Worst 1st day of car ownership ever.

[bigvegan]

So I bought a '96 Camaro Z28 ragtop yesterday, as a replacement for the Civic which I'd been driving for the last ten years but finally totalled a couple of weeks ago when the woman in front of me got confused merging onto the freeway and decided to park. (Totally my fault, but by the time I swiveled my head back from looking for oncoming traffic and hit the brakes, there wasn't much I could do. I just hadn't expected her to stop on the on ramp.)

Got a pretty good deal, and had one of those very rare for me moments where I HAD TO HAVE the car, and bought it without getting it checked out first. Not the best move, I know, but the previous owner had taken reasonably good care of it, and reason wasn't really functioning. Driving a V8 Camaro after 10 years in a 106hp Civic and a week or two in a PT Cruiser rental will do that to a guy.

So I fired it up this morning to take it in for some new tires.

All was good. The engine sounded gorgeous coming through the flowmasters, accelerating through the gears with the short-shifter was fine except for a slight grinding going into first (help me here, clutch? throw-out bearing? something horrifyingly more expensive? no biggie?), the easy wheelspin with the traction control turned off was pretty fun.

But then, after a mile or two of driving, the oil pressure gauge started going to 0 at every stop. It sounded fine, but 0 oil pressure's never good. The previous owner had had this exact problem and supposedly had it fixed 3 weeks ago, so I drove it back to the shop where the work was done and left it, and they don't think they'll be able to look at it before Thursday.

Good thing I didn't bring back the rental.

I swear, I didn't expect an 11 year old Camaro to give me the same reliability as my 10 year old Civic (looking at the novel size list of repair records kind of gave it away), but having to take it in for service after the first 5 miles was a little frustrating. Especially since I was heading to the tire shop.

Having to unexpectedly stop someplace where you'll probably have to spend a fair bit of money on your car, ON THE WAY to somewhere else to spend money on your car pretty much pegged the angst-meter for me this morning.

I sure hope I can get it back on the road this week. I'd love to wring it out a bit on Sunday at an autocross, http://www.solo2.com/eventpage.asp?e...5-E6EF68803944} , as I really need to get a feel for RWD again, and an autocross is a pretty safe way to make silly mistakes.

Anybody else have terrible new/new used car stories?

[NOT A TA]

1980 while in college my 68 camaro was stolen,decided to buy a brand new car at my uncles chevy dealership using the ins money as a down payment. Couldn't swing a Z 28 so I ordered a black Monza Spyder to be built with a Buick 231 and a standard (V8's weren't available anymore). After months of waiting I was informed the standard was a no go but if I wanted the automatic they'd get it to me quickly. I said ok.

I anxiously watched as it was unloaded from the truck. It had been rubbing against the car in front of it ant the front bumper was wrecked! A week later after a new bumper was installed I arrived to take possesion. When I slid it into gear it made a loud clunk and I felt the torque shake the car! I slid it back in park and told them I felt like the motor wasn't bolted in or something. After some investigation they believed me. The long motor mount bolts were missing !!

Another week went by and I finally got pick up my new car! I got ready a little early morning to take the "long way" in my new ride. It had rained the night before and so I carefully dried it so there wouldn't be a single water spot on it. When I jumped in it I got soaked!!! The sunroof leaked and the cloth seats and foam were soaked !!!!! As was the ceiling, carpets underlayment etc.

I picked the car up a week later after a new gasket was installed. It snowed that night. Someone slid into the passenger side in the parking lot and wrecked the door!!!

A few weeks later the door was repaired and I again had my "new" car. There was a big keg party in the apt. complex I lived in so to be cautious I brought the car to another complex where a friend lived. The next morning when I went to retrive it one whole side had been burned when someone firebombed the car next to mine in the lot!!!!

This type of thing continued to happen to the car during the 4 years I owned it. The only orig paint left was the hood.My final thing was having to give it to my wife the month after I made the last payment as part of divorce settlement!!!

