Owning a Car Rant

[2014olympicgold]

I gotta rant about this and how much my car has pissed me off in the last 8 months of owning it.

Background. I worked at a mechanic shop in high school, and took auto, and I do most of my own simple repairs on my car, just to say I’m mechanically smart (helps a bit with the storey). I owned a 2002 Intrepid with about 300k on it but I loved the SOB. It was my first car and it was starting to be a small headache with problems. Windshield broke, 2 sensors went down (car would stall all the time) and I was being convinced to give her up. Then my uncle passed away leaving a 2010 Malibu with like 28k on it. So I asked my cousin (his daughter who had ownership of the car now) if I could buy it. After about a week of running around seeing if she could just gift it to my dad (uncles brother) and we give my niece the money so she doesn’t get taxed I now own the car.

2 months into owning the car, I blew a tire on a highway bridge. I got it towed, looked at the tires and they were all cracking, worse cracking I’ve seen personally. Thus 4 new tires had to go on.

3 months down the road I get a recall notice on the module that controls the brake lights, something saying it’s the cause of it goes on when not braking, or doesn’t go on when braking. They also check that a torsion bar in the front right is broken, might as well have them change it (at the dealership).

A month later (January 2015), check engine light goes on. I have my own scanner to check out simple things and it gives me a code saying running rich. I take it to a Canadian tire where a friend works and he told me my gas in the car is ~32% alcohol (should be 10% max), which was why it was starting rough, but ran fine, and why the light went on. He said just drive it to about half full of the bad gas, fill it up with good gas and do that 3-4 times. Also to ignore the same code if it comes up. So I do that.

1 month later, I’ve did the half fill ups 5 times, full fill up once. On Monday (snow storm in my area), I went into work. Worked till lunch and went out for lunch. Came back to work and worked. Went to leave for the day and start my car; wont start. It cranks over and doesn’t start. Get it towed to CT and about an hr of waiting they said it started fine, but should go to the dealer to check the code because they aren’t 100% sure it’s bad fuel or not (same code as before on the check engine light). I was able to even drive my car home!

So called today from the dealer and this was the convo (brake light was out apparently):

“oh it’s a code that means it’s running rich, and the fuel is coming up 32% alcohol content. So that’s why it’s running bad”
“but it wasn’t running bad, it just wouldn’t start. Then sitting in the garage at CT for an hour it started. Are you sure it’s just the fuel? Maybe there’s water in the lines?”
“we can only go by what the code says and it says it’s running rich”
“Ok, so if the engine light comes on again, and it won’t start, and it’s the same code as it is now, will you charge me again since you didn’t fix the issue?”
“we can only go by the code on the computer after we scan it”
“that wasn’t an answer to the question tho”
“We can only go by the code on the computer after we scan it”
“Ok whatever. What about the brake light”
“oh yes the brake light uhhh one second”
5 minutes later
“we found it was actually the LED light that’s going on the brake light. Now it’s a whole system and we’d have to remove the back panels (inside) to get at it”
“how much will that be?”
“Oh I don’t know”
“What? You don’t know?”
“I’ll have to call you back on how much that will be” –click-

Hasn’t called back in about an hr. Idiot. Freaking idiots. This car has cost me more in repairs than what my intrepid cost me in general. Rant done

[Pengwin7]

First thing for all young people to know:

1. Dealership = stealership.
Fugg them.
Once you drive the car off the lot, they don't give a fugg about you.
And... if you didn't buy your car from them, they REALLY don't give a fugg about you.
Car salesmen (do we have any car salesmen on here? hope not) are generally dicks that didn't pan out doing what they want and end up working for some distant relative of a friends dad.
They hate their job and will give you an experience to hate your life like they do.

2. Mechanics (and I hate to offend anybody who is) are among the shadiest of professions. I know there are some good guys out there, but mechanics know that 99% of the auto-driving population doesn't know shit about their car.
Also - from my PLENTIFUL experience with mechanics, about HALF are bullshitting when they interpret a "CODE/FAULT" for you.

