 months of ownership and and blowing 4 Gs on it.
I sticked to my faithful Rekord which successfully became my daily driver and still is today (along with a 1984 190E).
WOW..£4,000 on a Ford Cortina. My brother ran a couple of these a Mk4 and a MK 5 (like your one in the picture)they were both 1.3 litre models.back in the early 1990’s..They were both quite reliable IIRC.
My Mk4 Cortina was so good someone else decided to steal it.It was a 1.6 GL in a horrid metallic brown apart from tyres and an exhaust I never spent anything on it beside plugs,points and filters.
This might sound silly, Steve, but you might want to check the left trunk hinge wiring harness. A broken wire or two can cause all sorts of electrical mayhem. You may have to replace the wiring harness altogether.
I’m going to be selling the ’95 F-150 I bought to replace my ’69 F-100. Rust and suspension issues related to the 3″ lift kit pretty much have won the battle. Tired of constantly having to repair this, that or the other.
Already bought a ’99 F-250 diesel to replace it – auction truck from Texas – practically no rust!
A Super-Duty diesel? That’s a COAL worth waiting for. Also a few notches up from the ’69 F-100, my favorite COAL (Requiem for a Truck). Still get a tear in my eye recalling that story.
1978 Audi Fox. I absolutely loved the car; ran great and was a fantastic driver. However, one intermittent problem kept cropping up. The starter would randomly not turn over. I went through everything; ignition switch, starter, solenoid, battery, wiring harness and every connector. I would get a week out of it, think it was fixed, and then… Silence. Always did it when I was running late and not parked on a hill to bump start it. After enough times being late for work, I sold it to a friend’s brother, fully disclosing the issue.
He drove it for 2 absolutely trouble-free years.
My second car, a 1963 Cadillac Fleetwood Sixty Special. I bought it because I had fixed my first car (67 Ford convertible) up so nice, I was reluctant to drive it regularly. Stupid idea no. 1. The Cadillac was one owner, but 15 years old, about 90K, and had been used hard by the owner’s grandsons for a few years. So, I bought a worn old luxury car for $400. Stupid idea no. 2.
Over the next six months, I had to deal with an exhaust system ($100), a new CV joint ($100), transmission seals ($100) a blower motor at the Cadillac dealer because the only one available through the parts store was for 1964 and up ($100). Lesser repairs included replacement of rusty brake lines and a wiper switch installed in a failed attempt to make the wipers work when the interior of the car was cold. This was all in the first 6 months.
I was in college and the Cadillac depleated my meager resources. Had to sell both it and my beautiful Galaxie. I am richer for the experience, but that Cadillac kicked my stupid young ass.
Well, just last month my one hour old 2013 Audi S5 had the check engine light come one which then started an over three week wait for drive unit to be shipped from Germany (it seems fine now), But my poor dad beats me on this one
I grew up in the 70’s with our cars constantly at the dealer…why? Cause he bought Fiats. While driving in Manhattan in the early 70’s, our 128 suddenly screeched to a stop and when we got out to inspect the car, both front wheels were pointed outwards. But the 1978 Super Brava took the cake between the AC dying every year, rust forming after 18 months, and the three months it was in the shop where in the end, Fiat had to ship an entire drivetrain from Italy to fix an issue.
For his 83rd birthday in 2011, he treated himself and went back to his roots and bought a new Fiat 500. And he loves this thing…until two months ago (at the same time that I had my issue with my Audi) when the engine started to sound ‘funny’. It literally sounded like someone dropped the orginal 500’s aircooled engine in the front. After six week, the determination from Fiat was it needs a new engine (under waranty) and after it got to the dealer last week, the only mechanic that can replace the engine was hospitilaized with a bleeding ulcer. No ETA from Fiat and the car is one month past qualification from the NY lemon law.
So the Fiats gave him the ulcer?
Well duh!!!
Holy moly…I just went to the dealer with my dad and saw the car. They actually have to take the entire front end off of the car in order to pull out and put back the engine. No wonder way he got an ulcer. The new engine is at the bottom of the pic
Wow a blown engine and now this, that’s terrible. The Fiat will probably be a record holder in Steve and Bill’s used car database.
This is an easy one – the 1970 Duster I bought from a crooked Chrysler dealer shortly after coming home from the air force just about 40 years ago. A real winner, and 100% my fault. Used “small cars” were hard to find when gas lines and shortages were all the rage, and that car was the best I could do, for I needed a car for school.
That car had a cracked front passenger torsion rod anchor on the cross member that the engine sat on! It took weeks to find one from a junkyard, and cost me dearly, as I had our mechanic do the work. Other than that, besides most likely having been wrecked due to the lousy paint job, the 225/Torqueflite ran well.
The day dad retied, I found a beautiful 1972 Nova, bought the car, used dad’s worn-out 1966 Impala as a trade, gave my folks the Duster and went home happy.
The Duster served mom and dad very well until mom traded it on her first new car – a 1979 AMC Concord after dad died. It sure beat me up, though!
Then there was our 1992 Chrysler LeBaron convertible, bought in 1999, blew up 8+1/2 years later, but that was a labor of love – sometimes love empties your wallet, but that’s a different story!
Has to be a tie for me between my second car, a ’78 Eldorado and a ’83 Lancia Gamma, both owned on different continents. Of the two, the Gamma was by far the worst- the engine blew up on the drive home after buying it and took a year to get all of the parts to rebuild. Even the motor engineer had to re-work many of the parts that Lancia designed poorly to make it reliable in the longer term. I had in the year I was waiting for it purchased a house and decided to sell the Lancia once it was running. I should also say that true to form, that Gamma managed to rust in the moisture free confines of a heated workshop! Yet, I had money at the time, so the Gamma was just a folly, rather than evil.
