Car ownership runs the full gamut of emotions, from elation to misery and everywhere in between. This Wrenching Wednesday, let’s talk about annoyance. Something not as crushing as ventilating an engine block but still capable of properly getting on your nerves.
When it comes to noise, vibration, and harshness, I’m somewhere between an obsessive and a hypochondriac, I don’t like rattles, I don’t like squeaks, I don’t like clunks, and I don’t like anything that sounds wrong. So you can imagine what happened when my 325i decided to develop an exhaust leak.
Over the course of a week, the situation rapidly progressed from “Is that an exhaust leak?” to “Oh, God.” See, my 325i uses two exhaust manifolds, one for each triplet of cylinders. The midpipe-side flange connecting to a single collector is leaking, which means that my car currently sounds like the world’s angriest Geo Metro. It now makes an absolutely appalling racket, and I’ll need to seek professional assistance in order to rectify it. The studs are, to use a technical term, fucked, and my mini-sledge ain’t doing shit.
Mind you, that’s not the only way my 325i has been annoying recently. The window tint has deteriorated to the point where rear visibility is mildly distorted, but that’s really about it. It’s still a fabulous thing to drive, save for the exhaust leak, and that’s where the joy is. It’s comfortable enough, spacious enough, practical enough, and economical enough to make sense, while still being fun enough to earn grins. While it’s currently locked up in an automaker’s press fleet compound, as soon as it’s out, I’ll be treating it to a little exhaust work to make it better.
So, how are your cars currently annoying you? It could be a noise that drives you nuts, a phantom error, or a mildly aggravating cosmetic imperfection. Regardless, let’s chat about what’s going on, and what can be done to rectify it.
Gen 8 Honda Accord (manual btw)…Radio only works intermittently. When it does work it’s great. Then the station changes rapidly through the presets, the sound cuts off, then the screen goes blank again. So my current audio setup is a Bluetooth speaker connected to my phone.
Where to start..
Master Cylinder went out on the Mazda B-Ford Ranger. Still awaiting correct one to replace.
97 GC 5.9 Limited needs ball joints, and a tie rod, and the sunroof has stopped working, which sucks even more now that the air doesn’t work.
77 Cutlass Salon has a dent in the landau top, and a leak in the power steering somewhere, can’t get it registered and back on the road because I usually transfer the plate off the Ranger. My poor Cutlass is sitting in a parking lot with a tarp tied all over it due to the tornadoes taking away my parking…
Also, still daily-ing the 98 GC (apologies for the typo earlier), which has now developed a really annoying rattle in the driver’s door.
My olds 425 decided to pack up after I tore the bottom end and replaced the bearings. I noticed some scoring on one of the crank bearing journals but figured it’d be okay for a bit. But Shirley fucking not,of course it’s sounding like a tumble dryer full of badgers now,making me tear it up again.
My ’88 Jaguar XJ6 has up to now been pretty reliable, believe it or not. However, I just flatbedded it to the mechanic on Friday for a litany of problems:
1) Bad fuel leak at the rear of the car
2) Stuck fuel filler flap
3) Air conditioning won’t blow cold
4) Power steering fluid leak
5) Circuit failure light
6) The standard old bulb failure module light but that’s no big deal at all, the lights actually work
I haven’t talked to the mechanic yet; we’ll see what the verdict is.
My Tacoma makes noise whenever you drive over 65 mph. Apparently most 3rd gen Tacomas have the same noise since there’s actually a technical service bulletin about it.
My current fleet is pretty trouble-free, but I am a stickler for small details so these are my current irks:
My 2023 Crosstrek has developed an occasional white halo around the infotainment screen, so I need to get it brought in for a warranty replacement as soon as I get a free weekend where my wife doesn’t have plans for us.
My wife’s 2010 Forester has been a wonderful car, but I am trying to un-do the Florida sun damage that was caused by 12 years of sitting outside in the Miami sun before I bought it and brought it back to the midwest with me. The paint on the roof is very baked and faded, so I will be re-shooting it next weekend in my dad’s shop. I just replaced the headlight lenses with new ones due to extreme sun damage, and upgraded the faded/stained dash trim plastics and hvac controls to the updated 2013 style that I found in pristine condition at a local salvage yard. I’m installing a newer style homelink mirror today as soon as my cam-lock to wedge mount adapter comes in from Subaru. Did all engine gaskets and the timing belt a few weekends ago and it went extremely well. I’ll never buy an older used car from the midwest ever again. This thing is spotless underneath.
My 68 Beetle has an external oil filter and cooler kit just begging for me to install on it. I’ve had a few oil-pressure related issues that resulted in me pulling the engine for the 3rd time in a year last month, so I’m hoping once and for all I can solve all of it and get this hot 1776-powered beauty ready for a summer of lots of cars and coffees and cruises.
Infotainment system has random erorrs. Resets randomly while driving, backup camera freaks out, radio plays when car is started even though it was turned off when the car was shut off… but the display is blank like it is off.
Axle end play makes the rear end rattle over bumps like it is 15 years old.
When the AC first turns on it gets ridiculously cold and then smells like refrigerant.
Oh, and most of this BS is intermittent so it is really hard to show to a dealership for warranty work. (and the axle rattle is a known issue that they say is normal) So frustrating.
Got a fully built Genesis Coupe. Shooting for 500-550whp daily. Only thing missing is a tune.
But before said tune, timing cover has a loose idle pulley because my idiot self overtorqued it. Current setup requires me to either drop the whole front end, or lift the engine to dismantle and replace the cover.
All for one bolt.
My maintenance went almost suspiciously well last weekend. Except for when I forgot the rule “if the new part comes with an O ring, make sure you remove the old one”. Fortunately I remembered pretty quickly, and only spent about a minute wondering why I couldn’t get the new coolant temp sensor to fit properly.
Then I checked my oil, and it was exactly halfway between the fill marks, *chefs kiss*.
All far too easy, I now anticipate something going catastrophically wrong soon…
Current revival project is a 1966 Allstate (Puch) motorcycle, has a “spike” ignition key (think old BMW style). I got it running on Saturday, beautifully so, and then it died. I couldn’t get it started for love or money. Hurt my foot kicking it over so much.
I decided to leave it and get back to it later, when my head cleared and foot felt better. Other things got in the way, when I went back 4 days later, turns out I left the key in the “on” position and killed the battery…
My daily developed a loud rattle in/near the passenger side door. I can’t figure it out.