After reading the thread on "interesting things you found in cars", I couldn't help but start this one. What things have you not found in or on your car that should have been there? Example: Back "in the day" (1964) when I was working at a Ford dealership in Texas City, Texas, we got in a new 64 Ford in that was missing. The owner had owned the car for a few weeks and was complaining of lack of power and a slight smoking from the engine. After running a compression test, I found zero compression in one of the cylinders. I mean zero, it wouldn't even bounce the guage at all. When I pulled the head off, one of the pistons was missing. I mean it was never installed at the factory. Now, that beat anything I had ever seen.
I did a safety once on a car that had been driven to the shop. Pulled the rear wheels off and there were no brake drums on it! It had just came from another shop.......
If the piston wasn't there, then I'll assume that the rod wasn't either. And that the oil pan was full of gasoline...
The brakes on my El Camino weren't right. They worked, just not well. We went throught the whole system and everything was adjusted correctly and in its place. The only thing left were the brake booster and master cylinder. I swapped them and it was still the same. Keep in mind this was my first car and my first foray into anything mechanical... So I took it to my cousin to look over. His diagnosis... missing the little rod between the booster and the master cylinder... He swore the brakes wouldn't work without it... but they did. Not as cool as the missing piston, but interesting nonetheless.
.....and what about the crank pin oiling holes leaking all the pressure out and the other rod on that pin having nothing limiting side clearance ? ----- edit
I once bought a 50 chevy, I couldnt get the A/C to quit working....darn thing blew cold all the time. We went over and over that ride trying to figure out why the A/C would not shut off, then we figured out it didnt have A/C...it just didnt have any windows and it was december.
Zman, nope, no rod either and no bearing on the crankshaft. It had to have had very low oil pressure, but there was no damage. As to gas in the oil, not much because, and I am only assuming here, that since there was no piston to cause a vacume into the cylinder, not much fuel entered either. I just did a quick hone of the cylinder, installed a new piston and rod with rings and the damn thing ran great. The owner however refused to accept that and demanded a brand new engine. Ford gave him one and I installed it and he was happy,,sort of. Kinda wierd that a piston would be completely missing, but hey,,,it was 1964.
I bought a 350 Chevy long block from a national auto parts chain. It ran amazingly strong, had a lopey idle, but smoked like a factory. I used 5 qts of oil in the first 250 miles. I drove the car back to the parts store and said this thing is burning oil. They said, the rings aren't broken in. I left the car idling in their parking lot, and the lot filled up with smoke as we talked, but that wasn't enough proof for them! I took it back at 850 miles and 17 qts of oil added. They finally agreed to have it checked out. When the garage that did their warranty work ran a compression check, three cylinders had less than 25 lbs of compression. A teardown revealed a missing oil ring on each of those three pistons. They replaced the engine, including labor. The second engine had a loud knock. The warranty mechanic assumed it was lifter noise until he heard it. Turned out to be a wrist pin on cylinder #6. A third engine installed, and has been in the car now for 6 years. I had always built my own engines before this. And I will build my own in the future.
Friend that lives down the street has had two 350 crate engines with similar problems. First one started knocking on about the third day after the install. The second one has a click to it that sounds like a valve hitting the piston. He still has that one and its not under any warranty. He has put over $5000 in it. To say hes upset is an understatement.
Seems to be a common problem around here. old folk & kids seem to be the worst for there vehicles to develop this trouble, but they just let them keep driving even though the vehicle is no longer safe with them. they all seem to have loose nuts behind the stearing wheel had an old lady ask me why here car wouldent start other day i told here cause she didnt get it in park and it was still in reverse when she killed it...i have to thank God for a neutral safty switch some times.
A guy I know worked as a new car prep in a Chevy dealership when he first graduated from high school in 1969. He was prepping a new Chevelle, and opened the trunk to make sure the spare tire had air in it. Not only did it not have any air, it was mounted on a wheel that was never drilled for a valve stem!
I got a crate/ rebuilt motor for my friends 51. It was an 88 chevy block. I put it in with a quadrajet and Edelbrock manifold. When I was trying to get it fired I couldnt get fuel. I had a cas can with hose right to the fuel pump with a filter. The pump was new but nothing. So I got another pump still nothing. Called my buddy at a parts store and found out that Gm on fuel inj motors dont put the lobe on the cam for the fuel pump. They still have all the mounting bosses for a mechanical fuel pump but no lobe on the cam. Drove me crazy. Put an electric pump on and problem solved.
One of my budies was workin at a shop when a lady came in with her 56 ford truck. She said she had driven it straight from andother shop that installed a volarie front clip. It was wandering real bad, and there was alot of noise when she hit bumps. My friend put it on the lift to find it was never welded in. Just 4 tack welds and they re esembled the truck. She had driven 30 miles on the SanDiego freeway in it.
My Father in Law bought a brand new 69 Plymouth (Fury, I believe) from a local dealership, when he drove it 20 miles home he happened to check the oil and found it had none. He kept the car anyways and it still went over 150,000 miles.
