According to You: What’s the one repair you couldn’t successfully overcome?

Your answers to our latest question prove one thing: the powerlessness felt by someone when working on a vehicle by themselves isn’t unique to you, dear reader. Plenty of us have been there. Perhaps we are there right now, trying to find a solution, a permanent fix, or just a quick repair to get us down the road.

No matter, let’s seek comfort from our fellow members of the Hagerty Community, as we learn about the one repair we couldn’t successfully overcome.

Cracks, sometimes with cranks

@Sunnyboy: My dad and I had to give up on our Nash Metropolitan. We had already successfully rebuilt the engine TWICE—once for pistons, then 200 miles later for a crankshaft—the cost of trying to save money by only doing “what’s necessary.”

But when we tried to fix this nasty clicking sound that happened in the front end on left turns, we discovered it was a large (2–3 inch) crack in the unibody where the upper A-frame was mounted. We could not weld, and no welder we knew (and we knew some really good ones in the O&G industry) would touch it. Plus we knew the weld would not pass safety inspection.

So we sold the car “as is.” This was long ago in the early 1970s when welding tech was somewhat more primitive, at least where we lived.

@DUB6: I welded a broken crankshaft from a Ford 8N tractor once, on the advice of a “tractor guy” and based on the assumption that rpm never got over 1500—therefore, little stress. I clamped, braced, measured, and remeasured about a hundred times for straightness, even welding three rods along and around the counterweights, then stick-welded and air-cooled in small increments, and really thought it would hold. Which it did, for about 2 weeks of mowing and light blade work, at which time the engine had to really torque down for a stump pull, and SNAP, clatter, clatter, thunk. The replacement (engine, not just crank, as the internal damage was pretty extensive) is still running fine, some 15 years later. Turns out it wasn’t rpm I should have been considering; it was workload.

@TG: I don’t know that I would try it on a crank, but my gas-less flux core wire welder does a remarkable job on cast for reasons I cannot explain

Timing belt

@TG: The timing belt on a 944 Porsche, but I did successfully complete the repair. I pulled the engine for other reasons that I don’t recall (I believe it was leaking balance-shaft housings), and the timing belt replacement on the mileage-unknown engine (estimated north of 200K) was a collateral repair. There is a timing-belt tensioning tool for the 944, but the repair cost was already pushing too close to the value of the car and I elected not to get a tool I would likely only use once. I tightened the timing belt using the sage wisdom of the internet (tighten until you can barely turn the long run of the belt 90 degrees).

I reassembled the car and had a fairly loud howl coming from the timing belt area. I backed off of the tension a little and the howl went away. I left the top of the cover off for inspection and eventually forgot about it. Now about two years later, the belt failed catastrophically and bent my valves into a literal S shape. I replaced the head, but damage had apparently been done in the lower end, and that is when I threw in the towel on the 944. Something I think about frequently as my replacement 1 Series approaches due for a timing belt. Wing it and ride with the original belt? Take it to the dealer and pay close to half the value of the car to get it replaced … ?

Rust

@Dean: Rust. No matter how hard I try to fix it, it always returns. Neil Young was right: it never sleeps.

A Northstar buffet

@ap41563: An oil-pressure sensor for a 2003 Cadillac DeVille with the Northstar. The sensor had about half an inch of clearance between the end of the sensor and the subframe, oil-filter housing bracket, and the exhaust manifold; there was a bunch of stuff for me to curse at while I was trying to get it.

I got it out finally after a couple of hours and then when trying to screw the new one in, the wiring harness for the plug snapped in half. My dad, who was nearby heard me drop the wrench and said, “Troubles?” I said, “Nope, not anymore. I’m calling a tow truck I am done.”

Being of sage wisdom, he said, “Now it can’t be that bad,” and crawled under there with me, looked up at it, and said, “I think this engine was designed by Satan. Call the tow truck and pay them whatever they want.”

Best $500 I spent.

@Billy: So speaking about the “dreaded NORTHSTAR engine,” the starter started to make a grinding sound, [and I] crawled under the car: no starter! Well, I found out that the starter was under the intake manifold so I had to remove everything up top. Next I found out that the starter killed the flywheel [teeth] so the trans had to come away from the engine. It has been almost a year of five more simple things on this barge and now the blower for the heat/AC went out. I have to remove coil packs, wire harness, etc. everything between the engine and firewall, tilt the engine three inches forward … hey, do you know anyone who wants a 2001 DeVille with 77K miles?!?

