Anyone else have a fussy car?

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#1 :: July 21st, 2012 @ 2:42 AM

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Warning to all Twilight fans reading this: I am NOT a Twilight fan. Why did I say that? Here. Let me tell you.

My family has a 2000 model Volvo S80 (YEAH, YEAH... lol). It's a nice car. Except for one thing:
IT IS FREAKIN' NEEDY.

Last summer alone, that damn car had to be jumped 4 times. I live in Central California, which is miserably hot during the summer. I was stranded two of these times, and one was a holiday.

It also has a coolant problem. No leaks to be found, but the dealership has reason to suspect it's the head gasket... :C

This last week the car wouldn't start. So it went on a little vacation to the shop... and the tow guy couldn't even jump it. So he towed it and took it to the shop, the shop kept it for a week and tested the battery every day. 100% charge every day, no drainage. I got it back today. I run some errands, then when I'm about to drive off to see my fiance's band play, the damn thing won't start. They ruled out the alternator and the starter. I shut everything off before I shut the engine off, too.The best theory that mechanics have is that Volvos suck the juice out of batteries really fast. (So THAT'S why there's a Volvo in Twilight! The car itself is like a vampire! HUUUUH!) This car has already cost us $3k in repairs alone this year, and it's only July. We had the fuel pump replaced (I lost power steering and the engine shut itself off on a major highway at 3 in the morning while coming home from a concert.... I'm beyond thankful I managed to pull this thing over!), brakes and god only knows what else. I'm getting married next year, too... we need to KEEP the money. KEEP IT! Lol

We're going to try to sell it somehow by the end of next month, because my mom's lease on her new car ends then and that's when she's going to buy it. I also plan on buying a bicycle so it's a more reliable form of transportation, I can lose weight, and save TONS of money on gas. It's a win-win situation.

So, I'm sure I'm not the only person on here that has a non-trustable car. CC, tell me the story of your crappy cars doing super crappy things.

Peace. Love. Avenged Sevenfold.

#2 :: July 21st, 2012 @ 4:10 AM

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I -HAD- one til recently lol

An 85 crown vic and boy did it have it's issues.

See to start off I had a 77 celica nice and cute bright yellow but it needed A LOT all at once. Windshield, paint job, interior work, brakes... so I sold it to a guy who really spruced it up and made it into the car it deserved to be for $800

Ok AWESOME I'm thinking since $800 would be a nice down payment and at the time I was getting $200 a week on unemployment so payments on a reasonable car was how I wanted to handle my cash. You know get /SOME/ kind of credit going to help my future.

Enter in BF I had at the time and his brilliant idea that a crown vic would be =awesome=
I figured whatever so long as it was a car that /I/ liked. Being my money I figured I had a choice... Apparently not.

So he finds this crown vic and the moment we go to see it I get that "I don't like this" feeling in my gut. You know the one that pretty much guides you to avoid crap situations. I wanted to listen to it, BF however didn't, INSISTED "It's a great car" and that my vote didn't matter since I had no license only a permit at the time.

First thing that happened? That metal tape to do repairs or small mends? Yeah a HALF roll of that went onto the tail pipe. That had me alarmed.
It drove well for the few more months I was with that BF.
Then I get it since I was at least smart enough to get the title in my name since it was my cash that bought it.

Well when I start driving it it's ok. Then it developed issues.
Alternator belt snapped, brakes needed redone entirely, coils were corroded, vacuum lines were mixed up, idle was set so high I could go 50 without touching gas, drained batteries like no tomorrow, stopped randomly on HOT days, wouldn't start sometimes on hot days, it blew off oil and transmission lines. In winter it'd have a habit of pulling to the right and skidding no matter how you braked.
Then the LAST straw for me was on the 4th. I hit train tracks and it died. Ok got it going again and when it got up to speed it'd lurch backwards. You know those commercials where they show someone going then suddenly stopping causing a lurching/ rocking effect? Yeah that's what my car was doing...
So I drive it back home later on and it dies right as I'm getting home and I -almost- crash into my dads car cuz the brakes seized up.

It was horrible. Finally enough was enough. I'd sunk plenty money into it to have paid for a better car and I knew it was running it's last leg pretty much.

EDIT
Forgot I also had to replace the thermac control (it helps keep super cold air from becoming ice in your engine) as it died every block in winter.

