Post your oldest rides and their quirks.

[97tbird]

2003 Elantra (beater/grocery getter)
221,000 miles. All original mechanically, except radiator, and normal wear items.

-sun visors are too skinny. Hardly blocks the sun. also, the cover of visor mirror becomes loose no matter how many replacements.
-Dash has a small crack. Not really the car's fault. it was never in a garage all of its 221k miles.
-paint peeling on roof, hood, and trunk - again, just age related and normal.
-drum breaks squeak.
-wish the brakes were a bit faster to respond.

 

[Silverado12]

Originally Posted By: DriveHard
1989 BMW 750iL
It has a bad shimmy in the front end. I think it should be solved this weekend when I replace the upper and lower control arms, as well as the struts.

It also needs some capacitors in the display replaced. Nothing in the display works until the engine is revved up, and the voltage is increased. Yes, it has a new battery.


You can take it in for an alignment and the tech will tell you exactly what needs to be replaced. Also, when I take older cars in for state insp, I ask the guy to check the front end really well. I'm very picky about this and brakes.

 

[Silverado12]

2002 Chevy Cavalier. Made a trade deal with my son for my 2010 Dodge Challenger (yeah, I know I'm still thinking why too, but I love my son). The dash was cracked, paint peeling, seat and driver's door hinges worn out and wobbling, was absolutely filthy (I made him promise me to take better care of the Challenger). Now with 1400 bucks into it, everything is fixed and new single stage (red) paint. Car looks really good now. I'm really picky about my ride and it has to look good.

 

[eljefino]

1983 mercedes 300D w123;

When I bought it, it didn't turn off with the key. Mercedes put a lever under the hood with a big red stop sign for just this occasion. I'd pull in somewhere, take my keys, open that 100 lb hood, and shut it off. I got fuel in new jersey and the 25 year old female full serve attendant saw me under the hood and thought I needed a rag to check my oil. "or something." I think she thought her routine would be interrupted by actually doing something "car-ish". I mended this with a re-wire of the vacuum system.

Its HVAC system has ghosts in the control head, and won't turn on the blower fan until it's been driving a while. Or maybe the fan's brushes are nearly shot. Meh. Summer car.

A spring in the tranny valve body is weak, so it spends half a second in 2nd gear before going up to 3rd. If I tromp on it at just the right time though I get a good pull in 2nd. This gear is important for integrating into traffic. Basically one has to drive it like they stole it.

Steering box is slightly sloppy and none are available.* They say one can use the w126 box with the w123 pitman arm. *MBUSA has the proper box for approx $2200.

Something's gone berzerk in the turn signals and they flash about 300 times a minute. The "hazard module" gets most of the blame online. Car has no cupholders so idiots spill their coffee in the center console where this stuff lives. While my incandescent turn signals maintain a half-on flicker, I figure if I put LEDs in it would strobe like a disco.

I have antique plates for it but my state lets me run "contemporary" 1983 plates on it so long as I keep my real ones to show the fuzz. Got said plates off ebay. They had a 1984 sticker but I peeled it off with a hair-dryer.

On the plus side I adjusted the valves, changed the filters, and it's good for 28.5 to 34 MPG. I got it down south and it has no rust and, in fact, a sun-faded paint patina that you just can't buy.

 

[Turk]

1962 Chevy Impala SS.

Mine had NO quirks!

 

[Astro14]

Those were all standard issues on a W123 body Mercedes...and the after market is great at providing the fixes...you could always tell a well-maintained example by simply locking the doors. If the vacuum system was working, they all smoothly locked...abused/neglected examples wouldn't lock, and needed the pump rebuilt, or new lines...and the shutoff was a classic vacuum leak indication as the pull of on the fuel control was a vacuum pot.

Your blower motor was likely shot...you could clean the brushes and it would fix it for a while, but eventually, you just replace the blower motor.

Steering box rebuilders are out there, but on my 240D, the box was still tight, perhaps because the fluid and filter were regularly changed...and I loved that kind of engineering on the W123. Fluid reservoir was cast aluminum with a cartridge filter built into the base. So elegant, so thoughtful.

Yep, replaced a hazard module as well, and that fixed the wonky signals.

If you think that you have to drive the 5 cylinder like you stole it...you should have seen the 68 BHP 4 cylinder in the 240D...the throttle was always floored unless I was shifting or braking...and it had the 4 speed manual, thank God...a slushbox would have made it intolerable!

 

[eljefino]

I had a 240D before.

That thing came to me from some jerk who tried running biodiesel (of course), got bored (of course) and dumped it for $450. Was wrecked and rebuilt with three different color panels. Nuts to that, I said, and I thinned down rustoleum with mineral spirits and rolled on six layers of milk-thin paint to make it "Cuban blue." (A color I named because they seem to like bright, cheeful colors down there.) The passenger side looked like it smudged a guard rail, and lacking half the trim anyway, I never put the rest back on after painting. Still, it handled great. Once up to speed I didn't want to lose momentum so I'd fly through rotaries and its very nice suspension setup stuck in my head when I got my next one this year.

Someone had adjusted the valves by cranking on the PS pulley, bending it, so it wobbled when idling. I didn't want to rev it up to 11 out of fear of throwing the belt. Never did, but I didn't want to, either.

And both my w123s suffered from the sunroof flap jamming upon closure. The fix was the same, bending a track guide "up" so it was more effective.

Its vacuum system worked 100%. My present 300D has a few power locks that aren't "with the program". An oddball feature from the factory is the inability to lock an open driver's door-- you have to close it, and use the key.

 

[Astro14]

It all sounds so familiar!

Rust killed my beloved 240D when it had about 245,000 miles on it. It had been my Dad's car, and when he died in 1991, I inherited it.

