I went through 8 serpentine belt tensioners on my 1993 Dodge mini van with a 3,3 lt. engine. I finally stopped buying them at the local parts store and went back to Dodge. Then my son ran it through some deep water and bent the rods so now it sits under a mesquite tree awaiting a new owner.

I had a 1983 3/4 ton GMC Diesel that ate alternator v-belts. Usually about 4 to 5 a year. Year after year. When I overhauled the engine I checked the pulley alignment, put on new pulleys, new alternators, tightened the belts nearly to the breaking point, ran them loose, nothing worked. My dear son, same one as above, cut off a telephone pole with the front end one night and that pretty much solved the problem.

I spent a number of years trying to fix a hopeless marrage. Does that count?

I bought her a 76 Firebird and completly rebuilt the brakes and suspension, then got pissed waiting for her to come up with her half of the funds and time to put into it and sold it to a 16yo kid for $600, including all the parts to clone a T/A. He was about the happiest boy I've ever seen. Still see him tooling around now and again..

Women.
Can't live with them, can't drown them in diesel...

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One more Radar Lover gone...
1982 VW Caddy diesel 406K 1.9L AAZ
1994 E320 195K

I have a ford truck that has had transmission issues in the past. One of these was getting stuck in second gear. There is a "pressure piece" on the synchro hub on the 1-2 shift. The synchro rings were worn out, so it would get jammed under the hub. So, on the 2-3 shift (when I was having the never-ending clutch issues, and the clutch was not fully disengaged), it would get stuck in my choice of almost neutral, or second.

It was an easy "fix": I just popped the offending piece back under the syrchro hub. Of course, I had to get the 250 pound tranny out of a 4x4 truck, disassemble it, and put it back in. Got pretty good at it.

First time it happened was on a interstate on-ramp during rush hour. Got off the highway, went to the library to let traffic clear out, then drove home at 3000 RPM @ 28 mph (diesel redline)

Second time was during a visit to Los Alamos NM in March. That one was a field repair. In a parking lot. In a freezing rainstorm. At least it happened in my buddy's bodyshop parking lot, so I did have a good assortment of tools.

Next time was during the trip home from work. I got lucky, I was almost home.

Last time was when I was out getting firewood. I'm glad someone invented cellphones.

I rebuilt the tranny. Total cost for parts was something like $250.

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1986 300e 5-speed 223k
1995 Volvo 850 T5 wagon 65k
1985 F-350 475k

Dad's 79 300SD, went through 8 starters in 2 weeks time, lasted 2-3 starts, then needs to be replaced. Got pretty fast at it, took 10 mins for a full remove the old/reinstall the new. Swapped out the battery cable and now we get the "if its in the on position, it would crank the engine" syndrome. I really don't like that car and I think it doesn't like me much either.

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Jason

00 Subaru Legacy (fun wagon)
96 Nissan Sentra (disavowed)
82 300SD (garage queen, will run again hopefully)
87 300DT (Gone: 10/15/2010)

Ok, I remembered two candidates:

1. Multiple head replacements on a customer's Alfa Romeo spyder to try to stop a chronic oil lead from under the head. The head was flat and the block was flat. No defects found by the machine shop. I concluded it was a design defect as the oil channels on the head and block were too close to the edge and the head bolts could not put enough pressure there to stop leak and every Alfa I had ever seen at that time in 1974 had the same leak. Customer was a doctor who just wanted to keep paying me to replace the gasket, so I did. He would get about 3000 miles before it would leak again.

2. I had a Jeep Wrangler on which I had a 4x4 shop put ARB air lockers in the front and rear pumpkins along with 4.11:1 gears. Then I moved to Dallas but was driving the Jeep to Houston and back every weekend. Every weekend, the thing would blow a rear wheel seal and I would replace it before the next trip. Then one fateful trip, the seal held but the rear plug (this was the Chrysler rubber plug) blew out along with almost all the fluid. When I reached Houston and slowed for the exit, I heard the terrible roar of the rear end about to lock up. Couldn't hear the roar at highway speeds with mud terrain tires. The 4x4 shop rebuilt the rear end under warranty, but the seal blow out and the problem continued. Finally. I discoverred the real problem--the ARB installation somehow blocked off the air vent on the side axle tube, creating too much pressure inside and blowing the seal or the !@#$%^ rubber plug.

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1984 300SD 326,997 miles and counting . . . No wait, my odometer is still dead

My dumbest move was when, ordering a new head from Germany, I specified 'best way' instead of Air shipping. Shipping time by cargo ship was about 4 months. What PIB.

The floats were installed upside down in a carburetor that had been rebuilt...

Imagine a decorative water fountain in a city park...

Thats what this faulty carb looked like with gasoline bubbling up out of it...

The needle valve was not properly seating at all...

Flipped floats over and car was race ready...