What Irked You Today?

[High octane]

My falling apart '99 Dodge Dakota. I put new hub bearings & all four tie rod ends in it in Feb. & was then told all four ball joints & the tranny mount needed replaced. Got that done. Then came a new exhaust. Leaving work yesterday the trans. stuck in first gear so I drive 10 miles home at 15 mph. As I pull In my driveway a brake line pops. Over a thousand in it so far & it's beached again. I think it's time to say goodbye & start looking for something else.

Sounds like a "money pit."

[Ace-Garageguy]

My falling apart '99 Dodge Dakota. I put new hub bearings & all four tie rod ends in it in Feb. & was then told all four ball joints & the tranny mount needed replaced. Got that done. Then came a new exhaust. Leaving work yesterday the trans. stuck in first gear so I drive 10 miles home at 15 mph. As I pull In my driveway a brake line pops. Over a thousand in it so far & it's beached again. I think it's time to say goodbye & start looking for something else.

There comes a time when you've replaced everything and it's virtually a new vehicle again. My old '89 GMC is on about 230,000 miles now, and it's definitely cheaper to keep her running that to buy something newer.

It works for me because I can do all my own work, so obviously, it's not the solution for everyone.

The problem with buying another used car is that you just never really know what you're getting, and it can turn into a case of inheriting somebody else's problems that were poorly repaired or patched just to get rid of it.

[forthlin]

I doubt I fix it. Northern Indiana's winters have taken their toll on the body & the rust is getting pretty bad. It's worth a brake line but not a transmission. As High Octane said It's a money pit & I don't see It ending. 

Edited May 12, 2017 by forthlin

[Tom Geiger]

I had a similar run with my Dodge Grand Caravan.  Needed a brake job... then a front strut gave out so I replaced the pair.  A brake line broke and got repaired. The headlights got too foggy to see, so I replaced them to pass inspection. Then the transmission failed and got replaced.  On the way home from the transmission shop the fuel pump gave up the ghost!  At that point I had so much invested in the darn thing that I had to fix it!   And fortunately it's been good since.

[oldnslow]

I'm driving a 94 2500 Suburban I bought from the original owner , it has 375,000 miles on it (still has the original engine and trans) and I'm happy to have it . I only paid $2000 for it and she had taken very good care of the truck (gave me a binder full of every receipt for anything done on the truck since new) . I've spent probably $1500 in the last 3 years on what I call maintenance (I've also put 40,000 miles on it) , tires , brakes , exhaust , power steering pump , shocks , door switches and headlight housings . I think it's a good deal , it looks good for it's age , gets me where I want to go , will haul anything I need to haul , pulls my little trailer effortlessly and there's no payment (that's the big thing , I hate payments) . But I'm prone to driving my vehicles till the wheels fall off . 

[forthlin]

I've had the truck over 6 years & It's always been reliable (until lately). The rust is what stops me. When I bought It there was very little & now it's spreading all over. Even the body mounts are starting to rust through. I can keep it up mechanically but I don't think the body's going to make it through another Indiana winter. It's a shame how devastating road salt is to a vehicle.

[Ace-Garageguy]

I've had the truck over 6 years & It's always been reliable (until lately). The rust is what stops me. When I bought It there was very little & now it's spreading all over. Even the body mounts are starting to rust through. I can keep it up mechanically but I don't think the body's going to make it through another Indiana winter. It's a shame how devastating road salt is to a vehicle.

Yes, heavy rust is a game changer. I see your dilemma. Not worth trying to keep something going when it's literally disintegrating. That is a shame, and a problem we don't have to deal with much down here.

[iamsuperdan]

So my old CHev K1500 needs some very minor work done. Idler Arm and Pitman Arm are dangerously worn, so I need to replace. Fairly simple job, I have all the tools, and the parts were only about $20.

So I clear my schedule, make all the plans to get the truck in the agrage last night to take care of this...only to realize I lent my dad my ramps, and they're out of town for a the next week or so. And to do this job, I need to get the front end a little higher, as I can;t really fit under the truck on my creeper AND do the work at the same time. 

