Last night, while driving my 1954 Willys to Harbor Freight to buy a foam-cannon for my pressure washer so I can prep our Pontiac Aztek for sale, I spotted a classic automotive breakdown. A vehicle was on the shoulder of the road with its front left wheel having detached from the chassis, and of course it was the 3rd-gen Toyota 4Runner — known by some as the 3Runner for obvious reasons.
I stopped to have a look, and to assure the rather frazzled owner that this isn’t a huge deal, and the’ll probably just need some new ball joints and a few brake parts, and they’ll be on their way. I can’t imagine it’ll cost more than $500, I told them.
Here you can see where the front suspension dragged on the road — there’s a little gray line on the road:
And here’s the carnage; look at how the knuckle separated from both ball joints!
This is a design flaw that has affected far too many 3Runners. Yes, it’s avoidable, and yes it can happen to other vehicles, but it happens way too often on 3rd Gen 4Runners. It pretty much never happens on Jeeps, but Jeeps have other issues.
The Jeep Cherokee XJ’s major flaw? The neutral safety switch tend to give up the ghost, as does the Crankshaft position sensor. XJs are also super under-cooled due to radiator packaging constraints, and once they overheat, there’s often a head-crack between the valves.
So for today’s Autopian Asks, I ask you: What are some examples of well-know weak-links in the auto world?
Every Porsche equipped with an M96 or M97 engine is infamous for the Intermediary Shaft (IMS) bearing failure. It’s a grease-packed ball bearing that can get flushed out with enough oil to take the grease away, and if it only partially fails, there isn’t enough oil to lubricate it in place of the grease.
This can be somewhat mitigated by frequently running above 4000rpm to provide some splash lubrication. I purchased an early model for its slightly more robust bearing and a few other “analog” features. For my foolishness, I’m regularly punished with high-rpm flat-6 noises. It’s a hard life.
make sure to replace the IMSB as soon as practicable, though the dual row bearing *is* more robust that the single row that became famous, it is still a wear item and has twice as many parts to grind up and circulate. I have a very early ’99 (built in February 98) and my bearing was showing early signs of wear at 65k
I’m right around 65k, I have a few other items that need doing first (SAI loop, shift cables, front ARB bushings, water pump, maybe AOS), but the IMS is on the list of later preventative measures. I’ll probably do the clutch in the next couple years and install an LNE IMSB while I’m at it, along with the RMS. I’m glad I have the gearbox outboard of the engine, this would probably suck to do in a 911.
As an owner of a 2001 996 I feel seen (and safer, replaced the IMS with the IMS Solution a few years ago). Now, what about the rear-main seal, water pump and coolant expansion tank? Had those go yet?
Mine are still holding strong, but it’s time for the water pump service, so I’ll be getting on that soon.
Do the RMS at the same time as the IMS, it’s an easy “while you’re in there”.
My M96 had the double-row bearing, 121K miles and still in good shape. I think replacing it was the right move, but my original bearing still had grease in it. Replacement procedure is very well documented and although time consuming, very DIYable even on jack stands.
Porsche 996s and 997s – everybody knows about the IMS Bearing, but that issue is mostly resolved with various replacements…the *real* issue to worry about is bore scoring, which will affect 100% of the M96/97 engines. Once the piston skirt coating wears away, the alusil cylinder walls will score. Only fix is to replace the cylinders with a full engine teardown and rebuild.
I doubt that it will affect 100% of the cars. You could say that it will affect 100% of the cars with forged pistons. The 3.2L engine in my 2000 986 S has hypereutectic cast pistons, and that combo is not known for bore scoring. It’s mostly 3.4 and 3.6 L with forged pistons, and those are mostly 911s (and some 987 Cayman/Boxster).
Personal experiences:
Pre-2014 Mazdas: rust. God, the rust. Like, so much rust.
Pre-2001 front-drive Chryslers: 41TE/A604 Ultradrive transaxle. Only took them 12+ years to finally make it acceptably reliable.
