Author Topic: Crazy car people  (Read 10315 times)

skunkfunk

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Crazy car people
« on: May 07, 2014, 09:55:24 AM »
Have any stories of people who don't know how to efficiently deal with the cars in their life? I'll start.

Here's a list of some of the most cringe-worthy issues that have all happened to a single family:
  • Drove a car without antifreeze
  • Never changed oil. Lost a car when the oil had become such a thick sludge that the motor was completely ruined.
  • Drove car into a flood - had to replace engine.
  • Had what sounded like a belt squalling for months. Long story short, car burns to the ground.
  • Ran a car for years without an air filter. Did not end well for that carburetor.
  • Ignored oil light. This ends just like you think it would.
I've made my fair share of expensive mistakes, but these guys live by the philosophy that money and machines don't really matter in life. While I can see that being a different but somewhat valid viewpoint, this has been taken to a ridiculous and dangerous extreme, and I know that they're not the only ones!

Edit: I have gone back to remove anything that might tie this to the specific family. Just in case.
« Last Edit: May 22, 2014, 12:10:51 PM by skunkfunk »

GuitarStv

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Re: Crazy car people
« Reply #1 on: May 07, 2014, 10:18:31 AM »
I worked in a lumber yard for a time during one summer while paying my way through university.  My job was to pick out orders of lumber and hardwood flooring and help load them up onto those big platforms pulled by tractor trailers.  One day a guy with a minivan (all the seats in the back stripped out) came in to take his delivery of hardwood flooring . . . I looked at the pile he had bought, then looked at his minivan and asked him if he was sure that he wanted it all loaded up.  He said 'yep' so I loaded that van floor to ceiling with stacks of heavy hardwood flooring planks.

When done his wheels were just about brushing the top of his wheel wells.  My manager came out and asked the guy if he could unload some of the wood and maybe make a second trip.  The guy refused.  So we watched him drive out of our parking lot, onto the road, and then blow out two of his tires going over a big pothole just past the road entrance.
« Last Edit: May 08, 2014, 06:27:59 AM by GuitarStv »

Eric

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Re: Crazy car people
« Reply #2 on: May 07, 2014, 10:24:06 AM »
I hope you have a lot of uncles and not just one.

skunkfunk

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Re: Crazy car people
« Reply #3 on: May 07, 2014, 10:27:09 AM »
I hope you have a lot of uncles and not just one.

Nope, just the one for all of these.
« Last Edit: May 22, 2014, 12:11:36 PM by skunkfunk »

dcheesi

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Re: Crazy car people
« Reply #4 on: May 07, 2014, 10:53:27 AM »
Well, my parents recently went ahead with a cosmetic repair (bodywork) after becoming aware of some engine trouble. The repair shop wanted them to leave it overnight, but my dad said "nah, we've got an appointment with the body-shop tomorrow..." Of course within a week of getting the body work done, the engine was doa with a blown head gasket.  /facepalm

schimt

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Re: Crazy car people
« Reply #5 on: May 07, 2014, 12:32:05 PM »
I have a friend who drove home from the beach in a subaru forrester, automatic, she put it in "2" or second gear and drove home on the highway, doing 65 for 80 miles in 2nd gear (not sure how far she made it), probably with the music all the way up. Engine was shot.
« Last Edit: May 07, 2014, 01:01:41 PM by schimt »

ketchup

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Re: Crazy car people
« Reply #6 on: May 07, 2014, 01:26:47 PM »
My girlfriend has a friend who's family never gets their oil changed.  Literally never.  They just don't do it.  It's amazing any of their cars ever run at all.

windawake

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Re: Crazy car people
« Reply #7 on: May 07, 2014, 02:02:48 PM »
One of my friends was harassing me because I hadn't had my oil changed in about a year and a half. Anyways I finally go to get it changed at Valvoline and they said, "You haven't been to one of our stores for 4 years, looks like you've driven 13,000 miles in that time." He then went on to tell me that I really only need to get my oil changed every 6,000 miles which is currently every 3 years for me. Sometimes it's okay not to change your oil frequently!

ketchup

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Re: Crazy car people
« Reply #8 on: May 07, 2014, 02:15:12 PM »
Oil degradation is a function of time as well as miles driven.  I think most modern synthetics say they're good for x miles or 1 year.  So you still might want to do it more often than every three years.  YMMV, there's all kinds of debates about oil life on the internet.