Just had to rub that in didn't ya? That's it!!! You're OFF my Christmas card list!!! Nope, not yet, but I'm not really pushing it either. I thought I had something going locally, but the whole thing got real flaky on the other end so I let it go. At this point, I'd actually prefer to have cash for upholstery right now. (hint hint) Christmas is coming and Santa has to show up here for my boys. They'll probably want to eat that day too, so cash it is.
so i suppose the fruitcake is not in the mail then?? yeah, whats with these kids anymore??all they want is..food ,food, food!!!good greif, hell, now theyre wantin to eat THREE times in one day!!! i dont get them sometimes...
My friend's first ride was an old Jeep CJ. When he bought it, he tested it offroad and though it was working well. When I looked under it, it had no front driveshaft! I laughed thinking about my buddy "fourwheeling" on two wheel drive.
I bought a new 1969 Nova Super Sport ... 396/375 HP with a 4 speed and a 4.10 rear end. It was one of 52 with the aluminum head option ... What it did not have was the speedometer gear on the transmission output shaft. I drove it that way for about a month before I took it in ... the Nova only had a 90 day/3 or 4 thousand mile warranty so I wanted to keep the miles off of it ...
You feed 'em and they grow out of the clothes you bought for them...it's a vicious coicle I tells ya!!
I bought a '94 Ex-cop Caprice. I stripped the interior down and found nothing. Absolutly nothing. No drug parafanalia, no stray bullets or bullet casings, Not even an empty ticket book under the seat
My aunt used to drive new cars all over the country for Newell years ago. One time she picked up a new Olds from our local dealer to deliver out east someplace. She drove it around the block and took it back to the dealer. Seems it had a funny noise when ever she went around a turn. They put it on the hiost and there were NO body bolts between the body and the frame, GM didn't put them in! Took over a week to get the bolts! Once they were installed, she delivered the car. Gene
I worked for a Chevy dealer for over 15 years---some of the crap I saw would make you puke. But the best was when we got new cars in ---we had a new van come in with no front fenders--they had been ripped of by the railroad crew when they strapped them down. But the best one was when the carrier driver came in and said there was a "small" problem with a new Chevy pick-up he was delivering---he forgot to lower the truck after an unload---and drove off---he went under a bridge and tore off the roof! We drove that truck all over for at least two weeks---going to lunch,picking up parts,etc --before the owner stopped us. G.M. was pissed that we would drive a "CHEVY" in that condition.
I once opened the trunk on a '58 Bel Air hardtop to find: No spare; no spare tire well; no trunk pan; no gas tank; no frame rails; in fact the car had no floors at all and only the top half or so of the rearend and a couple coil springs poking up out of the dirt to prove it once was whole and not intentionally cut out like the body on the AMT plastic model kit - I heard this as a story once, too. a guy with a Caddy Eldorado with the 500-cubic inch engine, lived in an apartment complex.. drove home one night, did his thing and went to bed.. went out to go to work the next morning, the car won't crank.. totally dead, nothing happens. So he opens the hood to see what's wrong... There's no engine, it's gone. Someone had stolen it overnight right there in the parking lot. I think by the time I heard it it was at least third hand. so who knows if it was true. When I went to college, they had a lot of donated cars, mostly from GM, that were damaged in shipment. Nothing odd, cars with mangled tops that stiill ran, one Chevy that just had a couple skid marks on the roof, and this weird mid-80's Lebaron in all black that was according to the stickers inside made for export to France. But that's where some of that stuff ends up - they have big stickers applied "Not to be driven on the road, sold or titled, must be destroyed when no longer needed" or something like that. That said, the block from at least one Corsica that had thrown a rod with like 61 miles on the odometer made it into a body lab rebuild of a donated insurance company total (those, they could resell).
I worked at a driveshaft shop and mainly four wheel drive repair shop thru my twenties. And one day a guy comes in and said that him and his buddy did a front end service on his 4x4 chevy truck (about a 1976 model). And that ever since it has vibrated and drove very bad. So we pull it in and expect to see a loose spindle nut. But our supprise they ; in i hope was just drunken stuper forgot to put in the inner wheel bgn on both sides. We knew something was seriously wrong when the wheels were all wobbly pullin it in the shop. YES THEY DROVE IT TO THE SHOP! From how far i dont know.
i had a guy bring his 91 jeep wrangler in,he said he slide into a ditch and it started making noise .this was on his way from dallas to tulsa...im thinking exuast pipe/muffler.something like that.i grabbed the front drive shaft to pull myself under the jeep ...the shaft moved in my hand .i looked at the transfer caes .or what was left of it.on inpact the drive shaft broke the t-case in half.this happened just north of dallas .he drove it all the way to tulsa ,with no fluid!at first i thought he was full of shit .he couldnt afford to fix.so he drove it like that for 3 weeks .this is no bullshit i saw it around town...ive had a few come in like this .t-case with huge crack in case ,still driving..
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