Still driving my 2008 mazda… no rust. Where do you live? Also still driving a 2000 era vehicle that people claim to rust.. also no rust. I feel these types of comments are more regional and storage/maintenance related. But I don’t know.
Wankel-powered cars: seals, apex and otherwise.
I met someone with a 300k FB RX-7 with a rotary that has not been opened up. Very religious with maintenance and general upkeep. Do I think that this is the case for all of them? No. But very interesting outlier.
They probably did ‘a red line a day to keep the carbon buildup away’… which also helps with apex seal health.
I bought my RX7 expecting the 60,000mile tip seals to go at any second, creating a huge rebuild bill.
Imagine my relief when just two years later the entire floor rusted through and fell off.
Death wobble on a Jeep Cherokee*? That I didn’t know was a thing back when the (ex)wife owned a low-end model, forget the year but it was the basic boxy shape. I remember driving it and random times the whole thing would shake violently while accelerating.
It was a manual, so trying to get up gears to enter the highway was sometimes a major frustration. I just thought we owned a POS.
*EDIT it was a Cherokee, not Wrangler. 2WD, 2 door, manual, cassette, etc
Any vehicle with a solid front axle is susceptible to this.
Yep, seen it happen on Super Dutys.
I’ve had it happen once on mine. Not a thing you want to experience too often.
Yikes… I’d hope not!
The Jeep Death Wobble.
Had it happen for the first time in my ZJ, while I was in the middle of moving. So having it loaded to the gills, and then it starting shuddering so violently on the freeway, I thought I lost my whole axle!
DW survivor here. Also in a ZJ, I had just installed a 3″ lift that ended up being closer to 5″, WAY too high for the stock control arms. I removed it within the week.
I unironically and unapologetically love this collection of words.
Air-cooled Beetles will sometimes catch fire due to routing of the fuel line past the distributor.
I thought the exact same thing. That is an absolute unicorn of a sentence.
The first-gen Ram EcoDiesel has a crappy crank position sensor system that likes to fail after not that long. They recalled it, but the fix was a software band-aid that only made sure the engine didn’t shut off immediately when it happened. You were still screwed if it happened. There was an extended warranty, but at this point many of the trucks out outside of that window so you’re on your own to fix it when it fails. I’ve seen people celebrate when theirs went bad if it was still under warranty because they knew it was a ticking timebomb under the hood. For reference, this happens frequently enough that the small shop I ended up at when my truck died halfway across the country had just repaired these for two other people.
The same engine also has a problem with the flex pipe coming out of the turbo. It was worst on the 2014 models, which should have had them replaced by now, but even the replacement “better” part is still weak and frequently fails. It’s an expensive fix because it’s jammed up against the firewall behind the engine, and in my case the bolts were so seized that they had to replace the entire turbo.
Bronco IIs and Suzuki Samurais roll over easily!
Water pump on P2 Volvos. It’s buried inside the engine, you need to remove *so much stuff* to replace it, it’s a wear item- and oh yeah, if it goes bad your engine will jump timing and explode, almost guaranteed.
From what I understand, they last a few hundred k miles though. My ’07 P2 is still running the original at 233K, I was going to get it done at the first timing belt change at 120K, but they shop told me they typically don’t recommend replacing them till the next time around.
From what I understand there’s a lot of luck in it. I’ve heard stories of people running the original at 300k but I’ve also heard of them going bad at 100k. Had a friend’s blow up because of that.
Very annoyingly, the power sliding door cables on the 2011-20 Siennas appear to be a wear item.
It was very kind of Toyota to make access easier on 2019-20 models to change them out, while also not addressing the root cause of the issue.
On the Ford Aerostars the little wheels on the sliding door wear out over time.
They replaced ours for free. It was quite nice to find out it wasn’t going to cost us any money, or me a significant portion of my weekend.
The left and right sides failed 2 weeks apart on mine, so I was pretty well practiced for the second one.
