anyone ever wish that their car would just blow up?

bigcletus94

Registered User
I am tired of working on this heap for over seven months now. Day after day, either I'm fixing old problems or discovering new ones. I cant take it any more!! I'm going insane!! Everywhere I park it it leaves a nice lake of tranny fluid and coolant. Sometimes it just likes to crank and not start for awhile. Sometimes the temp gauge climbs all of a sudden for no reason. Thinking about leaving it unlocked in the ghetto and seeing what happens. Anyone else feel the same way about your car? Am I the only one?
 
Put your SC into a carage for a month and lock the door.
Forget it for a moment and after a while you will be again full of
enthusiasm about it... Trust me... I have been awaiting mine back from the body shop almost 4 weeks now...
 
yeah i'm hoping that about 5 mo's in storage will remedy my annoyance with my car. i'm hoping that i'll miss the crap out of it. also i should have a nice stack of parts to install by the time i get it out. that should fix it! untill then, i'll just enjoy my reliable old pickup for the winter.
 
Hang in there

There were times I wanted to throw in the towel too. I've owned mine 11 years now, and the car went through some fits, especially at 5 years through 8 years old, which cost me a lot of $$$ , and my wife and I were really financially strained from it at times. Most every common SC complaint (except headgaskets thank god ) reared it's ugly head for me then. I couldn't even consider mods because I had all I could do just to keep the car going.

Weird thing is, once I got past it, the car became very reliable again, and she's got over 205k on the clock ! In fact, the last 3 years my SC has been like a new Honda, with only maintenance being required. And the previous repairs caused me to go overkill with maintenance, just for peace of mind . Ironically, NOW I can easily afford to fix the car when she breaks, years ago it was tougher . Life is like that though...

I find myself driving it lately and think...13 years old, 200k + miles, and it occurs to me there's no excuse for the car to run this well. It really still impresses me that it starts without a tap or knock, throws no smoke, idles smooth, and accelerates with such alacrity that she can still chirp second gear in 90 degree heat . And I really can't think of any other '89 model that would get me the stares it generates. I get into conversations at gas stations about the car! I still think the styling holds up today, and from what people at the shows I take it to say, many others share that feeling. They sure like it, even if they don't know much about it.

All this to tell you; there are never any guarantees, but sometimes, sticking it out is justice hard won, and sweet. Not everyone can endure the $$$ toll these cars can bring, but , at least for me, I'm sure glad I did.

Good luck no matter what happens.

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wow................that was very inspirational. i'm going to enjoy driving my sc home from work today more because of that. i guess it's something that should stick in the back of all our minds.

thanks man
 
I've felt like giving up before too. Matter of fact my 92 had sat in storage for over a year because I was so sick of it. I got it out this summer and took it to carlisle and had no problems from it except it threw me a check engine light on the highway going through ohio, but then it went off and hasn't came back on since. I even mangaged to evade the pennsylvania hwy. patrol with it.

My 90 SC I liked then it blew the head gaskets and it sat in my garage for about 5 months. Now I have the heads off it and am going to upgrade every part I can before putting it back together, even if it has to sit like it is for a year. Might as well do it once and do it right.

I also have a nice german sports sedan to take me around since I don't drive my SC's anymore. I notice the more I drive the SC's, the less I liked them and the less special they were to me. They became just "cars" to me.

Now they are my toys, that only come out to go to the car shows, and maybe I'll drive an SC to work on a nice day, but for the most part, they are toys.

Go buy an Escort LX and then you'll have a new found love for the Thunderbird SC.
 
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Scott, watch those cylinder walls. The heads on my car have only been off a month and I have everything covered up, but still the walls are showing some rust. Its not a big deal for me because I am junking the car but if you are rebuilding your engine keep it wet with oil or something. It would be a bunch of extra work to hone the walls because of rust. You'd probably be looking at removing the engine as I don't think you can drop the oil pan and get the piston out of the way with the block in the engine bay.
 
Well a car is a piece of machinery. It requires maintenance to keep it going. I have a 78' El Camino it's 24 years old, I have owned it for the last 10 years and have had to replace everything except the engine (I have had to replace a pushrod, and pull a piece of fiber from a lifter that caused it to bleed down quickly and tick). But when you have a car that has in excess of 300,000 miles it is expected. Every time you start the car run down the freeway all the parts are wearing out so you will get to the point that almost everything seems to break at once. Hell I had the tranny go out and it sat for almost a year until I finally blew a headgasket in the SC. I decided it would be quicker and cheaper to put a tranny in El D, than to replace headgaskets on the SC. Well after the tranny went in the water pump bearings went out, when I removed the water pump the outer ring of the balancer was rubbing on the timing chain cover. Then the steering box started leaking. And finally The pin that holds the spider gears in the rear end broke and everything decided to push it's way out through the rear cover. Oh ya and the axles decided that they wanted to go their separate ways. Luckily Vernon was steering when I was pulling it home and felt "something wasn't right" and stomped the brakes, the right wheel was about 3' from the body.

Well I got that replaced and all is well for now....

The SC still sits in the driveway headless (WD-40 works great for keeping rust away). And I have too many parts to list ready to go back on it. I should have just dropped one of the other engines in it, but I didn't. I am sure to have problems when I get it back together, after all it is 13 years old and has had a HARD life.

If you don't like working on cars by a new one, or buy something else as a daily driver (Or move across the street from work, like I did). You will ALWAYS have things break, wear out, or just completely explode if you keep a car long enough. Unfortunately for cars time does not heal any wounds, it just comes with the territory.

(Insert picture of cat hanging from close line, with caption that reads "Hang in there")

Jeff
 
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