Can a vehicle suffer from heartbreak?

No really, because I think it might have killed an otherwise indestructible truck...

My 1987 Toyota 4X4 with a 22r (and about 300k on the clock) has suffered from more years of more abuse than I care to admit. When we left for Hungary a family member of mine offered to start the 'ol girl every once in a while and promptly ignored her as soon as we were gone. She's been sitting completely still for two years now...

Fast forward to our visit back home:

New battery, new oil, same old 1/4 tank of gas, and after 3 tries she fires up. New tabs, full tank of gas, air in the tires, and I'm driving all over town (no really, green growth on the paint and all). Three days of driving and not even a sputter or a miss.

Not wanting her to suffer from more neglect, I call an Uncle of mine who was interested in a work truck. Even at my offering price of "free" I was a bit embarrassed at her condition but what the heck, its better than seeing her rot right? He shows up the day after we left and I'm told the truck ran for a grand total of 49 seconds before quitting and not starting back up.

Has anyone else had a similar experience? Does this mean I dont have to get rid of my baby?

Can a vehicle suffer from heartbreak?

Yes, and it did.

Yup.

I had a horrible, P.O.S. Jeep Comanche. It was broken more than it was fixed.

My buddy was the previous owner and never had an ounce of trouble from it.

He felt pretty bad about the trouble it was giving me but when I flipped it for more than I paid him for it and split the profit with him, he got over it.

Shawn

I had no idea it was even possible...

I've owned the truck for 8 years, and actively tried to kill it for 5 of them... All I had to do was sign the title?

I had a Chevy Malibu that wouldn't start when buyers came to look at it. Never had trouble starting it prior to me trying to sell it...and it would start right up after they left.

A friend wanted to trade his full-sized Chevy pickup for my Cherokee. I reluctantly agreed since I needed a truck at that time. The next morning, the Cherokee quit at the end of his driveway. He tried to get it going for about two weeks before he called me up wanting to trade back. I happily agreed since I had mostly gotten what I needed a truck for done. A quick wiring fix and the Jeep was back on the road. That was four years ago and it's still going!

I had an '85 F-150 4x4 with the 300 six that everyone knows is indestructable, bought from the first owner in '90.

I drove the truck 60 miles + to work and back 6 days a week, for months at a time, plus 4 wheeling on my days off/towing race cars, with zero issues.

If my new bride drove it across town to get flowers/shrubs from the nursery, or move something for her work. It would break down.

It was seldom an expensive fix, just something to make it undriveable.

My first Fiat spider was like that. She hated ANYBODY else driving her... never gave me any trouble, but would buck, spit, and breakdown whenever anybody else would try.

The last time I let somebody try, we made it all the way to his house (5 miles) with no issues what-so-ever. She drove perfectly. We got to his place, he shut her down and handed me the keys before getting out. Upon shutting the door (not slammed) the glass fell out of the door mirror and shattered on the ground.

I got the hint after that

Yes. My damn truck won't let me sell it. Whenever I put it on Kijiji... it gets itself run into, pukes out a steering pump, or eats its ball joints/bearings.

I bought a '95 ACR Neon from an ex-GRM-contributor (the car was in the magazine in '98), who was the original owner and who put 50,000 well-earned miles on it.

Flew from Philly to Hotlanta on a Saturday to buy it, traded cash for keys and title, and the clutch cable broke as I was backing it out of the airport garage parking space. PO had it flatbedded to a dealer who, improbably, had the part in stock and a tech willing to do some OT to get it done that afternoon.

Got it fixed and drove the PO back to his house. As it was idling before I was about to leave, it suddenly made a death rattle and quit. Locked up tight as a drum and wouldn't turn over, even rocking it in gear.

So I flew home instead of driving. Turns out the old cable retaining washer had wedged between the starter and the flywheel. PO easily fixed it and I flew back down and got the car. I guess it gave some initial resistance to the sale, but succumbed to the inevitable.

My car is suicidal. I have proof.

My Taurus ran great until I tried to sell her. She blew an oil pump.

My old Land Rover isn't happy unless it gets offroad on a regular basis. On the street, it's a fragile thing. Off the pavement, it's as reliable as a rock and pretty much unstoppable. It just wants to get down to business, none of this pavement stuff.

I've seen it from a few angles. Knew a guy in college that would have cars die on him with days of purchase. They would be running great for years for the PO, but would commit suicide rather than be owned buy him. (yes, he was hard on cars).

Other times cars that wouldn't start or ran badly for other people (again abusers) would run fine for me.

Appleseed wrote: My car is suicidal. I have proof.

My buddy sold his very well maintained and babied S2000 about a month ago. Sold it on Saturday afternoon. Sunday the car committed suicide and bit a telephone pole. Wasn't even 24 hours.

I parted out a '70 Dart that was really too far gone to save. As I took the wiring harness out of the car (rendering it unable to move under its own power anymore) the cooling system let go. It felt like like the life just left the car at that moment.

My 1988 IROC-Z had a tendency to get jealous.

I could have friends ride in the car all the time, no problem. No trouble when I was on my own, either, car might take a while to start or whatever, but ALWAYS got me home.

Anytime I took a girl out in the car to impress her (this was HS/college, easier to do in a thirdgen Camaro than it is now), the car would throw a fit. Lost the brake master cylinder and vacuum booster simultaneously once, another braking problem that actually made me have to put two wheels off (separate from the first incident by several months, that was all fixed), and the big one was when I was driving a girl back from a date on a twisty backroad, the transmission grenaded and I had to call a tow truck.

Not sure any of that was heartbreak. We've since come to an understanding.

I had a Camaro that was sorta the same way.

I couldn't keep it running for more than 2 months straight no matter what I did. Changed most of the ignition system, couldn't keep tires on it, typical stuff. I had a small scene in a movie with the car and it started up and ran everytime I hit that key during the whole shooting of the scene we were in.The next week, I had the car in the driveway with the hood up trying to get it running again.

The '97 neon I just got rid of was sorta the same way. I took care of it, fixed some issues the previous owner had and got the car running decent. Drove it for 6 months with no major problems.I sell the car, then that guy sells the car to my neighbor and the next week he's changing parts on it.

My dad is trying to sell his '01 Civic EX sedan, he's the first owner, no accidents in it, 108K miles, dealer maintained (except for some oil changes and brakes by me), loaded with a sunroof and everything. The only thing wrong with it is the paint is a little faded because he never washed it. Two times he's had people come look at it, and both times it wouldn't start. First time it's ever not started. If he uses it to go to work, it starts right up. It's not heartbroken, it just doesn't want to go. But it's already been replaced by a '12 Fit, so it doesn't have a choice. Maybe I'll get it for the awesome price of free