The ex moved back to her familys home. Her younger brother still lived there and had always wanted to drive it and when he got the chance promptly wrapped it around a pole!!!!!!!!

[ProTouring442]

Years ago when my dad worked at an Oldsmobile dealer, they had a man take delivery of a new Ninety Eight. After all was said and done, he got a hammer out of the trunk of his wife's car, walked over to the new car, and Wham! he put a dent in the 1/4! He looked up at the now freaked out salesman and said, "there, this time I put the first f*!%ing dent in it!

Shiny Side Up!
Bill
'72 442 "Inamorata"
'89 ASC/McLaren
www.FQuick.com/ProTouring442

[6'9"Witha69]

1980 while in college my 68 camaro was stolen,decided to buy a brand new car at my uncles chevy dealership using the ins money as a down payment. Couldn't swing a Z 28 so I ordered a black Monza Spyder to be built with a Buick 231 and a standard (V8's weren't available anymore). After months of waiting I was informed the standard was a no go but if I wanted the automatic they'd get it to me quickly. I said ok.

I anxiously watched as it was unloaded from the truck. It had been rubbing against the car in front of it ant the front bumper was wrecked! A week later after a new bumper was installed I arrived to take possesion. When I slid it into gear it made a loud clunk and I felt the torque shake the car! I slid it back in park and told them I felt like the motor wasn't bolted in or something. After some investigation they believed me. The long motor mount bolts were missing !!

Another week went by and I finally got pick up my new car! I got ready a little early morning to take the "long way" in my new ride. It had rained the night before and so I carefully dried it so there wouldn't be a single water spot on it. When I jumped in it I got soaked!!! The sunroof leaked and the cloth seats and foam were soaked !!!!! As was the ceiling, carpets underlayment etc.

I picked the car up a week later after a new gasket was installed. It snowed that night. Someone slid into the passenger side in the parking lot and wrecked the door!!!

A few weeks later the door was repaired and I again had my "new" car. There was a big keg party in the apt. complex I lived in so to be cautious I brought the car to another complex where a friend lived. The next morning when I went to retrive it one whole side had been burned when someone firebombed the car next to mine in the lot!!!!

This type of thing continued to happen to the car during the 4 years I owned it. The only orig paint left was the hood.My final thing was having to give it to my wife the month after I made the last payment as part of divorce settlement!!!

The ex moved back to her familys home. Her younger brother still lived there and had always wanted to drive it and when he got the chance promptly wrapped it around a pole!!!!!!!!

You have the best bad luck story ever!!

[WS6]

OMG that's is the best bad luck story ever.

bigvegan I am betting the oil pressure sensor is bad. At least that's what I am hoping for you. I'm at 162k on my 96 formula. It needs some long term maintenence like oil pan gasket, AC, valve springs, and valve stem seals, but the car has been fantastic for me. Enjoy the Z

[Mr.VENGEANCE]

W.....t......f....

[Turbo T]

NOT A TA, you totally win dude. That thing was cursed!


Sorry, but my story is ridiculously long, as it's still in progress (the '87 Turbo T in my sig), and in fact, just today took a dramatic turn for the worse. Again.

A friend of mine had bought the car in August 2005, and knew nothing about it. He was the stubborn impulsive type, and against my advice basically bought the thing sight unseen. Shortly afterwards, he was notified that he'd be going to Iraq for the next 18 months, and wanted to sell the car. Some local yokel was offering about half of what he paid for it a few weeks earlier, and he was thinking of taking it. I had been saving 3 years of Army pay (in other words, about $12.53) to dump into my '80 Z28 back home. However, I didn't want my buddy to get screwed, and I didn't want to see a car with potential get DONKED (this is GA, after all). I finally gave in, and got an amazing deal.