So I guess I'll just bring it in to work here tomorrow and try to do it on shop night.

More annoyed than irritated.

On a positive, I found a set of 6 factory rims and tires for the truck for less than $150. So I'll be cleaning those up and getting them on there.  

[dieseldawg142]

...

Edited May 10, 2018 by dieseldawg142

[waynehulsey]

My ongoing 'irkness' at Microsoft and Win10. When I turned it on this morning, instead of going to the log in I got a message about checking and repairing Drive C which of course is my main hard drive. It started the usual going through a % countdown of how much is done. Now why did it need checking and repairing? What is it checking and repairing? What if I didn't want it to do anything but let me know and let ME (heresy) decide if I wanted to do it, do nothing or use a 3rd party (bigger heresy) to check it? Then once it was done the computer was just dragging. Ran it through Windows Defender Offline (which actually is pretty good) and Malwarebytes and pretty much got everything back to speed. Except for Hotmail, Outlook and MSN so maybe the big ransomware thing and whatever they're doing is slowing them down. AND I still don't know what it did. 

[Draggon]

I put 7k into my 98 Durango with 60,000 miles last year. Runs absolutely great. I agree on used cars being trouble. In my part of the country I wouldn't want to own what I could buy for that much. Add almost 10% sales tax and usurious registration fees and it gets nuts fast. 

[Rob Hall]

Washed and waxed my Jeep yesterday...nice and shiny.  Metallic black is hard to keep clean, I'm finding out.  Today, it gets bird droppings on it and dust and water spray blown on it...argggghh  

Edited May 16, 2017 by Rob Hall

[cobraman]

I had a black 87 Ranger GT back in 87. I know what you mean. No more black cars for me. They do look good when clean however.

[Mark]

Black cars look great when they are clean...but they're never clean.

[Rob Hall]

Black is definitely not a good color in dry, dusty, hot AZ...but it should be fine once I get it back to Ohio and in my garage.  

Funny thing, though, there are a lot of black SUVs in the Phoenix area...at the car wash yesterday all the other SUVs I saw were black or white--Acuras, Cadillacs, BMWs, other Jeeps, Mercedes, etc.   And in my parking garage at work, seems like they are all black or white..

Edited May 16, 2017 by Rob Hall

[espo]

I have owned several black cars in the past and after every one of them I have said never again. I'm somewhat obsessed with vehicle cleanliness and do stress over these things more than most. So for retirement I bought a new '05 GTO in metallic black with black leather interior. Well I did have a little more time on my hands to look after it but still. So my "bride" of 30 years wanted a new car in '14 and she wanted a Dodge Avenger RT. Since getting in and out of the GTO was getting harder and harder with my back we traded the GTO on the Avenger. I have since found out that bright metallic blue is not all that much easier to care for.

[iamsuperdan]

comman problem on the old GMT400's, did mine on my '90 k1500 three yrs ago. 

couple other things to look out for if it is used or goes go off-road, cv's dont last long on these, nor do the factory (rivited in) upper ball joints.....easier to just swap out a-arms with new ball joints bolted in already, turn an all day-er into a couple hrs...lol. t-case output and front axle seals also seem to have a habit of leaking under constant off-road-ness, and in real cold weather it can take awhile for it to shift in and out of 4by. i replaced the thermal actuator with a posi-lok cable system, no waiting, 4by when you need it...

just  (like 2 weeks ago!) swapped the stock 6 spoke 4by rims to my buddy for a spare np241...

I'm pretty familiar with these things. They've always been my fav truck design. My wife was even driving one when we met!

CV joints have been done. Will check the ball joints, but I think they're fine, as I just had one of the techs here at work do an inspection on it. 

Four wheel drive system works very well, although I did have to replace the switch on the dash, as it was cutting out at times. 

All in all, it's a great truck. Full load 1997, and everything works still! No leaks, no major issues, no major rust, no weird noises...not bad for 350,000km!

