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Topic
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’70 Chevelle 350 2bbl
-surging on acceleration
-left front tire wore out on the outside in less than 5000 miles
Neither the numerous mechanics nor the GM Engineer that looked at it could fix either problem.’90 Taurus
-stalling and rough idle
-on long road trips after about 2 hours of driving, a damper inside the dash would close and then no more AC until the car cooled down completely
Numerous mechanics tried and failed to fix these problems
-AC compressor failure
-numerous CV joint replacements
all w/ less than 70,000 miles
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Replies
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PT Cruiser.
Do I really need to explain? People can just look at it once and hate it for life.
My dad gave me one (because it wouldnt sell) when I went into college and I sold my 96 Jeep…really wish I kept the Jeep instead. Don’t get me wrong- I appreciated the free car as I was broke at the time and it was a very nice gesture. That being said it had constant suspension issues. No start issues and a pain to work on as the engine was exactly the size of the engine compartment no free space. It took me 3 hours to replace the headlight bulbs and it left me with many cuts on my hands.
I also really disliked my 2004 Toyota Matrix. It got good gas mileage-its only redeeming quality. It had oil leaks. Intake gasket leaks. It rumbled like it had a stomach ache every time you started it cold and the sound wouldn’t stop until it was above idle for atleast 10 minutes. Even the little things about it bothered me-The door handles were so cheaply made that the “chrome” covering on flimsy plastic peeled off and if you weren’t careful it would cut you when you opened the door.. This was very surprising as I have had Toyotas in the past and they’ve always been good cars, but this one was junk.
What may come as a surprise to some people-the car I’ve had the most luck with so far is my ’04 Ford Explorer 4.0. Its pushing 150k miles, frequently tows, has been in more than one accident and gets a beating in 4wd in the winter and it keeps on ticking. It even got me out when we had 28″ of snow in one storm last year. This thing is a beast. Its also pretty easy and cheap to work on and it’s never needed major service. I think Explorers get a bad wrap from the typical soccer moms/dads that own them that go 25k miles in between oil changes and don’t ever do routine maintenance or have even the slightest clue of when things are “amiss” and it may need to be checked out, but I’ve taken care of mine and its been a great truck.
PT Cruiser.
Do I really need to explain? People can just look at it once and hate it for life.
My dad gave me one (because it wouldnt sell) when I went into college and I sold my 96 Jeep…really wish I kept the Jeep instead. Don’t get me wrong- I appreciated the free car as I was broke at the time and it was a very nice gesture. That being said it had constant suspension issues. No start issues and a pain to work on as the engine was exactly the size of the engine compartment no free space. It took me 3 hours to replace the headlight bulbs and it left me with many cuts on my hands.
I also really disliked my 2004 Toyota Matrix. It got good gas mileage-its only redeeming quality. It had oil leaks. Intake gasket leaks. It rumbled like it had a stomach ache every time you started it cold and the sound wouldn’t stop until it was above idle for atleast 10 minutes. Even the little things about it bothered me-The door handles were so cheaply made that the “chrome” covering on flimsy plastic peeled off and if you weren’t careful it would cut you when you opened the door.. This was very surprising as I have had Toyotas in the past and they’ve always been good cars, but this one was junk.
What may come as a surprise to some people-the car I’ve had the most luck with so far is my ’04 Ford Explorer 4.0. Its pushing 150k miles, frequently tows, has been in more than one accident and gets a beating in 4wd in the winter and it keeps on ticking. It even got me out when we had 28″ of snow in one storm last year. This thing is a beast. Its also pretty easy and cheap to work on and it’s never needed major service. I think Explorers get a bad wrap from the typical soccer moms/dads that own them that go 25k miles in between oil changes and don’t ever do routine maintenance or have even the slightest clue of when things are “amiss” and it may need to be checked out, but I’ve taken care of mine and its been a great truck.
Chevy HHR (Homo Hot Rod) because…Well, have you tried to look at those damn things? They’re enough to make Ray Charles flinch.
Corvette. PITFA to work on
’14 Silverado. Looks like Ram & F*rd had a baby together.
Chevy HHR (Homo Hot Rod) because…Well, have you tried to look at those damn things? They’re enough to make Ray Charles flinch.
Corvette. PITFA to work on
’14 Silverado. Looks like Ram & F*rd had a baby together.
DSM. This was a joint venture between Mitsubishi and Chrysler. A vehicle assembly plant was built at Normal, Illinois. All the parts came from Japan. The plant has since been producing the cloud cars.
I bought a DSM badged as a Plymouth Laser in 1992. The first thing I noticed was problems shifting the manual transmission. It liked to either reject shifts or grind gears. The story I was told was that the synchronizers were lined with friction material like automatic transmissions bands. In Japan they were assembled and installed in vehicles. But, now, they were shipped dry to Normal, Illinois and the coating didn’t like this. After trying various oil cocktails trying to improve the shifting I ended up ruining my transmission and had to buy a new one.
