LEMON – will you ever forget it?

[jphanna]

soemthing i should have made clear from the start of this is my interpretation of a lemon.

TO ME, its when you have a car and you know that no matter how much you put into it, it will never be enough. its a bottomless pit of money and effort.

NEVER ENDING.....

[Bearman]

Two lemons here!!

EA Ghia. 6 months of ownership for 2 x head gaskets, diff seizing up and auto trans becomming unpredictable. Got rid of it before it became too much of a hassle. Traded it in on:

ED Ghia. Paid top dollar for a 3yo one owner with full history etc. First 3 years was great. Year 4 = 2 x head gaskets, 3 x electric windows and A/C stopped working. The diagnosis here was a "T" piece that needed replacing deep inside the dash. Full dash out job to fix. Add all that up with dodgy electrics = get rid of it!!

Has put me off e-series for life!!

[Sorted]

XB Ford Coupe 351 V8cyl Auto was my Lemon - had a new *** ripped by a Charger 265 Tripple Webbers - a 6cyl pfffffffft

So I sold the Ford Coupe and now I own a Charger :

[FalconXR6]

We bought a brand spanker Focus a couple of years ago from a local dealer.

It had an ongoing issue in that it wouldn't start on occassion.

Dealer not only couldn't fix the problem but was extreemly rude to my wife on several occassions (I'll leave the details out...).

It wasn't the fact that the car was a lemon (I would happily buy another Focus for my wife again - not that I need to, as we now have an XR6T and will continue to purchase vehicles with the 4.0 litre T motor...) that is the reason why I will never EVER purchase a car or have my cars serviced at this dealer ever again - it was their disguisting attitute towards the situation.

[gozza]

Ive only owned two cars. 5spd 84 Civic Sedan. Lovely Car. Never had a problem untill i got basically t-boned
And my current car EBII Fairmont. bought it and it did a head gasket. Took the seller to fair trading and recouped my costs. Trouble free untill i started adding turbo's and performance parts. It actually caught fire on a test drive haha. But i gutted it and replaced it with Ghia stuff

[jphanna]

My EA has similar appetite for money that would leave most women for dead. It just cant get enough of it. I could blow $2000.00 tomorrow, and something else would pop up. it just loves money, just like a women.

if it wasnt my dad's pride and joy, i would have driven it off a cliff, 'Thelma and Louise' style by now....but without me in it.

[FrogInASock]

Originally Posted by Mr Hardware

Is that even possible?

Well, I filled the tank immediately before I left (for both cars) then drove from Adelaide to the Yorke Penninsula, and back, same road, same conditions.

Even the gas fitters were AMAZED at the Magna's fuel economy on LPG. It still gets the same economy on a trip.

[Falconio]

Originally Posted by Falconio

Think I just bought my first lemon,Its a FG XR6T.With the sh-t list I have after 22k it is by far the worst car I have owned.I go one further and say the brand including sales and service is one big lemon.

I should add that I have onwed approx 20 falcons from xr to fg.

[snappy]

Originally Posted by Falconio

Think I just bought my first lemon,Its a FG XR6T.With the sh-t list I have after 22k it is by far the worst car I have owned.I go one further and say the brand including sales and service is one big lemon.

Not good ,major issues or plenty of little annoying ones , An how a ford treating you warranty wise .

[Falconio]

Originally Posted by snappy84

Not good ,major issues or plenty of little annoying ones , An how a ford treating you warranty wise .

Plenty of annoying ones ie; Ipod,Mp3, sometimes blue tooth, aircon needs to be turned on and off a couple of times to work.( Sometimes )Won't do it at the dealer of course.Manual box suffers badly from neutral rollover.Also hard to get gears sometimes mainly 2nd and 3rd going up or down.Annoying rattle passenger rear seat area.Timing case oil leak.(Took 8 days to fix ).Been to two dealers, both useless.Vehicle is within tolerances as usual.

As stated before,I have always had falcons mostly v8's.This is my first turbo,Really impressed by performance just dissapointed with the service and issues that can be fixed if they have a go.

[FPV 5TH]

Worst car i ever had was a Valiant VG Pacer. 3 speed floor shift. Went through 4 gearboxes in 2 months then i got rid of it.

[Torquen]

Originally Posted by itchy brother

My wife has a VR V6 auto which is an ex police runabout.
With 145000 on the clock, all that's needed changing is the injectors and shocks, suspension rubbers etc.
Very happy with the performance for a 6 banger!

Yeh, VR = OK due to the fact it still had the half decent buick 3.8L motor. Highly refined due to the fact it had been in the previous 2 models (VN-VP) so they had everthing running just right. VS was the first Commo V6 to run the eco-tec 3.8L motor, needless to say it wasn't untill the late model VX's and early VY's that they got it running up to scratch imo.