I had an ‘88 Accord that needed replacement front brake pads about every 20k miles. They would wear at a weird angle. Then I got an ‘03 CRV and I’m not lying – did the first brake job at 160k and still running on those same pads at 302k. Original clutch too.
Decades of VW products having wiring and electricals so hinky, they may as well have been British?
I had a fantastic 1977 Westfalia camper bus whose electrons all went on strike one day, quite randomly and abruptly. I took it to our beloved family shade tree mechanic, who finally figured it out: literally all electricity inside the cabin is routed through the four-way flasher switch, because reasons, and it had gone bad. We put in a new flasher switch, and bingo, everything worked again.
I had a 1995 GTI for a few years that I dearly loved – once I finally got all the electrical gremlins resolved on my THIRD ~$500 shop trip. Or sometimes when you turned it off, it simply refused to turn on again. It would brick itself before “brick” was ever used as a verb.
Infiniti / Nissan CVT’s. It seams that even with the proper maintenance, anything over 100k is a ticking time bomb. Replacements are often more than the value of the vehicle.
There’s at least on NYC taxi that says otherwise….
We have no idea how many transmission rebuilds/replacements it’s had, though.
Nissan’s CVTs are made of cheese. When I used to work for an adjacent dealer, I’d walk though the Nissan shop to get to their parts dept and they never had fewer than 3 brand new transmissions in crates waiting for the customer to drop their car off for the warranty replacement.
They have fixed those issues with the new CVTs.
They also say to have the CVT fluid changed every 30k miles now, which financially negates any of the mpg gains the CVT allegedly yields.
First gen Tundras and Sequoias have the same issue. I recently saw a Tundra on the side of the road with the exact same issue.
I’m noticing the one in the pic is a 2Runner, I have no idea why those even exist.
Ah good to know, that explains the three wheeler Tundra I saw for sale recently.
Saab 900s and manual transmissions.
Anyone who owned a classic-era Saab — prior to GM involvement — had a deathly fear of needing to have the transmission replaced, which often cost more than the car was worth. The transmission itself was fine, but it wasn’t suited to the weight of the car. Ironically, that’s where I learned the “transmission to go, brakes to slow” method of driving that I still use today — even on motorcycles. It boils down to brakes being a lot cheaper to replace than transmissions.
Why would slowing down hurt the transmission? Or are we talking about wearing the syncros?
Think of it as negative acceleration. You have the weight of the car pushing on the transmission. Just like the power of the engine is pushing against the weight.
Navy friend in 1991 was all set to trade his Lil Red Express (that I had said for years I would buy given the chance) to someone with a Saab 900 convertible. I saw the 900 owner in the chow line & congratulated him, he said didn’t you hear? It shit the transmission. I RAN to find my Red-owning friend and make a cash offer.
So did you get the Red or not?
I did! Kept it for a handful of years, got desperate for $ and sold it to my in-laws THINKING I would buy it back. Got settled about 6 months later, mentioned to the (ex)wife about being able to buy it back, she said oh they already sold it to cover the house payment on their rental house when the tenants were late. 🙁
🙁 indeed.
Interesting!
In my ’97 Econoline, going down a specific steep hill, I always put it in 2nd because riding the brakes would result in a death wobble. I’d always justify it as “the extra gas used from engine braking is cheaper than brake pads.”
FORD and Jeep have had a death wobble contest going on between them for well over 50 years now.
I declare Jeep the winner.
For my 9000s (two) it was the clutch master cylinder, twice. The final failure came when driving home from an exhaust system replacement. The mechanic had seen the problem, and she was indignant. A small plastic speedo drive gear buried deep in the transmission, demanding a complete teardown. Without the speedo, the engine control system wouldn’t work right. “SAAB makes such a great car, but they always do some stupid little thing to blow it!”
It didn’t help that the transmission was located in the engine oil pan or that the clutch was on the front of the engine. Also they installed the engine sideways ????
