What vehicles have left you on the side of the road?

[Ken07AOVette]

With several hundred that I have owned, 1 single vehicle has left me. I admit it was my own fault, it was giving me grief starting a few times and I did not diagnose it, drove it until that one time too many. 1999 Chrysler LHS that I bought new. Died in July 2015 with ~275km on it. I think it was the fuel pump, parked it that day and haven't looked at it since. That was the only tow I have ever had. I have been driving Fords exclusively for trucks since the 90's.

[artie]

Drove an old Kaiser jeep pickup for a 100 miles missing like crazy. When the mechanic took the head off the motor he found the top of one of the pistons had come off and was stuck in the combustion chamber. New piston good to go. If you compare wages and labor back then with wages and labor now it was easier for me to afford to have a mechanic fix my trucks back then.

[Twisted Canuck]

I got left on the side of the road once, but it had more to do with me being truthful with the way the girlfriend was driving, than a mechanical issue. It was a refreshing walk, gave me time to think. When she came back to pick me up after my 'discipline', I just kept walking. Right to a nice local pub. Was a great night.

[catnthehat]

A Dodge 1/2 ton slant 6- rectifier issue
Cat

[alacringa]

1985 Camry. Alternator died about 15 km West of Field, BC. I spent the night in that car, while it got down to -15ºC. Fortunately I had extra clothes and a blanket. Started walking in the morning, thankfully got picked up by a passing motorist after a bit.

[HVA7mm]

1989 Plymouth Sundance. Timing belt broke, but thankfully as it was a 2.5 turbo and had dished pistons, there was no valve train interference. Lined up timing marks, $40 belt and good to go.

1968 Chrysler Newport, fuel pump push rod ended up being wore out and not enough fuel pressure to prevent continuous vapor lock. Took a while to figure out after changing fuel pump, fuel filter and dropping tank to check fuel pick up tube. $30 push rod eventually solved all of my woes.

[Little red riding hood]

Originally Posted by Twisted Canuck

I got left on the side of the road once, but it had more to do with me being truthful with the way the girlfriend was driving, than a mechanical issue. It was a refreshing walk, gave me time to think. When she came back to pick me up after my 'discipline', I just kept walking. Right to a nice local pub. Was a great night.

Her car or yours? Not sure if that would work too well with me!
I was left on the side of the road twice, first time I was driving a 1985 ranger with the 2.2 diesel, my transfer pump died, and it was -45 at about 2am! Not much traffic on the road, and cell phones were hardwired into trucks, and I was about 19 years old and didn't have one,
So I was laying on the road trying to fix it, finally someone stopped to help and I got a ride into Fairview, took 2 weeks to get the color back into my fingers, and about a month before they stopped hurting!
Second time was new years eve 2018, blew the bottom end out of my vw on Taylor hill.

[Slicktricker]

1989 Chevy s10 Durango 4x4 blown motor
2005 GMC Sierra 1500 4x4 mkre times then I wish to count and not enough times to write about had 102,000
2012 Chevy silverado 2500 4x4 basically same as above gave up when whole tire assembly fell off doing 120 on the sun child highway 80,000 k
2016 gmc acadia was in shop 16 times in one year totally over 90 days in shop had 17,000

Now drive ford never had a break down in 2 years

[coastalhunter]

Never stranded mechanically, but the times I've been stuck and had to walk out....

[Mr Flyguy]

1971 Datsun 510: Crown gear in differential and peripheral parts went kablooie (sp?) while heading up home on the I-5 in California. Fixed under warranty but had to spend a week in San Luis Obispo.

1990 Camry: Rear brake locked up on Whyte Avenue, had to get towed for repair.

1999 Pathfinder: Ignition key jammed but at least it was in my home driveway. Had to get towed to Sherwood Nissan for repair.

Hmm, a trend here? If so haven't learned since driving 2 more Toyotas!

[JohninAB]

2001 Ford Superduty.

Cost AMA alot of money towing it.

Had AMA on speed dial with that truck.

[Ken07AOVette]

Alacringa reminded me of one- I was driving my 2000 F350 dually and when I got to Banff at 0:dark:30 I noticed the heater was dying, lights were going dim, yep the alternator had given out and there was nothing open for miles. I turned around, in a blizzard with a 34' flat deck behind me, no lights of any kind and drove back to Banff. I found a hotel and camped for the night. If it was a gas pot I would have been in real trouble, but that old 7.3 just purred along like it was brand new. After a 20 minute boost the next morning the super nice guys at NAPA sold me an alternator the next morning, but would not lend me a ratchet, 2 sockets and a breaker bar, I had to buy them off the shelf. They did charge my batteries for free though. They did to their credit let me return the breaker bar, but it was a very expensive day, alternator was twice as much as here, plus tools and a $300 hotel room.

[Bushrat]

Never in 42 years of driving........ knock on wood.

[Twisted Canuck]

Originally Posted by Little red riding hood

Her car or yours? Not sure if that would work too well with me!

It was her car, and it was a lot less maintenance than she was.

I learned a valuable life lesson that day, that involved being free from psycho narcissists!