@ap41563: (again) I feel your pain! I inherited a 2003 DeVille with 96K and kept it till 170K. In my time with it, I did regular maintenance and several repairs. Including:

• Oil level sensor
• Oil pressure Switch
• Coolant Reservoir tank
• Water pump
• Intake manifold gaskets
• Coolant crossover gaskets
• Fuel vent tubs
• All actuators for the HVAC system
• Blower motor (that was easy, less than 10 minutes): you can get to it from under the dash on the passenger side.

Things I didn’t fix:

• Transmission’s overdrive solenoid
• The head bolts began to stretch (nobody was willing to take on the job around my area)
• Oil leaks from every single gasket on the engine

I loved the car, and I’m not upset about the work I did to keep it as my daily driver for seven years, as all that was cheaper than a car payment. I got to the point, though, that the whole driveline really needed to be replaced, and I couldn’t find anyone willing to do the work. If I tried to do it myself, I was worried I’d have to haul it to the junkyard, which would break my heart. I replaced it with a Buick with the 3800 V-6. Repairs I’ve done to it in the past three years: NOTHING! When the time comes, I know on the Buick, I can work through any needs it has and remind myself at least I’m not working in the DeVille Engine bay.

@audiobycarmine: I’ve got a 2002 DeVille with the NorthStar. I don’t think I’ll be sleeping very well anymore.

Hatching a plan

@Brushmore: It took me years to fix the hatch on my ’82 Corvette Collector Edition so it doesn’t leak. After many attempts I may have done it but I am afraid to call it a victory just yet. I am always nervous when I wash it, but the true test will be if I ever get caught in a surprise heavy rainstorm. The problem is that there is only one source for the weatherstripping and it’s up to the OEM specs.

Pushed out by pushrods

@Mark: Oh, I have one for the conversation. I purchased a good-running 1957 F100 short wide a year ago. 272 Y-block, factory auto transmission. I drove it 250 miles home with no problems! Put another 100 miles around town and one day it had an issue starting. Well, I fired it up, drove home, and parked it. Next day, no fire. So, into the garage, and I start chasing ghosts. Starter, new solenoid, I yanked the points and installed Pertronix ignition and coil, changed carb, fuel lines, battery cables, cleaned the tank and sending unit. Nothing. I pulled the valve covers to discover three bent pushrods. So, a year later, still no fire. Hopefully I will solve this.

Getting ungrounded?

@jim: I’ve got a 2004 Silverado SS that’s been in the garage for two years. It goes into low-power mode, so you clear the code so you can get it home. I replaced the gas-pedal sensor (the box on the firewall) and the sensor on the throttle body twice. Ran grounds to everything, checked all the wiring. I work on it ’till I’m frustrated, then try to drive it somewhere close to home. It works for a couple of trips then screws up again. [The truck] is sentimental because my wife bought it for me new for my birthday, made the payments on her waitress money ’till it was paid off. Still nice to look at. The red rocket! Anyone got any ideas?

@SG: Double-check the ground wire that is on one of the bell-housing bolts. You can access this wire through the passenger-side wheel well with the inner liner removed.

Hidden water pumps

@Ryan: Chrysler 2.7 V-6 water pump replacement. I actually didn’t have a problem changing the water pump itself—it was removing and installing the timing chain. Apparently there are tools to lock the cams in place, but neither online video I watched made any mention of this. The plastic chain guides seemed to disintegrate while installing a new chain, and even though all timing marks appeared to [be] correct, I could not rotate the crankshaft a full revolution by hand, and I didn’t dare attempt to crank it with the starter because I was afraid of bending valves. Car got towed to a shop that knew what to do, and it was OK after that.

I got beat by that engine, but I have since learned from my mistakes, and my daily driver is now a Chrysler Sebring with a 2.7—it’s a great engine that really only has a bad reputation because people don’t understand it.

Buried by time?

@Mark: Replacing the clock on my 1958 Imperial. When this car was assembled, the first thing down the line was said clock, and the car was assembled around it. You know you are in trouble when some enthusiast in France has put together a three-page website of tricks to get this done!

This is a cramped and complex panel, and the parking-brake release assembly has to be removed for access. Trouble is the release control shaft extends through the instrument panel (IP), and there is only one, narrow odd position angle where the assembly will clear the IP, the firewall/ floorboard, and steering column. That one component took a full day of trying to remove. Add in much blood offerings due to sharp raw edges inside the IP, and you have the job from hell.

I did get it done, however. I am stubborn.