Last Edit by: Rydia 7/21/12 - 4:16:43 am

#3 :: July 21st, 2012 @ 4:27 AM

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Yeah I had a fussy car. But first some back story on how I got it. I graduated from high school 2 years ago and at the grad night I entered my name to win a car. You know, just entering a raffle I was sure I wasn't going to win because I rarely win anything but surprise I actually won it. The car they showed you could win was not the car I got because that car was unfixable. The car I got had to get some repairs but I eventually got it. It was a Dodge Neon, I forget the year which my Mom and I named Andre Neon Tally after the fashion guy Andre Neon Tally. Yeah we name our cars

It was small little thing but we used it a lot. Unfortunately I never got to drive it because I didn't have a license the entire time we owned it.

Andre didn't run properly when ti was low on gas so we always had to make sure we never let the gas level go down too far or he would throw a fit. Also, sometimes when we drove it the speedometer would just stop working. It was an analog one so usually when we beat the dash above it it would start working again. I have never seen a car that's speedometer would just crap out like that. Still I loved Andre but we had to sell him since we were moving out of state. The car we have now is a Ford Focus which we have dubbed Henry Harrison Ford, and so far, fingers crossed, it's working just fine all around.

#4 :: July 21st, 2012 @ 11:34 AM

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My parents bought my older sister a car about a year and a half ago. It was a nice, still shiny, 2009 (I think) Honda Civic. I recently started driving so I get to use that car. It drove wonderfully, had zero problems, until the damn thing's engine died in the turn lane at an intersection. Refused to restart. THEN the oil light came on. You don't say you need an oil change, do ya now? My neighbor drove over, and finally managed to get it started up again, and we took it to a mechanic. That's when about 3 other warning lights came on. The thing has cost us more money to fix than it cost to buy it in the first place.

On the other hand, we recently bought another car, a Toyota which is 2 years older and has half the miles (and a faulty tire pressure sensor), and a rusting dent in the side, but it works worlds better.

Yes, I feel you.

#5 :: July 23rd, 2012 @ 3:25 AM

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It's going to get towed by the shop tomorrow morning while I attempt to get my ticket to see Tiesto for my second time in October. Lol
We're going to tell them to SPECIFICALLY test it while the radio and the AC are on. If that's why the battery drains, well, I'm screwed. Fresno is miserable during the summer, and I like going on long drives to escape the house. Which means I use the radio too. You have no idea how glorious EDM sounds in this car. I'm amazed the speakers are dead yet. bahahaha

@
This one I have christened "Swedish Lemon". XD

Thinking about renaming it "Wallet Quicksand". bahahahaha

@
That sounds awful. D-:

@Rienza

When I was coming home from that EDM concert on the day that it was Daylight Saving Time, I lost engine power, almost all indicator lights but low fuel came on, and then power steering went bye-bye. It was loveing scary. The car got like 100x heavier it seemed. I had to steer SO HARD just to get it to respond. I was freaking out like crazy. I've never had that happen. SO SCARY.
And the last time my car got towed, it was the same tow guy that towed me that night. He was like "oh, how's the party girl doing?". Lol. Awkward. XD

Peace. Love. Avenged Sevenfold.

#6 :: July 23rd, 2012 @ 5:57 AM

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@ fitting names lol

Although I think Swedish Lemon has a certain ring to it

#7 :: July 23rd, 2012 @ 5:03 PM

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The car battery got jumped this morning and they drove it to the shop. And I got my Tiesto ticket. ALSO my fiance FINALLY starts working tonight. YEAH! LOL

@

YUP. lol My parents don't like it because they don't think it's a lemon, but judging by how many times it needs repairs... yeeeeeeeah. I beg to differ. bahahaha

Peace. Love. Avenged Sevenfold.

#8 :: July 23rd, 2012 @ 7:12 PM

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@ Seans_Girl

yup. the problems with mine have all been "minor" so far, thankfully. /knock on wood

the driver's side automatic door lock started sticking so I shelled out about $1000 for them to take it apart and fix it. literally 2 weeks later, the passenger side lock got stuck too. I still haven't gotten it fixed though, I am not made of money jfc. And now a third lock in the back is also starting to stick as well, WHY.

the fans inside the AC have apparently begun to warp because of the intense heat we had last and this summer so whenever I start up my car, it buzzes like it's about to blow up. scared the HELL out of me the first time it happened.

oh and I get flat tires ALL THE TIME I don't understand. it's like my car tires are nail magnets.

