LEMONS! What's yours?!

[DieselBoy]

Well I've had many lemons it seems in my lifetime. Fortunately my F-350 is not one. But I've had vehicles, ATVs, and other items that were a headache from the beginning, and it doesn't seem like my lucks getting any better. Anyway, what kind of LEMONS have you had? What specifically did you have problems with, and how much did you lose? I feel alone.

*Note: this applies to anything automotive such as (trucks, cars, vans, SUVs, Dirtbikes, ATVs, Boats, and so on.)

[DieselBoy]

to start off I will add my 400ex.

The following happened:

- The motor started smoking furiously after I purchased it.
- Spent hundreds on parts to restore the top end.
- After completing the project, it starts, and runs great.
- The machine suddenly develops electrical issues after riding it a short while. It no longer ran.
- I attempt to start it over and over, and:
- The machine spirls into flames (briefly) leaving the plastics minorly singed.
- I repair the above.
- I purchase an aftermarket stator.
- The machine runs flawlessly. I ride it.
- Shortly after, the machine returns to it's previous state and no longer runs.
- And lastly, I gave up.

Total invested: unknown. about 4000.

[DieselBoy]

secondly:

I buy a bobcat 753. appears new, and operates well.

- The hydraulic lines all blow.
- The tilt cylinder mount BREAKS. professional mobile welder: $160
- the tires start going flat all the time. $200/PER
- the machine gradually becomes difficult to start.
- the starter goes.
- hydrostatic seal in wheel drive goes.
- engine starts to smoke blue, and gets worse.
- oil changes very frequently.
- machine offen would not start on a job. VERY embarassing and time consuming.
- pump starts to get weak.

Finally I've had enough. I sell it.

A guy actually paid more for it than I bought it for but knew it had problems and was willing to take it.

[DieselBoy]

come on guys, let's hear them!

[SGA]

Never really had any lemons, just lucky I guess. Had a few beater cars that broke all the time, but I knew what I was getting when I bought them.

One I do remember one that gave me a fit, a honda XL80 4 stroke pit bike. Never did get it running right and sold it. Even a good motorcycle mechanic scratched his head on it. I still wonder to this day what was wrong with it.
Never had a engine beat me yet, 4 bangers, V-6, V-8's, outboards, racing engines, you name it, except this one.

[bluebaron]

One week after i got the old 400ex the engine blew.. and a week after i got it back, the axle bearings went. after that about 2 weeks, the front brakes were acting up, and we brought it in and it turns out that someone the factory put something together backwards. other than the first couple months it turned out to be a good machine.

[firefighterjosh]

I bought a 87 Buick Century for $500. only had 88k miles! I got it home runs GREAT! Then the cam shaft sensor went out the next day. That is the closest thing I have to a lemon.

[250ex13]

My pred. 80. It was my first quad i was beond excited...It lasted about a month then blew up. :huh

[DieselBoy]

i never like buying anything used, no matter how good it seems. for about a month your just on edge wondering about whats going to happen, as your not used to it, and you always discover more problems.

my trx500 ute


plus i beat it to hell


spend 6k on repair bills

[DieselBoy]

Originally posted by Kickstarts_Suck
my trx500 ute
spend 6k on repair bills

OW!

[quadwanter]

my "dragun" paintball gun...what a POS bought it new and have never got to use it for a full day....maybe thats why they went out of buisness...i should sue them to get a refund..hmmm...anyone want to buy a nice new dragun TES paintball gun ????


:o

[NorCalRacer]

Lemons, what are those? I buy American:D

[LTZ400rider]

1983 LT125
88 dr100


hey dieselboy what do u do for work? arent you like 16? where the hell do u get the money for a $40k truck and a bobcat

Originally posted by DieselBoy
OW!


yep, it sucked sold for $3200 :mad:

thats why i have a POS 250x now



it had alot of axel problems, we put a whole new front end on it 1 time

bearings kept wearing out to quick and axels striped and hubs broke it was a nightmare

honda motor A+ :macho

[Stevie-D]

my latest pickup has been one hell of a lemon. had the thing 3 days and blew the tranny. after about 2 months of bull with the guy fixing it...TWO TIMES i might add. then once i got the tranny straightened out, i blew the motor. i didnt pay for the tranny rebuilds...(dumbass dealer i bought it off of fixed it, even though it had no warranty:devil: ) but there is close to $2500 invested in the truck since i bought the thing!!!!