From cars I’ve owned…
5. is so on the money, and why I suspect we’ve never had t-tops return. I understand even Porsche had a hard time with the old targa tops.
I had a Spitfire whose fuel pump would only run if the hazard lights were on. Figuring that connection out was a clown show. It was an aftermarket electric pump so not Leyland’s fault but still.
David, the only correct answer is any car with a timing belt.
Also known as: A Car that blows up every 90,000 miles unless you tear the engine apart.
KIDDING FOLKS!
[torches shine light on pitchforks in the distance]
haha ok that’s good
I have a quad overhead cam Honda that runs the only reliable cam drive: gears.
Unless it’s an Audi as the Audis with timing chains can be bigger nightmares than the ones with belts.
For diesels I owned the KDP on 12v Cummins and water pumps on 7.3 power strokes
Fourth generation F-Body LT1 water pump located directly above the Optispark. If you know, you know.
Speaking of F bodies: 1978-81 Camaros and Firebirds, like my 1978 Camaro in high school, had the dumbest and most fragile door pulls in automotive history. Replacements were the first thing I ordered for my new-to-me car out of the JC Whitney catalog.
So if you ever come across a Camaro or Firebird of that vintage with a missing or damaged armrest, or perhaps a damaged or even completely missing door card, there’s a more than zero chance that it was damaged/lost in the first place because the door pull went first, and the driver did the best he could to close the door after that and yanked the armrest or door card off.
I’m thinking of any early 2000s Honda/Acura with their 5 speed transmission. From what I recall it was especially bad on the Acuras. My 2002 TL-S put out a ton of torque and it was on its third transmission when I bought it in 2012. Still, it lasted me about 6 years before dying due to an unrelated issue:
Yeah the infamous Honda “glass” transmissions. That was the sign of the beginning of their decline, and today they ride on a hollow reputation two decades out-of-date.
Looks at Ford Focus in driveway
Do I even need to say anything?
Motor mounts certainly come to mind – I’ve replaced 2 so far on mine.
Really? On the base 2.0L NA engine? I’ve not had any troubles there.
Yep. But it’s a minor complaint as the engine itself is fantastic.
I never had the issue some had with going through alternators, but I felt like I shouldn’t have needed to replace the sway bar so soon or the headlights so frequently. Which issues have you run into?
The DPS6 Transmission that I’ve had clutches swapped in twice, fortunately both under warranty. It gets driven a little less these days and I baby it but there’s already a shudder in the 1-2 shift. And being a 2014, it’s well out of warranty for the clutches (the TCM has a bajillion year warranty as a result of all the litigation).
Other than that, it’s been pretty reliable. I’ve replaced largely just wearable parts. Shame they didn’t just put a conventional transmission in it from the start. Bigger shame they ignored the warranty numbers and continued putting it in the base 2.0L cars right up to job last in 2018.
Seriously, DON’T baby it. Makes it worse. Ford issued a TSB to dealers regarding complaints of shuddering. It said take the car out back and just WOT accelerate it 10 times in a row to “scrub in” the clutches and get rid of the glazing that results in slipping/shuddering.
I had a 2015 DCT focus for about 130k miles as a company car. It got recalled for a TCM update around 45k, it apparently bricked during the update, Ford had the car for like 2 months and apparently replaced the TCM and clutches with “updated” parts. It drove exactly the same afterward. No better, no worse. I put a trailer hitch on it and semi-regularly towed dirt bikes (probably an 800-1000lb trailer) with it, something explicitly not recommended. Oddly enough, it hardly shuddered at all while towing.
I got used to toeing the gas pedal a little harder than necessary when setting off, and the 1-2 shift. Not like flooring it, but setting off “assertively”, and that adjustment made a big difference. The TCM intentionally slips the clutches to emulate a conventional auto, so the more gentle you accelerate, the more it slips it, and the more glazing, thus shuddering you get.
