These Cars Are Unreliable?

[atc250r]

Says who? Mine has been sitting since Christmas and hasn't been driven on the road for a year but today I charged the battery and it fired right up even with year old gas. Now I have to decide if I'm going to swap the drivetrain out to the GGSX or just pull the chute on these cars altogether. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif

John

 

Your car is just trying to tell you "You can't pull the chute"

 

[atc250r]

Maybe. I was (and still am) damn close to just putting the whole lot up for sale, a package deal of pretty much everything I have but think I may give it another go. I'm planning on rolling the GGSX out of the trailer and getting it nose to nose with my old car this weekend. Getting that done is half the battle since the roller didn't come with a full set of tires like it was supposed to. Once they're both out of hibernation I'll post some pics. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/devil.gif

John

 

[jepherz]

Quoting atc250r:
These Cars Are Unreliable?



No, they really aren't. It's just cheap mechanics who own them /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

What is your definition of an unreliable car?
I believe societies definition to be this: I did all the recommended services including 30,60 and 90k services and had frequent inspections of failure prone parts, and it STILL constantly broke down on me.
A reliable car is as follows: Well, I never changed the oil or did any major service, and this damn thing kept running for 20 years!
A person in the DSM community talking about an unreliable car is as follows: Well, I was just cruising around town (at red line under full upped boost on a bigger turbo with undersized injectors trying to race every damn car I passed) when my t-belt snapped! These mitsus are junk!
They tell ten of their friends about these "unreliable Mitsubishis" and suddenly "everyone" knows they are unreliable.


Before the flaming starts, my statement was a semi accurate description of my own situation.
However, I do not a)try to street race. I like on-ramps though.
b)bad mouth cars I haven't put the time or money into to which would be necessary to make an 18 year old car reliable.

I do however have a 16g running on stock injectors.....I need some cash....

 

[spoulson]

My GVR4, while I owned it, was as dependable as I made it. I agree, the more you beat on it, the more you should expect things to fail. This is no different than any other old car.

 

As for reliability..

When a car goes 12 years as a daily driver and never breaks down on the road once - I consider that a reliable car.

That was the case with the VR4 for the first 12 years...

After that any issue is pretty much age releated.

 

[boostedinaz]

These cars are unreliable when you have this type of mentailty.

Quoting :
If we did every little thing right, and fixed every single perfectly the fact is no one would ever get to drive their car. Everyone would be jackstand ballin.



Sadly a LOT of people are this way.

 

[gtluke]

don't leave me John /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif

 

[gvr4ever]

Overall, these cars are reliable, BUT we have the knowledge of the cars weaknesses, so we can cheaply repair a few things, that would otherwise be very costly and most consumers would trade in and run for the hills at a new ECU, locked up transfer case, broken t-belt due to balance shaft failures. While taking care of a few things could get 200-300K and maybe even more out of the original engine, depending on the level of mods and how it was driven. Without fixing those things, someone who wasn't a home mechanic, and a member of the forums, could easily loose the car to a ticking time bomb rather early in the cars life. Even if a owner had the mechanic to the timing belt and water pump on time, a BS failure could take out an engine as early as 120K miles. As late as 200k+ too, it's a gamble.

It's a good car, but I don't think it's a great car. I've never put more work in to another car, but then again, I don't like anything to be wrong with this one and I am aways trying to stay ahead of failures, but it is still a lot of work. Seems my repair to drive ratio has been a little off lately. Less driving, more jack stand time. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif I'm only at 122K miles, and I want to go a lot more, so ya, I baby this one and like to beat on other DD that only get touched when they stop moving, but this car does take a lot to keep at a good mechanical level.

 

[DR1665]

A vehicle is only as reliable as its owner.

Left alone, or mostly alone, you'd be surprised how tough these cars are. While some people spend days trying to figure out which head gasket or timing belt to choose, I've seen people throw the cheap-o composite head gasket on the car after it blows during a weekend of racing. They don't run off to a machine shop or set up a clinical clean room for the job. They do it in a dirt lot on a windy day. Will the engine last another 200,000 miles? Probably not, but it will last longer than the attention spans of most of the people bitching about reliability.

I don't profess to be by-the-book 100% of the time, but I am damn proud to daily drive a Galant VR4.

If you can't handle getting your hands dirty with maintenance or otherwise restoring an older car, then maybe you should stick with that Evo with the warranty. There are plenty of shops out there to install parts and tune for those who just like to look like real gear heads.

DO IT YOURSELF.
IF YOU CANT DO IT YOURSELF, LEARN.
IF YOU DON'T WANT TO LEARN, STFU AND GO AWAY.

And, in closing, boostedinaz had the most impressive sig ever seen on a car forum. Take these words to heart and your path will be righteous:
Why is there always time to do it over, but never enough time to do it right the first time?

 

[atc250r]

Quoting gtluke:
don't leave me John /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif



Then come up, kick me in the ass, then help me swap the motor/trans. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

John

 

Mine is daily driven. sh*t happens, I fix it. I like my car. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/dunno.gif

Besides a rod-bearing going on a 214k motor, I've had to do one alternator. I rebuilt and did a 2.3....in my living room. I've only got 2500mi on it, but its holding.

Recent issues to come up is just and axle seal and oil drain leaking. Its on my to do list.

 

[4thStroke]

Quoting DR1665:
I am damn proud to daily drive a Galant VR4.



