What was the most UNRELIABLE car you've ever owned?

[Car-Guy]

I'm not the least surprised by others mentioning their tribulations with the Fiat 128. Another of its little "features" was that the fuel gauge would frequently get down to about ⅓ and stick there.

If you didn't constantly monitor it (and who makes more than an occasional glance at it?) you were SOL when it finally ran out completely. I had a few interesting adventures when I ran out of gas on a lonely highway while thinking I had plenty!

I think if I knew that was happening, I'd start looking for a gas station to fill up soon after the gauge dropped below half a tank and/or carry an extra gallon or two of gas in a spare tank in the trunk. Running out of gas once would be enough for me to make some accommodations.

 

[MRG]

While I never owned one I drove quite a few of the early 80's GM diesels. The sawmill I worked at bought a bunch of those for execs and buyers. Total garbage, one of the 8 were always in the shop only to return shortly after it had been fixed. Under powered pos, that couldn't get out of there own way. I recall visiting my DS and BIL in Austin, as I got in the vehicle in the garage he informed me to walk up the hill to the road. This thing was so underpowered it couldn't successfully pull a passenger up the hill in a short driveway!

 

[braumeister]

While I never owned one I drove quite a few of the early 80's GM diesels.

Oh, I almost forgot about those days. I had a 1980 VW Rabbit diesel that was similar (but not as bad as yours). I remember having to shut off the a/c when going up a hill on the highway or else it would get down to maybe 40 mph from highway speed on the flat.

I just fixated on the nice 42 mpg (and diesel was cheaper than gasoline back then).

 

[FUEGO]

The most unreliable car I've ever owned is the 2000 Honda Civic. It's also the only car I've ever owned.

It has suffered from 2 problems over my 15 years of ownership. The rear main seal gasket failed about 3-4 years into ownership. I bought the extended warranty (I was a poor college student back then) and it paid for the whole $700+ in labor and $15 in parts repair (in exchange for $600+ for the warranty 3-4 years earlier).

The second issue I fixed this spring. The exhaust manifold is Y-shaped coming from the engine block. Stress, thermal cycles, vibrations, and rust combined to crack the exhaust manifold in half. The catalytic converter is attached to the exhaust manifold. And there are 2 oxygen sensors in the exhaust manifold. Instead of paying $1300 at the shop, I sourced the sensors from amazon for $60 or so and got a replacement exhaust manifold/cat for $270 (almost $1000 less than the auto shop quoted). Me and a buddy spent a morning in his garage replacing it. Pretty easy to do says my buddy the shadetree mechanic (plenty of room to work in the engine compartment and no conflicting parts to remove to get the job done).

Otherwise the car has been pretty awesome. The only other things I've fixed were routine over the course of 15 years - another blown O2 sensor and a rusted muffler.

 

[Lakewood90712]

The most unreliable car I've ever owned is the 2000 Honda Civic. It's also the only car I've ever owned.

It has suffered from 2 problems over my 15 years of ownership. The rear main seal gasket failed about 3-4 years into ownership. I bought the extended warranty (I was a poor college student back then) and it paid for the whole $700+ in labor and $15 in parts repair (in exchange for $600+ for the warranty 3-4 years earlier).

The second issue I fixed this spring. The exhaust manifold is Y-shaped coming from the engine block. Stress, thermal cycles, vibrations, and rust combined to crack the exhaust manifold in half. The catalytic converter is attached to the exhaust manifold. And there are 2 oxygen sensors in the exhaust manifold. Instead of paying $1300 at the shop, I sourced the sensors from amazon for $60 or so and got a replacement exhaust manifold/cat for $270 (almost $1000 less than the auto shop quoted). Me and a buddy spent a morning in his garage replacing it. Pretty easy to do says my buddy the shadetree mechanic (plenty of room to work in the engine compartment and no conflicting parts to remove to get the job done).

Otherwise the car has been pretty awesome. The only other things I've fixed were routine over the course of 15 years - another blown O2 sensor and a rusted muffler.

Fuego, you should be ashamed. Cheating that shop out of $1,000 profit they would have made on an easy 45 minute job. Shame Shame

 

[Andre1969]

When I was in 8th grade, I was in a neighborhood carpool, as I went to a private school where the bus didn't come out our way. One of the mothers had an early 80's LeSabre wagon with the Olds 350 Diesel. She actually loved the thing! Bragged about how it would get 30 mpg on trips. I was just a kid, so I never got to drive the thing first-hand, but it seemed okay in the local neighborhood carpool type driving. From what I've heard, with those Olds 350 Diesels, is there were two generations. The first, offered from 1978-79, had something like 120 hp, and was very troubleprone. For 1980-85 it was redesigned, and reliability was improved, but the horsepower was cut to 105. The '80-85 version improved in every year, but by the final few years gasoline was cheap and easy-flowing again, so fuel economy was no longer that much of a concern. And by that time, the Diesel had developed a bad reputation, so it was finally dropped.

