Rant: Car trouble

[IMADreamer]

With my Vette sleeping for the winter and my Cuda awaiting it's newly machined engine block I was determined not to let a 55 degree day in January go to waste. I hit the road in my trusty Chevy Cobalt SS which had all gone well would have turned of 50,000 miles today.

All did not go well.

The day started with a quick check of the oil and tire pressures, all good and ready to go. A few months ago I had to replace the intercooler pump because GM built the car as cheaply as possible and the stock one decided to commit suicide. Off I go on my way. A 70 mile round trip of mainly twisty back roads between the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers. Some of the best driving in Illinois, which admittedly isn't saying much.

Somewhere about 9 miles in I go through an S turn hitting the exit just right and I roll on full power. The supercharger screams wildlife scatters at the sound and it happens. Knock, knock, knock, knock, knock. Uh oh. A quick scroll through my multigauge and I see the intercooler temps are reading about 150 degrees and on a day like today they should be around 80. I find a place to pull over and pop the hood. I look in the reservoir and it's dry. [expletive] dry. This means two things, I obviously have a leak and chances are my new intercooler pump is burnt up from 9 miles of hard driving with no coolant. So I limp on back home thinking what might have been in a day that had wipe those winter blues away all over it.

[slide_into_first]

If they call health care reform "obamacare" why don't they call GM products "Obama cars"?

[cardinalkarp]

With my Vette sleeping for the winter and my Cuda awaiting it's newly machined engine block I was determined not to let a 55 degree day in January go to waste. I hit the road in my trusty Chevy Cobalt SS which had all gone well would have turned of 50,000 miles today.

All did not go well.

The day started with a quick check of the oil and tire pressures, all good and ready to go. A few months ago I had to replace the intercooler pump because GM built the car as cheaply as possible and the stock one decided to commit suicide. Off I go on my way. A 70 mile round trip of mainly twisty back roads between the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers. Some of the best driving in Illinois, which admittedly isn't saying much.

Somewhere about 9 miles in I go through an S turn hitting the exit just right and I roll on full power. The supercharger screams wildlife scatters at the sound and it happens. Knock, knock, knock, knock, knock. Uh oh. A quick scroll through my multigauge and I see the intercooler temps are reading about 150 degrees and on a day like today they should be around 80. I find a place to pull over and pop the hood. I look in the reservoir and it's dry. [expletive] dry. This means two things, I obviously have a leak and chances are my new intercooler pump is burnt up from 9 miles of hard driving with no coolant. So I limp on back home thinking what might have been in a day that had wipe those winter blues away all over it.

If there was no coolant in the car and you suspect a leak how would you not have noticed a huge puddle of coolant under the vehicle (or where a dried up leak would have occured) before taking it out for a spin? I'm guessing if that thing was bone dry that would have had to leak quite a bit of fluid.

And I'm by no means questioning your judgement in automobile maintenence, as I know for a fact you know ALOT more about cars than I do.

[IMADreamer]

With my Vette sleeping for the winter and my Cuda awaiting it's newly machined engine block I was determined not to let a 55 degree day in January go to waste. I hit the road in my trusty Chevy Cobalt SS which had all gone well would have turned of 50,000 miles today.

All did not go well.

The day started with a quick check of the oil and tire pressures, all good and ready to go. A few months ago I had to replace the intercooler pump because GM built the car as cheaply as possible and the stock one decided to commit suicide. Off I go on my way. A 70 mile round trip of mainly twisty back roads between the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers. Some of the best driving in Illinois, which admittedly isn't saying much.

Somewhere about 9 miles in I go through an S turn hitting the exit just right and I roll on full power. The supercharger screams wildlife scatters at the sound and it happens. Knock, knock, knock, knock, knock. Uh oh. A quick scroll through my multigauge and I see the intercooler temps are reading about 150 degrees and on a day like today they should be around 80. I find a place to pull over and pop the hood. I look in the reservoir and it's dry. [expletive] dry. This means two things, I obviously have a leak and chances are my new intercooler pump is burnt up from 9 miles of hard driving with no coolant. So I limp on back home thinking what might have been in a day that had wipe those winter blues away all over it.

