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Car Troubles Lately?

bcgal00

bcgal00

Say, "birdseed!"
Pollywog
Joined
Nov 18, 2010
Messages
9,637
My car has been great and no trouble at all with it for a couple of years....until today. I came out of the mall at dinner time and found my battery was dead and something weird happened with the hatch, it wouldn't unlock. I was trying to put my parcels in there and it wouldn't open (wasn't frozen) and then found out the battery was dead. I felt kind of weird asking people if anyone could charge my battery. Lots of people didn't want to as it was cold and they wanted to get home but others didn't have jumper cables and of course neither did I. I thought I was going to have to call my hubs to come which I didn't really want to do b/c it was 40 minutes away, each way. Finally a young couple helped me out. My car is 8 yrs old so I'm lucky not much has gone wrong with it. Looks like I might need a new battery though, unless it was just a loose connection. We'll see.

Totally messed up my day though. I had a bit of desk work I wanted to do, some CT work too, and the chat a bit earlier. Oh well, at least I made it home. I have a chill now though. I need to put on warm jammies and I ordered pizza b/c it's too late to make dinner now.

So what about you? Any car problems lately? Any stories to tell?
 
Now I want pizza & yes my car has been a nightmare lately!
I vow to never custom order a car again. It started in the summer when it would just stall. Turns out the transmission had been recalled, but because the dealership couldn't replicate the problem, they wouldn't fix it. I replaced all 4 tires. 1 blew out, 1 got a leak. My mom got those fixed for me. The guy broke my trunk struts when he put the spare back in the trunk. I had to replace those. Finally it died completely & the dealership was able to fix the transmission. Then they decided they'd replace the clutch while still under warranty. They had to order the parts & I had school, so it's finally scheduled to go in on the 27th of this month, 4 months later! The fuses in the speakers also died during this time & replacing them didn't help. So, the radio is not working.

The night we were leaving for the snow, the battery died. Hubby jumped it with his FedEx truck, it was kinda funny. When we got back the battery died completely & wouldn't hold a charge. So, my mom & her partner drove up to get me to Sears for a new battery. I had to haggle with the mechanic on the price, I was missing work, it just sucked. My mom took us to breakfast while it was being fixed & I made it to work with an hour & a half left in my shift. I'm just done with all this nonsense. My car is only 5 years old!
 
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@jesskab That sounds like a nightmare. Hopefully, no more problems. My hubs is home for 2 wks now so at least he's around if anything happens with mine.
 
I'm not answering in this thread.... it will jinx me. :giggle

I hope your car just needs a new battery, Rae! Jess... holy moly.... turn it in now. Goodness... so many headaches, so little time?! I hope it stops acting like this, and it all settles down!
 
I was thinking the same as Jenn @jk703 wrote about jinxing before I even finished reading the first post.

So I'll tell a related kind of funny story. My husband and I drove in our separate vehicles to our favorite mechanic this fall to have them investigate a screeching sound in my van. After talking to the mechanic and leaving our van, we got back to his car, ready for me to drive him to work, but his car wouldn't start! Luckily the issue with my van was quickly resolved so we just had to sit in the waiting area about a half hour before we could use it again.

Jess, I hope your car is an easy fix!
 
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I did jinx myself! Rae!!!! :giggle
@bcgal00

DH just texted that I have to pick him up at work later tonight (he's late shift 11-7 today). His car won't start. Probably the battery - old and cold! It's 15 out... wind chill makes it 2!

Let's just hope that is all it is...

Everyone send good car vibes!!!! And tell good stories of cars working! :giggle
 
I hate when a well planned productive day goes south like that! I just went through car troubles ... our old car is quite old but we were hoping to make it last a year or maybe even 6 months longer to avoid another bill at the moment. We put about $700 into it for brakes and various stuff. The next day - the transmission went! GRRRR. It's really quite old and well loved and just not worth the cost of a new transmission, but how frustrating after just spending that kind of $ to get it fixed. My husband just bought a "new to him" Jeep though so he's a happy camper despite the way things went. He just pulled it into the garage for the 1st time last night! Hope it doesn't happen again to you Rae ... and so sorry @jk703 !!! :(
 
