...And how did you cope with the situation?
I'm thinking about proper, conked out at the roadside breakdowns.
Cars are generally more reliable these days, so my story dates back to the 1980s.
I had a Cortina estate and was on my way to my brother's house for Christmas Day lunch.
Water pump started weeping.
Might not have been so bad, but this led to play in the bearing, which allowed the cooling fan to wobble just enough to slice open the top hose.
I stopped before any permanent damage was done to the engine, and was AA Relayed to my lunch by a patrolman who was glad of something to do.
Bought a new water pump either the next day or the day after, and fitted it myself with my non-mechanically minded brother handing on the tools.
The car was reluctant to restart, but only because the leaking coolant had soaked the plugs and leads.
A wipe with a dry rag and a blast down the road to warm her up and all was well.
What's your story?
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1983, Putney High St, Austin Maestro..
The last in a long line of them by that car. , It was towed away by the metropolitan police before the AA could get to it, because it was causing a major jam. It racked up large bills in the met police compound because I refused to get it back.
The leasing company paid to release it and scrapped it.
Last edited by: Zero on Tue 3 Aug 10 at 10:29
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last year cam belt went on one of my transits
not nice to be towed in one of these with no power steering and no brakes
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When was the last time a transit driver touched the brakes?
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October 2008. Berlingo overheated.
The problem was that the fan housing had been knocked slightly, and the fan couldn't turn - possibly a result of hitting a sheep that ran out in front of me some time previously. It had never been a problem before, possibly because when the car was in motion, there was always enough air coming through to cool the engine. But on this occasion, we were sitting in a traffic jam. The Green Flag man came out, spotted the problem, got the fan moving, and the problem has not recurred. However, since then, I keep an eye on the temperature if I have to sit in traffic!
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>> However, since then, I keep an eye on the temperature if I have to sit
>> in traffic!
It might be better to keep an eye on sheep.
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1995 on a busy Friday evening, fuel pump diaphragm failed on Rover P6 V8 on the M5 in Somerset. Brittania Rescue did an excellent job of transporting us back to Dorset when they found a spare wasn't immediately available, unloading the car at the garage next door to our local pub.
When we walked into the pub a bit later that evening everyone started singing 'Rule Brittania'.
Actually, I've just remembered, it wasn't the last time. It was a filthy Friday evening in November, 1997 when the Alfa Sportwagon died on the motorway just west of Taunton on the way to catch the Roscoff ferry at Plymouth. Again Brittania Rescue did an excellent job, towed us to a garage in Taunton because there was no time for roadside diagnosis, organised and delivered a hire car for our week away and phoned Brittany Ferries to advise them of our late arrival.
A week later we picked up the Alfa, which had a new alternator and an unexplained or apologised for broken wind deflector. Three days later the charging light came on again. I found the main earthing point on the front bulkhead, took everything off and wire-brushed it, put it back together with a squirt of WD40 and had no more trouble...
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>> A week later we picked up the Alfa, which had a new alternator and an
>> unexplained or apologised for broken wind deflector. Three days later the charging light came on
>> again. I found the main earthing point on the front bulkhead, took everything off and
>> wire-brushed it, put it back together with a squirt of WD40 and had no more
>> trouble...
Ahh Alfa electrics eh? The headlamps on the alfasud I mentioned earlier used to flicker or turn off in damp weather. Caused by poor contact of the fuse in it's terminals. Sometimes you had to get out of the car in the pouring rain at night, open the bonnet and twiddle the fuse to get the lights to work again. Happy days..
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2005, just outside Cambridge, 70 miles from home, egr valve failed on the Mondeo 2.0TDCi whilst towing the caravan. Might just have limped home without the caravan, but decided to use Relay for once. The Mondeo didn't take kindly to towing and this was the first of several engine faults that were brought on by the extra load.