[dieseldawg142]

..........

 

Edited May 10, 2018 by dieseldawg142

[Ace-Garageguy]

Finally swapping the FAST direct-port EFI / Edelbrock manifold on to the 572 Grumpy Jenkins engine in the Chevelle, having just finished engineering and fabbing all the AC, heating and accessory retrofit stuff, along with the new custom boards for all the Mr. Wizard electronic gizmos the owner wants, a custom console, heavy dash mods, etc.

So...none of the local parts stores had the good Fel-Pro gaskets, everyone was trying to sell me Chinese-made junk that's "just as good", and they're out of stock at Summit, etc. Bugger.

I need the EFI manifold in place to build the forward wiring harness (I don't just wad up and tie all the factory harnesses, like a lot of builders do, but I engineer a complete new harness for every car, with stand-alone segments for ease of service). So rather than being able to permanently fit the manifold, I'll have to dry-fit it and install the correct gaskets when they come in.

It's no big deal, really, but it's getting harder and harder to get GOOD service parts every day, as the market is shifting so far towards price-shoppers. 

I harp on the appallingly poor quality of much of the offshore-produced JUNK all the time...like the electric fuel pump I replaced in my GMC less than 3 months ago that's already failed internally. It's kinda making me hate the business.

[iamsuperdan]

sounds good! they are pretty reliable.

my '90 stepper was my wifes truck, bought it for her from the orig. owner in '96 with 56 000kms. 

became un-practical after my son was born- she got a family truckster and i ended up with the stepper...belive it too is around 300 000k now, odo stopped working the other yr. 

most people think i'm crazy daily driving a 27 yr old truck, but i like it, 5 spd, 3:73's, ss/sb, 2" lift- nice and short, easy to wheel around in the bush, very good off road with the gears, and has just a mild 350, so it's fairly decent on gas and dead-nuts reliable, got my crew if i need to do anything heavy...

Manual trans?! I wish. Mine is the usual 4-spd auto.

Back in 1998, I almost bought a '94 K1500 extended cab 4X4 with the manual trans. White extended cab with beige interior. Can't remember why I passed on that one. Ended up with a 93 Jeep XJ Sport that I proceeded to put 440,000km on before it gave up.  

[berr13]

The word "optics", as used lately by news people and politicians, as a substitute for "appearance".  Sorry, just drives me crazy.

 

[gnygren]

Two things that make want to leave someone bleeding by the side of the road. No one seems to know or understand what a stop sign means and what a safe distance to give the car in front of you. Almost got t-boned twice on the way home today( it's a 15 minute drive). If you have to be so close to me and have to get in front leave the house 5 minutes earlier.

[High octane]

Two things that make want to leave someone bleeding by the side of the road. No one seems to know or understand what a stop sign means and what a safe distance to give the car in front of you. Almost got t-boned twice on the way home today( it's a 15 minute drive). If you have to be so close to me and have to get in front leave the house 5 minutes earlier.

I agree, and also the drivers that put on their turn signals right when the get to the intersection. They might as well put it on after they make their turn, that way they'll know where they've been.

[dieseldawg142]

...

Edited May 10, 2018 by dieseldawg142

[russosborne]

Went to a different than normal for us Walmart for a few groceries. Saw a few sub sandwiches that were reduced due to the date. Grabbed 2. Well, the cashier had problems with the scanning on one of them, thought he had it fixed, but after we got in the car we took a close look at the receipt and found we paid for 2 at full price(which we didn't get, he had apparently not deleted the sale and rang it up several times while trying to get it right) PLUS the actual one we bought at it's reduced price. Cost over $10 extra just because we tried to save a few bucks, which is important right now.

This store does not have the display that shows what you are buying like the one we normally go to, so I couldn't be sure what was happening.

I guess it was my fault for grabbing one that did not have the original barcode fully covered by the reduced price sticker, and for going to a different store in the first place. It was by another place we had to stop at. Sheesh.

Russ