The family I'm talking about though drives everywhere and puts plenty of miles on their cars.  They buy new cars too.  They buy a new car, drive the hell out of it, and never change the oil.  Then they complain when stupid things happen a few years down the road.  It's ridiculous.  I bet anytime they take a car in to get fixed, the mechanic also changes the oil, and that's the only time it ever actually happens.

RyanAtTanagra

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Re: Crazy car people
« Reply #9 on: May 07, 2014, 03:26:22 PM »
Oh, tales of oil woe... I bought a 1993 Dodge Duster (same as a Sundance but with a V6 engine) with 160k miles off my stepdad, who was a mechanic and very meticulous about maintenance, so I knew it still had a lot of miles to go.  Drove it 100k more miles (original engine), being sure to keep up on oil changes.  Didn't always get to it at 3k miles, but never went past 4k.  Then sold it to a friend and told him he better keep up on the oil changes since it was a Dodge w/ 260k miles, which I didn't even know was possible.  He drove it 20k miles, never changing the oil, before it started knocking really bad and he sold it to a junk yard.  Was sad to watch happen, that car treated me really well at a time I had no money, and I wanted to see it make it to 300k.

ketchup

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Re: Crazy car people
« Reply #10 on: May 07, 2014, 03:56:02 PM »
Someone at work got rid of a 1995 Camry with 255k on it "because it got to the point where the brake pedal and steering wheel would vibrate a lot when stopping, so I knew it was time for a new car."  -_-  No, you needed new rotors, but decided you wanted a new car.  $40 and you're braking like normal.  I just bought a car that does this (for a grand), and will fix it by replacing the rotors.  Not rocket science.

BlueMR2

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Re: Crazy car people
« Reply #11 on: May 08, 2014, 10:21:36 AM »
I had a company minivan back years ago.  When I received it, it had about 20k miles on it already and the oil looked like sludge.  I inquired as to oil changes and was told it had never been serviced.  I then asked about getting that done.  Apparently there's a special coupon book (since it was a lease) that I was required to use, but nobody could ever seem to provide me with one (I tried my own corporate and even direct through the leasing agency).  So, I added another 6k to it without an oil change before that job ended and some other poor sap got stuck with that vehicle.  I always wonder how long it went before it blew up...

Self-employed-swami

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Re: Crazy car people
« Reply #12 on: May 08, 2014, 10:30:44 AM »
I had a company minivan back years ago.  When I received it, it had about 20k miles on it already and the oil looked like sludge.  I inquired as to oil changes and was told it had never been serviced.  I then asked about getting that done.  Apparently there's a special coupon book (since it was a lease) that I was required to use, but nobody could ever seem to provide me with one (I tried my own corporate and even direct through the leasing agency).  So, I added another 6k to it without an oil change before that job ended and some other poor sap got stuck with that vehicle.  I always wonder how long it went before it blew up...

Sounds like some of the company vehicles I've seen others saddled with.

HairyUpperLip

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Re: Crazy car people
« Reply #13 on: May 08, 2014, 06:15:38 PM »
He then went on to tell me that I really only need to get my oil changed every 6,000 miles which is currently every 3 years for me. Sometimes it's okay not to change your oil frequently!

Lol - that's not true at all. It's never okay to not maintain a vehicle properly.

Also - I understand you don't drive a lot, but I would still not wait 3 years OR 6,000 miles to change oil. Especially if your car is supposed to last as long as possible...

skunkfunk

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Re: Crazy car people
« Reply #14 on: May 09, 2014, 07:41:38 AM »
He then went on to tell me that I really only need to get my oil changed every 6,000 miles which is currently every 3 years for me. Sometimes it's okay not to change your oil frequently!

Lol - that's not true at all. It's never okay to not maintain a vehicle properly.

Also - I understand you don't drive a lot, but I would still not wait 3 years OR 6,000 miles to change oil. Especially if your car is supposed to last as long as possible...