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1993 - Escort Mk2 with 2.0pinto conversion (done badly, but still good fun!). The capacitor on the side of the distributor failed. The only time I have ever used the RAC in anger. I knew something was up, because it was misfiring and kangarooing up the road a few days before.
The best one was my first car, an Alfasud. Something was wrong with the studs securing the inner driveshaft joint (tried loctite but no avail), and the driveshaft would come off occasionally when going round a bend. It took me ages to find the spacer which had rolled into a hedge on the side of the road. I got quite proficient at spotting where it rolled to through the rear view mirror when it happened again and again, until I sold the thing.
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1970ish, lane two of a busy dual carriageway somewhere between Liverpool and London, in a rented MK2 Cortina. The engine cut out, causing brown trouser moments to several nearby drivers. I rolled to a stop just short of an overbridge which had a RAC van parked on it, (no camera vans in those days). When the driver arrived he said it was the best entertainment he had had for ages watching the chaos I had caused. Although I was not a RAC member he offered to try and fix the car although he would have to leave if he was called to a breakdown. The problem, the tip of the moving contact of the points which the contact was riveted to had broken off.
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Our 2004 Renault Grand Scenic did in 2008. Myself, Mrs DP, the two kids, and the family hound stuck by the side of the road.
An enormous bang (loud enough to wake my 3 yr old daughter who was asleep in the back) signalled the departure of the clutch's concentric slave cylinder from this mortal coil. Apart from a momentary "weird feel" from the pedal about four miles back, it had given no warning, but the pool of hydraulic fluid dripping from the bellhousing, and the complete lack of clutch pedal gave me a pretty good idea what the fault was. Towed to a Renault indie who relieved us of a grand to get it going again. That was about a £300 saving on the dealer quote. Car was in Autotrader the day it was collected from repair, and with its new owners by the end of the week.
I have driven some truly shabby, starship mileage old knackers in my time, yet the second newest, lowest mileage car I've ever bought with my own money is the only one to actually leave me by the side of the road in over 10 years. Before that it was a 150,000 mile mk2 Cavalier SRi (fuel pump relay failure) back in 1996, and before that, a 170,000 mile Sierra 1.6 (coil failure) in 1994. Both fixed for about twenty quid and <10 mins easy DIY labour.
Last edited by: DP on Tue 3 Aug 10 at 11:15
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1979 - Citroen GS - Nearside driveshaft sheared from diff without warning 100mls from home.
The fact that it's 31yrs since that incident speaks volumes about modern car reliability.
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These posts just seem to justify what people have said in the 'Faults rarely seen these days' thread. More faults on the old cars but much cheaper to fix.
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Honda FK3 2.2iCDTi (current shape Civic), 5 months old, back in 2007, flat battery due to software fault in the ECU for the oil level sender. Required towing to Honda dealership.
This is the only car to have let us down like this in 21 years, even my awful company Vectra (circa 1998) managed to keep going despite its numerous and regular faults. SWMBO's temporary Focus did have an alternator problem but even this made it unaided to the dealer in 2006.
Convinced me the that Honda were having a bad day when they designed the current Civic, (assuming that the numerous happy Honda owners who placed Honda so highly in satisfaction surveys had experienced something rather better).
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>> Honda FK3 2.2iCDTi (current shape Civic), 5 months old, back in 2007, flat battery due
>> to software fault in the ECU for the oil level sender. Required towing to Honda
>> dealership.
Breaking down is annoying. A crap fault / failure like as the reason must make it ten times worse.
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>> Breaking down is annoying. A crap fault / failure like as the reason must make
>> it ten times worse.
Yes both SWMBO and my "Honda Happiness" was part exchanging the Civic for what seemed like a good price (in depreciation terms) for a VW Golf VI well before its third birthday because we could stand it no more....