jesskab said:
Now I want pizza & yes my car has been a nightmare lately!
I vow to never custom order a car again. It started in the summer when it would just stall. Turns out the transmission had been recalled, but because the dealership couldn't replicate the problem, they wouldn't fix it. I replaced all 4 tires. 1 blew out, 1 got a leak. My mom got those fixed for me. The guy broke my trunk struts when he put the spare back in the trunk. I had to replace those. Finally it died completely & the dealership was able to fix the transmission. Then they decided they'd replace the clutch while still under warranty. They had to order the parts & I had school, so it's finally scheduled to go in on the 27th of this month, 4 months later! The fuses in the speakers also died during this time & replacing them didn't help. So, the radio is not working.

The night we were leaving for the snow, the battery died. Hubby jumped it with his FedEx truck, it was kinda funny. When we got back the battery died completely & wouldn't hold a charge. So, my mom & her partner drove up to get me to Sears for a new battery. I had to haggle with the mechanic on the price, I was missing work, it just sucked. My mom took us to breakfast while it was being fixed & I made it to work with an hour & a half left in my shift. I'm just done with all this nonsense. My car is only 5 years old!
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Jess - there is no other word for it - nightmare! I'm sorry to hear you went through all that. WOW. Good car vibes coming your way.
 
I live in Arizona and batteries go really fast here because of the heat. The good news is that they often wear out while their still under warranty!

I have a 2010 MiniCooper that is a really fun car but has had way more very expensive repairs than it should have. Last time I went in, they recommended $3000 in work that needs to be done (oil leak, vacuum leak, a third set of $$ run-flat tires, etc). This is after over $900 in repairs for carbon build up from the fuel injection system (that fortunately was under warranty) and a recall for a faulty cooling pump. Much as I love that little car, I won't be buying another one. It's owned by BMW so every repair costs a fortune and a lot of it can't be done by local shops. It is a known flaw for that car that the covers to the light-up mirror in the sun visors break off really easily just from using them normally (for some people, the first time you just open it). Both of mine are broken -- as are everyone else's -- but they refuse to acknowledge it as a design flaw and offer a reasonable fix. You can't just buy the cheap plastic cover -- they have to replace the entire visor with all the wiring and everything for over $100 per visor. Ridiculous. And the car has less that 30K miles on it!
 
Oh no @jk703 Jenn....it must be that nasty cold weather (15 here too this morning). I hope that it's just the battery and it charges up for him.
 
Sounds like we're not the only ones with car problems. Here's a funny story (well, it wasn't funny at the time).

We had just flown home from spending a gorgeous week in Arizona (last month) and the local temperature had just fallen to -10C. We got our luggage and went out to our van which we had parked in EasyPark so that we could have our winter jackets handy when we got back to Alberta. DH tried to unlock the van with the key fob and nothing happened! Turns out that he accidentally left the internal lights on when we parked the van the week before and the battery had died while we were frolicking by the pool in AZ. We tried to flag down other passengers leaving the parking lot, but no one would stop to help. Finally DH phoned the EasyPark attendants and fortunately they sent someone right away with jumper cables to jump start our van. In the meantime, we were freezing because we weren't used to the cold weather! Luckily it only took about half an hour to get the van going again! And luckily our flight arrival was during regular working hours for the EasyPark attendants, or else we would have had to call for road-side assistance instead, which normally takes about 2 - 3 hours for service.
 