If there was no coolant in the car and you suspect a leak how would you not have noticed a huge puddle of coolant under the vehicle (or where a dried up leak would have occured) before taking it out for a spin? I'm guessing if that thing was bone dry that would have had to leak quite a bit of fluid.

And I'm by no means questioning your judgement in automobile maintenence, as I know for a fact you know ALOT more about cars than I do.

This is what baffles me. There should have been a large puddle. The intercooler system holds nearly two gallons of coolant. There should have been a puddle.

[cardinalkarp]

Yeah, that makes no sense at all.

[Freed Roger]

whoa boy. Took my car in for oil change. With my vehicle mileage (162,000) they hit me with the usuals - tie rods -whatever the [expletive] that is, seems like I'm always replacing them. A leaky gasket top or something. Serpentine belt. cha-ching cha ching. I am dogged tired and don't have time to fuss with it.

I says, "seems like I've fixed my tie rod and some of this other stuff before" --they check and some of it was done before and is "under warranty" which I think is code for "whoops, you caught us". Anyway, I know it's an old car and expect to spend some money, but they know this too.

Driving home from work, I smell oil burning. I was hoping it was just some spillage in the oil change burning off, because I don't have time to go car-less and play good consumer. Sure enough-I look under the car and dripping oil like crazy. A puddle where I had it parked earlier too. Those [expletive]. Dobbs. The only reason I took it there was because time-constrained. I feel bad for people that more stressed for time than me and dependent on these shadesters.

[MrSaigon]

Last weekend I was under this 97 Volvo I've been mostly not driving and said [expletive] it. Financed a 12 Malibu a couple months ahead of family finance schedule. [expletive] your engineering, Europe. I love driving your cars, and I may or may not again, but as soon as this Volvo is off jacks I'm never working on one again.

[Gashouse]

My '04 Mazda 6 is burning oil - kind of badly - and is in the shop today. We were told last week that the transmission on our '02 Honda Odyssey may need a rebuild. Fortunately we've been saving to try to replace one of those but these repairs will probably drain that and more. Still might try to do the cheapest repair possible on the Mazda and trade it in as quickly as I can. It's been a money pit for a couple years, and it's horrible in snow. The bad part is that we're also trying to move soon and i don't want to take out a car loan right before I apply for a mortgage.

[cardinalkarp]

whoa boy. Took my car in for oil change. With my vehicle mileage (162,000) they hit me with the usuals - tie rods -whatever the [expletive] that is, seems like I'm always replacing them. A leaky gasket top or something. Serpentine belt. cha-ching cha ching. I am dogged tired and don't have time to fuss with it.

I says, "seems like I've fixed my tie rod and some of this other stuff before" --they check and some of it was done before and is "under warranty" which I think is code for "whoops, you caught us". Anyway, I know it's an old car and expect to spend some money, but they know this too.

Driving home from work, I smell oil burning. I was hoping it was just some spillage in the oil change burning off, because I don't have time to go car-less and play good consumer. Sure enough-I look under the car and dripping oil like crazy. A puddle where I had it parked earlier too. Those [expletive]. Dobbs. The only reason I took it there was because time-constrained. I feel bad for people that more stressed for time than me and dependent on these shadesters.

You would think being a place that specializes in oil changes would hire (or at least train its employees) people who can handle a simple oil change. Hell, ANY idiot should be able to do it....w/ the racks that you drive over it makes it beyond simple. The only reason I don't do my own is because I don't feel like having to jack up the car and get under it to pull the filter (and drain/dispose of the old oil). But we've had those idoits put in the wrong size drain plug (for some reason they replaced the one in there) and as i was pulling the car into the garage it left a trail of oil and basically drained out in our garage. It sounds like they might have done something similar to you. It was a disaster.

[Diddy]

I had to replace the transmission in my truck this month. $2500 I did not have. 13 months ago (12 month warranty) they replaced the synchronizers in fifth gear. I think that cost me $750. Should have just rebuilt the entire thing then but they were sure it would fix it.