The brakes weren’t powerful enough to even lock the wheels. I’d step on the pedal harder and harder until my foot would have the pedal against the stop. This was when the car was new and their was no air in the system. All DSMs made back then were this way.
Another interesting thing about the brakes were the rotors. You couldn’t remove them. They were made of cast iron especially designed to rust weld. Just getting the wheels off was a challenge. I finally developed a technique where I would jack one wheel just off the pavement, go to the opposite side of the car and slide under a large piece of timber which was placed against the inside of the tire and then I’d strike the board with a large hammer. I had to made sure no other vehicle was in the garage because that wheel would fly quite a distance. As for removing the rotors, I never was able. Other more determined owners reported success after chiseling on them until the rotor was reduced to small pieces.
This was an AWD vehicle and had a transfer case containing two bevel gears that turned the drive from the transverse engine 90 degrees to the rear. This gear case held 0.6 quarts of fluid. The turbocharged engine had fair power – enough to rock it in the engine mounts. This pistoned the output shaft of the transfer case in the first U-joint of the drive shaft. There is a frost plug type seal on the back side of the front part of the U-joint coupling. Another DIY mechanic and I were the first to figure out what was happening. The oil in the transfer case was being forced through this plug. When the transfer case went dry it locked.
Our forum supporting the car started campaigning NHTSA to recall the cars. This went on for about two years. First, an investigator was assigned but then apparently changed jobs and time languished. Finally, it was announced that there would be a recall and we were named the authoritative experts – whatever that means. Mitsubishi wrote us a letter saying they would never have anything to do with us in the future. Well, they had never had anything to do with us in the past.
The first thing Mitsubishi had to do is figure out how to fix the problem. More months went by. Federal law states that if a car is badged as several makes all the cars have to be recalled within 5 days. I don’t know if this is true, but the story I heard was that Mitsubishi called Chrysler and asked if they had any transfer cases. Chrysler said yes and Mitsubishi said – then send them to us. Next they notified Chrysler of the recall. Anyway, it was months later that Chrysler announced their recall which makes me think the story is true.
The recall itself was a mess. What was supposed to be done was check the transfer case for damage, if not damaged then fill it up and replace the U-joint with one that doesn’t leak. What the dealers thought it meant was anything but that. After hearing many many many stories of bad outcomes I went to the dealer and paid $35 for the recall campaign part and installed it myself.
This barely scratches the surface of the problems I had with this car. The strange thing is I liked the car, especially the all weather capabilities of AWD.
DSM. This was a joint venture between Mitsubishi and Chrysler. A vehicle assembly plant was built at Normal, Illinois. All the parts came from Japan. The plant has since been producing the cloud cars.
I bought a DSM badged as a Plymouth Laser in 1992. The first thing I noticed was problems shifting the manual transmission. It liked to either reject shifts or grind gears. The story I was told was that the synchronizers were lined with friction material like automatic transmissions bands. In Japan they were assembled and installed in vehicles. But, now, they were shipped dry to Normal, Illinois and the coating didn’t like this. After trying various oil cocktails trying to improve the shifting I ended up ruining my transmission and had to buy a new one.
The brakes weren’t powerful enough to even lock the wheels. I’d step on the pedal harder and harder until my foot would have the pedal against the stop. This was when the car was new and their was no air in the system. All DSMs made back then were this way.
Another interesting thing about the brakes were the rotors. You couldn’t remove them. They were made of cast iron especially designed to rust weld. Just getting the wheels off was a challenge. I finally developed a technique where I would jack one wheel just off the pavement, go to the opposite side of the car and slide under a large piece of timber which was placed against the inside of the tire and then I’d strike the board with a large hammer. I had to made sure no other vehicle was in the garage because that wheel would fly quite a distance. As for removing the rotors, I never was able. Other more determined owners reported success after chiseling on them until the rotor was reduced to small pieces.
This was an AWD vehicle and had a transfer case containing two bevel gears that turned the drive from the transverse engine 90 degrees to the rear. This gear case held 0.6 quarts of fluid. The turbocharged engine had fair power – enough to rock it in the engine mounts. This pistoned the output shaft of the transfer case in the first U-joint of the drive shaft. There is a frost plug type seal on the back side of the front part of the U-joint coupling. Another DIY mechanic and I were the first to figure out what was happening. The oil in the transfer case was being forced through this plug. When the transfer case went dry it locked.
Our forum supporting the car started campaigning NHTSA to recall the cars. This went on for about two years. First, an investigator was assigned but then apparently changed jobs and time languished. Finally, it was announced that there would be a recall and we were named the authoritative experts – whatever that means. Mitsubishi wrote us a letter saying they would never have anything to do with us in the future. Well, they had never had anything to do with us in the past.