Of course, there's no such thing as an amazing deal. When I forked over my hard-earned cash the day before Halloween 2005, the only thing apparently in need of repair was the digital dash, which I found out by running out of gas on the highway the next day when it was reading that I still had 6 gallons in the tank. Oh well, I didn't like the digital look anyway. I'll just swap in an analog version available in other turbo Regals. No biggie right? Well, the wiring under the dash looked like it had been cut and re-spliced 6 or 7 times by a blind chimpanzee, mostly due to a hack job stereo and alarm install (or 2 or 3). When I realized this was going to take more time than I initially planned, I yanked out the driver's seat to give myself a little more room to work under there. That's when I saw the spot...

"Hmmm... that doesn't look right" (famous last words). It looked like the carpet was secreting tar in one spot where the seat bracket bolt came up through it, which confused me more than frightened me. Honestly, I still don't understand what that junk was, but in any event, I yanked out the carpet to get a better look. That's when I saw the holes. Lots of 'em. Well only 5 of them, at first, but then I started poking around, and after a few hours, I had racked up a bunch more. I only counted the ones bigger than a golf ball: 17. Ouch. Pretty much every seam in the floor that had been slathered with the factory seam-sealer "putty" or whatever that stuff is, had held moisture, and rotted everything beneath it (Thanks GM!). The leaking t-tops didn't help either. I eventually became obsessed/hysterical, and followed the rusty spots into the trunk, and all throughout the t-tops. Then onto the firewall in a few places, which lead me to other "minor issues".

Did I neglect to mention the fender bender that occurred the day before I purchased the car? Cause my "buddy" did. Some guy had left his F-150 in neutral, and it rolled through three rows of parked cars, and tagged the right front corner, cracking the header panel, headlight bezel, and fiberglass filler panel behind the bumper. My buddy didn't really give it more than a once-over and thought it was fine. It wasn't. The 20-year old fiberglass cracked like a... well, like a cracker. Same with all that high-quality GM plastic trim that had just been conveniently discontinued and was now ridiculously expensive (of course).

Fast forward 15 months, and the car still hasn't left the garage. Over the passage of time, I began to notice other things like dry-rotted vacuum lines, a gummed up throttle body and intercooler, boost controller that was melted to the downpipe, dry-rotted/heat-rotted ignition wires, tranny and oil pan leaks, a broken motor mount and trans mount, a radiator that fell apart like it was booby trapped when I tried to replace the hoses, melted 3rd brake light from the faulty brake switch that wouldn't turn the lights off, a trans cooler with a chunk of cinder block wedged in it (don't ask), a sway bar that looked like it had been broken for about 10 years, leaking fuel lines (dripping right onto the exhaust pipe, no less!), and a bunch of other "minor" things. Guess what, it still doesn't have the gauge cluster installed, and the t-tops are still in pieces.

Here's where the really rotten part comes. As I was reassembling everything with the t-tops a few weeks ago, since there's no online walkthrough or anything like that, I just kind of tried to go in the reverse order that I took everything apart. I started by sealing down the base trim pieces that the weatherstrip sits on. Well, at some point I realized I with those pieces on there, I couldn't fit the big long one-piece 'stripping that somehow goes over and under it at the same time (thanks GM!). By pulling off the trim pieces that were already sealed and cured with brand new 3M adhesive, they bent like tin foil. In fact, I'm pretty sure that's what they're made of. Anyway, I was tired of mucking around, and ordered the stainless steel powdercoated T-top kit which replaces every single piece. Nice kit, but it ain't cheap, as you can imagine. Something else to point out... having recently finished up my time with the Army, I'm shipping the car back to CT on the 30th, so time was an issue. I order my parts (a few other odds and ends in there too), get the confirmation e-mail from DHL that it shipped that afternoon, and patiently wait. And wait. 10 days later, and 10 days later to packing everything up and moving, and I have no parts. I recheck the DHL shipping e-mail, and look for the tracking number. I plug it in at DHL's site, and it turns out the stuff was delivered 4 days ago... TO SOMEONE ELSE!!!!!!11

