When it rains, it pours

[BlackTigers]

My car - '98 Escort ZX2. - Transmission died about a week ago. I'm planning to fix this within the next few weeks. BUT....

Dad's Car - '98 LeSabre - Caliper was shot, and a rock apparently took out one of the hard brake lines. So no brakes there.....

Mom's Car - '88 Voyager. I was out tonight, and the motherfucking front brakes locked up, then all pressure was gone. Got home (okay this was a bad idea) with the e-brake (DONT DO THIS IN A MINIVAN ON WET ROADS), and there was no fluid in the reservoir. Meaning...fuck.


lol, total fail on all three levels.

 

[Bignate603]

Yeah, you think having 3 cars at least one of them would work. Sadly, I've had 3 cars at one time and they've all had issues the same week too. The only solution is to get a fourth.

 

[SandEagle]

next time, buy Japanese

 

[BlackTigers]

Originally posted by: SandEagle
next time, buy Japanese

My car died because it was the first car of a 17 year old kid. ..... Take a guess as to why the transmission died? lol.

My dad's has over 200k on the clock. A bad brake line is nothing to worry about, a cheap fix. But damn it's cold.

The van...it's 20 years old. lol

 

[Tiamat]

Originally posted by: BlackTigers

Originally posted by: SandEagle
next time, buy Japanese

My car died because it was the first car of a 17 year old kid. ..... Take a guess as to why the transmission died? lol.

My dad's has over 200k on the clock. A bad brake line is nothing to worry about, a cheap fix. But damn it's cold.

The van...it's 20 years old. lol

The van's engine is probably a Mitsubishi

 

[CrackRabbit]

Originally posted by: Tiamat

Originally posted by: BlackTigers

Originally posted by: SandEagle
next time, buy Japanese

My car died because it was the first car of a 17 year old kid. ..... Take a guess as to why the transmission died? lol.

My dad's has over 200k on the clock. A bad brake line is nothing to worry about, a cheap fix. But damn it's cold.

The van...it's 20 years old. lol

The van's engine is probably a Mitsubishi

88 is old enough they were still using the 2.5 4-banger in those vans.

 

[Jawo]

I had a Contour, and only heard of horror stories about how impossible it was to change the transmission...good luck to you!

 

[MikeMike]

Originally posted by: SandEagle
next time, buy Japanese

i knew some idiot would say that.

 

[Colt45]

Preventative maintenance.

 

[LS8]

Originally posted by: SandEagle
next time, buy Japanese

The next time you have a thought, let it go.

 

[BlackTigers]

Originally posted by: CrackRabbit

Originally posted by: Tiamat

Originally posted by: BlackTigers

Originally posted by: SandEagle
next time, buy Japanese

My car died because it was the first car of a 17 year old kid. ..... Take a guess as to why the transmission died? lol.

My dad's has over 200k on the clock. A bad brake line is nothing to worry about, a cheap fix. But damn it's cold.

The van...it's 20 years old. lol

The van's engine is probably a Mitsubishi

88 is old enough they were still using the 2.5 4-banger in those vans.

Ours has the 6 in it.

 

[AMCRambler]

98 Escort with a bum transmission may not be worth the cost to fix depending. Although a used transmission for it can probably be had pretty cheap, the labor to install is not cheap at all. Might be time to sell it for scrap.

 

[StageLeft]

That's bad luck. I've had two of my cars with problems at once, but 3 is even worse

 

[BlackTigers]

Originally posted by: AMCRambler
98 Escort with a bum transmission may not be worth the cost to fix depending. Although a used transmission for it can probably be had pretty cheap, the labor to install is not cheap at all. Might be time to sell it for scrap.

$600, swapping it over to a manual (was an automatic).

Not too bad, definitely affordable. Just a shit load of work. And I'm inventing new cuss words in the process!

 

[AMCRambler]

Originally posted by: BlackTigers

Originally posted by: AMCRambler
98 Escort with a bum transmission may not be worth the cost to fix depending. Although a used transmission for it can probably be had pretty cheap, the labor to install is not cheap at all. Might be time to sell it for scrap.

$600, swapping it over to a manual (was an automatic).

Not too bad, definitely affordable. Just a shit load of work. And I'm inventing new cuss words in the process!

OHHHH!!!! You're doing it yourself? Holy crap man! I'm impressed. If my daily drivers tranny went, I'd probably take it to the shop. Swapping a tranny is a couple days labor for a pro. For me you could take that and multiply by it by three. I just don't have the time or the inclination to mess with a tranny replacement on a front wheel drive car.

