Ranting about some bad car-ma

What a month this has been, car-wise. Honestly, at this point I'm just looking for some sympathy and knowing I'm not alone in this mechanical nightmare.

It all started a month ago when I brought the 911 in for a broken undertray panel and to have some oiling upgrades installed for heavy duty track use. There were problems with the motrosport air/oil separator, then problems with the installation, then the part itself was defective, so the car's been away for a month.

During that month, I drove the Saab to my garage in the city (I'm in the burbs now and don't have my own garage, but I kept my garage down the alley from my old house) to replace the broken transmission mount. On the way, I swerved sharply to avoid a bicyclist who didn't care about the 40mph traffic around him and I slammed into a pothole roughly the depth of the Sea of Tranquility and bent the hell out of one of the rims. Viggen rims are known to be pretty soft anyway, but this was a HARD impact. Shake-shake-shake-shake, wobble-wobble-wobble-wobble. AND the trans mount wasn't the only bad engine mount, because even with the new trans mount I still have a clunk under acceleration. I guess I need to do the other two, too.

Last night, I bought a C6 Corvette. I parked it overnight and went out to take it to work this morning and it's DEAD! A complete brick! It has no more electricity left in it.

SO FRUSTRATING.

I have a beginning of the year autocross clinic on Sunday (I took a few years off autocrossing so the PCA's autocross school will be helpful and it's always super fun). And I have a DE at Blackhawk a week from today. Hopefully, I'll still manage to get to both of them, but, man, I've never had so many concurrent car problems in all my life! And I've had a lot of cars! And a lot of them have been pretty scrappy! But now I have a fleet of nice cars and, augh!!!!

Okay, that's all. Rant over. Thank you, my internet car friends, for listening to me vent.

In reply to Lugnut:

I'll be one of the first to sympathize with you!

Just waited three weeks for a part from Asia for my GS 850 and lo and behold, wrong parts.

It's not just that either, Yukon needs brakes, has a CEL on and the TPMS lights are on and I just put on 4 new tires.

I've contemplated buying a horse but those need more attention and money than all my cars put together.

I hear you! Two of my three vehicles broke in some manner this month and while they were not huge issues they did take each vehicle out of commission for several days each while parts were ordered and then installed. Very frustrating when they gang up on us like that!

Lets see, you have both a 911 and a C6 Corvette and we're supposed to sympathize?
OK, Sympathize with you.

On the other hand, you have a 911, a C6 Corvette and you get to autocross and do DE's.

I'm driving a RAV4 while I work on my ratty Fox body 5.0. Things could be worse.

SEADave wrote: On the other hand, you have a 911, a C6 Corvette and you get to autocross and do DE's. I'm driving a RAV4 while I work on my ratty Fox body 5.0. Things could be worse.

Yeah, if they work! Now I have 1:1 models of a Corvette (which I bought yesterday!) and a 911 and I've paid for autocross and DEs that I can't go to.

You guys are the best, thank you so much.

I think you're lost.

The first world problems thread is that-a-way --->>>

I promise I wasn't backdoor bragging!

As far as the Corvette goes, maybe it just needs a new battery. We have a Lexus LS430 my wife drives. It is the most reliable car we have ever owned, maybe the most reliable car we will ever own. Anyhow, one day she is picking up the son at school, turns off the car in the waiting line, and when she goes to start it back up it is dead. Like you said, no electrons.

So we get it jump started, get it home and I replace the battery, now all is fine. It is logical that the battery could have shown no signs of any problems, started the car fine a zillion times, then just suddenly die when the car was shut down for a mere five minutes? No, it makes no sense and shouldn't happen. But it did. So maybe it is that easy.

I'm hoping. Corvetteforum has a bunch of threads on this. They've even made an acronym. DBS. Dead Battery Syndrome. Apparently, even things like not parking the car in reverse can cause a drain. At least the Saab is nice enough to not let you take the key out if you're not in reverse. It tells you what it wants. This car? Not so much.

And I might not have been so mad if it wasn't less than 24 hours after I brought it home!

Recently, all within a year, I've had a spun rod bearing and then a melted piston w/ scored cylinder on the same engine, and 2 blown head gaskets on another engine (which is still burning off a bit of coolant somewhere) which throughout has had major carb problems requiring manual idle control.