The first thing Mitsubishi had to do is figure out how to fix the problem. More months went by. Federal law states that if a car is badged as several makes all the cars have to be recalled within 5 days. I don’t know if this is true, but the story I heard was that Mitsubishi called Chrysler and asked if they had any transfer cases. Chrysler said yes and Mitsubishi said – then send them to us. Next they notified Chrysler of the recall. Anyway, it was months later that Chrysler announced their recall which makes me think the story is true.
The recall itself was a mess. What was supposed to be done was check the transfer case for damage, if not damaged then fill it up and replace the U-joint with one that doesn’t leak. What the dealers thought it meant was anything but that. After hearing many many many stories of bad outcomes I went to the dealer and paid $35 for the recall campaign part and installed it myself.
This barely scratches the surface of the problems I had with this car. The strange thing is I liked the car, especially the all weather capabilities of AWD.
[quote=”barneyb” post=83589]DSM. This was a joint venture between Mitsubishi and Chrysler. A vehicle assembly plant was built at Normal, Illinois. All the parts came from Japan. The plant has since been producing the cloud cars.
I bought a DSM badged as a Plymouth Laser in 1992. The first thing I noticed was problems shifting the manual transmission. It liked to either reject shifts or grind gears. The story I was told was that the synchronizers were lined with friction material like automatic transmissions bands. In Japan they were assembled and installed in vehicles. But, now, they were shipped dry to Normal, Illinois and the coating didn’t like this. After trying various oil cocktails trying to improve the shifting I ended up ruining my transmission and had to buy a new one.
The brakes weren’t powerful enough to even lock the wheels. I’d step on the pedal harder and harder until my foot would have the pedal against the stop. This was when the car was new and their was no air in the system. All DSMs made back then were this way.
Another interesting thing about the brakes were the rotors. You couldn’t remove them. They were made of cast iron especially designed to rust weld. Just getting the wheels off was a challenge. I finally developed a technique where I would jack one wheel just off the pavement, go to the opposite side of the car and slide under a large piece of timber which was placed against the inside of the tire and then I’d strike the board with a large hammer. I had to made sure no other vehicle was in the garage because that wheel would fly quite a distance. As for removing the rotors, I never was able. Other more determined owners reported success after chiseling on them until the rotor was reduced to small pieces.
This was an AWD vehicle and had a transfer case containing two bevel gears that turned the drive from the transverse engine 90 degrees to the rear. This gear case held 0.6 quarts of fluid. The turbocharged engine had fair power – enough to rock it in the engine mounts. This pistoned the output shaft of the transfer case in the first U-joint of the drive shaft. There is a frost plug type seal on the back side of the front part of the U-joint coupling. Another DIY mechanic and I were the first to figure out what was happening. The oil in the transfer case was being forced through this plug. When the transfer case went dry it locked.
Our forum supporting the car started campaigning NHTSA to recall the cars. This went on for about two years. First, an investigator was assigned but then apparently changed jobs and time languished. Finally, it was announced that there would be a recall and we were named the authoritative experts – whatever that means. Mitsubishi wrote us a letter saying they would never have anything to do with us in the future. Well, they had never had anything to do with us in the past.
The first thing Mitsubishi had to do is figure out how to fix the problem. More months went by. Federal law states that if a car is badged as several makes all the cars have to be recalled within 5 days. I don’t know if this is true, but the story I heard was that Mitsubishi called Chrysler and asked if they had any transfer cases. Chrysler said yes and Mitsubishi said – then send them to us. Next they notified Chrysler of the recall. Anyway, it was months later that Chrysler announced their recall which makes me think the story is true.
The recall itself was a mess. What was supposed to be done was check the transfer case for damage, if not damaged then fill it up and replace the U-joint with one that doesn’t leak. What the dealers thought it meant was anything but that. After hearing many many many stories of bad outcomes I went to the dealer and paid $35 for the recall campaign part and installed it myself.
This barely scratches the surface of the problems I had with this car. The strange thing is I liked the car, especially the all weather capabilities of AWD.[/quote]
There is no way in hell that I would be able to find it but, EricTheCarGuy himself has a video about removing stubborn wheels from a vehicle.
You’re supposed to remove all lug nuts, and then re-install one of them by hand with just a few threads. This gives the wheel room to move, but prevents it from flying across the shop.
[quote=”barneyb” post=83589]DSM. This was a joint venture between Mitsubishi and Chrysler. A vehicle assembly plant was built at Normal, Illinois. All the parts came from Japan. The plant has since been producing the cloud cars.
I bought a DSM badged as a Plymouth Laser in 1992. The first thing I noticed was problems shifting the manual transmission. It liked to either reject shifts or grind gears. The story I was told was that the synchronizers were lined with friction material like automatic transmissions bands. In Japan they were assembled and installed in vehicles. But, now, they were shipped dry to Normal, Illinois and the coating didn’t like this. After trying various oil cocktails trying to improve the shifting I ended up ruining my transmission and had to buy a new one.
