PennSilverTaco's "Perfect 5-Lug Regular Cab" Build, Aspergers, and General BS MegaThread!

Fiat 124 wagon I had in Spain. Others had them and were happy. Mine was jinxed.

 

My aunt uncle had a red 1986 Plymouth Voyager LE! The special-ordered it because the dealer didn't have the color combo they wanted...

That van was not really unreliable, at least in the sense that it never left them stranded, but by the early 1990s it was falling apart and I'd say they held onto it at least five years too long! By 1993-1994, the lift shocks on the rear liftgate had given out and my aunt and uncle had resorted to keeping a wooden fence post in the van at all times to keep the liftgate propped up when loading and unloading.

I don't actually remember this happening even though it happened at my parents' old house in Montgomeryville; In 1994 or 1995, my aunt and uncle and two cousins came up from where they were living (if it was the summer of '94, they were still in Maryland, but if it was the summer of '95 they would have moved to Virginia by then). So, the A/C compressor seized; The compressor was of such a design that the engine could not start. A trip to an auto parts store or possibly a dealer was made, and a non-A/C serpentine belt for that van was made. My other uncle from California, who was much more mechanically inclined than the uncle who owned the van, swapped out the belts; The van now started and ran fine, but at the expense of bypassing the A/C compressor. Keep in mind that it was summer and the Northeast was going through a heatwave...

My aunt and uncle had to drive from Pennsylvania to the DC area with two young boys (my cousins, aged roughly 5-6 and 8-9 years old at the time) with no A/C! They did get the compressor replaced and the A/C worked fine for the remaining two or three years they owned the van, but I still say they should have gotten a new van about five years earlier than they did!

 

The only vehicle I have regretted buying is my 2019 Tacoma. I've spent a crazy amount of money trying to make it driver right and I'm too far vested to quite now. lol ....palm to face. Lesson learned.

 

A cousin bought a Baracuda when got back in ‘69. Ugly as sin and trouble prone.

 

The mini blazer was by far the the biggest turd I ever owned. There was seemed like there was always a problem with it.

 

1996 Plymouth Neon. Nuff said.

 

After the 1993 Blazer, the second most problematic new vehicle we had was a 2000 GMC Safari conversion van; Most of the problems were caused by the conversion companies half-assed modifications...

The A/C had to be recharged every spring (2001, 2002, and 2003; We traded it in for a new Honda Odyssey in 2004 without servicing the A/C); This was always done under warranty, but two different dealers couldn’t find the leak and resorted to simply charging it. Even when charged, the A/C performed worse than in any vehicle we owned before or after!

The TV quit working in the summer of 2003, though if you put a tape in the VCR you could still hear the dialogue through the rear speakers...

The catalytic converter was replaced under warranty at some point, which is something that’s never happened with any car we’ve owned...

Something happened to the brakes that was repaired under recall in 2001 or 2002...

In 2003, the power rear lift gate developed an electrical issue that prevented it from opening, on the same weekend my mom’s entire family and their luggage came to visit!



Like the Blazer, the van was not the least bit unreliable, but it had tons of annoying little problems...

 

He should have waited until 1970

 

What year?

 

My neighbor had one as his first car and it had A/C, but it didn’t even have a passenger side mirror!

 

My uncle leased a new 2000 Dodge Durango SLT; He special-ordered it because he wanted 2WD, but lived in Southeast PA where it was almost impossible to find one without 4WD. It was a nice truck, blue with a beige cloth interior, dual A/C, power everything, and a stereo with CD/cassette...

My uncle primarily got the Durango because he’d heard good things about it and previously owned a 1993 Dakota that he was happy with (normally he bought his vehicles outright in cash and didn’t lease).

One thing he immediately noticed about the Durango was that it rode very truck-like. During a family vacation from Pennsylvania to Myrtle Beach in the summer of 2000, the A/C condenser froze up numerous times and the A/C would stop blowing cold as a result...

The A/C in the Durango worked fine when it actually worked, but it always seemed to have issues; The Durango’s only strong suit was the V8 under the hood, which made it perfect for towing the family boat...

The lease ended in 2003, and my uncle replaced the Durango with a brand new Honda Pilot as the family vehicle...

 

Sister ordered new 2011 Ford Raptor

• truck thought it was in a wreck when jumped off a small dune. Truck had no damage, but seat belt pre-tensioners went off, car alarm, 4 ways, etc.
• drive-line replaced for clunking, was a recall
• transmissin shifted funny, ended up needing a rebuild
• steering wheel controls started glitching. radio volume would change cruise control speed, stuff like that.
• engine ate itself alive at about 8500 miles (sounded like an old Diesel at idle), had to be replaced. Something to do with the variable cam timing I believe. (side note, at 55mph that 6.2l V8 got 21-22mpg til it died, her replacement is more like 14-16, something was definitely up with that engine).
• while towing a small trailer on a sandy/gravelly section of flat road shifted into 4wd while going approximately 20mph and snapped the end of the front right axle. (most likely overtorqued when they replaced engine)
• AC failed, we think they forgot to fill after replacing engine.

I'm pretty sure there was more, but I just can't remember. Ended up replaced with a 2014 after meeting Washington State Lemon Law requirements. Ford took it back, she paid about 5K for the new truck. The new one has not had any issues.

 

You can always tell which vehicles were built on Fridays and Mondays! The Friday vehicles suck because the auto workers are in a rush to leave, and the Monday vehicles because the workers are still hungover from the weekend!

 

1985 Ford Ranger Pickup Truck

It shared the same straight four cylinder with the Pinto. That should tell you something right there. It refused to run in the rain ☔️ and/or high humidity. Had to keep a can of “wire dryer” under the hood and spray everything electrical down until it would run again. Then it cracked a piston ring and had so much compression blow by that it flooded the air filter with engine oil. My neighbor had one that did the same thing so he installed a drain from the air filter to the valve cover. I also remember replacing the universal joint. There might be more, but that was a long time ago!

 

My 1923, 1924, and 1926 Model T Ford's. Constant transmission band adjustments required as well as spoke righting on the wheel spokes, etc, etc !!!!

 

Model T Fords? Really?

 

I owned a 1987 chevy malibu 4 door. Nothing worked. No matter what you fixed everything else was still broken. It would move under its own power but grudgingly. Exhaust manifolds broke, studs broke in heads, when I got it, it had three different kinds of spark plugs, one of which was I believe the factory original that was just abandoned in disgust by every mechanic dumb enough to attempt to change them. A/C? Ha. It was just a money pit that would only work long enough to show its contempt for you. The wheels had been torqued by whenever the impact wrench stops its tight enough.
Missing spare. Door handles broke off. Rear view mirror fell off. Just a ragged piece of crap.
I bought one more chevy later. Never again.

 

For my family, it would be 1995-2005 GM cars (cavaliers, lumina) which all failed to reach 100,000 miles or even get close.

 

Yes Model T's, 3 pedals on the floor and none are the throttle. No front brakes and rear brakes are threw transmission band and a hand brake.

 

Well you have cars with transmission bands made of cloth, what do you expect??

Buyer beware!