My Car Hates Me. I Just Cant Give Up. Lets Play The Whats Wrong With My Car Now Game

My car has taken a beating, and beat the crap out of me even more. Im a Chevy man and the only reason I bought the Mustang is cause the Camaro I wanted to buy was sold 3 hours before I could get to it. So I seen my 86 and after test driving it I caved. It was everything I wanted and more. This was in 2003.

Two weeks after I bought it I lost my job. So I drove my baby back home 16 hours all the way non stop.

3 weeks later it was stolen. So I called the cops to report the theft and they arrested me for a old traffic ticket I completely forgot about.

After around 3-6 weeks I was contacted by a detective and he said they found it, heres the info to get it back. I called right then and the tow lot wanted over $700 for storage. Can u believe this sht I thought. Its like it was stolen twice and held for ransom. Why did they not tell me sooner?

I blew the car off to look at a few more mustangs but nothing felt like it was "mine". Finally I made up my mind I have to get it back. By this time they want $1300. I showed the guy a grand and he let me have it.

So here I am driving down the road with the worst wheels ever and bald tires the tow lot gave me, dented front fender from a wreck, busted window, busted column, a knocking motor, and no tunes to drown it out. Lost about $1300 cash, cobra r rims with brand new cooper cobra tires, and $650 in the stereo.

Dumped about 3 more grand in it just to get it looking good again and upgraded a few things along the way. Its back on the road by then. Dumped another $1500 into the motor paint and body.

After that it was driven about a thousand miles then parked for 2 years while I did some more building to the motor. When it was parked I gave the cd player to my dad and it was broke upon installation in his camper. In the mean time I bought a used cd player and it would not eject cd's so I had to pull it back out and toss it.

So now timeline is the first of this summer. I get it running and the steering was messed up. Steering rack and alignment. $200. That takes me to just 3 weeks ago now. Tagged it and drove it a few times. Man its finally come back together and its faster then I could ever wish (with a 302 under the hood). Just yesterday I robbed the Alpine out of my truck. Wouldnt u know it I drive 15 miles into town to a store. Get back in and I get 5 feet before it dies like I just let the clutch out too fast. Wont start. I looked it over for 2 hours and I cant find anything with no tools on me. Im thinking the new double roller timing chain broke or I popped a hole in a piston. Only thing is that the car never made a strange noise the whole time. Went to tow it and had to back up a hill using the starter and holding the clutch switch in so it would roll back. Just as I was hooking up a "come along" to get on dolly I noticed oil all over the ground.

I have no garage and its too late to look now. So whats your guess as to what happened to my car? I will post results as soon as I find out. Its probably something big. When it stalled id say I had pulled about 1000 rpm and that's it, Blah. Nothing else. Sorry for the long post. Im just so depressed about this car. Only put maybe 6k on it since 2003. I wont ever give up on it. but man its killing me. Ive had 5 3rd gen "F" body gm hotrods and never had this much trouble out of any of them. Yet I love my Mustang so much I will put up with this crap. screw the car; Whats wrong with me? :shrug:
 
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Goodness. 86 is a nice year for a fox but I'm sure there are more out there for cheap and running good. Sounds like you may have a Ford version of Christine there.
 
Sorry to hear, you are having some crummy luck...might be time to go back to chevy :D.



you are going to have to find out why the oil dumped out ( check the front seal, pan, rear main, etc, etc, then do a compression test, check if you have fuel, spark then check the obd1 KOEO for codes. most likely the motor is hurt but keep your fingers crossed.

if you do make some good progress and get it going again, find a priest and have it blessed, might even need an exorcism.
 
Goodness. 86 is a nice year for a fox but I'm sure there are more out there for cheap and running good. Sounds like you may have a Ford version of Christine there.

Sorry to hear, you are having some crummy luck...might be time to go back to chevy :D.

Well Ive got a 91 f150 with a 17k, young motor in it. Only thing is its a nice truck and I wanted to go with a bore/stroked 351 next time. Only I planed on the one I have now actually lasting a while. I go with both Chevy and Ford really. Sold my last Camaro last year and I regret that like no other.

By the way "Boss". That paint job looks very cool. Mine was painted by my dad in his driveway for $60 total and it still looks good but its boring. I know rite. Paint is the least of my problems. Only seems like I should be moved on to the details and not the short block I just put in. :nonono:

you are going to have to find out why the oil dumped out ( check the front seal, pan, rear main, etc, etc, then do a compression test, check if you have fuel, spark then check the obd1 KOEO for codes. most likely the motor is hurt but keep your fingers crossed.

if you do make some good progress and get it going again, find a priest and have it blessed, might even need an exorcism.

Maybe thats it. Exorcism. Ya I think part of the issue is low compression. Must have turned that crank 100 times and normally it would have killed the battery in about 10 rotations. Just cant believe it so I kinda lost it and kept trying to start it like it was all a bad dream. Holy hell.

Thanks for the comments though guys. Ill just keep trying. Hey here's a fun thought. Maybe instead of giving the car to the most deserving kid I should give it to the less deserving lol. Here u go. U can never sell it. AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW its alive!!!
 
I totally dodged the bullet for once. I have good news to report. Sorry for the rant but as u can see from my past it has not been a very fun ride so far. Anyways. I started trouble shooting today and had no spark at the coil. So just for the heck of it I put a used ignition control module I had in the shed. Fired right up.

I found out the oil was just from the power steering reservoir. Some spilled out while I was moving it to get it on the dolly. I tried to smell it but allergy's are screwing me, and it was dark. Man im just glad it was something easy for a change. Nice of her to take it easy on me.
 
