Sometimes people drive cars that have less than normal functionality. People will sometimes tolerate a car’s “minor” problems because they can’t afford to repair them, the problem isn’t really that intolerable, or the problem is just too difficult to remedy easily.
My wife and I were given a 1976 Oldsmobile Toronado, by my wife’s father, shortly after we were married, a looong time ago. The car was a 2-door beast, weighing over 2 tons.
The doors were huge, very long and heavy. The excessive weight of the doors caused the door hinges to wear out prematurely and the doors drooped a bit. I thought about replacing the hinges, but it kept going to the bottom of “things to do” list. So, we lived with that while we owned it. We would have to slam the doors pretty hard to close them, as a result, but we just lived with it.
Then there’s our Dodge Caravan that I purchased new well over 2 decades ago. For the last couple of decades, beginning shortly after the warranty ended, it’s had an issue. Once, about every couple of months, it will give the windshield one swipe with the windshield wipers and then they’ll park themselves properly. It decides when it feels like doing this and doesn’t need any input from us.
It could be a relay, BCM (body control module), clock spring or wiring, whatever. Whatever it is I am leaving it alone. It’s never been a big problem (startling, maybe) except I’d prefer not running the wipers over a dusty or dirty windshield because scratches could result. I just try and keep the windshield relatively clean, which is prudent anyhow and we live with it.
Have you an anecdote? I’d like to hear some stories.
What vehicle strangeness have you lived with or are currently living with at this time?
Why did you not fix it or why are you currently not fixing the issue?
CSA