When I was 17, I stupidly traded my lovely ’65 Covrair for a Caddy Eldorado, as I wanted a bit of luxury. The eldo looked OK, but was demonic. Its entire cooling system crapped out during rush hour on the Broadway Bridge in KC and I made the traffic report- although the gestures and shouts from other motorists were more than enough to alert me to the delay I had caused. If you can recall, the Eldo didn’t have a temperature gauge, just a ‘Oh-Crap Sentinel ™’ which lit up to tell you that you have just fried your engine. This on the most expensive GM car at the time. Thanks General.
A couple of months later, at 2am when driving up the Paseo towards Linwood (this was a real ghetto back then)- a driveshaft decided to make for its reward. The Caddy slowly eased to a standstill on the 5% incline. Obviously the parking brake didn’t work, so I had to hold the pedal, as it wouldn’t stay in park with a broken driveshaft. Cops thought I was up to no good, as there had apparently been a shooting in the area, and, seeing a brown Eldorado, naturally assumed I was responsible. The cop parked 15 feet behind me and ordered me out of the car at gunpoint. I tried to explain the effects of gravity on a 3 ton car. He then came to the door, pulled me out of the car, and whacked both of us with the open door as the Caddy rolled back into his cruiser. Note- a ’78 Cadillac is stronger than a ’92 Panther. Luckily, after being taken to the station, we were able to agree that the taxpayers would repair his car as the rolling back was NOT my fault. The Caddy was unscathed. At this point, I was in high school, working in Western Auto, and living in a squat. Little money in other words. Thus, these repairs cost me a small fortune and meant I had to take shifts during school. I decided to move back home to be closer to school.
Come January, it was -10 out, and I was asleep, until woken by a BWAHHHHH of the horn on the Caddy which decided to activate itself. Nothing woudl turn it off. I proceeded to get a hammer and whack the horns until they broke. Perhaps not the most logical response, but it felt good.
The next day, I went out to the car and opened the trunk, and the paint on the entire bootlid and body panel under the rear window popped off in giant sheets. Payback.
Horrible. I can now honestly say that I have owned unreliable cars, but never one that seemed hellbent on destroying my life the way that Eldo did. I have never owned another GM car, and probably never will. I know that is probably unfair, but when a car almost destroys your life in so many ways at a tender age, the grudge can be unshakable.
Gol darn it…shoot son…ah…finally stopped laughing so hard…thank you gentlemen for tickling my funny bone. I’m thinking about those damn carbs that my Dad’s orange Datsun 260Z had.
Replaced with 3 DeLorto carbs and a Canon manifold…..that six pack never did get set up right and funny how mechanics charge by the hour so they can get paid for learning about your car that they don’t have a clue how to make right.
Are mechanics worse then lawyers when it comes to writing up a bill?
’84 Turbo Riviera bought from Ebay. I figured for what I was paying for it, I could junk the car and sell it for the engine. Car allegedly ran in Michigan. Car arrives here, does not run, full of rust. It apparently needs an exhaust system to run. I put that on car. Car still does not run right. Look at the long list of parts + condition of body and ask mechanic about feasibility of putting engine in deceased and abandoned Eldorado, mechanic hesitates, abandon project and sell whole car for parts and cut my losses before I get nightmares from the thing.
92 Honda Prelude – hell on earth. Its the single reason why I lease now and do not buy. Its sad when you are paying a car note on a car not yet 6 years old and its sitting on the side of the house keeping the weeds down.
Don’t blame it on the car or the brand. Blame it on the previous owner(s). These are usually great cars and don’t nickel and dime you to death like the 7 Series and S Class; I know from experience of ownership. It was a chance you took and it sounds like you got even less than what you paid for. I hate that happened to you. Most of the time you pay the premium up front with a market correct sale price of a car with a good history or you buy something like this at a “steal” and pay the premium in stages later. Again, some say you get what you pay for. I say most of the time you get less than what you pay for.
Why would you blame the previous owner for what is most likely an age-related intermittent electronic component problem?
From the way the story is told I do not suspect this just happened and the story of the exposed wires.
Been pretty damn lucky, haven’t owned a car that beat me. Yet.
Lucky you My 4-6-8 Caddy didn’t just kick my ass, it beat me to make an example out of me. Fortunately all my old cars since have been pretty good.
Don’t feel bad those engines did it to many people, including dealerships from the time they rolled off the line. They are more understood now than they were then. It was a sad decade for GM; which has never recovered. It made for the great foreign car migration.
Had a lot of good luck with a 2.3 liter 1990 Ford Ranger XLT pu.
And no complaints from a 07 ford F150 wi 4.2 engine
My dad’s Lincoln’s from the 70’s were always reliable with 186,000 miles?
When buying used cars….don’t ever buy from a stranger….that or get something wi low miles and only 2-3years old.
You guys are cracking me up (chortles). It’s a funny strange world filled with hope, dreams, delusions, fear, suspicion and misery. Great stories of karma, curses and acausal synchronicities.
Since y’all like psychic pain while chasing a four wheeled dream…I almost want to share a 500 car barnfind with you that’s coming up for auction in Pierce, Nebraska this September. Seem’s as though a family Chevy dealership that started shortly after WWII, took lots of cars in trade. 500 cars from1946-2009. Let me see if the photos are online yet.