My catastrophic story "when it rains, it pours"

[pacificnwrider]

“When it Rains, It Pours”
Last week my daily driver, a 2006 Dodge diesel started blowing warm air with the A/C on.  I put it in the garage at my ex wife's house(mother of my children and we're still great friends) where all my tools are so I could trouble shoot and make any repairs.  This morning, I got a phone call from the ex, "I started my car this morning and a big bunch of white smoke poofed out for a long time.  Then it would do it every time I started it while running errands" Her 2002 Subaru just rolled over 301k miles; the 2.5 engine is known for head gasket failures.  I jump in my 77 SDV, and head the 25 miles toward her house; about 10 miles into the trip the ol' girl gave up the timing set(I think). 

I sit for an hour on the shoulder in 100f heat, sweating, laying back in the back seat listening to the great sound from my factory 8 track; the eagles.  Finally get to her house with the SDV on the back of a roll truck; put it safely under a car cover under a shade tree, and move on to the next broken car. 

Upon inspection, her car is definitely losing water into the combustion chamber.  The SDV is going to be yard art for a couple weeks until I can complete the engine swap; I was able to recharge the dodge A/C, and after an oil change, its getting left with the ex for kid transport until we figure out what to do next. 

Now to the task of finding myself viable transport; and I look to my 1978 F150(dad bought new) which is full of junk for the dump(it's been the go to the dump truck the past few years).  I head to the dump in 105f heat(by this time in the afternoon) to empty it so I can drive it.  After successfully suffering the heat and sun, with only minimal heat stroke, 

I'm on my way back enjoying driving my old friend I haven't driven in a while when the engine inexplicably revs up at about 50 mph.  I let off the gas, slow to about 30, pop in second(it's a C4 auto), and begin to accelerate again...pop it up in drive and it revs yet again...I limp it back to the ex's and put it in reverse to back into the driveway and it almost won't go at all.  I get that backed in next to the SDV, check fluid; its full and smells burnt.  I pull the pan, there’s clutch material and shiny metal shavings coating the bottom…ugh.   

In case you’ve read this far, and you’re counting, that’s 3 catastrophic vehicle component failures in one day.  Being the car addict I am, I have one left; so I’m back in air conditioned comfort of my home, hoping the 65 galaxie convertible can handle service as my daily driver for a while. 
Just thought I’d share. 

[R Schroeder]

Have them all towed to your local Honda dealer, and buy a new car.....ha

[Alan Harris CLC#1513]

Isn't it great fun playing around with these old dogs?

My 1965 Cadillac had an owner's manual that said something like " Your new Cadillac will give you much driving pleasure in the months to come".

They were built with months of service in mind and here we are still screwing around with them decades later. No wonder we are constantly frustrated.

[Gene Beaird]

Hey, that sounds familiar!!   

I had a recent run like that.  My wife's 95 Z28 quit one afternoon while she was out with a friend.  It got a ride home on the back of a roll-back.  Troubleshooting what appeared to be an obvious fuel pump failure revealed no issues since. 

Then, her other DD was run under the back of a pickup, hair-lipping the hood and pushing the radiator support back.  I got replacement parts, replacing the front fenders, hood, bumper cover, core support, radiator and condenser.  I got the core support, radiator and condenser replaced so the car was drivable.  Then the car went off to the body shop to install the other replacement parts, and a complete paint job.  When it came back, I evacuated and charged the A/C, which worked great......  for about two weeks. 

She came home one afternoon complaining that the A/C was blowing warm air.  I threw the gauges on it, discovering the high and low side were showing the same pressure.  Sooooo, on went a new compressor (which is not sitting happily on top of the engine as most Cadillacs we know and love), accumulator and orifice tube.  After evacuating and recharging the system _again_ we had 45-degree F air coming out of the vents at idle. 

That was two weeks ago.  So far, that has held up well, but now the digital dash is starting to flicker and do odd things (I have a picture of the dash displaying 999999 miles(!)). 

So yeah, one wonders why we continue to do this, but then you start looking at the truckloads of cash they want for a new car and you go drink the sticker-shock away. 

Good luck with your rebuilds, but as others have said, I'd be close to doing some trading, even though that Scooby is worth keeping just for the mileage bragging rights!   

[cadillacmike68]

Well, I have a boat that won't start (because wifey couldn't be bothered to start it for 6 months), the Fleetwood leaked a ton of oil or something while in storage, the DeVille convertible did the same in the garage, and I still have nearly 2 months stuck out here in the desert before I get home.

[TJ Hopland]

I have had days like that. 

Last time for me was around February when we had a week that was well below zero F.    Block heater on the diesel Suburban wasn't working and since it was not my daily driver I did not notice it starting harder on the more mild days.  On the coldest days I think the grease in the starter solenoid would get hard enough that it would not move.  Even if the starter moved its got a few miles on it so the compression ain't what it used to be so it needs the help of the heater.  So onto the next car my 05 Magnum it starts so I figure she can drive that and I will take the 80 Eldo diesel which has not been started in a few weeks.  I get the block heater plugged in and start clearing snow.  Get to the drivers door and its frozen solid (forgot about the slight thaw we had before the last cold snap and snow).  Thats about the time I notice the puddle forming under the dodge.   If the Suburban was not blocking the garage door I would have been looking at the wife's Mustang covert.   

Dodge goes to the dealer for what I thought was going to be a water pump turns out the coolant leak is the lower hose assembly which is something like $350 and they don't have one.  I figure while its there might as well get a few other things done and get them to give me a ride home to see if anything else will start.  Dodge ends up getting $2500 of work including new tires. The did warranty the lower hose part but not labor.  I did not argue since I don't have an extended warranty and its got 160k on it.

Once the Subruban got in the sun and with the battery chargers on it after a few hours it finally started and that went to a local shop to get a coolant flush (heat was weak at idle) and a new block heater.   They found the cord was the only problem and had one laying around so that was a cheap fix.  Still got the flush and the heat was much better.

Eldo started once I was able to get into it.