Last edited by: idle_chatterer on Tue 3 Aug 10 at 18:19
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Last problem on one of my cars:
1998 - TVR Griffith 500. Drving along there was a loud clonk and the exhaust noise went from "throaty roar" to "Rolls Royce Merlin". The exhaust had split without warning at the point where the downpipes from the cylinder banks meet and the system just dropped onto the road. I stopped, stuck the exhaust on the passenger seat and drove home, fortunately only a couple of miles away. The noise was enough to wake the dead. I priced a new system at a TVR dealer, laughed and then got the old one welded by an indy garage.
Had a few problems with rental cars:
2000 in Los Angeles - Isuzu Rodeo. Car just ground to a halt and quick diagnosis revealed a complete electrical failure. Strangely, turning the key eventually started the car although no other electrical device would work and I drove back to the rental car pound in what seemed to be limp home mode and exchanged it.
2006 in Orlando - Chrysler Pacifica. Driver's seat collapsed whilst driving. I have the proportions of a rake so it wasn't my weight. Phoned up National and they brought me a Chrysler 300 as a replacement. Which was nice.
2007 in Pittsburgh - Chrysler Pacifica. Gearbox started clonking alarmingly during gear changes. Stopped, got out and saw what looked like an oil trail behind the car. So, once again, phoned up National and got another Chrysler 300 as a replacement.
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1999 Had a old sierra and the rear diff decided to break on the way home from work 2nd time it did this the 1st cost me £300.00 for a second hand unit fitted!, 2nd time it cost me £45.00 when i fit it then got shut it had done 150k.
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1976 ~ dirt in fuel system of Hillman Imp. I rang the AA and they fixed it.
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Cannot remember exactly but it was before "my conversion to buying Japanese"
MB Diesel - fuel pump, prior to that it was the single windscreen wiper motor and it was raining cats and dogs - the next thing to go was the car.
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Renault Laguna (my 1st one) 2005
Back box fell off just past Scotch Corner heading northbound towards Darlington on the A1
was in the right hand lane, and it dropped sending a shower of sparks all over the place, suprisingly I had a job getting someone to let me into the left hand lane to get to the hard shoulder.
Could not get it off, as it was still held on by the rubber mounts, called the AA - Police turned up and pulled it off for me using a crow bar from the back of the boot of their Volvo discarding the back box in the bushes at the side of the carrigeway
They even cancelled the AA for me, (the AA rang me to check I was OK) the police officer told me to carry onto Darlington and get the box repaired when I get there. which i did.
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Edit:
Get the box replaced when I get there.
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>> MB Diesel - fuel pump, prior to that it was the single windscreen wiper motor
>> and it was raining cats and dogs - the next thing to go was the
>> car.
Horrendously expensive, I've heard. The single wiper mechanism was fascinating to watch (if you're into that kind of thing!), but it used to wear. Taking it apart and greasing it kept it nice, but who would know to do that, apart from the well informed? Must have been a real cash cow for Mercedes.
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>1976 ~ dirt in fuel system of Hillman Imp. I rang the AA and they fixed it. <
And that was the only fault you had with an Imp, Mr Snail? And you were still driving it in '76?
I think they must have given you a special one - did you get it through the company scheme?
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1977 in Ormskirk town centre on market day. New Cortina, about four months old, and the clutch cable went. Car taken to Holland Motors in Southport from where I bought it.
Interestingly, the only cars that have ever let me down were my new Ford Cortinas. The first one that I had - 1971 Cortina 1600 GT - the gearbox went in Warrington town centre. Collected by Warrington Motors. !972 Cortina 2000 alternator packed up on the outskirts of Warrington.
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1979 on Shap in December... broken engine mount on a Mini 1000...
And since then I've owned such unreliable cars as Maestros, Montegos, Marinas, etc., etc. Funny isn't it...
'Supose this thread will be tempting fate for a lot of us!!
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January 2005 on the M1 northbound at junction 18... complete gearbox implosion on 53 reg Peugeot 406 HDi at only 105,000 miles. Managed to coast down the exit slip road and and into a layby.
