It’s the morning after a long work week, and you and your family are excited to hop in the car and enjoy some well-deserved time off. Everyone piles in, and you turn the key. Crap, the check engine light is on again. You pull the code, and sure enough, that problem you fixed only a couple of months ago is back. Some cars seem to have a knack for never staying fixed. Have you ever owned a car that always gave you problems?
My wife is hard on her daily drivers. Her cars are required to survive a serious beating of 30,000 miles to 40,000 miles a year. Sheryl is also a bit of a rough driver, and gives her brakes, suspension, and tires a thorough workout. This is demanding on any car, especially a used one.
Back in December 2023, she bought a Scion iQ that had 67,000 miles on it. By early this year, the car had around 110,000 miles on it. Thankfully, my wife hasn’t needed to drive nearly as hard this year as she’s had in the past, and the has only recently crested 120,000 miles. This car has held up exceptionally well, even surviving getting bumped into the back of a crossover. But one part has been bugging me.
One of the upgrades that my wife had done to the car was the installation of an aftermarket cruise control unit, which routes its wiring through the throttle pedal to work. A handful of months after the cruise control was installed, the throttle pedal, which works through a by-wire system in the iQ, died. Sheryl paid to have a new pedal installed and then used the warranty on the cruise control to have that replaced.
Now, it’s not even a year later and, surprise, the brand-new throttle pedal is dead. There is a perpetually stored code in the vehicle: “P2121 – Throttle/Pedal Position Sensor/Switch Circuit Range/Performance.” That’s the same code that brought down the throttle pedal less than a year ago.
When the pedal was replaced, Toyota dealer technicians had concluded that the cruise control had experienced an electrical failure of some kind, which sent bad signals to the pedal, which eventually broke its sensor. Alright, so either the same thing has happened here, or there’s something else going on. Either way, the iQ will randomly go into limp mode and reduce its top speed to around 45 mph until this is fixed. This time, I’m going to recommend against installing yet another replacement cruise control.
Meanwhile, my beloved Marmalade, a 2005 Genuine Stella scooter, is still breaking. I’ve fixed her flasher relay, adjusted the clutch cable, and finally got the electric starter going again. But just yesterday, the right side mirror sheared right off while I was idling at a red light. Honestly, I can’t stop laughing about that one.
Oh, and the scooter also has a massive two-stroke oil leak, which is something that has happened before that I had previously fixed, but now it’s leaking from a new place. This time, I think the gasket at the oil pump had failed. Again, I’m more amused than anything. The scooter is so easy and fun to fix that I honestly don’t care how much it breaks. In the scooter’s defense, it did sit for 11 years, too.
Anyway, how about you? Have you ever owned cars or motorcycles that refused to stay fixed?
Would you like a list? Ok here goes
My TR6
My Ford Cortina
My Ford Capri
My Sunbeam Alpine….
In short every British car I’ve owned.
To the point: the speedo cable clip broke on my TR6 and was dragging on the pavement until it was toast… I didn’t repair it for weeks figuring if I do what will be the next failure? So when I did, 2 days later the clutch hand grenaded.
But still I miss the feeling of driving a British car
Random misfire on my 1999 Oldsmobile Eighty Eight with the legendary GM 3800 series II engine. I must have fixed a random misfire 6 different times in that car, every time it was a different root cause.
My 2003 taco refuses to stay fixed for more than a month, and it’s always something different. Got so bad I bought a 2021 Mazda3 MT so I didn’t have to deal with it for a bit.
If anyone wants to share some advice for my current issue I’d love to hear it:
Recently rebuilt the rear axle junkyard housing in good condition, brand new diff+carrier w/ Lockrite PT1615, brand new drums, shoes, hardware from Powerstop (I suspect them to be the cause), new backing plate, new bearings, reused old axle shafts and hubs. Front brakes are all new including calibers. Pretty sure I had the issue before but definitely afterwards I’d get a pulsation under moderate to heavy braking that scaled with braking force. After a few months I simultaneously lost brake pressure and handbrake. The only part of my braking system that wasn’t new was the booster + master cylinder, and with no external leaked assumed I had an internal so replaced both. Fixed it for a week and then lost parking and pedal brake again. Bled the shit out of the lines, and at this point I’m 100% confident it’s not hydraulic. Issue would come and go on it’s own about once a week. Next step is going to be using higher quality brake parts in the rear but if that doesn’t do it I’m lost.
Why yes, I have owned a modern Volkswagen! Why do you ask?
My first car was that way. But it was a 30 year old land barge from Oldsmobile, so about par for course. Fixed the seats, power windows went out. Fixed that, electrical gremlins. There was always something wrong. So when there was just a fiddly little issue, I just let it be and basically nothing big ever happened again while in my care.
