FUCK YOU, CAR! FUCK YOU! >=(

We've all had those lovely little problems with cars. My uncle currently drives an ancient Ford Taurus with a broken CV axle (IIRC) that he got for $150. It makes this just fucking godawful noise that sounds like my 16-month-old nephew banging on pots and pans whenever he makes a turn. My OTHER uncle is driving a car he got for 1,500 that has fucked up electronics and a broken airbag.

Me? My '95 Civic is... MOSTLY reliable. The biggest problem right now is the fact that my brake pedal's really spongy, and I need to bleed the lines. Aside from that, the only other problems have been a broken brake light switch, a leak in the brake lines (which cause the spongy pedal) and the driver's side window going off its track.

What about everybody else? Regale us with your horror stories of cars just generally fucking up in any way possible.

Btw, my car has ABS brakes. I read a few DIY guides, and they mentioned some ABS systems needing a scanning tool while bleeding the lines and I was sorta wondering if that applied to me, too. I'd like to avoid having to take it in and pay 200 bucks on top of the 400 I'm gonna need to pay for replacing the timing belt if at all possible.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Heh, I just remembered the last car my parents owned.

It was a 2000 Chrystler Voyager minivan, bought brand new. Worst fucking thing ever.

-A/C broke at LEAST once a year. In Florida.
-Emergency brake release broke. 'Twas fun times watching a mechanic remove the shell below the steering wheel and poking around trying to find the line so he could release the e-brake.
-Computer error caused the bloody thing to just massively fuck itself up. It was shuddering, stalling, and eventually it got so bad that we drove it to the first auto repair shop we could find and had them fix it... only to be told that they couldn't do anything and that the dealership had to do it.

Ugh. Never buying another car from that company ever again. In the five years we owned that thing from brand-new, we had more problems with that car alone than we had with any other we'd bought in my lifetime, and all the other cars we used.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Yeah. The best part is that my uncle has absolutely no intent of getting it fixed. His logic is "hey, when it brakes down, I'll just sell it for more money than I bought it for!"

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Originally Posted by Zephyrin

Um, if you have spongy pedals, and a leak in the line, it's because everytime you step on the pedal, it loses fluid, and everytime you let up on the pedal, the line will then suck air in to replace the lost fluid, causing your spongy brakes. This is very dangerous, I might add. Get it fixed ASAP.

It has nothing to do with the ABS, but it will still probably run you 2 to 300 bucks.

Actually, the leak got fixed a while ago when I had maintenance done on my brakes, or so I've been told. The guy I took it to though got a big recommendation from my co-workers, though, and I more or less trust him (and besides, he reattached the door handles on my driver's side window while he was putting it back on its track).

You don't have to tell me that it's dangerous though. Nothing beats the "thrill" of sitting in the emergency lane on a somewhat busy 2-lane street, waiting for traffic to clear so you can merge, only to see your car starting to inch forward, despite the fact that the brake's on the fucking floor. Thankfully, that's only happened once, but even so, I'm wanting to get the lines bled ASAP. Money's pretty damn tight right now, though, hence the question.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

The repair was made... oh, I'd say a month or so ago. Maybe a little more. My memory loves to fuck with me, remembering completely trivial shit like something from an essay read in class that has absolutely jack-all to do with the actual CLASS, but won't remember important stuff like when shit got done.

Thanks for the help, though, Zeph. As soon as my parents get back this week, I'll drag one out to help me bleed the brake line.

I was speaking idiomatically.