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It has been several years since the family has had any real issues with our cars. That seems to have changed in just the past week or two.
I already told my story about the MG coil/electronic distributor dying on the road 100 miles from home. Hey, its 58 years old and stuff happens. Because I carried spares for both and with assistance from a total stranger, I was back on the road 2.5 hours later. That was not the final chapter. The old points and condenser distributor got me home and I ordered another electronic distributor. I just spent two days this week trying to install it without success. Working with manufacturer’s tech support the only conclusion we could come to was it was defective as it would not engage the final 1/8”. I have another coming at the end of the week. One car down.
My 20 year old F150 truck has been not been shifting into gear on the steering column like it should for a couple weeks. I looked up U-tube videos and came to realize this is a rather common Ford problem and if not fixed, one is not going anywhere. To fix it I took it to private mechanic I’ve used who ordered a used steering column, which he suspects he will be needing to fix the internal issue he believes is the cause. If I was 20 years younger I would tackle it but I tried getting under the dash and I knew it wasn’t a job I wanted to do. Two cars down.
The cruise control on the wife’s 9-year of Subi’s goes out almost on the same day. Too modern for me to consider doing anything to it, so we dropped it off at the local shop. I’m hoping its not the cruise at all but rather a defective catalytic converter. Weird as that sounds that’s how Subaru’s often tell their owner’s it needs to go into shop and have the ‘codes’ read. Third car down.
Only car left is the 11-year old Audi. Knock on wood. Its never been a daily driver and now that I am trying to sell it, as of today it is. My wife thinks its trying to tell us to keep it, since its not that old!
Friday night we saw at least fifty Ford Model A's, all driver's. And I really smiled when I saw one leaving by himself in the pitch darkness (most left earlier and in small groups). I wished him well in my mind. That's truly an Old Car.
Not a fan of the car repairs. It was the main reason we used to trade our vehicles in after a few years back in the day. I think Donna is right. Keep the Audi!
Nah, no need. By the end of the week all should be well again. Just odd how it all hit at the same time.
I really love the old truck; it almost drives itself and thankfully it has nothing modern to go wrong. As soon as the Audi sells I plan to drive the truck to TN and have a new bed install, since that is the only area with rust.
Hey, Dave...so that would be a what? 1997 or so F150? Is it an automatic or column shifted standard? Which engine?
'97 XLT supercab (first year so it just has 3 doors) with 6.5' short bed. 4.6L Triton V8 engine. I've had many, many people familiar with the engine say its easily good for 250k; I hope so. I've had the truck since 2008.
Today's repair turned out to be good news - a claim shell part had broken and some bushing were loose. My mechanic picked up a 'parts' steering column and the total fix was just $150. Try that with a modern car! Speaking of more modern one's the shop looking at the wife's Subi could not find any indication as to why the cruise light was blinking, and the cruise not working...... all was working properly today. They spent an hour trying to get it to act up. Cost $80 and nothing resolved.
08-27-2017, 06:48 PM
Old Cars