I bought a used ’74 BMW Bavaria for $3,000 shortly before my wedding. The head gasket let go on the way to the rehearsal dinner and sat with water in the cylinder bores over our honeymoon. My even older Peugeot 504 happily took over the motoring duties during the interlude.
Nearly $3,000 later and only a few thousand miles with an overhauled engine, the drive shaft let go. Local mechanics said BMW didn’t sell a standalone u-joint. Just the whole drive shaft. The internet didn’t exist then and I took them for their word. I don’t remember how much that was.
I sold it and bought a new ’86 Accord LX-i and put 130,000 trouble free miles on it before getting divorced and I have no idea how many more miles she put on it. It was not an amicable divorce, and I missed the Honda more than I missed her.
My stupid Commander. Every time I fix something, something else breaks within a week. Aside from the usual mechanical fare, it seems to have a perverse desire to let as much water into the interior as possible. I hate it passionately.
My 2nd car was a 1978 Datsun 280Z 2+2. Now when I tell people that their first response is, “Cool car!” or “That’s awesome!”. Yeah not so much.
It was already missing the right headlight cowl when I received it. The lock on the lift-back had rusted out. It didn’t have A/C or a radio(I lived in North Florida), and it had more gremlins in the electrical system than Gremlins 2: The New Batch. Oh, and the flywheel shattered on me driving to work one day. That thing drained my meager bank account and whatever else I could earn at my local hardware store at a rate of $3.50 and hour over the course of 4 months. I sold it that summer and got a 1980 Honda Accord hatch. Now that was a good car.
Mk5 Jetta. Need I say more?
That would be my 1971 Alfa Romeo 1750A Berlina, a very extremely high-maintenance Italian mistress.
My SO’s 306. Whenever you fix something, it breaks again.
She scraped the car, I changed the trim piece after months only for her brother to break the same bit again.
Did a full suspension overhaul. Clutch died. Did the timing belt. Now the entière electric system goes haywire.
I hate that car.
The last time I “fixed” my Jeep, I came back the next day to find out that it had kittens.
My 2008 Subaru STi, bought in December 2020.
The car had a new genuine Subaru suspension fitted months before I bought it.
I noticed the car would smash the bumpstops on launch, and was all over the place on the highway.
The new rear struts were dead.
Parked the car until spring.
Battery failed. Installed a new one, then fitted a well used stock STi suspension.
Next, the AC was weak, the speakers sounded blown, and the clutch pedal was squeaky.
My buddy showed me that the squeak was because the pedal assembly had completely torn away from the firewall.
Had to create special bolts, remove a bunch of stuff, and drill the firewall so I could use bolts to replace the welds. Access was non existent, but I got it done.
I charged up the AC and it was nice and cold.
I bought a new head unit, but because of my special factory Kenwood DVD nav system, wiring was different and uncommon. It took me weeks to gather all the info needed to get everything working properly, but the stereo now sounded awesome.
Next drive, smoke billowing from the hood scoop. The AC clutch had melted.
Bought a new clutch and belt, then found that the required circlips were not available anywhere unless you want a few hundred of them.
Straightened the old clips, had to build a special puller to remove the clutch, installed the new clutch, then just had to pop on the belt.
Searching for the adjuster, I learned that it was a “stretch belt” requiring a special tool that the local parts store did not want to dig out of the back room.
Ok put that aside for now.
Next drive, she’s running on 3. Coils checked out fine. Ordered a new injector. It was no fun to install.
Now running nice.
Next drive, smoke billowing from the hood scoop.
The radiator end tank blew up.
Parked till spring.
Installed new rad and the sweet summer tires that came with the car, and hit the road.
One tire felt square.
Started shopping for suitable replacements.
Meanwhile, I enjoyed hundred of miles of fun that summer.
First week of December I fire it up after work. Running rough. Spun bearing.
Most of those EJs are just crap. It’s pretty sad Subaru hadn’t perfected the turbo boxer by -then-, let alone now. Having said that though, I do regret selling my 2017 STi. It was super clean but of course ended up getting wrecked by the idiot who ended up buying it. It did not deserve that demise.
Yes EJs are horrible. Incredible performance, but just junk.
I would love another STi myself, as it’s such a well rounded and capable package with so much racing hardware baked in at the factory. It’s just hard to commit when I know that expensive engine has like a 90% chance of failure.
I thought the F series would be better, but those are starting to blow up now too, and cost a fortune to replace.
I found that every Subaru Impreza that leaves the factory with a turbo will eventually end up face first into a tree, and that definitely happened to mine before I got it. You can’t buy a WRX front bumper used, because they’re all smashed. Rear bumpers are a dime a dozen of course.