[TCracin440ex]

well ive had a lemon...i had a 92 250x...it had its fair share of problems....

it ate axlebearings for breakfast...i dont know why i hardly ever rode it in the mud or creeks...it went thru clutches maybe once a month and im talking ab out barnette clutches not stockers...once i got the clutches and bearings straight the valves dropped in it embedding themselves in the piston...had to get a new head, and new piston....once i got that fixed the rockers broke...a piece of the rocker fell down in the motor...i bought new rockers...then the electrical shorted out...it would not stay running if you turned the headlights on....so i bought a new handlebar switch...well after i bought the new handlebar switch the coil went bad...i tried and tried to sell it...but i never could get anybody to give me anything for it everybody lowballed me on it...so i said screw it and parted it out on here....i still have a few parts left of it...but that thing was a PITA


oh yea...i also would like to say you cant say anything you buy used is a lemon because if you buy it used u dont know who is done beat the hell out of it...

[F-16Guy]

My wife's 2000 Ford Escort ZX2. The stupid thing vibrates like a coin-operated bed. We've had motor mounts replaced, tune-up, and every other thing I could think of, but it still does it. I did some research and found that they all vibrate! Just poor engineering, I guess. Also, the A/C stopped working, which turned out to be the relay. Unfortunately, they mounted the relay inside a module with a bunch of other relays, so it was big $$ to replace. Cheap POS!! :cuss:

[TCracin440ex]

Originally posted by F-16Guy
My wife's 2000 Ford Escort ZX2. The stupid thing vibrates like a coin-operated bed. We've had motor mounts replaced, tune-up, and every other thing I could think of, but it still does it. I did some research and found that they all vibrate! Just poor engineering, I guess. Also, the A/C stopped working, which turned out to be the relay. Unfortunately, they mounted the relay inside a module with a bunch of other relays, so it was big $$ to replace. Cheap POS!! :cuss:


idk but have you tried getting new rotars for the vibration or calipers? cuz i know the calipers and rotars can cause bad vibration

[fandl450r]

My 2001 Yamaha Warrior, worst quad I've owned to date (reason why I will only buy a Honda now). Had the CDI go bad, frame cracked in numerous places, had it throw a rod and destroy just about everything internally. The sad part is the motor was bone stock! Battery would always die, even when the key was off. Just a constant headache. This is my one and only bad Yamaha experience, and why I will always ride red. :)

[DieselBoy]

Originally posted by LTZ400rider
1983 LT125
88 dr100


hey dieselboy what do u do for work? arent you like 16? where the hell do u get the money for a $40k truck and a bobcat

LOL, no. I'm not 16. I have a fulltime job as well as doing sidejobs such as towing, and skid loader work. as well, i flip stuff. careful decisions have alot to do with it.

i started out in a 1993 ford f-150 2x4 that had been worked hard. the truck never failed me once except for an alternator, but thats pretty minor. i towed with that for a couple years and after almost killing myself on the highway i decided a big truck or no more.

i dont think anything has ever scared me more than losing control at 120 KM/H.

[Family Guy]

This was some years ago. I bought a new 91 Chevy Z71 stepside 4x4. Three months later the entire front end went out. Warranty covered. Six months later rear end locked up .Warranty covered. Two years later rear end locked up. Cost me $1200 or so to fix. Sold it and have not owned a Chevy since!

[Warlord]

My 2003 ranger is trouble. It has the classic ranger idle problems and it will rev up randomly. Never had much trouble with any Gm vehicles. My warrior is about the only machine I've ever owned that has had zero, and I mean zero problems since the day I brought it home.

[ky300ex]

I bought a used 93 Z28 Camaro that had around 60k miles on it and that thing was nothing but a total nightmare from day 1.This was a 6 speed car and the 1st thing that i can recall replacing was the clutch....no big deal there.Not long after that,the catayltic converter stopped up and had to be replaced.Then the car starting missing at low rpms...i thought it may need the usaul plugs,wires and maybe replace the fuel filter.I had all of that done and the p.o.s. was still missing.The dealer finally found out that the distributor was causing the miss and if anyone knows anything about the LT-1 motors they know that replacing this thing isn't cheap.To make matters even worse while they were changing the plugs and wires they noticed oil pouring out of the back of the intake,so i had to have the intake gasket replaced also.I also remember driving down the road one day and the damn thing just went dead.....it had a performance chip in it that went bad.I think the last thing that went wrong with it was it had 2 exhuast manifold bolts broke off.After that i parked it and just left it sitting ....gave the p.o.s away a year ago just to get it out of my sight.I'll never buy a used sports car again!

[wvspeedfreak]

A Mitsubishi Galant that was hands down the biggest pile of trash I have ever owned.