The brakes weren’t powerful enough to even lock the wheels. I’d step on the pedal harder and harder until my foot would have the pedal against the stop. This was when the car was new and their was no air in the system. All DSMs made back then were this way.
Another interesting thing about the brakes were the rotors. You couldn’t remove them. They were made of cast iron especially designed to rust weld. Just getting the wheels off was a challenge. I finally developed a technique where I would jack one wheel just off the pavement, go to the opposite side of the car and slide under a large piece of timber which was placed against the inside of the tire and then I’d strike the board with a large hammer. I had to made sure no other vehicle was in the garage because that wheel would fly quite a distance. As for removing the rotors, I never was able. Other more determined owners reported success after chiseling on them until the rotor was reduced to small pieces.
This was an AWD vehicle and had a transfer case containing two bevel gears that turned the drive from the transverse engine 90 degrees to the rear. This gear case held 0.6 quarts of fluid. The turbocharged engine had fair power – enough to rock it in the engine mounts. This pistoned the output shaft of the transfer case in the first U-joint of the drive shaft. There is a frost plug type seal on the back side of the front part of the U-joint coupling. Another DIY mechanic and I were the first to figure out what was happening. The oil in the transfer case was being forced through this plug. When the transfer case went dry it locked.
Our forum supporting the car started campaigning NHTSA to recall the cars. This went on for about two years. First, an investigator was assigned but then apparently changed jobs and time languished. Finally, it was announced that there would be a recall and we were named the authoritative experts – whatever that means. Mitsubishi wrote us a letter saying they would never have anything to do with us in the future. Well, they had never had anything to do with us in the past.
The first thing Mitsubishi had to do is figure out how to fix the problem. More months went by. Federal law states that if a car is badged as several makes all the cars have to be recalled within 5 days. I don’t know if this is true, but the story I heard was that Mitsubishi called Chrysler and asked if they had any transfer cases. Chrysler said yes and Mitsubishi said – then send them to us. Next they notified Chrysler of the recall. Anyway, it was months later that Chrysler announced their recall which makes me think the story is true.
The recall itself was a mess. What was supposed to be done was check the transfer case for damage, if not damaged then fill it up and replace the U-joint with one that doesn’t leak. What the dealers thought it meant was anything but that. After hearing many many many stories of bad outcomes I went to the dealer and paid $35 for the recall campaign part and installed it myself.
This barely scratches the surface of the problems I had with this car. The strange thing is I liked the car, especially the all weather capabilities of AWD.[/quote]
There is no way in hell that I would be able to find it but, EricTheCarGuy himself has a video about removing stubborn wheels from a vehicle.
You’re supposed to remove all lug nuts, and then re-install one of them by hand with just a few threads. This gives the wheel room to move, but prevents it from flying across the shop.
I’ve seen Eric’s video on that and good point about leaving a lug nut on. I never tried the driving thing but I remember one of the owners on the Talon Digest writing that he had driven with all his lug nuts loose and no success. Todd Day, the moderator of the forum back when took his car to a factory where they had a many ton hydraulic puller in an effort to remove a rotor. He reported that when the rotor and puller came off it had such velocity it would have killed someone if in the way. You’d really have to experience how these cars could adhere the wheels and rotors to believe it. Pull a wheel on my 10 year old Evo, also a Mitsubishi and driven in the same conditions, and the rotors are loose. The Laser left plenty of room for improvement.
Well, the Laser has a new home, hopefully by now as part of a better car.
I’ve seen Eric’s video on that and good point about leaving a lug nut on. I never tried the driving thing but I remember one of the owners on the Talon Digest writing that he had driven with all his lug nuts loose and no success. Todd Day, the moderator of the forum back when took his car to a factory where they had a many ton hydraulic puller in an effort to remove a rotor. He reported that when the rotor and puller came off it had such velocity it would have killed someone if in the way. You’d really have to experience how these cars could adhere the wheels and rotors to believe it. Pull a wheel on my 10 year old Evo, also a Mitsubishi and driven in the same conditions, and the rotors are loose. The Laser left plenty of room for improvement.
Well, the Laser has a new home, hopefully by now as part of a better car.
Anything European. If you don’t agree with me then try to work on one. You will understand. Its like they build a Rube Goldberg device to try and make things as complicated as possible. I don’t think European car designers have any idea what the word simplicity means. I can say that I have never meet a American mechanic who owns a euro car.
Anything European. If you don’t agree with me then try to work on one. You will understand. Its like they build a Rube Goldberg device to try and make things as complicated as possible. I don’t think European car designers have any idea what the word simplicity means. I can say that I have never meet a American mechanic who owns a euro car.
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