Glad to hear it wasn't as bad as you thought. If you were cranking on the steering wheel with it off while you were moving around, then it very likely is PS fluid, I've had that happen to me before.
 
Glad to hear it wasn't as bad as you thought. If you were cranking on the steering wheel with it off while you were moving around, then it very likely is PS fluid, I've had that happen to me before.

Thanks man. Im just always expecting the worse out of this one lol. Im totally pumped though. Maybe she is finally done with the initiations. On a side note. This car is way to fun to drive with the radio up. I tried and just couldn't do it. We have some nice mountain roads around here.
 
I wish it was getting cold here. I hate to hear about your car. Mine is the same way so dont feel bad. That's the reason it still sits in the garage. Every so often I push it out and wash it. Then push it back in the garage again. One of these days......
 
I wish it was getting cold here. I hate to hear about your car. Mine is the same way so dont feel bad. That's the reason it still sits in the garage. Every so often I push it out and wash it. Then push it back in the garage again. One of these days......

Thats crappy. Whats wrong with yours?
What gets me mad about mine is that I just fixed it after it sat most of the last 2 years and it was better then ever for like 3 trips into town. I am dreading the truck now and going from 28 to 13mpg and the fact that I robbed the alpine out of it to put in the car. Hey its not a hard job. Its the wasted money on butt connectors lol. That car ate 2 other cd players recently. Ill get another cd player for the truck....
 
Sounds like just a regular ford to me. I have bad luck with all of mine too. It's just something to expect when owning a ford. From my and my dad's experience, chevys are a ton more dependable. I would switch back without a doubt if I didn't have projects hanging over my head. Good luck man. Your luck sounds worse than mine, which I thought was impossible.
 
Sounds like just a regular ford to me. I have bad luck with all of mine too. It's just something to expect when owning a ford. From my and my dad's experience, chevys are a ton more dependable. I would switch back without a doubt if I didn't have projects hanging over my head. Good luck man. Your luck sounds worse than mine, which I thought was impossible.

I think it depends on previous owners and how the car is taken care of. My Fords and Dodges all run much better then my Dad's Chevy's.
 
Sounds like just a regular ford to me. I have bad luck with all of mine too. It's just something to expect when owning a ford. From my and my dad's experience, chevys are a ton more dependable. I would switch back without a doubt if I didn't have projects hanging over my head. Good luck man. Your luck sounds worse than mine, which I thought was impossible.

you sure, dont deserve a mustang with that potty mouth of yours!!:nono:

fords best thing on the road and thats a fact..chevy blows...hard.
 
eh, it's my opinion and what in my mind is the truth. If you want to get the best car on the road, go with a Honda or Toyota. American cars... Chevy>ford>dodge. But, if you can keep a fox running, you can run circles around any chevy of comparable specs. That's why I have 5 fords and zero chevys. But some day I will have me a nice old Chevelle or C10... someday.
 
Sounds like just a regular ford to me. I have bad luck with all of mine too. It's just something to expect when owning a ford. From my and my dad's experience, chevys are a ton more dependable. I would switch back without a doubt if I didn't have projects hanging over my head. Good luck man. Your luck sounds worse than mine, which I thought was impossible.
I hear u man. Im a Chevy guy too. Only reason I have my car is the Camaro I wanted was sold 3 hours before I could get to it. On the other hand it would take a lot of work and cash to get an 700r4 and lo3 to do what a stock 302 fox can. I had both cars at the same time. "Slowmaro" carved corners better and I liked the lay while driving but I get raw power from my Ford and im hooked. She gives me crazy love but man shes one heck of a mean dom.
Pressure test the system. Is your rad cap good?
Do u remember my thread about the fail safe t-stat failing in the closed position? It was like maybe a month ago. This is where my logic is at from the coolant push. The car left me, my 2 year old, and wife stranded for almost 2 hours on a near 100 degree day. By the time I put water in it the coolant shot back out like a fire hose so we had to just sit to cool it.(yes I started it so the head would not crack when adding water). Well on the way home I was so fed up with the situation that I went too far without stopping and letting cool again. The car got so hot that it locked the motor up. Walked to dads then and towed back. Pulled the stat in the dark with a flashlight and all seemed well till I had to take it on a 11 hour drive (with a new stat in it) to recover a stolen vehicle. This is why im not thinking rad cap. Maybe it is though? Can supper hot water screw a cap? Maybe the rubber seal but back to the story above. I have a cap ill try though before I start digging into it. I will always try the easy stuff. I have yet to compression test or put a leak tester on the cap and rad. But to make things worse the heat blew my sending unit so I dont even know how hot it gets. Me and my car are hurtin units. :nonono:
 
eh, it's my opinion and what in my mind is the truth. If you want to get the best car on the road, go with a Honda or Toyota. American cars... Chevy>ford>dodge. But, if you can keep a fox running, you can run circles around any chevy of comparable specs. That's why I have 5 fords and zero chevys. But some day I will have me a nice old Chevelle or C10... someday.

I have to agree. Really the big 3 live on our patriotism alone. Then again that statement could be true for more subjects then most would think. I had an 87 accord with 120k on it and cost me 1200 cash. I drove that thing forever and only had to fix it once cause it got hit by a drunk driver. Still ran great when I sold it. Miss that car. Think ill look for a nice low mileage gas saver. But im too addicted to my stang to ever sell it. Its a love hate deal. Kinda like my marriage at times.
 
I remember that thread now, that sucks. I'd start with renting a coolant pressure sensor and compression tester. See where that puts you. If you aren't getting a milkshake out of the crankcase then you might have a chance. I had a truck years ago that had a blown head gasket (I presume) because it would pressurize the cooling system so hard at higher RPMS it would blow hoses and freeze plugs out. It never did over heat though.