If I noticed the shuddering getting bad, I’d take it to an empty parking lot, and do 10 WOTs in drive (until it grabbed 2nd), then do it again but in reverse. The shuddering was always dramatically improved afterward. Few thousand miles I’d just do it again.
I had to return the car at about 130k but it was still driving fine, and I never once got so much as a check engine light or any sort of transmission error, either before or after the recall. Maybe I got lucky, maybe the updated parts were more durable, maybe “beating” on it actually helps. Dunno.
Aside from the transmission, I actually quite liked the car. Comfortable, handled well, good power, didn’t look like a turd, 40mpg on the highway easily, I didn’t have any trouble with the engine or interior or anything else. I mean, I’d never recommend anyone buy one because of the transmission, but other markets where you could get one with a manual, it’s pretty nice for an economy car.
This! My buddies at Ford advise owners to “drive them like they’re stolen” especially when getting in highway on-ramps, and to NEVER “creep” at stop lights/signs. Resolves a LOT of the behavior in general.
Ah… you bought one with the PowerShit transmission.
You chose poorly.
“I never had the issue some had with going through alternators”
In my direct first hand experience, the people who go through alternators are also the people that don’t replace their 12V batteries when they get old/weak.
An old/weak battery will prematurely kill an alternator in the 1990s Escort and 2000s Focii in my experience.
I too did not have alternator failures because I’d just preemptively replace the battery when it 6 years old or if I detected slower-than-usual starting on cold winter mornings
Ah, that makes sense. I also replace my battery appropriately. I never really looked into it, just knew a couple people who got really good at replacing their alternators. It really doesn’t surprise me on at least one of them. She had some interesting priorities.
Thanks for the info!
So far, scrolling through the comments, I was expecting the PowerShit transmission to be near the top, but nothing yet….
You *accidentally* left out the “f,” right?
Because nobody ever dislikes the Ford PowerShift DCT.
Are you friends or enemies with Jatco XTronic CVT?
Yeah, we had one of those as well. Never again
Rear windows in the Ford Focus- the fix usually ended up being put a wedge in the window to hold it up.
The only cars I’ve ever seen with the door seals hanging down out of the bottom of the doors have been Ford Focuseses, and I see a lot of them.
It’s a very weird failure.
Yes you do! I’ve owned a couple of Focii and the only weak point are the hydraulic engine mounts. And those are cheap to replace.
Oh and they will rust out underneath… but not as quickly or as badly as Mazdas from the 2000s.
Of course the Focii I’m referring to are the ones from the mid 2000s. And thus, they didn’t have the shit Microsoft sat-nav system. And the PowerShit transmission wasn’t available yet back then.
My Focii were manuals.
First- the willys is running and driving??
Second, a few come to mind.
-89-95 fords with the singleport 3.8 have a known headgasket issue. Not if, when. Found in cougars, thunderbirds, mustangs, etc.
– GM 3800 series coolant elbows. Plastic breaks, theres metal replacements.
-taurus/sable transmissions. 120k, time for a new one.
-on that note, Hondas V6 5-speed auto found in their cars from 98-07ish. Accords, Pilot, TL all suffered.
-Lincoln Mark 8 air recirculation blend door actuators.
The 3.8 in my Thunderbird (’90) lost its head gasket last year. Apparently it managed to survive 34 years on the factory one, so that’s a very long “when”… but yeah.
They kept the design going on the 3.8 for a long time in spite of this problem – it eventually killed our Windstar after 8 years of otherwise solid kid transport service. They fixed it in the minivan world with the 4.2, which (I believe) was lifted from an F-150.
Fun fact: A coworker of mine had a Ford dealership in the family, he told me that they had some kind of directive from corporate to take in as many 3.8s on trade as they could, and not resell or even wholesale them. Running ones were gathered up and shipped offshore to south america or africa.