2nd that.

mine is over 500awhp daily driven and its treated me well so far.

 

[iLLeffeKt vr-4]

John, one year is nothing. I've personally dealt with cars that sat for a lot longer than that and they started/ran fine.

Several years ago I went to nj with my uncle to purchase a late 80's bmw for him that sat in a back yard for over 6 years. After hooking up jumper cables and cranking it over a few times it fired up. 6 year old gas in it. 6 year old oil in it, etc. He drove it for about 2 weeks before he had to fill up with gas and did a tune up on it. Kept the car for 3 years and it ran like a champ.

My boss's 03 s600 sat in the garage for 3 years without being touched and also fired right up with a jump. The only thing that went wrong with it is that the tires were flat spotted. My friend bought it, did a flash on it, drag radials ans runs low 12's every time he goes to the track

 

[boostedinaz]

Quoting DR1665:
A vehicle is only as reliable as its owner.

Left alone, or mostly alone, you'd be surprised how tough these cars are. While some people spend days trying to figure out which head gasket or timing belt to choose, I've seen people throw the cheap-o composite head gasket on the car after it blows during a weekend of racing. They don't run off to a machine shop or set up a clinical clean room for the job. They do it in a dirt lot on a windy day. Will the engine last another 200,000 miles? Probably not, but it will last longer than the attention spans of most of the people bitching about reliability.

I don't profess to be by-the-book 100% of the time, but I am damn proud to daily drive a Galant VR4.

If you can't handle getting your hands dirty with maintenance or otherwise restoring an older car, then maybe you should stick with that Evo with the warranty. There are plenty of shops out there to install parts and tune for those who just like to look like real gear heads.

DO IT YOURSELF.
IF YOU CANT DO IT YOURSELF, LEARN.
IF YOU DON'T WANT TO LEARN, STFU AND GO AWAY.

And, in closing, boostedinaz had the most impressive sig ever seen on a car forum. Take these words to heart and your path will be righteous:
Why is there always time to do it over, but never enough time to do it right the first time?



I agree 1000% Brian.

My Talon was pretty heavily modified and never let me down. The Galant was stock and again never let me down. If people take time to do things right and buy quality parts driving a car will never be a crap shoot.

I'll have to update my sig here to reflect my old quote.

 

[DR1665]

Wait. Your Talon was highly modified? (You have this bad habit, lately, of selling your non-Ozzie cars, Michael.)

 

[gvr4ever]

Quoting DR1665:
A vehicle is only as reliable as its owner.

Left alone, or mostly alone, you'd be surprised how tough these cars are. While some people spend days trying to figure out which head gasket or timing belt to choose, I've seen people throw the cheap-o composite head gasket on the car after it blows during a weekend of racing. They don't run off to a machine shop or set up a clinical clean room for the job. They do it in a dirt lot on a windy day. Will the engine last another 200,000 miles? Probably not, but it will last longer than the attention spans of most of the people bitching about reliability.

I don't profess to be by-the-book 100% of the time, but I am damn proud to daily drive a Galant VR4.

If you can't handle getting your hands dirty with maintenance or otherwise restoring an older car, then maybe you should stick with that Evo with the warranty. There are plenty of shops out there to install parts and tune for those who just like to look like real gear heads.

DO IT YOURSELF.
IF YOU CANT DO IT YOURSELF, LEARN.
IF YOU DON'T WANT TO LEARN, STFU AND GO AWAY.

And, in closing, boostedinaz had the most impressive sig ever seen on a car forum. Take these words to heart and your path will be righteous:
Why is there always time to do it over, but never enough time to do it right the first time?



Some cars are just bad, no matter what the owners do. The Galant is a good car, and good owners make it a great car. Ya, these cars are tough. I had a 91 Talon TSi FWD and it had almost 200K on it. I never took the BS out of it. It also had the original turbo on it. I drove the piss out of that car, took it over 100MPH at least once a month on this "one road" and generally didn't do a whole lot to it. On the other hand, the valve stem seals were shot, the turbo some how held full boost, but looked very sick, the radiator had a pin hole leak in it, and it needed some serious TLC to keep going. Just because a car can run without very little work doesn't mean it's healthy, or ready for a road trip, even if some how, it keeps working. It's good for a 15 mile round trip every day. So while the dusty field head gasket change might work, a clean head gasket change, with a machine shop checking the head, is going to be better. All of us have a different ideal of what reliable is, or even how to work on our cars. It's all good, but all of our cars are on a different levels to the owners wants, needs, and personal ideals of what is acceptable in terms of reliability, drive-ability, and how to work on them.

 

[boostedinaz]

Quoting DR1665:
Wait. Your Talon was highly modified? (You have this bad habit, lately, of selling your non-Ozzie cars, Michael.)



Yeah I sold it on the 30th. I got a good deal and most importantly I knew it was going to someone who would take good care of it and keep it running well. I sucks more than I thought not having it, but it was the right move at the time.

Soon enough I'll pick up a GVR4 shell and build it from the ground up.

 

Just took my car for the Reno/Sparks, NV Rib Cookoff coming from San Francisco which about a 270 mile trip. This was after I put in the new SS O2 housing. The car ran very well with no issues whatsoever. The tuning was a lot better coming back. I was able to cruise mostly at 80mph with some hard pulls to 100 mph to pass up slower traffic.