[Escort_RPDriver]

iw ould have to say the escort has been a bit of a lemon it was fine for 12 months after i got it but then a satrter went witch is fine then the head went cost $300 for one that was ported polished and a speco cam.

it was good for a whil then the brake booster when then the master cylender then another starer so i bought a brand new one then the transmission then have been alot of other things as well all up the car ows me about 1900 over the 1200 i paid but i would pay it all again, i love that car.

[BEE55T]

Originally Posted by LethalLeigh

The closest I've had to a lemon was my Alfa Romeo GTV6. I had it nine months and it was always a hit and miss proposition as to whether it would start which I suspect was due to moisture interfering with the ignition system. I replaced the brake booster on it but that was simply required maintainence.

The big hassle was when it bottomed out heavily on a dirt road and jump a tooth on the cam belt at which point I knew it was time to give up on it.

Can't say I've had much in the way of lemons, but my dad had an Alfa 90.... the 4 door equivalent of the GTV6 (mum wouldn't let him get the 2 door, so he got the same set up in a 4 door)
You needed and electrical engineer just to look under the bonnet. It usually broke $20 parts in $600 places. The NRMA man used to check the battery and say "I'll get you a tow truck". My dads mechanic used to break down in tears every time the Alfa turned up. He said he used every trick in the book, then made up new tricks, and they still didn't work on it.

Saying that, with a 60/40 weight split (gearbox in back) a beautiful engine, and what a noise it made at full song..... when you could get it into second it was fantastic.

[PALE ALE]

Originally Posted by Sorted

XB Ford Coupe 351 V8cyl Auto was my Lemon - had a new *** ripped by a Charger 265 Tripple Webbers - a 6cyl pfffffffft

So I sold the Ford Coupe and now I own a Charger :

Exact opposite for me, My first 4 cars were Valiants, last one, VH Charger, chevy 327 4" flat top pistons = 277 ci, E49 spec cam, 600 Holley, 4 speed, blew off lots of V8's, thought it was a rocket, 'til it "got a new *** ripped" by my mates XY 351, Crane 288-H, Badger flat top pistons, cant remember what carby was on it, 4 speed.

Been a fan of the Ford cleveland ever since

[Dezza]

Originally Posted by Bearman

Two lemons here!!

EA Ghia. 6 months of ownership for 2 x head gaskets, diff seizing up and auto trans becomming unpredictable. Got rid of it before it became too much of a hassle. Traded it in on:

ED Ghia. Paid top dollar for a 3yo one owner with full history etc. First 3 years was great. Year 4 = 2 x head gaskets, 3 x electric windows and A/C stopped working. The diagnosis here was a "T" piece that needed replacing deep inside the dash. Full dash out job to fix. Add all that up with dodgy electrics = get rid of it!!

Has put me off e-series for life!!

2 head gaskets on each car? Sounds like whoever changed the headgasket did a crappy job of it, because once it does one, if it's done right it shouldn't do one again. Mine's done 65,000kms since we changed the head gasket the one and only time on my car.

In terms of my car, it's had a few issues but they're quite understandable. The head gasket went at 220,000kms which is pretty good for an e-series 6. The auto also started slipping at around 180,000 but kept going to about 225,000kms before I ripped it out and went manual. 200,000kms without a single transmission service probably didn't help the situation. I've done 2 power windows, and my power steering pump started leaking which caused it to start throwing belts, and killed the alternator. The power steering pump's since been recoed and it's been pretty good. I also had a rear brake caliper seize up last year.

Other than that the car's been great. The diff's original and is as quiet as the day it left the factory, the original engine's still going strong, I only replaced the original starter with a later model one because they're lighter and easier to fit when you do a clutch change. The electrics have given me no trouble. All in all for a 19 year old car, it's doing well. I've owned it for 7 years and put about 140,000kms on the clock.

[anto]

Another EA GHIA victim here... worst POS ford ever made IMO.
stupid me bought one even after all the bad hype getting around at the time. I thought nah...must be an exaggeration. Well it wasnt, I had it for a year and just about everythng imaginable went wrong with it and it was a low km car. multiple head gaskets, lights, climate control, elec windows, sunroof..on and on and on.... One time i was waiting for someone in the car and clicked the hazard light button and hey.... what do you know it wouldnt turn off, the stupid thing broke : it was the first and last time I touched it
by the time I got rid of it it was running on 7 cylinders after yeat another problem..I had enough and lost a lot of dough but was glad to see it gone.

aaaarrgh just the thought of it makes my skin crawl. :


evrey other ford Ive owned has been great, XA, XB, ZH, XD, XF, EB, ED, AU, BA ..all good cars. The BA Ghia has hit 200k and its still going strong.

[Zedjay]

i have had many cars and the one that stands out
as the biggest lemon is (and im suprized im the 1st one)

FORD MONDEO to many probs to list

[Jesk]

Originally Posted by anto

by the time I got rid of it it was running on 7 cylinders after yeat another problem.

wow an EA n8 you must have got a rare one!

me ive never been truely struck by a lemon, the closest i got was a CB lancer which had the standard carby issues