In the future if I ever feel a tinge of nostalgia for ICE vehicles, I will remember these times.

wlkelley3 wrote: Lets see, you have both a 911 and a C6 Corvette and we're supposed to sympathize? OK, Sympathize with you.

It just means we're sympathizing at a higher level...

wlkelley3 wrote: Lets see, you have both a 911 and a C6 Corvette and we're supposed to sympathize? OK, Sympathize with you.

Some of this. I know it's frustrating when they all develop problems at the same time, but this really is a "first world problem".

Good luck getting them all back on the road!

In reply to Lugnut:

It was a good battery until it wasn't.

I bought a set of viggen wheels last year for $100. So they are out there cheap.

In fact, I am not planning to use them currently so if you want them...

Hang in there. You'll be back in the sweet spot again soon.

wlkelley3 wrote: Lets see, you have both a 911 and a C6 Corvette and we're supposed to sympathize? OK, Sympathize with you.

A C6 is a nice car, but as for the Porsche, I feel sympathy for those suffering with the flesh-eating strain of the gearhead disease

I can trade you a running 87 4Runner with 450,000mi for the dead Vette. Straight up.

I finally bought a brand new car, with a warranty, and its pretty damned quick and fun to drive.

Now I can't afford to do any track days or autocrosses with it.

Be glad you can afford to do automotive events and worst case, rent or borrow a car until you can get one of the other's online again.

Robbie wrote: I bought a set of viggen wheels last year for $100. So they are out there cheap. In fact, I am not planning to use them currently so if you want them...

Un-bent? I'll take them!

If bad things come in threes as folk lore would suggest you should be all set for a while. You also might want to consider a fourth car.

Okay... Corvette resolution: The negative battery terminal had been loose, apparently, and came off the battery. And if it hadn't have been TWELVE HOURS since I brought it home, I probably wouldn't have been so angry and frustrated and I would have started checking things my own self. But... Seriously... It shouldn't die after 10 hours. They actually ended up giving me a new battery, anyway, and the service guy came out to my place to look at the car. The dealership response was top-notch.

Then, even though I know this will take away all of the sympathy and good vibes I've gotten, I'm fine with that. The option codes for a Corvette are on a sticker inside the glove compartment. I didn't even up checking them when I bought the car because it was acceptably optioned and well-priced and only had 17k miles on it. I was fine with the deal I was getting regardless of anything that might have come on the car that I didn't know about. I figured I'd end up doing a suspension and/or brake upgrade once I really started putting some track miles on the car.

I don't know if you know this but you need electricity (well you can get in with the bladed key and pulling some release cables) and not to be furiously angry, so once the car was working again I checked those option codes. I saw, "Z51," and my jaw hit the floor! FE3/Z51/J55, that's sport suspension and heavy duty brakes, trans cooler, oil cooler, etc. So, holy smokes! So now the car-ma has swung the other way and I take it all back. I'm doing okay!

(And thanks to Robbie I'll have some wheels for the Saab!!)

wlkelley3 wrote: Lets see, you have both a 911 and a C6 Corvette and we're supposed to sympathize? OK, Sympathize with you.

Came here to say this. #1st world.

I'll play
My supermodel wife wants to fulfill my every carnal need...EVERY DAY! I keep telling her "honey, twice a week is fine, I don't need it every day" but she insists. When we're done, there's bacon to bring the electrolytes back up to snuff.
Then there's my kid. He's independently wealthy and builds race tracks in exotic locations. He says he needs me to drive various exotic and race cars around them regularly to "season" the pavement. There are 100's of sets of tires and brake pads at every track so I can just keep on going.
I won't even start on the 6-figure tax bill I have coming up. I mean, someone gives you a lottery ticket (didn't even have to spend the dollar) and it happens to hit and now I owe millions to the government!
That's ok, in a few months I'll be living on the private island I bought in the Caribbean. Of course that means I'll have to constantly rub sun screen on my supermodel wife....
One day, things will get better....

I empathize. There is a power steering leak (just found) on my 4Runner, and when I turned my A/C in my Forester on today, it was a bit of a rattle at idle.

I'm hoping I don't have to do a PS pump and an AC Compressor on Sunday.