The recovery truck took 4 hours to arrive. This was because I'm male, I was by myself, I knew what the problem was and the engine still worked so I had heating (in January remember). I didn't begrudge them the delay at all, I'd rather they prioritised lone women, families with children etc.
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>>Car taken to Holland Motors in Southport from where I bought
>> it.
Are you from these parts, Robbie? Holland Motors turned into M&S Ford and closed in about 2000. It was demolished and now a Lidl supermarket, a Domino's Pizza and a Johnstone's Paint Centre stand on the site.
The only car I have owned that used to let me down on a regular basis was a 1988 Sierra 1.8 Estate which used to cut out at will. The AA and my local garage couldn't work out what was wrong so in the end I part-exed it for a Citroen ZX. When I went to the Citroen garage to do the deal, the salesman took the Sierra for a quick spin round the block. I remained in the garage thinking 'please don't cut out, please don't cut out...'.
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>> >1976 ~ dirt in fuel system of Hillman Imp. I rang the AA and they
>> fixed it. <
>>
>> And that was the only fault you had with an Imp, Mr Snail? And you
>> were still driving it in '76?
I bought it new on 1st September 1974 and sold it on 3rd June 1976.
>> I think they must have given you a special one - did you get it
>> through the company scheme?
>>
I received the Rootes Group employees' discount by buying it at the specified dealer, but this was merely a financial perquisite and had no effect on the vehicle supplied. I worked in R&D at Rootes Group from 1964 to 1975, and during that time I didn't see any evidence that Hillman Imps were any less reliable than competitors' products of that era. On the contrary, the tests we conducted on competitors' products uncovered some unbelievable evidence of their poor design. Rootes Group design standards were very high in comparison. Rootes Group products were unjustifiably maligned by an uninformed public.
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>>>Rootes Group products were unjustifiably maligned by an uninformed public.<<<
The biggest problem was the motor trade who did not know what a torque wrench was for.
Grease gorilla and aluminium components = disaster. Hence poor public perception.
I ran a very highly (almost undriveable!) tuned, but well sorted suspension model (it had been been used for hill climb events by previous owner). Great fun, great performance.
The only car I have owned where I could change the clutch more quickly than the number 4 spark plug. Still nicer (and easier) to work on than a mini.
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"Rootes Group design standards were very high in comparison"
Yes, I remember the pneumatic throttle actuator on the early Hillman Imps, and the kingpins that used to seize up and the engines that used to blow head gaskets and warp the head and the transaxels that had weak synchromesh and the ...............
I was that man !
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...Rootes Group design standards were very high in comparison...
I thought the Imp was a tremendous little vehicle.
We used to get a lot of them overheating on warm days, but like the Stag, that was more down to bad maintenance than bad design.
In the case of the Imp, there was some trunking around the radiator fan, which of course was with the rest of the oily bits in the boot.
The trunking might split and Mr Home Bodger would leave it off.
The car would run fine, until holiday time when Mr H B would take it, fully laden, onto the motorway.
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>> Horrendously expensive, I've heard. The single wiper mechanism was fascinating to watch (if you're into
>> that kind of thing!), but it used to wear. Taking it apart and greasing it
>> kept it nice, but who would know to do that, apart from the well informed?
>> Must have been a real cash cow for Mercedes.
>>
Wiper @ MB dealer £500, Fuel Pump @ MB Dealer £750...................when you breakdown you have few options about who can fix it when you are away from home.
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The only time I've ever been stranded was 3 yrs ago when I t-boned a Passat with my Vectra-C and wrote both cars off. With all other accidents I've managed to limp home or to the car body repair shop. Breakdowns I've either managed to fix at the roadside or as per the accidents, limp home at reduced power.
Last edited by: VxFan on Tue 3 Aug 10 at 19:09
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About 1986. Cortina cambelt snapped at tickover.
Luckily it was a 2000 engine so no internal damage, unluckily it was Sunday afternoon.
No breakdown cover so hitched lift to friend's house, got new belt on Monday morning, got lift 50miles back to car and fixed it at side of road.