That "oddball" feature is actually great. It thoughtfully prevents you from locking your keys in the car, since you have to have the keys in hand with the door closed to lock it. I think the OM mentions the "why" and the thinking behind it...and it took one extra linkage in the lock system to make it work...

 

[Jarlaxle]

My friend's first car was a 240D with an automatic...and yeah, it was always either pinned or coasting. He once did almost 300 miles with the pedal pinned the entire 5 hours. (Unsurprisingly, this resulted in no problems whatsoever.)

The replacement was a W123 that people would kill over: a gray-market 300TD station wagon (still wearing Euro bumpers and metric dash) with the turbocharged 5-cylinder...and a manual transmission. It also had manual HVAC, crank windows, and steel springs in back. Everything on it works, except the vacuum locks: either Euro models didn't get them, or the whole system was disabled before he got the car.

It was brought over by a serviceman, judging by the Air Force Academy sticker on the back window.

 

[Lapham3]

I bought a $400 valued '64 Falcon from gramps for $200. It was a rust free Kansas car and seemed OK. Well it turned out gramps putted around and probably didn't change the oil. It was a sludge monster. We did the old diesel flush a few times and then I drove it like a 'normal' car as a 'normal' young guy does. A few of us ran it out to ski Vail from Mpls and other than it having trouble handling crosswinds all was good. On the way back home I was driving I80 in a 'pack' and we ran thru radar at North Platte. So 89 in a 75 zone=$40 fine we didn't have=9 hours in jail waiting for dad's wire $. Because I was a 'highway' guy, I traded that for a '65 Pont GP. The quirk is that the Ford 170 with 'not enough' main bearings survived my ownership!

 

[wander2039]

Well my oldest is only a 02 so no quirks.. I'd take quirks though over cursed! I inherited it when my sister passed away in 2011. Every repair takes 2 tries and every issue it's had hasn't ever illuminated the check engine light even though it should of, and I know it works. Runs and drive great when it's behaving so will just keep rolling down the road.

 

[Nick1994]

The 1970 VW Beetle has its quirks.

For a year the interior light wouldn't work when opening the door. Started working 2 days ago!

The generator wasn't charging the battery, had to go tap on the brushes with a screwdriver, works like a charm.

There's a button on the dash that is supposed to light up if there's something wrong with the brakes, I pushed it one day out of curiosity and heard a pop while sitting at a light. It blew the fuse for the wipers and brake lights.

If the battery is dead, I have learned that on a level road I can push it in neutral by myself fast enough that I can hop in and pop the clutch in first gear and it fires right up.

The ignition switch is bad, so occasionally while driving down the road the car will shut off, just have to jiggle the keys and it starts running again

The clutch is slipping really really bad now, I tried to pass someone last night and it took a while!

One headlight burned out, so I replaced both. Now one is brighter than the other, and when turning on the high beams, it switches and the other is brighter!

On the freeway it drives like a floating grocery bag in a hurricane

The wipers don't wipe fast enough for heavy rain

When it rains, the rain goes through the engine lid and down the carburetor. Takes a couple seconds of cranking to clear that up.

4 wheel drum brakes in traffic sure is interesting, especially when they get hot. You have to have a plan to stop

 

[turtlevette]

My corvette is a hand full on worn roads. It has a nervous twitch which can take me out of my lane without warning. It takes lightning reflexes to correct to keep it in the lane.

I probably shouldn't be running 295s on front.

 

[Number_35]

I drove a '68 Impala from '78 to '84. I could do basic mechanical things but let a lot of stuff go. For most of the time I owned it the headlight switch was balky, not always turning on the lights. 1st click would always turn on the parking lights, 2nd click would sometimes turn on the headlights. I had to get out to check. After a few months I realized that if I switched to high-beams, the blue light in the centre of the dash would only come on if the headlights were working. So that was my workaround.

With many more years of life experience, I would now change the headlight switch as soon as it gave problems.

 

[clinebarger]

Originally Posted By: Number_35
I drove a '68 Impala from '78 to '84. I could do basic mechanical things but let a lot of stuff go. For most of the time I owned it the headlight switch was balky, not always turning on the lights. 1st click would always turn on the parking lights, 2nd click would sometimes turn on the headlights. I had to get out to check. After a few months I realized that if I switched to high-beams, the blue light in the centre of the dash would only come on if the headlights were working. So that was my workaround.

With many more years of life experience, I would now change the headlight switch as soon as it gave problems.


It was actually the Dimmer Switch, They gave a lot of problems because dirt would get into them from being floorboard mounted. The Delco-Remy headlight switches are bullet proof in those cars. I have rebuilt a few but never replaced one.

 

[Number_35]

Originally Posted By: clinebarger
Originally Posted By: Number_35
I drove a '68 Impala from '78 to '84. I could do basic mechanical things but let a lot of stuff go. For most of the time I owned it the headlight switch was balky, not always turning on the lights. 1st click would always turn on the parking lights, 2nd click would sometimes turn on the headlights. I had to get out to check. After a few months I realized that if I switched to high-beams, the blue light in the centre of the dash would only come on if the headlights were working. So that was my workaround.

With many more years of life experience, I would now change the headlight switch as soon as it gave problems.


It was actually the Dimmer Switch, They gave a lot of problems because dirt would get into them from being floorboard mounted. The Delco-Remy headlight switches are bullet proof in those cars. I have rebuilt a few but never replaced one.


Wow, live and learn! I never had a wiring diagram for the car, but what you say makes sense. Yes, the dimmer switch was floor-mounted. Could have saved a lot of hassle over the years if I'd just dug into it and repaired or replaced it.