Dude.
I could type you STORIES upon STORIES on the cars I've owned.
I'm currently driving my wife's 2001 jetta that she handed down to me when we got a new car back in 2009 during the USA's "Cash for Clunkers".

Here's some tips I have for all car owners, especially for young people:

1. Spend $25 on a car manual for your car. I've used Haynes in the past. Keep it in your car. Spill some coffee on it. Tab some pages. Highlight some shit. Besides using it to educate yourself, having it strewn about in your car looking heavily used will keep dealerships (& other mechanics from fugging with you).

2. Spend $50 on an OBD code scanner (for ye driving older cars pre-2000). Those cars will throw faults and the on-board-dash (OBD) light will go on. Some call this the "check engine", some call it the CEL ("check engine light"), some call it the MIL (m____ indicator light). It's your "something is wrong light". That goes on when your car has had a couple cold-warm runs (when your car gets to full temp, 190°, it sometimes will have done a full scan). Check the codes yourself. Write them down. Check them YOURSELF.

3. Always start with the cheapest fix first and work your way up to the more expensive.

Codes can mean lots of different things.
There's no ONE answer.
One mechanic will fix one of those codes and thinks he knows how to ALWAYS fix it.
Nuh-unh.
Can be 3-4 different things throwing same codes.


One story I have:
When I got my wife's car it had the check engine light. First I scolded her for giving me a check engine light car. Then I started learning.
I was throwing a couple faults: P1296 and P0171 if memory serves.
The P1296 is something I fixed with a Temperature Control Sensor... there's a fancy name for this, can't remember.
The P0171 was a failed catalytic converter.

Anyways, took it into a mechanic that estimated $1400 for repairs.
$300 to fix the P1296
$1100 to fix the P0171

Took it to the stealership.
They said they could do the P1296 for $400.
And they said (at least honestly) that the P0171 could be several things, but that a few other codes suggested my wiring was bad.
They told me my car needed... wait for this shit... "gold-tipped wiring".
The guy effin tried to tell me that my car came out when some of the wiring was a bit faulty and this would help.
I said "Well... what if that's not it though..."
He said "Then we'll move onto the next thing".
I said "How much for wiring?"
He said "It's about $300".
Eff. that.


It took me 30+ hours of research.
But eventually I did find out the P1296 was the temp sensor and I swapped that myself for $12 part + 2 hours of labour (that a skilled technician prob could have done in 30min or less).

The P0171 was a failed cat (catalytic converter).
A failed cat is what it is... a failed cat. It's $400 part + shitload of labour.
So... I cheated because I refuse to pay for something that is just a crap product of the manufacturer's.
And I cheated that by pulling the O2 sensor out of the actual cat a bit so it "sniffed less stinky gas".
It works for about 3-4 runs, enough to pass all the checks.
I go for emissions, then it comes back on.

My car stinks.
I don't care.
Not my fault VW made shitty cats and put a 100k warranty on it and mine failed at 102k.
Eff them.


I hate car shit.
But like anything else... you've got two choices:

1) Pay for somebody to fix it and charge you some price you'll never know is fair.
2) Invest the time and DIY.

For guys... my call... be a GUY... (if you've got the time)... get your hands greasy and do it yourself.
Start with steps 1-2-3.

As for shit like tires... well... bad tires are bad tires.
Gotta get stuff like that replaced and just bite the bullet.
I wore my last set down to the wires! (not smart, but Peng is a frugal sumbitch)

Good luck.

(ps. Somewhere on these forums I have an epic MAF thread: not MA.Fleury... Mass Air Flow Sensor... we DO have one care guy on this thread that actually called it when I listed the code.)

(pps. I found my MAF thread! I didn't even touch on THAT story - fun reading... so you know that others have been in the "car rant club"! Loch, I believe, may have some car smarts. Maybe he'll show up.)

