Survey: type 44 break down frequency

[james accordino]

Never.  In over 100k with an 85 5kt and an 89 200q.
Between an awesome (might thoughts) maintanence
program and a little luck.  I use the same approach as
Huw.  When working on any system/symptom replace all
wear parts while you're in there.  Sometimes that
means a good, lower mileage or less rusted used part.
Most often (any seals, soft or obvious wear parts)
that means new.  Worked the trick so far.  For nearing
2 million miles.  PMCS.

Jim  Accordino

--- Wallace White <wallace at stanfordalumni.org> wrote:
> How many times have you wound up stuck on the side
> of the road in your
> type 44 (5k, 100/200, V8)?
>
> As you might surmise, I just chalked up another one.
> In my four years of
> 5k ownership, I've had four (hurray for towing
> coverage):
>
> (1) Clutch throw-out bearing, June '98.
> Some of you will remember this one--I'm still
> thankful for the quick
> help from the list! One day into a cross-country
> road trip. Took five
> days to get the clutch replaced in Albuquerque.
> Lesson learned: don't
> buy a car and drive it on a 7000-mile trip the next
> week. (One might
> think I would've known that... ;) And don't be
> surprised if the clutch
> pedal breaks a week later!
>
> (2) Ignition switch, Jan. '99.
> Luckily this happened at home. Relatively painless,
> since I was biking
> and taking the train to work at the time. Lesson
> learned: replace the
> switch now if you have to turn the key hard before
> the starter engages.
>
> (3) Heater control valve, June '99.
> Created a nice big steam cloud but no apparent
> lasting problems.
> Happened with four people in the car. Lesson
> learned: use metal heater
> valves or replace regularly, and carry a Prestone
> flush-and-fill kit for
> emergency fixes.
>
> (4) Fuel pump, three days ago.
> Once again, four people in the car (family this
> time). Lost power while
> on the freeway, made it to the shoulder.
> Frustratingly, I pre-emptively
> replaced the pump two years ago with a noisy Bosch
> unit, probably Czech
> built... Embarassment compounded when our second car
> had problems the
> next day. Lesson learned: TBD.
>
> Looking back, I've done pretty well after the
> initial sorting-out. But
> with both of our cars breaking down over the weekend
> with family in
> town, and the 5k's recent A/C troubles when 300
> miles away, it didn't
> take long to wonder if we need at least one car we
> can really count
> on... we're planning to go from here (SF area) to
> Utah in a few months
> and my confidence in the 5k is shaky. Even if I had
> a mechanic go over
> the car thoroughly, I doubt we'd catch things like
> this fuel pump.
>
> That said, I still enjoy driving and working on the
> car and being part
> of this list, and even with the recent bills for
> A/C, it's a cheap total
> cost of ownership compared to a new car. I spend
> less on parts than I'd
> pay just on insurance on a new WRX.
>
> I'm curious to hear how other folks' experiences and
> decisions have been
> in this regard.
>
> Thanks,
> Wallace
> '87 5kcstq 190k
>


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