I haven’t had the time or money to fix it, but the T-bird is still running… somehow. With a blown head gasket. I’m obviously not driving it across the country like that but I had to move it the other day to make room in the driveway and it just fired right up. So that’s nice, means I’m not chasing a lost cause… lol
Thunderbird SC’s had the same engine, but with a supercharger. So yeah, headgaskets were an issue.
SC’s had less head gasket issues, I think they had a better (copper?) gasket vs regular 3.8’s. They still did need replacement, but not nearly as much as the regular 3.8’s.
Always had a soft spot for Super Coupes, especially with the manual. Never owned one though.
I had a 5-speed for a few years. Great car, though it drank it’s share of premium. Once you got into boost it pulled like a freight train.
Going by the forums at the time, the head gaskets were an issue for the SCs. There was a kick down in the exhaust that caused a lot of back pressure. Most folks advised using a Fel Pro gasket.
I was one of the lucky ones that avoided head gasket issues.
The SC 3.8 probably used a MLS gasket that is better but cost more.
Ford “Fixed” the headgasket issues on the 3.8/3.9/4.2L V6 by switching to MLS gaskets for all.
Earlier Ford 3.8s were prone to head gasket failure too.
Oh, that blend door actuator! I got the dash back together, but never got the shift lever cover back in.
Subarus and head gaskets
The first 1.5 years of NA Miata’s had too short of a nose on the crankshaft, so if the gear was not properly tightened when a timing belt was done, it would begin to wobble and eat away at the key way on the nose of the crankshaft. This will cause the crank gear that drives the timing belt to eventually back out the crank bolt. The only fix is to either replace the crank, or use a certain JB-Weld (I forget the exact) to replace the missing metal in the keyway. Also to torque the crank bolt to spec, which should go without saying, but here we are.
Woh woh woh; people are doing CRANKSHAFT fixes with JB Weld?
OK it’s technically Loctite 660, not JB weld, but it’s basically a slight step above JB Weld. I got lucky on my old NA and was able to avoid it, since the crank wobble was just due to a slightly loose bolt. The Loctite fix “works” but it’s sketchy.
To be fair, I think using Loctite on a moving part is somehow a violation of the WD-40/Loctite decision tree.
Some people just welded the pulley to the crankshaft.
That’s the same issue that took down many a 323GTX.
Good one. I have one too, it’s a 1990 with the short nose crank and still on the original timing belt! It’s a weekend driver at this point so there’s no urgency so I’ll get to it at some point. I’ll also add that the main relay on the NAs seem to crap out at the worst times. I always have a spare one in the glovebox just in case.
I can promise you, it’s time for that belt to get replaced. If you only need the belt and tensioners, and not the gear/bolt etc, it’s really not a terrible job, the gear, key and possible keyway repair is really only a necessity if you have crank wobble. That said, the 1.6 is a non-interference engine, so if the belt does snap, you won’t be entirely SOL.
I bought a 91 as a project car in 06-07 whose original timing belt snapped at 195K. Being a non-interference engine I first told my friend selling it that it’s a simple fix and the engine is likely perfectly fine, but ended up paying him $450 for it after he explained that he knows that, but his wife doesn’t so he gets to be treated to something nice after driving an old car around for so long.
Sold it to a friend around 230 or 240K for 1-1.5K, then got it back for free with 320K when he bought a new car, and at 325K gave it to a lemons team. Still ran perfectly.
On the ND Miatas, manual transmission failures are pretty well documented.
AFAIK it’s the same one as in the RX8 and while they’re extremely quick to get into gear and don’t give any resistance, the synchro’s wear out in a heartbeat if shifting as fast as possible especially from 2nd to 3rd or 3rd to 4th.
As a longtime owner of late 90s and early 2000s VW, a lot of the issues are well known, but most people fail to realize that most problems could be easily prevented by doing double maintenance (at the dealer), driving them no more than once a week, and storing them in nitrogen-filled warehouses away from UV rays.
Just do that and you won’t have any issues outside of coil packs, window regulators, and clogged injectors. Oh, and oil sludge. But other than that, nothing!