Ha! This is a touchy subject for me!!
I bought an Audi Q5 late in the year in 2012. When the weather began to get cold - realized the heated seats weren't working. Took it back to the dealership (which is 60 miles ONE way). They said a fuse had blown - and "fixed it". Realized a few weeks later - the seats were NOT working. Made another trip a few weeks later. Found out the software had to be updated for them to work (...sounds specious, but they worked). A few months later there was a recall on the sunroof. So - another trip to have the sunroof fixed. On the drive home the sunroof was making a terrible noise. Called the dealership when I got home and they said I'd have to come back and get it "adjusted". So another trip was made a few weeks later ... they said they adjusted it - but the noise continued. In the meantime, the brakes started to make a terrible squealing noise. Made a call and was told it was because the brakes were "really good" ... something on them (I don't remember what they said it was) - was manufactured to be very smooth - and when it gets cold, makes them squeal - like a good quality wine glass does when you run your finger around the rim. I didn't buy it and kept pressing them - and finally 4 months later - they put on new brakes, rotors and pads - and tried to fix the sunroof. I finally threw my hands in the air and figured - okay - it is what it is - because when northern Illinois winter weather comes, the brakes sound worse than a school bus (people literally stop and LOOK when I come up to a stop sign in town) and the sunroof still makes a noise. I was all about trading it off last year - even had another vehicle picked out and then received a recall because the vehicle has a Takata air bag (they are known to have pieces of shrapnel inside of them!). So now I CAN'T trade it in unless that is fixed - and the list of cars that are on the recall list is so long, that I may be waiting up to two years to get it switched out!! And just last week I received another recall - one for something on the gas tank. Seriously - I paid more for this vehicle than I ever had - I do love it - but HATE all of the dumb problems! I could trade it in for another Audi - but after the awful service I've had I'm going in a different direction next time!! Funny thing is - I usually trade vehicles every 2 years or so - but had decided since I spent so much on this one, this would be my forever car ... but now it will be traded as soon as I get a new air bag put in it - ! Of course, that might be the year 2019 - then it will be too close to retirement! LOL!
 
I hope it's an easy fix for you, Rae. I hate car problems!! I just traded mine about a month ago, so hopefully I am good for a while *knocks wood*. I had a 2011 Suzuki Kizashi that I bought brand new and loved it, until Suzuki pulled out of the country about a year later. Fortunately, I didn't have any major issues with it other than it seemed like I put a new set of tires on it every year. It was a great little car and awesome in the winter with its AWD, but it was getting older and had a lot of miles on it and my fear was that it was going to start developing problems and would cost me a fortune to fix because Suzuki didn't even leave a parts warehouse or anything in this country, everything has to be ordered from Japan.
 
@HeatherB Yes, good thing you didn't have to await any longer!
@JillW OMG...that is awful about so many things wrong and the shady sounding dealership. Glad you love your car but jeez....so many problems and having terrible service. Hope you don't have any more problems with it.
@IntenseMagic Jan - I can relate about lack of parts in the area. My chevy dealership closed down so its a longer drive if I have to go to a dealership and my car was only made for one year so they don't make parts for it anymore. My hubs keeps telling me to sell it off and get something else but I like not having a monthly car payment since this one is paid off. I'll have to bite the bullet eventually tho b/c it just won't be cost effective to keep this.
 
bcgal00 said:
@IntenseMagic Jan - I can relate about lack of parts in the area. My chevy dealership closed down so its a longer drive if I have to go to a dealership and my car was only made for one year so they don't make parts for it anymore. My hubs keeps telling me to sell it off and get something else but I like not having a monthly car payment since this one is paid off. I'll have to bite the bullet eventually tho b/c it just won't be cost effective to keep this.
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I was in that position, too. My car had been paid off for a couple of years and I was really enjoying no payment. I had been looking for awhile and basically just didn't settle until I got an offer that I was comfortable with. Made my first payment last week and it did sting a little LOL
 
Wowsers, lots of car troubles... Totally sucks at this time of year too!

I had some unlucky car karma the other day and totally deserved it, lol.
I was watching the person in front of me at the traffic lights, they were playing around with their rear view mirror. I thought to myself how funny would it be if it fell off, and I had a little giggle. Not very kind of me, I know, but I did think it would be funny.
Then karma kicked my butt. Almost instantly!
My rear view mirror fell right off the windscreen... I hadn't even touched it, lol! Luckily it isn't too big of an issue, I just had to get some strong glue to stick it back on.

Let's hope that is it for car trouble for us all for a while!
 
I'm glad someone finally helped you out! Both my hubby and I have had a string of problems without our vehicles over the last four months or so. I HATE it. You're right, it is totally disruptive to your day/week! Thankfully my hubby and i work together, so we can at least ride share while one is getting fixed, but it's still a pain because we come in/leave at different times.
 
:giggle.... Murphy's Law... this thread pops up and DH has a flat tire! HAHAHAHA!

Chippi, that's funny... but not... at the same time! @Chippi
 
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