That depends on the circumstances, doesn't it? I wouldn't go more than 3k miles in my 23 year old vehicle, but a brand new car with synthetic oil should go 6k just fine. I also wouldn't go much longer than a year without changing the oil.

odput

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Re: Crazy car people
« Reply #15 on: May 09, 2014, 09:20:35 AM »
With the recent advancements in oil technology (synthetics and flat out better traditionals) the problems with not changing oil now resides in the filters.  The filters get plugged with engine gunk as well as the paper degrades.  The oil itself will last for a near infinite time if left to sit, or around 15,000 miles if being driven.  It is the filter plugging or degrading that makes changing oil frequently still an important part of car maintenance.

mrsggrowsveg

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Re: Crazy car people
« Reply #16 on: May 09, 2014, 09:31:07 AM »
My husband was driving his first car (Toyota something) on the highway (17 years old).  While jamming out to Phish, he forgot to up-shift and blew up the engine.  This is the story he tells me every time he thinks I need to up-shift.

Exprezchef

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Re: Crazy car people
« Reply #17 on: May 09, 2014, 11:31:52 AM »
A few years ago my BIL (who by the way is 47, married with a child and still lives at home with mom and dad) returns a top-of-the line high priced leased Ford Expedition and is suddenly without a vehicle. He asks to borrow my FIL's vehicle until he finds a new car. The vehicle in question is an 82 Mercedes Benz diesel sedan that my FIL paid cash for new in 1982 and was a European delivery vehicle. It was my FIL's pride and joy and in immaculate shape with very low miles. It was always garaged and taken out for only special occasions. When he would have the service done, the dealer always commented on what a beautiful car it was and how well it was maintained. Well the "short term" borrow turned out to be a "long term" borrow and now three years later the car is in terrible shape. The paint is ruined, the oil was never checked so there were engine problems, something happened with the transmission that required a replacement, there are exterior trim pieces now missing and the once beautiful tan leather seats are stained. It is very sad to see what 3 years of wear and tear have done to the car. I feel so bad for my FIL.         

HairyUpperLip

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Re: Crazy car people
« Reply #18 on: May 09, 2014, 02:49:15 PM »
A few years ago my BIL (who by the way is 47, married with a child and still lives at home with mom and dad) returns a top-of-the line high priced leased Ford Expedition and is suddenly without a vehicle. He asks to borrow my FIL's vehicle until he finds a new car. The vehicle in question is an 82 Mercedes Benz diesel sedan that my FIL paid cash for new in 1982 and was a European delivery vehicle. It was my FIL's pride and joy and in immaculate shape with very low miles. It was always garaged and taken out for only special occasions. When he would have the service done, the dealer always commented on what a beautiful car it was and how well it was maintained. Well the "short term" borrow turned out to be a "long term" borrow and now three years later the car is in terrible shape. The paint is ruined, the oil was never checked so there were engine problems, something happened with the transmission that required a replacement, there are exterior trim pieces now missing and the once beautiful tan leather seats are stained. It is very sad to see what 3 years of wear and tear have done to the car. I feel so bad for my FIL.         

I know cars is anti mustchian but some of us do have unexplained love for automobiles. That being said, I'm not a Benzo fan at all, but wow your BIL is a piece of shit for doing that to his FIL's car. What a scumbag.

ketchup

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Re: Crazy car people
« Reply #19 on: May 09, 2014, 04:02:02 PM »
That's really depressing.  Those early 80s diesel M-B cars are beautiful.  The engines are bulletproof too, as long as you maintain them.

RyanAtTanagra

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Re: Crazy car people
« Reply #20 on: May 09, 2014, 04:41:29 PM »
He then went on to tell me that I really only need to get my oil changed every 6,000 miles which is currently every 3 years for me. Sometimes it's okay not to change your oil frequently!

Lol - that's not true at all. It's never okay to not maintain a vehicle properly.

Also - I understand you don't drive a lot, but I would still not wait 3 years OR 6,000 miles to change oil. Especially if your car is supposed to last as long as possible...