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>> About 1986. Cortina cambelt snapped at tickover. Luckily it was a 2000 engine so no internal damage.
On my urban commute, at about 30mph, my 1.6 Cortina suddenly lost power so I kicked in the clutch and was able to roll to a halt in a very nearby carpark.
I diagnosed cambelt and after an AA relay it was sorted with no other damage to the engine.
Late one night , many years ago, I suddenly lost power in my 1600E and on investigation found oil sprayed around the engine compartment.
No relay in those days but found someone to ferry SWMBO, me and the dead motor back to home.
I still smile at the trip. The car was put on a flat bed and then we climbed up and sat it the car for the trip home,
Sitting in my familiar vehicle on a motorway looking in the mirrors and going for the brakes out of habit was difficult to ignore.
The look on coach passengers as someone at their level gave a regal wave was amusing but car drivers swerving as they rubber necked us was not.
Elf n Safety - Pah!
p.s. a main bearing cap had snapped, piston wobbled and holed etc.
Main bearing came only with the block, with a vast cost to re- engineer the lump and no S/H engines as it was such a new model, I had to buy a full price Ford exchange engine. I assume they binned the bag of bits I exchanged.
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1974 Outside Stourbridge on what is now the road to Merry Hill Shopping centre.
Old Mini estate over very bumpy road, fuel pipe on SU pump fractured over the rear exhaust - mounted or rear subframe. Caught fire. Warned by following motorist and just managed to stop before brakes failed due to boiling fluid. Fire extinguished with another motorist's help.
Car left : hired car to get home.
Towed Mini home, replaced fuel pump, hoses, rear suspension rubber cone, rear brake cylinder and pipe and did another 20k miles in it..
Only other one was Rover 800 where the clutch failed in my garage as I started to drive out... oh and a Rover 800D where the turbo boost pipe fell off.. (both were company cars)..early 1990s
Oh and a Mercedes 260E - ignition lock collapsed on me .. and suspension arm pulled out of housing requiring welding. (I ma NOT a W124 fan: unreliable, heavy and cumbersome in my view). 1991.
SWMBO's clutch cable Peugeot 106 failed...1996.(oldest son driving)
As I have never driven a Renault, I've been spared other disasters. And I have never driven another Rover after the 800 (carp, carp,carp)
Last edited by: madf on Wed 4 Aug 10 at 09:08
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2005 IIRC.
Had a drive pulley (common problem on the 2.0T apparently) replaced on the Vectra under warranty and it fell to bits on it's first journey on the M4. Pulled off the motorway and into a business park. Retrieved various bits from tray under engine. Rescued by Vauxhall Assist (AA) and car recovered to my local main dealer 25 miles away - who originally did the warranty work. Vauxhall Assist wanted to take me to the nearest main dealer...
Red faces and a courtesy Corsa 1.2 "Twinport" ensued. Nippy little motor the Corsa.
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Despite an appalling list of collapsing jalopies in my past, I can't remember many occasions.
That doesn't necessarily mean that there weren't any occasions. It's just that they aren't the sort of thing you remember. You don't want to, and you are quite right of course.
What I can remember is a lot of occasions when a car almost let me down or I thought it was going to. Hundreds and hundreds. But they are all so boring and banal that you don't want to hear them. Lots of them have happened to you too. If you think they haven't you've just forgotten, creatively perhaps. No, no: your denials mean nothing to me. Cars are cars, and the more you have to do with the carphounds the easier it is to understand that complex proposition.
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A dark wet night in 2002, came back to my V40 in the airport car park in Copenhagen to discover I'd left an interior light on for 4 days and had drained the battery... Got it jump-started for free by the local equivalent of the AA, by palming them off to the Volvo Used Car Warranty people :-)
Also ran out of diesel 2 miles short of a service station on a German autobahn back in 1997...