[Honda TRX250ex]

My 250x.
Got it in a chity condition.

Rebulit the engine once.
A couple months later rebuilt it again.
Started smoking again and my borther and dad gave up on it
I took it over and rebuilt it.
Ran great for about 1 or 2 months then the seleve droped,
600 dollars later with a new sleve and piston it runs great.
Replaced all the bearing greased everything replaced all the brakes chain/sprockets and other things. Hasent broke since i last rebuilt it. Maybe because i havent been riding it...:(

[2004400exa]

my lemons me umm me breakin my mechanical pencil led doing my homework numerous of times did it break fianlly went to family dollar spent 3 bucks on a pair of 10 :D

[nickmelll]

Husqvarna mower

put new air filter and plugs in it every time i try too mow grass:grr:

[RezoD]

My 400ex. Bought it about 6 weeks ago, and it's been down for 4 of them. Saw the bike on eBay, bid on it, didn't meet the reserve/ Asked the guy what his lowest was, said 2500, and I could do that. The listing said that the bike was in mint condition, not a thing wrong with it. I get to the house, and the first thing he points out is that the rear brake pads/rotor needs to be replaced, he forgot to mention that... No big deal, simple fix. Get it home, take it for a ride the next day, find out the main engine seal (where the cylinder connects to block) is shot, and I'm leaking oil pretty badly (by the way, does anyone know if I can use a high-temp Permatex silicone, instead of buying a gasket?).. He obviously knew this, because it was FULL of oil. Again, no big deal, simple fix, just keep it full of oil for right now. That ride, I also find out the A-Arms need new bushings, they're shot and the arms can move a lot. Front brakes are toast too. The chain and sprockets are both WELL past worn, and barely hanging on. The headlights don't work... Found an un-plugged wire, and plugged it in. Hooray, they work! Then, my quad won't start... Call the guy, he says "Oh yeah, sorry, it kept blowing fuses if I left that plugged in, skipped my mind, sorry!" Found out that it's a busted ground.. No problem, fixed the ground. Now my lights work. The cam chain tensioner then goes out, and my bike skips timing, my piston smacks the exhaust valve and bends it.. Quad won't start because of a loss of compression. So, I have the new valve, but waiting on the tool. Oh, I also forgot, the rear tire has a slow leak (is two days and it's completely flat slow?).. And, the fiberglass baffling was completely blown out of the LRD muffler.

So far, this has been my worst experience with a quad.. Even my Blaster that blew it's engine every 5 trips was less of a headache!

Travis

[TCracin440ex]

Originally posted by RezoD
My 400ex. Bought it about 6 weeks ago, and it's been down for 4 of them. Saw the bike on eBay, bid on it, didn't meet the reserve/ Asked the guy what his lowest was, said 2500, and I could do that. The listing said that the bike was in mint condition, not a thing wrong with it. I get to the house, and the first thing he points out is that the rear brake pads/rotor needs to be replaced, he forgot to mention that... No big deal, simple fix. Get it home, take it for a ride the next day, find out the main engine seal (where the cylinder connects to block) is shot, and I'm leaking oil pretty badly (by the way, does anyone know if I can use a high-temp Permatex silicone, instead of buying a gasket?).. He obviously knew this, because it was FULL of oil. Again, no big deal, simple fix, just keep it full of oil for right now. That ride, I also find out the A-Arms need new bushings, they're shot and the arms can move a lot. Front brakes are toast too. The chain and sprockets are both WELL past worn, and barely hanging on. The headlights don't work... Found an un-plugged wire, and plugged it in. Hooray, they work! Then, my quad won't start... Call the guy, he says "Oh yeah, sorry, it kept blowing fuses if I left that plugged in, skipped my mind, sorry!" Found out that it's a busted ground.. No problem, fixed the ground. Now my lights work. The cam chain tensioner then goes out, and my bike skips timing, my piston smacks the exhaust valve and bends it.. Quad won't start because of a loss of compression. So, I have the new valve, but waiting on the tool. Oh, I also forgot, the rear tire has a slow leak (is two days and it's completely flat slow?).. And, the fiberglass baffling was completely blown out of the LRD muffler.

So far, this has been my worst experience with a quad.. Even my Blaster that blew it's engine every 5 trips was less of a headache!

Travis


that dont sound like a lemon, that just sounds like piss pour maintence on that other guys part....

[DieselBoy]

Wow. interesting stories. Glad to know there's guys out there that have had the same experience. It seems like no matter how carefully you look it over you don't know until you take it home. Then all the problems appear.