That depends on the circumstances, doesn't it? I wouldn't go more than 3k miles in my 23 year old vehicle, but a brand new car with synthetic oil should go 6k just fine. I also wouldn't go much longer than a year without changing the oil.
Yup, my car's maintenance manual says 10k miles or 1 year. I would change it once a year at a minimum since oil does degrade

I get the feeling the maintenance schedules are written by the accountants now more than the engineers.  The longer maintenance intervals lower the cars total cost of ownership, so it can be a big selling point (even Consumer Reports uses this number).  Since keeping a car to even 100k miles is rare now, the initial owner will never see the long term effects.  If you plan on driving a car till it dies, which to me better be at least 300k miles (high mileage starts at 200k imo), then please don't listen to the maintenance schedule.  Like odput said, oils might last longer now before breaking down, but they still get just as dirty, which will kill you.

HairyUpperLip

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Re: Crazy car people
« Reply #21 on: May 10, 2014, 05:37:11 PM »
He then went on to tell me that I really only need to get my oil changed every 6,000 miles which is currently every 3 years for me. Sometimes it's okay not to change your oil frequently!

Lol - that's not true at all. It's never okay to not maintain a vehicle properly.

Also - I understand you don't drive a lot, but I would still not wait 3 years OR 6,000 miles to change oil. Especially if your car is supposed to last as long as possible...

That depends on the circumstances, doesn't it? I wouldn't go more than 3k miles in my 23 year old vehicle, but a brand new car with synthetic oil should go 6k just fine. I also wouldn't go much longer than a year without changing the oil.
Yup, my car's maintenance manual says 10k miles or 1 year. I would change it once a year at a minimum since oil does degrade

I get the feeling the maintenance schedules are written by the accountants now more than the engineers.  The longer maintenance intervals lower the cars total cost of ownership, so it can be a big selling point (even Consumer Reports uses this number).  Since keeping a car to even 100k miles is rare now, the initial owner will never see the long term effects.  If you plan on driving a car till it dies, which to me better be at least 300k miles (high mileage starts at 200k imo), then please don't listen to the maintenance schedule.  Like odput said, oils might last longer now before breaking down, but they still get just as dirty, which will kill you.

Exactly. I wouldn't wait 10-15k miles to change oil for sure. i

skunkfunk

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Re: Crazy car people
« Reply #22 on: May 22, 2014, 11:14:35 AM »
I'll just leave this here.

Edit:

Quote
A new car dealer that we do lots of business with sold a Mustang 5.0 to a grammpy that was giving the car to his 16 year old grandson. We replaced the clutch in our shop before it was delivered. This car was immaculate, btw. This was on a Friday. The next Monday, the used car manager was on the phone with a displeased tone for the botched clutch job. We knew the kid just beat the piss out of the car but we do so much business with them we just threw in a new clutch. We took it to the manager and showed him how effed up it was. He didn't care to listen. Turns out, that kid lived around the corner from me and I saw him just lighting it up in front of his house. This was the very next day, Tuesday. Wednesday morning that same manager was tearing me a new one over this bad clutch job we did. I drove the manager to this kids house to show how the street in front of the house was pretty much black. We replaced the clutch, on their dime this time and I had the manager drive it to see that it wasn't our fault. He apologized to us when the car came in again for a smoked clutch and paid us for all of the work we had done and charged grampa for it, since he too, was finally seeing what was really going on. So you'd think they wouldn't have given the car back to that kid right? Nope. I was driving to Baskin Robbins a couple of Saturday's later and saw him gun it when the signal for the turn lane came on. He was in the regular lane and hit a turning car head on.
« Last Edit: May 22, 2014, 12:07:56 PM by skunkfunk »

Wolf_Stache

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Re: Crazy car people
« Reply #23 on: May 22, 2014, 01:40:29 PM »
I'll just leave this here.

