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?
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.
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.
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.