[Loch]

I don't have a lot of car smarts... I'm just cheap and persistent. (surprisingly less helpful on the dating front)

As far as code readers go: Not always needed, a lot of OBD II cars have ignition/gas pedal sequences that can get the light to blink the code numbers for you (or you could spend $50 like Mr. Money bags pengwin ).

Best advice I can give is find the online community for your car and check the boards. Chances are you won't be the first person with any given problem.

Since you still seem to be running rich and (I think) have ruled out the fuel I would probably start with spark plugs and air filter (as Peng said, work up from the cheap stuff).

Good luck.

[2014olympicgold]

Owning your own scanner is great because all you have to do to scan the car and see what the problem is that you plug it in, and google the code that comes up. And I did that after I had my car towed to the Canadian Tire and they told me it’s a dealership code really and they should know the issue more than them. I kinda get that. Chevy would give a code (P0172 or something I cant remember) and on their database it would say exactly the cause. For everyone else, you google the code and hope someone in the world leaked what the issue is. IE. Gas showing this, with this code, and this such and such is this issue.

The next issue with the dealership is they told me I needed new break pads, rotors AND CALIPERS. Who tries to sell new calipers to someone? I said whats wrong with the calipers, “oh you should really have them changed with the rotors” don’t you mean pads? “oh ya, the pads need to be replaced with the rotors” they don’t need to, and I called him on it “oh ya your rotors are at the point if we machine them down, itll be too thin” yeah, all new rotors are like that because it reduces weight.

I’m a level headed guy and I think any person can switch rotors and pads (drums are a bit different). This whole ordeal has pissed me off with this new car because it’s cost more than my mammoth of an intrepid. That thing would slightly break, it would break.

As per the gold tipped wiring, that’s hilarious lol. It’s like when headphones advertise gold tipped jack, but they cost $20. Or put a 500HP engine in a 1 speed car.

[Daydream Nation]

How much coffee have you had today Penguin?

[ericdaoust]

I've been lucky. My 2007 G5 is tough as nails which is necessary due to the road conditions in my area. My dad knows a lot about cars so he gets me through most of the easy stuff. Not much has happened to the car so I haven't been exposed to potential scams.

[2014olympicgold]

So walked into the dealer to pick up my car, as I’m still pissed about the whole experience. I see it’s outside, all washed up ready to go. I walk in and talk to the service/costumer rep guy and he says it’s not quite ready and to have a seat in their waiting room. Ok whatever; I sit for 20 minutes getting more and more upset, and I finally walk up to the counter and ask where my car is. The lady looks confused and calls for the costumer rep I talked to before. He says it’ll just be a few more minutes, they’re just finishing up an oil change. I point out my car outside and say that’s mine there tho. “oh ya, well we aren’t quite done with it. still need to check if it’s leaking oil”. I’m straight up pissed now. Never did I say I wanted an oil change (do it myself), never did they mention leaking oil. I ask for the mechanic because I can’t talk to these uneducated people anymore. The mechanic (who’s like 18yrs old) comes out and looks at the costumer rep, then at me, then pulls me aside. And says verbatim “sorry bud, this guys a full blown idiot. He talks out of his ass all the time and confuses cars a lot. We reset your computer in the car, we replaced the torsion bar, and it’s running fine now. If there’s an issue moving forward ask to talk to a mechanic instead of him.”

I’m a bit happier now. Then the costumer rep brings me back to the front counter and goes through what they did and messes it all up. He tries charging me for an oil change and a car detail and what not. I gotta go get the mechanic myself from the shop this time because the CR refused to go get him again. Finally get my car back and now I’ll never go back there again.

I can only talk to mechanics now, these sales/customer reps don’t know cars, and only know how to give vague answers (cause they just read what the mechanic writes down). So after 3 days, I got my car back and it’s running fine, just glad this is all (knock on wood) over for now.

[dooley89]

Man, that sucks haha.

The wife and I both bought new in 2011, 84 months 0% with a full 7 year warranty.
Active Green + Ross does free tire rotations for life and oil changes don't hurt the budget!

[JimmyCanuck]

Take the bus!