Edit:

Quote
A new car dealer that we do lots of business with sold a Mustang 5.0 to a grammpy that was giving the car to his 16 year old grandson. We replaced the clutch in our shop before it was delivered. This car was immaculate, btw. This was on a Friday. The next Monday, the used car manager was on the phone with a displeased tone for the botched clutch job. We knew the kid just beat the piss out of the car but we do so much business with them we just threw in a new clutch. We took it to the manager and showed him how effed up it was. He didn't care to listen. Turns out, that kid lived around the corner from me and I saw him just lighting it up in front of his house. This was the very next day, Tuesday. Wednesday morning that same manager was tearing me a new one over this bad clutch job we did. I drove the manager to this kids house to show how the street in front of the house was pretty much black. We replaced the clutch, on their dime this time and I had the manager drive it to see that it wasn't our fault. He apologized to us when the car came in again for a smoked clutch and paid us for all of the work we had done and charged grampa for it, since he too, was finally seeing what was really going on. So you'd think they wouldn't have given the car back to that kid right? Nope. I was driving to Baskin Robbins a couple of Saturday's later and saw him gun it when the signal for the turn lane came on. He was in the regular lane and hit a turning car head on.

Holy Shite!

Here is a story: We lived at the end of a Cul-de-sac, which you could only get to via another Cul-de-sac (So if you were driving south you had to make two left turns in a row (about 180 turn) in the width of a house.

Our neighbors kid turned 16 and they bought her a car (don't remember the kind now but it wasn't a sports car). Driving it home one clear sunny day, she tried to take those two left turns all at once, at high speed. She lost control of the car and it slid onto the sidewalk, across the lawn, and hit the house next door to us.

wtjbatman

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Re: Crazy car people
« Reply #24 on: May 24, 2014, 10:25:41 PM »
I had a company minivan back years ago.  When I received it, it had about 20k miles on it already and the oil looked like sludge.  I inquired as to oil changes and was told it had never been serviced.  I then asked about getting that done.  Apparently there's a special coupon book (since it was a lease) that I was required to use, but nobody could ever seem to provide me with one (I tried my own corporate and even direct through the leasing agency).  So, I added another 6k to it without an oil change before that job ended and some other poor sap got stuck with that vehicle.  I always wonder how long it went before it blew up...

Sounds like some of the company vehicles I've seen others saddled with.

With our company Jeeps it's the opposite. They get oil changes every 3 months or 3,000 miles on the dot, washed weekly both inside and out, and every kind of maintenance you can imagine on a regular basis.

However they are still falling apart just from the fact they are used nearly 24 hours a day. A vehicle can only take so much abuse. They average something like 35k in miles a year.

BlueMR2

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Re: Crazy car people
« Reply #25 on: May 25, 2014, 01:57:53 PM »
However they are still falling apart just from the fact they are used nearly 24 hours a day. A vehicle can only take so much abuse. They average something like 35k in miles a year.

I presume hard stop and go usage.  35k highway miles a year isn't bad on vehicles at all.  It's city driving that kills them.  :-)

wtjbatman

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Re: Crazy car people
« Reply #26 on: May 25, 2014, 06:09:56 PM »
However they are still falling apart just from the fact they are used nearly 24 hours a day. A vehicle can only take so much abuse. They average something like 35k in miles a year.

I presume hard stop and go usage.  35k highway miles a year isn't bad on vehicles at all.  It's city driving that kills them.  :-)

Yep, easily 90% in town or around our facility.

Forcus

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Re: Crazy car people
« Reply #27 on: June 11, 2014, 11:13:10 AM »
I get the feeling the maintenance schedules are written by the accountants now more than the engineers.  The longer maintenance intervals lower the cars total cost of ownership, so it can be a big selling point (even Consumer Reports uses this number).  Since keeping a car to even 100k miles is rare now, the initial owner will never see the long term effects.  If you plan on driving a car till it dies, which to me better be at least 300k miles (high mileage starts at 200k imo), then please don't listen to the maintenance schedule.  Like odput said, oils might last longer now before breaking down, but they still get just as dirty, which will kill you.

I would partially agree, but newer oils are pretty good, and engines burn pretty clean (no fuel washing of the cylinders, etc.), I feel no guilt in running 6k-8k on my newer stuff and full synthetic. Could probably go longer but oil sampling costs as much as an oil change so I just do it. The 3k oil change is most definitely overkill on anything newer than 20 years old and in fact, changing filters every 3k can actually be slightly negative since oil filtration efficiency typically increases with some "loading" of contaminants.

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!