Funny story. I just sold my wolverine FIRST DAY it was advertised, within 4 hours of it being online, and the phone was ringing off the hook since. Sad to see it go, though. Hardly any calls on my 400ex for some strange reason and it's been advertised for 3 weeks...I'm practically giving it away. But, my friend wants to buy it so I guess I'm ok. From now on I'm going to flip quads. It's much less expensive, and I make money when selling 95% of the time.

But back to the topic. The motor & transmission have to be the absoloute worst possible scenario when having a lemon. It's such a weight off your shoulders when you finally sell it (I think.)

[DieselBoy]

Originally posted by Stevie-D
my latest pickup has been one hell of a lemon. had the thing 3 days and blew the tranny. after about 2 months of bull with the guy fixing it...TWO TIMES i might add. then once i got the tranny straightened out, i blew the motor. i didn't pay for the tranny rebuilds...(dumbass dealer i bought it off of fixed it, even though it had no warranty:devil: ) but there is close to $2500 invested in the truck since i bought the thing!!!!

I've seen your threads previously regarding your dodge. Sorry about the luck. Nice of your dealer to do that! I would be very thankful. Customer satisfaction must be a very big thing to them, we need to see more dealers doing that.

[DieselBoy]

I would also like to add my moms GMC Jimmy, though not mine, I've been responsible for working on it. The 2 front wheel bearings go approx every 5 months (give or take) and never last any longer. Also, the motors started to use coolant and it uses some oil. Every week or so you have to top up the radiator. But there's never any steam or smoke, and there is no leaks (hmm). I added some Radiator Fix and it seems to be slowing down significantly (the stuff really works, I've used it many times). Also the fan inside whines like crazy sometimes, the ABS system is a laugh. We just got that fixed, finally (but for how long? [recurring problem]. its had all 3 (YES, ALL THREE*) O2 sensors replaced, and it gets terrible mileage for a V6, it's almost laughable. Other than that, I can't really complain about it except saggy rear springs, and the brake calipers seizing all the time.

[LTZ400rider]

hey diesel boy how old are you? i always thought u were from ontario california but when u mentions kph i realized u were from canada. what exactly do u tow?

[FourFiftyFour]

i think a lot of you know my sob story about the dale...

long story made short...

saved for 2 years as a high school student.... bought the dale...first ride...it blew up... 1-2 years nothing but problems...it never ran for more than 2 months... it went for a full season after that then i got hooked up with a big sponsorship...then it gets totalled in a car accident on the way to a race...now the insurance from the lady who rear ended me wont give me enough money to replace the quad and im going to have to get into a lawsuit just to get the money to replace quad and the damage done to my truck:ermm:

[HondaMan222]

lemons for me:
03 predator, bought it off this site from a kid in crawfordsville, IN. I got it, it was a POS, couple weeks or riding, 3rd and 4th gear when out. So i did a 558 kit when i fixed that, 1st ride on new motor, the the exhuast cam, exploded, well the cam bearing. So ball bearings went all though my new motor. After i got them all cleaned out and fixed up she ran like a champ for a while..then the chain broke and sent it into my case, broke the case saver. I had to pull the motor to get it fixed up. Then my 2nd predator, i also think the guy was a memeber on here it was a 558 and just kept giving me small problems. That 1st predaturd was the worst... The 2nd was my 93 Ford deisel. loved the truck, but it always broke. lets just say i sold it at the right minutie, on the way home the guy said the brakes locked up, and then later on number 8 pision seized, invector pump went out along with injectiors, it wouldn't idle right..etc...had 177K when i sold it. I do miss it, no the hood up part... it was a 5 speed and i had it stright piped and a loud system, so it was cool.

We thought my 400ex was but most was normal and my fault.

I got it and 3 months lator it started fouling plugs. I couldn't get it jetted right neither could the shop. After say 2 years it needed rings and valves adjusted (normal i think?) and needed a clutch (normal?) i got it running good for the last 5 month's the nsold the motor just for more power.

My axle broke over a 1 foot jump and my chain snapped.

But the real chinees lemons were my 2 pocket bikes. Identicle bikes but the ywere alot differant. The motors were mounted in differant locations and the welds broke in alot of spots. The motors always were good except that the carb got colged from having plastic shavings in gas tank from the factory.

Is their realy lemons? All the parts like say off a 400ex are all the same as other 400ex's. Right?