[bat119]

1988 ford 3/4 4x4 front wheel bearing disintegrated while passing by Delmas Sk. truck only had 375,000 k on it. Only once is really amazing considering some of the junk I drove.

[pikergolf]

In 37 years of marriage, my wife and I have owned eight vehicles. None have let us down. We drive them until they are miled out and buy good deals. We have been very lucky with vehicles.

[Ken07AOVette]

1989 Chrysler Lebaron- about 1997 another damn dodge. Wheel bearing on the way to Saskatoon hwy 16 out in the middle of nowhere, limped into tiny service station and sat while parts were delivered. I guess the last 2 didn't leave me stranded but it was not far off.

[Kristopher10]

2016 Ford Transit with 11,000km. Throttle body shot. The only time I've ever needed a tow.

[fordtruckin]

1993 Ford Ranger... Only reason was I rolled it..lol Other than that I've never been left truly stuck somewhere due to one of my vehicles.

[JustBen]

85 Ford F-150. Rear axle locked up.

91 Buick Century. Computer died.

[sewerrat]

1982 Chevy S10 with v6, timing chain snapped.

[silverdoctor]

Just once when the timing belt shredded on my Rio, needed a rebuild - interference engine.

Otherwise, I've always got spare parts and tools in the trunk for whatever car I'm driving. Starter died a couple of months ago, replaced with the spare and bought a new one. Alternator died last night, need to find another spare.

[tool]

Hmmm, where to start.... lol

1971 Volkswagen Beetle, exploded wheel bearing
1989 Plymouth Reliant, broken timing belt
1989 GMC High Sierra dually, burnt to the ground on the side of 9 highway hauling a load of cattle
1988 Chrysler New Yorker, rebuilt transmission piled up
1999 Dodge 2500 Diesel, transfer case grenaded
2007 Chev 1500, wheel bearing disintegrated
2001 Volvo VNL 660 semi, burst water hose
1969 Chev C50 grain truck, water pump died
2007 Dodge 2500 Diesel, front axle seized solid
1986 Chev 2500, new gas tank had the sender installed incorrectly, tank filled with rain water
I'm sure there are lots others if I think about it for a while.

[Arty]

Only two, and both were multi-passenger commercial vehicles.

The first was a Belgian passenger TRAIN, running between two major cities. 65 people just got unceremoniously dumped off onto some rail spur platform in the middle of nowhere. They finally sent another one about 2 1/2 hours later. People were speculating on a flat tire...

The second was a Greyhound bus - which was then probably sold and put into service with Diversified.

[pgavey]

My Ford EXPLODER the battery blew up among other things.
It was the first year they made them. 92?? I think.

[Dewey Cox]

I just assumed everyone got stranded on the road once or twice a year.
This is kind of an eye opener.
Although, I’ve only been stranded with the family once in the last decade. And that was in a 74 dodge based motor home. The dual resistor fried, and that cooked the ignition. Rented a car in jasper and made two trips into Hinton for parts (which they had in stock!)
The “cranky old mechanic” that everyone including the tow truck driver told me to stay away from knew his way around that dodge electrical. He got it fixed quick, and for a reasonable price. In Jasper. Didn’t even spoil the holiday.

[Digger1]

2009 GM 2500HD alternator went coming home from a well site. Wifey zipped in to Cdn Tire and brought me a new alternator which I swapped out and went home.
More recently my neighbour’s 2008 Peterbilt pulling the big hill south of Calgary with a Cat loader on the trailer. Way overboosted Cummins making about 800 HP had the turbo disintegrate in a spectacular cloud of smoke and puddle of oil. The guy who owns the wondertruck was in Phoenix for the Barrett Jackson sale, so we organised a rescue.

[wolf308]

Dodge Ram 1/2 ton I had for 9.5 years , drilled with , rock and rolled with and bagged the f out when young and dumb .... still not that smart

One day the light pinged - check gauges .... hmmm what's that I thought , better check gauges , temp was pinned , cranked into the ditch and shut engine off. Blown top rad hose , father on law brought me another stripped out of his old old farm dodge

Month later bottom one goes , but less severe , was prepared , ducky tape and water jugs, limped home .... meh time for a new truck ( the dodges rattled badly then ... front end problems or something and I was sick of it after driving my grandmas SUV to get me thru my hitch , was just used to the violent shimmy )

Just got a 72 nova all suped up for drag racing so looking forward to that and hopefully not hidden surprises rattling under the surface , deal was too good to pass and my friend just goes and gets it for me , didn't pay him back either for like 2 months ..... good friend.... still racked at his .... gotta pick up April or so

[BlackHeart]

The real truth......ALL of them sooner or later.
The trick is to sell or rebuild then before “later” happens.

The only one that never failed was the ones that someone slammed into the back of at 100km, in a school zone during election night with vehicles stopped and turning all over the place (dairy farmer’s mail-order bride). That vehicle never failed me, even then (old caprice classic ex-cop car).......but it was a write off.

[79ford]

Fuel pump and an alternator. Not bad for 18 years of old iron. Lots of nit picky stuff though