I should also add that this LeSabre was fairly new at the time...give it a few more years, and I'd imagine it probably started acting up!

 

[FUEGO]

Fuego, you should be ashamed. Cheating that shop out of $1,000 profit they would have made on an easy 45 minute job. Shame Shame

Yeah, we got done and laughed because the manifold replacement was a 3 hour job at the shop (plus more time for the sensors of course). It took us about 3 hours being non-pros (it required loosening and re-tightening about 17 bolts). And I got a better quality manifold/cat at 1/2 the shop rack rate (the fancy California emissions one ).

 

[Dreaming of Freedom]

#1) 1988 Oldsmobile Delta 88 piece of junk, #2- 1984 Fiero (fun but junk), #3) 1990 Honda Accord (once it hit 185,000 mi, so it was still a great car overall). My last two cars, a 1999 Nissan Sentra & my current 2010 Toyota Corolla have been pretty good, though the paint of the Corolla is coming off in places. I am going to have to have part of the stupid car repainted. I think the paint job was bad from the factory. The Toyota dealer wouldn't help me out, even when it was 2 years old. Might be my last Toyota since good paint jobs are expensive, and I can't DIY a paint job.

Racing for the FIRE finish line, but I don't know where it is.

 

[Nunthewiser]

^^ paint on newer cars is garbage. I have 3 80s Mercedes that still have good original paint.

 

[Janet H]

Side story if I may. I test drove a Renault LeCar years ago. It ran horrible, rough with no acceleration at all, the sales guy riding along didn't know what to say. When we got back, he lifted the hood, and found one (of four) of the spark plug wires was missing. He begged me to give it another chance and I followed him to service/parts to get the wire. With me standing there, they told us they didn't have any. They needed one for a customer car and took one off the demo without telling anyone evidently. I didn't buy a LeCar...

Sadly, I did. But it was CUTE


Horrid car, however. Almost immediately it began to have trouble - it would stall every time you hit the brakes. Turns out the two of the engine mounting bolts were missing and the engine would shift forward causing a wire to rub on a fan housing and short out. Then there were alternators, leaking rubber roofs, door handles that fell off, an axle snapped, the gear knob came of in my hand once... you get the idea. Finally it was recalled for something or other and when at the dealer for service, burned in a suspicious fire - the whole dealership went up in flames. Oh dang...

 

[steelyman]

A girlfriend in college had a bright green LeCar that was a pile of trouble. It had a "LeCar" logo decal on the side. My God, what junk.

We went out for beer one time with a friend who told of one of his friends who got one too and decided to add two letters to change it to "LeCarap".

 

[Idnar7]

Early 90's Chrysler Le Baron. Worst lemon by far. Windows fell down inside frame, air conditioning regularly quit working, gave it to daughter to take to college and didn't make it there. Ended up trading it in at ~60k miles. This was during Lee Iaococca's term "quality is job one".

 

[devans0]

No contest Yugo....no I didnt.

 

[fisherman]

Nova. The Spanish translation is no go I believe.

 

[Rick_Head]

Nova. The Spanish translation is no go I believe.

Well who am I to point out: snopes.com: Nova Don't Go

 

[kcowan]

Wow, Ford (old ones anyway) continue to take a beating! Guess there is/was something to the acronyms...

FORD: Of all car names, Ford has the most:

• Fix Or Repair Daily;
• Fast Only Rolling Downhill;
• Fails On Race Day;
• Found On Road Dead:
• Funding Our Retirement Daily (from a mechanic`s point of view); and perhaps best of all:
• Driver Returning On Foot (Ford spelled backwards!)

1983 Ford Merkur (German import) but it drove like stink with a dual spoiler that kicked in at 100 mph to ensure good road grip.

Suffered with it for 4 years.

Good experience with two Ford SUVs though.

 

[Meadbh]

My first car was a 1981 Ford Escort (European version). At about two years, the engine began to cut out at traffic lights. Turned out to be the poorly designed variable Venturi carburetor. There was a recall. I haven't bought a Ford since.

 

[fisherman]

Well who am I to point out: snopes.com: Nova Don't Go

Not a big deal to me but the online translator from a Google search translates it to not going which was most accurate for the one I owned. That also matches my kids Spanish book translation. I do not know about the story Slopes references but my translation is apparently correct which is what I stated and all I stated. https://translate.google.com/m/translate#es/en/nova