[300exOH]

My lemon is an 05 Chevy Colorado. I filed for lemon law about a month ago and I just got the papers from the BBB the other day saying I had won my case. GM is buying my truck back at full purchase price because of front tire wear problems. I have complained about the front tires wearing on the inside edge since the truck had about 1200 miles. They have done 4 alignments, replaced tires 4 times and the also replaced the front springs... none of which fixed the problem. GM admitted during the arbitration hearing that they have no other ideas to fix the truck and their engineers would like to investigate the issue.:rolleyes: I told them they can do that when they buy it back. I have had other problems with the truck like brake pulsation, abnormal wear on the seats, and the rear end is offset by 1/2"-3/4" but none of those qualified for the lemon law. So far it's been the worst $19K I've ever spent. I should be rid of the headache by the end of the month though.

[Stevie-D]

I've seen your threads previously regarding your dodge. Sorry about the luck. Nice of your dealer to do that! I would be very thankful. Customer satisfaction must be a very big thing to them, we need to see more dealers doing that.

haha..not exactly. when it happened...i called *****ing...well he told me to get a new overdrive lockup solenoid for it, and he said it would fix it. well after that didnt fix it, i basically told him that either the tranny gets fixed or i'd be getting my money back for it. he was never legally required to fix the tranny. i guess he figured he could fix it and still make money off of it:devil: well he guessed wrong. spent $1200 the FIRST time it went. after it blew the line off and fried it again, he WAS legally responsible to fix it. spent close to the same amount this time, as well as sending out his rollback to pick it up at my place...120 miles away:devil:
have i mentioned that both times it took him over 3 weeks to fix the damn thing!!! ya.. over 3 weeks each time!!

i should have thought before doing the motor swap..i probly could have called the dealer and told hiim that i found so and so wrong with it, and i believe that this caused to motor to blow:devil:
just as well though...the poor guy lost enough money on the truck as it is

[LTZ400rider]

bump

[Alberta_Qaudin]

$17,000 in warranty work within the first 6 months of owning my 2001 GMC sonoma Extreme, only paid 15,000 for the truck

[DieselBoy]

Originally posted by Alberta_Qaudin
$17,000 in warranty work within the first 6 months of owning my 2001 GMC sonoma Extreme, only paid 15,000 for the truck

that's rediculous!

[DieselBoy]

Originally posted by LTZ400rider
hey diesel boy how old are you? i always thought u were from ontario california but when u mentions kph i realized u were from canada. what exactly do u tow?

ontario, canada. im 21... I tow everything. bobcats, cars, trucks, a range of farm equipment, general haulage, trailers, etc.

[DieselBoy]

Alright guys. I just sold my 400ex, too. I'm off to the races. I made just under $5,985 dollars for the 2 machines, I think I did pretty good considering. Now, I'm on the search for a good raptor. This way I won't spend my entire budget, and I'll have some spare money for other things. I'm glad the 400ex is finally out of my hair, but I will definately miss both of them.

Originally posted by DieselBoy
Alright guys. I just sold my 400ex, too. I'm off to the races. I made just under $5,985 dollars for the 2 machines, I think I did pretty good considering. Now, I'm on the search for a good raptor. This way I won't spend my entire budget, and I'll have some spare money for other things. I'm glad the 400ex is finally out of my hair, but I will definately miss both of them.


get a honda :(

[DieselBoy]

Originally posted by Kickstarts_Suck
get a honda :(

Thanks for the suggestion, but I'll pass. I like my yamaha's.

[dodgeram14jr]

My POS of a 2005 Dodge Dakota I bought new.

in shop for air bags (4 times)

in shop for drive train vibrations (1 time)

in shop for transmission (2 times)

in shop for brakes (1 time)

ALL PROBLEMS WERE BEFORE 10,000 MILES

lets just say I have a court hearing in march to see if Dodge has to stand good for the POS lemon

[700bRad]

Ok all this stuff happend in a 1 month time.

1. Got arrested for underage drinking.

2. Got a speeding ticket for going 75 in a 60.

3. Totalled my truck by hitting a deer on my way to work at 4:00am

4. Condom broke and who knows what else, maybe my pride.....

5. Was tuning up my truck and broke a spark plug off inside the block.

6. Broke the case on my 700r cause I turned the oil drain bolt to tight.

7. Broke the Oil tank drain plug off in my oil tank

8. Broke my back brake caliper when I tried to use a C clamp on the piston. Turns out I had to turn the piston clockwise and it would go back in.

9. O yea and GIRLS SUCK.... Just thought I would throw that one in there.

I hope my badluck streak is over..... Im afraid to walk outside for fear a giant piano is gonna fall out of the sky and kill me.