The FA motors were supposed to cure the EJ sickness of blown ring-lands and head gaskets, timing belts, among other things, but when you feed the FA some more power the rods and bearings bend, and the carbon buildup (but that’s every car these days). Reliability aside, it’s criminal how Subaru never even bothered shoving the FA-DIT into the Impreza hatch, or Crosstrek, etc. With that motor and a manual trans, those cars would be fun as hell and wouldn’t need more power so the reliability wouldn’t be as dicey. But who am I kidding, Subaru hasn’t cared about the enthusiast market since they discontinued the STi hatch in 2015. They only care about the “outdoor lifestyle” people these days, woof! Hey Subaru, you can care about both ya know!
Our 95 Escort had a cursed transaxle. It originally had hard shifts or slipping. The transmission shop that rebuilt it nicked something in the pump, and had to rebuild it twice, then the dealer at least once, the we replaced the whole transaxle with a used one and fixed it. Should have just installed a rebuild from Ford in the first place
My first car was an ’81 Citation, which my parents were done dealing with. It was only about 6 years old, but it was a constant nightmare. The frame and underside were so rusted that brakes, bearings, and every suspension part could have used replacements. There was so much rust in the gas tank that I installed a separate fuel filter that I could replace easily, since it needed to be done any time the fuel level dropped below 1/4.
My ’67 Plymouth refused to stay timed correctly, my 2003-ish Jetta GLI started to eat coils regularly, as well as various switches for things like windows and door locks.
But the car that I bought and loved that refused to stay fixed was an ’87 Subaru GL 4WD wagon. It had zero options, but by the time it hit 100k miles, it was a basket case. Clutch, CV joints, and most other suspension parts were a constant battle. I kept patching it up, but when the engine started making noisy complaints while demanding more oil at every fill up I knew it was time to let it go.
First on the least reliable car was my 911S. I rebuilt it and all the new hyper expensive parts kept failing, like the POS chain tensioners, which can cause the piston valve collision scenario. Then the car may have well not had any seals, since even the new ones leaked so profusely that on a cross country trip had to put empty milk cartons at the doorpost to catch the inflow. Then there are the Webber carbs, had to keep a Unisen in the glovebox, they went out of tune seemingly weekly. The runner up was my VW Vanagon Syncro Westfalia. To put a pin in it, my wife bought AAA platinum, since its normal way into the driveway was via tow truck. I even put a super duper upgraded engine in it from GOWESTY. I did it after going down I-40 near Amboy and my wife said something I thought I would never hear, “Is this as fast as it can go?” I became the leading expert on the Samba giving aid to those having the same issues. Even after re-building all the transmissions (It had more than one), they still gave grief. It may as well not had an alternator, since the electrical system was a joke, making the British electrics look advanced. Crappy vinyl wiring. The sensors would last almost weeks. I had to make this silly break out box for the ECU since it got so many erroneous signals from the combined weight of lousy wires and poorly designed sensors. No wonder the Germans lost the war!
Had a 1990 SHO for six months. Fires, break work, driveshafts etc Found out it was in a serious accident and not reported. Long before online searches.
“Have You Ever Owned A Car That Refused To Stay Fixed?”
No, I’ve never owned a Range Rover, BMW or Jaguar…
LOL
I swapped out the 49cc motor on my Honda Ruckus with a 150cc Chinese motor that loved to kill a relay/fuse in the now hybrid wiring harness that I don’t remember the specifics of anymore.
I loved that thing though, it was completely ridiculous, I daily rode that for a couple years to and from work and when I had to move farther away was the reason why I did the swap.
My Firebird some because of projects I wanted to do other due to that old crappy 700r4 I used to have in it constantly failing.
On another note, I have a 2009 Scion xB with just over 100K on it.
Owned for 11 years now.
Repairs, broken stuff you say?
NOTHING!!!
Of course I do some dumb shit.
Like keeping the oil changed, tires rotated, etc.
YMMV but maybe your wife/boss needs a better car?
Time to go buy more Lotto tickets.
Had a 2014 Freightliner cascadia with an ultrashift automatic. Every week, either emissions or transmission issues. Switched to one with a dt12 auto, it never had properly functional emissions. Transmission worked fine until it blew up
Oh yes, torn alternator belt, coolant leaking into the passenger side footwell, mirrors falling off, numerous electrical gremlins, stuck door locks and drum brakes in winter, fenders rusted through, engine eating more oil than gas and just outright refusing to start sometimes. I think I used the car for less than 2 years. At least the AC didn’t fail. But only because there was no AC.