Starting something … or not

@Gil: My ’73 Lincoln starts erratically. I need to turn the key to start several times before it cranks. Not so bad, but when the engine is hot and I shut it off, when I try to start it again all I get is dead silence. What wire or connection, when hot, separates to cause this? I’m frustrated by driving the car to an event and waiting ’till it cools down before it may or may not restart to get me home. Anybody have recommendations? I thought it was the ignition switch, but it is on the steering column and should not be affected by engine heat.

@DUB6: I had a similar issue on my ’66 Pontiac. I suspected the old, rebuilt OEM starter was giving up due to age and constant heatsoaks. I decided to replace it with a mini-starter. When I was re-routing the battery cable/solenoid wire to the mini, I discovered that the ignition wire had a “cooked” spot in the insulation (it had been bundled with the battery cable and wrapped with silver heat tape, but the proximity to a header tube obviously overcame the protection). When stripped back, this revealed only two of the multiple strands of wire [were] connected. The ends of the others were in close proximity, and sometimes made enough contact to let the voltage/amperage through—sometimes not (likely due to heat deforming the insulation a bit which changed with cooling, or maybe me just not holding my mouth right). I replaced the wire and re-routed [it] to better clear the header and voilà! Issue solved. I now think I could have left the OEM started on, but I love the mini, so the old one is on the shelf as an emergency spare.

@TG: Ford solenoids are easy enough to check with a flathead screwdriver. Leaky valve covers put an early end to more starters than most folks realize. A lot of parts stores will not honor a warranty on a starter if there is any trace of oil on it.

Red mist from the red-block?

@Forty2: Volvo 240 red block crank-position sensor thoughtfully mounted on top of the bell-housing. I thought mine had gone bad. Ordered a new one. Not cheap!

1. Buy multiple 1/4-inch-drive u-joints and extensions. 3/8-inch are too fat. You have maybe 3/8-inch of clearance between the back of the head and the firewall.
2. Spend half a day figuring out the best mix ‘n’ match of above to reach the single 8mm bolt holding the sensor in place.
3. Remove bolt. Aha!
4. Be unable to pull the sensor out of the bellhousing because it’d become stuck after, oh, 30 years.
5. Spend a few hours getting the little bolt back in.
6. Give up on the bolt, because the sensor wasn’t the problem and it’s not going anywhere anyway.

Woulda been easier to remove the transmission!

Red mist from the Fireball?

@Malcolm: Many decades ago, I had a 1975 Buick Skyhawk with a 3.8-liter V-6 engine. For all of 11.5 months, the car’s transmission would jump out of first gear, especially if I was trying to cross a busy street. The car went back to the dealer to be fixed. It continued to jump out of first gear. The clutch was replaced; the transmission was replaced. It still jumped out of first gear, then it jumped out of second gear, then third gear. Long story short, after four new clutches and five new transmissions, the transmission still jumped out of gear. My patience was wearing out, so I decided to trade it in for a Plymouth Duster. I was fed up with GM.

As I was in the car wash getting [the Skyhawk] primped up to deal, I looked down at the transmission boot and pushed it all the way down the shift stick. As I drove out of the car wash and onto the highway shifting from first to second and so on, I drove for about 10 miles for one last drive, the darn thing never jumped out of gear! And it never did for the 10 years I owned it. The rubber transmission-boot material was too stiff and after a while the seams on the boot ripped and was “perfect” for the duration I owned the Skyhawk! I never went back to the dealership as I was embarrassed with the situation.

The relentless pursuit of electrical gremlins

@audiobycarmine: For me it was whatever accursed computer/sensor problem that killed my Lexus SC400. I chased down every error code, replacing part after part, while amassing a formidable library of information throughout. Finally, in desperation, I had it towed to my mechanic, who had sophisticated diagnostic equipment. Said equipment turned out to be “agnostic,” as nothing faulty could be detected. The Lexus went off to NPR as a donation. The whole ordeal still bugs me.

Evaporating will for the EVAP

@Justin: I have two currently, and both are fuel tank vapor recovery EVAP issues that are triggering a check engine light. One is on a ’16 Silverado and the other on a ’02 Jeep Liberty. Also I’ve a ’87 Chrysler Conquest that simply will not run right: replaced the injectors, TPS, pressure regulator, and plenty of other parts. But it still idles rough, but occasionally runs great for a day or two. Then it goes back to spitting and sputtering, so if we can’t get it figured out it’s gonna get a Toyota V-8 from a SC or LS 400.

But the real one that’s killing me is a Genie 34/19 towable boom lift. Apparently it has some issue with the computer board, and replacements are simply not available.

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