Can a car fix itself? TELL YOUR STORY!

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KIII

KIII

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I was explaining to my son that old cars are alive,with personalities, humor, most are temperamental (drives best when clean) Like a lot of kids today, he will take wikipedia's word as gospel. He claimed it was impossible for a car to fix itself. I cant count how many times I've been pissed off at my motorcycle or car, calling it bad names,hitting it opened palmed, etc. and it still giving me problems. The next day she'll be fine. She sleeps in the garage(if she only knew what went on inside) so the time apart brought her around. Anyhow, let us hear about your cars self-fix. Oh yeah, ^$@* WIKIPEDIA!
 
Not a Mopar and it didn't happen to me but a co-worker had an old Volvo daily commuter car that had a lot of miles and developed a rod knock. He knew it was going to blow someday but it wasn't worth anything so he kept driving it. Sure enough, one day coming to work the oil gauge dropped and it was knocking BAD. He figured he would get off at the next freeway exit but before he could, he heard a loud BANG. Funny thing was, the knock went away and the oil pressure came back up again. He figured, what the heck, and drove it all the way to work. We looked it over and tried to figure out what happened. It was only running on 3 cylinders so we guessed something bad happened to that one cylinder. We pulled the plug but it looked ok.....hmmm. Checked compression and there was zero....pulled valve cover and everything was there and working so it didn't drop a valve. At that point he said "screw it! put it back together and I'll drive it 'till it blows!" Well, a year later (of daily commute!) he got a new car so we finally pulled the engine apart just for our own curiousity and found that the one cylinder that had the rod knock had spun a bearing which welded itself to the crank journal (and sealed the oil hole which brought the oil pressure back up. In the process of spinning the bearing, the rod had broken about !/2" above the big end and was just acting like a hose clamp on that rod bearing. The rest of the rod and piston just got shoved up into the cylinder where it was out of the way and sealed the combustion chamber so it didn't have a vacuum leak. I guess it doesn't really qualify as "repairing itself" but it kept going when it should have died.
 
Even the newer ones. My 94 Grand Cherokee had serious wiring gremlins. Dome light would randomly come on and the factory alarm would go nuts flash the lights randomly when the key went to acc and than wouldnt start. Lost it one day and tore apart the entire interior took my multimeter to every wire and went over everything with a fine tooth comb. Only thing I could find was that a sub fuse would keep blowing if i put it in while the main fuse was in. pull the main fuse, put sub fuse in than reinstal main fuse and voila it doesn't blow. After chasing that for a couple hours, i still have no clue why my electircal system is ghosting on me. Put it back together and never had any electrical issues ever again
 
I was on the Hot Rod Power Tour in 96 and the waterpump shaft seal on the Dart started sprayin' all over the engine compartment.Found the closest auto part store, picked up a new pump and said "Lets change it at the motel tonight".By the time we got there it stopped leakin'.(Yes it had water still in the rad) Cleaned everything up and said"Lets chance it". That pump is still on ...
 
Had a 76 Pont many years ago.It would run bad sometimes til I washed the darn thing.Go figure.
 
My story is of psychic powers.Back in the 80's when I owned my 72 satellite I drove home and shut it off for the night.As I lay asleep I get an informative dream and in my dream it is the next day and I'll be late for school if I can't get this car started,well pass the point of being late I'm still looking the car over trying to figure out why it will turn over but not start,then I noticed the coil one of the two small wires had a push on end and it was off so I pushed it back on and fired the car up.So now back to reality I wake up not thinking much of my dream.I go outside hit the key and it just turns over and over I sat there for a second and it hit me,I jumped out check that wire and sure enuff it was off so I push it back on and head to school on time.When I shut it off the night before it was running fine.I guess me and that car was connected.And you this is a true story.
 
I'll add that I dont do the psychic,alien type thing so to me that makes my story even more bazzare.
 