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I was left almost stranded almost two years ago in my MK5 Golf. Coming back from a nice pub lunch my accelerator pedal became very limp and dead andthe car wouldn't exceed about 10 mph or so it seemed.
Managed to limp to near Chartwell in Kent kwhere I thought I might phone the AA and then realised that there was a SEAT dealer just north of Westerham. Limped into garage on a very hot Friday afternoon at 3pm and told them of my problem.The car was taken into their workshops and reappeared 40 mins later. They had taken out the accelerator mechanism and found something (a small stone) had fallen into the fulcrum part and lodged there thus restricting the angular movement.
I was so thankful for their help in this and would recommend them to anyone. I was quite expecting to have to get a taxi home and pick the car up the following week.
There are some gooduns out there!
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Up to now, 3 times in various cars, once on bike:
1) May 1995: driving mother's Rover 214 down to Cardiff - did a K-series on the westbound M4 just after J14. Needed £2.5k of recon engine and the (happily now defunct) warranty company didn't want to know. We chopped it for a Fiat Punto soon after, which ran faultlessly as long as we had it and is still trundling around now
2) October 1999: Fiat Bravo 1.6 - No. 2 fuel injector packed up on the A316 gyratory in the middle of Richmond. Thanks, Bosch. Lorry ride home. Goodwill payment from Fiat sorted most of the bill (seem to recall I paid the labour, which was all of about £50 - the part was £200-odd)
3) December 2006: through failure to understand proper function of reserve tap on bike, coasted to gentle halt in the middle of the Hop Oast roundabout on the A24. Thankfully very little traffic about. A mistake you make once
4) June 2010: rented Mercury Grand Marquis, packed up on Mass. route 44 near junction with I-495. No idea what the matter was - all I know is that it was a very warm 2 hour wait for the tow truck...
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I've had loads of flat batteries since Poland went to daytime running lights a few years ago, but there's always been someone around to give me a jump. I've had a few coil failures that have left me limping hope. The last time I was genuinely stranded was in about 2004/5 in the 605 with a fuel pump failure. My father-in-law towed me to some dingy back-street garage where I was stung for a few hundred quid because I had British plates.
Before that - 1995 with an odd electrical gremlin. That's it.
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My wretched, despicable Espace, it came home on a trailer 11 times in two years. Yes you read that right, eleven. Can't look at them now without getting cross.
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1969, in a 1966 Volvo 121 Amazon.
HT lead came off the coil.
Opened bonnet, put it back on. Away we went.
Things were easier in the old days.
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This was a VERY big letdown, contributed to by following satnav and ignoring road signs!!!
tinyurl.com/39p2jlr
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Thats nothing to do with Sat Nav, it never told them to ignore road closed signs,
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No but satnav took them down a road and then, further on the road was closed, a fact they chose to ignore. So satnav took them down the route and then they ignored signs.
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Didnt stop them turning round tho did it.
There are rules for driving in the outback, obeying signs like that is one of them, as is never leaving the car.
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Some people just have to try yellow snow though so even with flashing closed lights kangaroo corpses and no other vehicle for 3 days you will always get an idiot who knows better.
Anyone who would venture into the outback without a hard copy map obviously needs a check up anyway
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Last and only time was in 2002 when my aging Ford Sierra blew its head gasket big time going through Dorking. The previous owner had bodged the thermostat so that it never showed overheating so id been going round for months with the engine hot but after a 3 hour motorway trip, it finally said no more and went up in a cloud of blue smoke.
The car sat at my nans in Sussex for about 3 months until some great guys from the Sierra owners club came down from Brum and fitted a new HG for £100 cash. Drove it back with no probs - tough cars those Pinto Sierras.
I hated being so helpless hence my tendancy to go for reliability above all else, usually :-)
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I don't know - I wasn't there! They obviously weren't too clever, overall, that's for sure.
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LAST WEEK.
2006 Octavia. Burnt out clutch. Probably my fault. Details to follow in new thread. GRRR.
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When was the last time your car left you stranded? - Zero