 

[BlackTigers]

Originally posted by: AMCRambler

Originally posted by: BlackTigers

Originally posted by: AMCRambler
98 Escort with a bum transmission may not be worth the cost to fix depending. Although a used transmission for it can probably be had pretty cheap, the labor to install is not cheap at all. Might be time to sell it for scrap.

$600, swapping it over to a manual (was an automatic).

Not too bad, definitely affordable. Just a shit load of work. And I'm inventing new cuss words in the process!

OHHHH!!!! You're doing it yourself? Holy crap man! I'm impressed. If my daily drivers tranny went, I'd probably take it to the shop. Swapping a tranny is a couple days labor for a pro. For me you could take that and multiply by it by three. I just don't have the time or the inclination to mess with a tranny replacement on a front wheel drive car.

Well, I managed today (between 9 and 3:30) to have everything removed (exception being the passenger side axle), all I have to do now is drop the transmission out (three mounts and a few engine bolts). And I realized that I need to change a ball joint. I snapped it in half when I dropped the spindle from the strut. Yikes!

To this point, I haven't done anything on a car, besides the usual brake changes, fluid flushes, and some electronic work. Oh, and I installed a cruise control on my friend's Escort.

I can't believe I got into this. I have to install up the clutch cylinders, fluid lines, shift linkages....wire in new sensors...lol. This is going to be fun. =] Except, the timing is terrible because it's four degrees outside. But I'm young, I'll brave it! haha.

Wish me luck, because this is a project and a half.

 

[AMCRambler]

Good luck to you sir! Working on a 10 year old car in 4 degree weather OUTSIDE? You're nuts. I'm surprised you've gotten that far in one day. Have you got a compressor and impact tools? Because the nuts on that car must be corroded all to shit unless it's recently been taken apart. Nice work man. Sounds like you'll have it done in no time.

 

[BlackTigers]

Originally posted by: AMCRambler
Good luck to you sir! Working on a 10 year old car in 4 degree weather OUTSIDE? You're nuts. I'm surprised you've gotten that far in one day. Have you got a compressor and impact tools? Because the nuts on that car must be corroded all to shit unless it's recently been taken apart. Nice work man. Sounds like you'll have it done in no time.

It was a bit warmer than that, took the day off of school (and work...) to get some stuff knocked out on it.

And nope, I'm doing it all by hand. I snapped off the head of a Craftsman 1/2" drive ratchet, so I bought a breaker bar to get all of these damn bolts off. The axle nuts were the absolute worst - I was jumping on a 4' cheater bar (jack handle) trying to get them loose, and sure enough I was able to get them.

If I actually did have a compressor and tools, I'd be twice as far as I am right now. Most of my time was spent trying to fuck with bolts that have enough PB blaster on them to drown a small child.

 

[Bignate603]

Impressive work so far, good luck with the rest!

 

[radioouman]

Originally posted by: CrackRabbit

Originally posted by: Tiamat

Originally posted by: BlackTigers

Originally posted by: SandEagle
next time, buy Japanese

My car died because it was the first car of a 17 year old kid. ..... Take a guess as to why the transmission died? lol.

My dad's has over 200k on the clock. A bad brake line is nothing to worry about, a cheap fix. But damn it's cold.

The van...it's 20 years old. lol

The van's engine is probably a Mitsubishi

88 is old enough they were still using the 2.5 4-banger in those vans.

Parent's had an '86 with the 2.6 liter Mitsubishi. But you're right, in 88 they were using the 2.5 for the four cylinder vans.

 

[Pacfanweb]

Originally posted by: SandEagle
next time, buy Japanese

Yeah, God forbid the cars not last longer than 11,11, and 21 years without breaking. :roll:

 

[jagec]

Originally posted by: Pacfanweb

Originally posted by: SandEagle
next time, buy Japanese

Yeah, God forbid the cars not last longer than 11,11, and 21 years without breaking. :roll:

While I agree with the spirit of your post, IMHO any car that doesn't last > 20 years (barring major accident) is a pretty crappy one.

 

[BlackTigers]

Originally posted by: jagec

Originally posted by: Pacfanweb

Originally posted by: SandEagle
next time, buy Japanese

Yeah, God forbid the cars not last longer than 11,11, and 21 years without breaking. :roll:

While I agree with the spirit of your post, IMHO any car that doesn't last > 20 years (barring major accident) is a pretty crappy one.

Eh. The cars were very cheap to fix.

$100 for the Buick.
$15 for the Van (fucking brake hose)
$430 for mine.

It's not like it was catastrophic failure, except in mine, which I'm responsible for killing, lol.

 

[desy]

Thats right cause there are no service bays attached to any jap dealerships cause they never break and only need air in the tires and gasoline

 

[crosshairs]

Originally posted by: SandEagle
next time, buy Japanese

Yeah,cause we all know Jap cars don't break...