On the way to the church for my wedding, my '64 Olds Cutlass was running terrible. Neither my dad nor I could figure out what was going on. I stopped once and checked under the hood and everything looked OK but it continued to run lousy. Fearing I was going to be late we just kept going.
When I got to the church a few minutes late my bride was sitting down tapping her foot and not looking particularly pleased (I learned that look early). I explained about the car but it didn't help much.
The ceremony went off without a hitch and afterwards the car ran perfectly fine. My new wife told me the car was jealous.
And 'KIII', my car knew what "went on inside" the house because the same thing had gone on inside the car.
 
Well, my 70 Super Bee definately had a personality.
I called it the millenium falcon, because it was fast as hell, but often didn't "hold tegether" very well. Usually minor stuff that would allow a field repair, or a limp home.
It also didn't like it when I had a female in the car with me, and it could tell the differnce between platonic ones and those that were competing for my attention.
It had been running fairly well one night, until I picked up my date. At the first stop light after she got in, the instument cluster caught fire.
 
That's why cars are often called "SHE" or "HER". They don't like being called "The old GAL"...
 
Not a Mopar, but my KZ1000.

This was a basket case build that was in really rough shape. After I got the tank painted I knew I need a new fuel petcock. I tracked down a NOS petcock (not cheap), popped it on, made sure all was snug, filled it with gas and went for a ride. When I got home I realized fuel was weeping past the petcock lever O ring. I blew it off for a week while I was busy at work and the following week I wiped it down and viola! No more leak!

I figure it just took a little time for the fuel to swell the O ring. No magic, but it made me happy nevertheless.
 
My '57 Plymouth never did like me picking up any girls for a date. There sere several occasions when things would happen.

Once I pulled out of a gas station on the way to a girls house and I heard a loud thunk and then my car started vibrating horribly. I pulled back off the road and noticed something laying on the road... One of the fan blades had ripped off and went straight down and hit the road. It didnt go through the hood, radiator, hoses, tranny lines, nothing...there was a gap about 4 inches wide between the trans cooling lines that the blade slung through. I had to take the fan off and drive home without it and put on another fan I had at the house.

Another girl got the door slammed on her finger without warning...

I was on the way to a dance and hopped into the car and she wouldn't start...the starter ended up being stuck...I gave it a nice whack with a hammer and she fired up. When I got to my dates house a giant tree limb had fallen on the driveway...about where my car would have been parked...

One time a guy backed into my passenger door and sped off...I tracked him down and eventually he had to pay a hefty bill for repairs. After I got my estimate for the damage I came home and the large dent popped back out...

Coincidence? Luck? Magic? Ghosts? Who knows...but strange nonetheless!
 
I had a 2.3 pinto that I dropped the wingnut from the air cleaner in the carb. It must have made it's way into one of the cylinders. 20 seconds after it fell in, the motor acted like it wanted to jump out of the car. Then came the violent knock. It was a bad knock too. I thought I was screwed. First instinct was to shut it down. I said "what the hell the damage is done so let's see how long it will run till it dies". It never did shut down and the knock slowly got quieter and quieter until it was completly gone. Drove that car for another year and a half before I sold it.
It also ran out of antifreeze on the freeway and I had a 30 mile commute. I just kept going until it got so hot it shut down. I would let it cool and continue on. I did that about 10 times to make it home. Fixed the blown hose and was good as new:) I could not kill that car:)
 
I hate to jump in this one.....but I am gonna side with the Son...and say CARS DO NOT FIX THEMSELVES.

I have been working on these 4 wheel death machines long enough to know that, stuff breaks with time, use, abuse, and neglect.

Noises can go away...and washing a car can help chassis grounds for a little bit till the corrosion takes back over....but nothing fixes itself.

Most problems with older cars are in the electrical system, no doubt.
40 year old wires....most have 20 years or more of use in said 40 year old wiring, grounds get rusty,...insulation breaks off....+ short to grounds happen and things get smoky and Krusty.

my .02c
 
Not sure if it's the car that 'fixes' itself...but I believe without a doubt there are powers we can't explain that do things to our cars.

On a lighter note I feel if I treat my car with love, it will serve me well.
 
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