I start making frantic calls and can't get ahold of anyone who can give me any real answers about where my stuff is and who's fault it is that I don't have it. DHL won't/can't do anything without hearing from the shipper, or unless the person it was delivered to calls them to file a non-acceptance claim. DHL won't even tell me the address of the other place it was sent. The company I bought the parts from just so happens to be moving to a new place as well, and (I kid you not) the day after they shipped my stuff to someone else, they disconnected their phone and internet to move everything to the new facility. The recent rainstorms in the North East have held them up, and now they have NO PHONE and NO INTERNET until next MONDAY, at the earliest!! MONDAY, as in April 23rd! Of all the times for a shipment of parts for this car to be late, it has to be NOW!? And the one that's costing me $1200!? I have less than a week before everything I own is on a truck to CT, and the car can't be shipped unless I want to pay the extra $500 for an enclosed trailer, and the extra $300 to get it delivered "to my door" because I can't go pick it up from the terminal in CT like I was planning. I don't trust the "tarp and duct tape" method on a trailer that's out of my hands for 10 days, especially where there have been record rains in the last few days on the east coast. I really don't know WTF I'm going to do at this point, besides maybe set the car on fire.

The government movers are coming here on the 26th, I'm supposed to be driving up a different car on the 27th, and the lease is up on the 30th. Anyone have a flux capacitor and some plutonium I can borrow?

[shmoov69]

NIce Monza dude! LOL! That is pretty good (on our side and bad on yours!).
My little story is about 15 years ago, My dad went to an auction and ended up buying a 84 Dodge Dayton Tubo Z for me since I was looking for something cheap to drive instead of the Camaro. So I looked it over (was not too happy with it) and payed him the $900 he paid for it. It had a mismatched front clip on it (first sign). I had to put brakes and a battery in it to make it go. Then new tires. Then put in an axle shaft after that. Then put in a computer after that. Then put in a steering part (don't remember what exactly) since the thing drove squirrlier than a freakin' clown car, after that. Then ended up putting a used engine in it (when it started overheating from the cracked head) after that. Then had to put a used 5 speed in it when the gears chucked. Then a new motor mount in the back. Then the last straw was the new tires ended up being eat up on the front because the front end was so fubar'd.
So lets total this up, $900 for the car. $2,700 in all the other crap. Sold it for $700! That equals a net loss of $2,900!
I would have been better to have gone and gave the people selling it $900 and told them to just keep the car!
The next car I bought was a $100 '78 Pontiac Grand Prix. The door was tied shut when I bought it. I put a battery in it, changed the latches and such from side to side and drove it for 3 years and sold it for $350. I did however have to put a radiator in it when it split a seam and a toggle switch for the heater blower. Oh, and a tie rod when it broke off going 60mph (the thing still drove straight and made it the rest of the way to work after I tied it up off the ground with a shop rag. WTF!?!?!? guess the tires being worn kept it where it was supposed to be?). Now the car did not have reverse (make sure that you park where you can get out!), or 2nd gear, and the passenger door did not open and had to hold onto the drivers door while turning right because sometimes it would swing open and would not restart for 30 minutes after driving. But was the best $100 bucks I ever spent!

[samuel good]

that car must've been possesed! "Christine" much?

[bookends]

a few years back I was selling cars at a chrysler dealership. another salesman sold a sebring convertible to a couple. as they were driving off the lot the husband (driving) was messing with the stereo and pulled too far out at the end of the drive and got the front end removed by a passing 18 wheeler. to make matters worse they had declined the gap insurance.

[blackbeast]

couple of years ago in my home town. A girl I went to highschool with was getting ready to pull out of the dealership with a car she was testdriving. At the same time some moron was doing a wheelie down the road on the sport bike. He loses it, and proceeds to superman it into the drivers side door. He didn't make it. And needless to say she didn't buy the car.