Last Edit by: Norther 7/23/12 - 7:13:41 pm

#9 :: July 23rd, 2012 @ 7:29 PM

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@ Well Swedish Lemon sounds like a fancy car that craps out a lot. A prestigious pile of crap, lol

#10 :: July 24th, 2012 @ 12:25 AM

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LOL Don't get me started on the locks on this lovein' car. OH MY GOD IT SUCKS. Sometimes the driver door will unlock for a second and then relock after I hit the unlock button on the remote. OR I get the "every door locks but left passenger" combo. Then I unlock all over again, relock, that one door is fussy, so instead of looking badass just hitting lock once while walking away, I'm standing there facepalming and clicking it over and over again for like 5 minutes. LMAO

The shop I take it to doesn't have the official diagnostic gadget that Volvo has at the dealership, so once in a blue moon we take it to the dealership for an arm and a leg to fix it when we get too frustrated. These are the same people saying we've potentially got a busted head gasket. :'C

@

Totally. Oh, and I just figured out what your username was. I heart that game. :3 I still haven't beaten II. Lolol

Peace. Love. Avenged Sevenfold.

#11 :: July 24th, 2012 @ 12:39 AM

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I forgot to mention my windows didn't work anymore on that car, it lost the muffler (it went from girl, to boy to car that gave birth lol) and most likely some other stuff I'm forgetting. It was 2 years of hell pretty much.
But it died one day last summer right as I was leaving a friends house. Got on the road went about 50 feet then dead for no reason.

But for a head gasket have you researched the signs of that for your car? Cuz sometimes you get told this that or the other thing is "bad" by dealers just so you pay their higher cost VS just a regular shop or buying parts yourself and working on it at home.

I almost had to go to the kia dealership here to get a copy for my 01 sephia made and they wanted to charge me $50 for the spare key simply because they could. Thankfully a mom and pop hardware store here had the right key length is stock and a good key cutter and I got 2 keys for 6.50.

#12 :: July 24th, 2012 @ 12:51 AM

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The window on the driver's door of dad's car is always fussy. We dread going through drive thrus because of that very reason. XD

As for the head gasket, it's because my car is going through coolant faster than it goes through fuel, and we don't see leaks anywhere. The shop didn't either. We just ASKED the dealership while we were getting this gallon of "Volvo official coolant". Apparently it's specially made for Volvos.... I have a feeling they're lying, but it's taking like another half of a week for the coolant to get low. lol

That reminds me that dad still needs an extra key made for his car. We can't find his spare anywhere. D-:

Peace. Love. Avenged Sevenfold.

#13 :: July 24th, 2012 @ 12:52 AM

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@ I'm trying to finish the Birth By Sleep and I pre-ordered the new game and ugh so many wonderful games so little time

#14 :: July 24th, 2012 @ 12:54 AM

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I only have a PS2. I need to play catch up. lol

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#15 :: July 26th, 2012 @ 7:59 PM

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YES that happens to me sometimes too, and the other way around as well. It's infuriating especially when I've just reached across to manually lock the passenger side door and it springs right back to unlocked - for some reason it only sticks when I try to lock it, but never when I unlock..

I always go to the official Lexus dealership because my family has a friend there haha but it can still cost quite a bit if the problem requires more manual labour ;_;

#16 :: July 26th, 2012 @ 11:13 PM

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@Seans_Girl No lie, I drove a 2001 Volvo S80 for a few years. It really didn't give me any troubles except for one time its battery randomly died. However, one day out of the blue, I was driving on the highway and all of a sudden I could no longer accelerate past 30 mph. We brought it to a mechanic and apparently a part inside the engine came off and something broke. (so we both had bad things happen to the engine while on the highway. woo hoo!) The cost to fix it was way too high, so we sold it. Now I have a 2007 Volvo S60 and I love it to bits.

#17 :: July 29th, 2012 @ 3:54 AM

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Well, apparently they claim it was a defective battery this entire time, so no matter what, we get a free replacement battery because this last one was installed less than a year ago. We kinda win. XD

They're keeping it over the weekend to test the brand new one just to be safe.
They can keep that pile of crap as long as they want. I'm not needing a car for the next 10 days! LOL

Peace. Love. Avenged Sevenfold.

#18 :: July 29th, 2012 @ 11:03 AM

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Yep, I have a 1991 Blazer and it lovein sucks. Although it's so old, I guess it's almost expected. I have panic attacks in that stupid vehicle. Unfortunately we're poor and can't afford a new car.

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