unusual circumstances where your Pagoda had a break-down?

[Flyair]

Having read this morning the break-down story brought by Intex in another post, I thought it would be interesting to share our respective stories about break-downs of our venerable Pagodas.

I suggest that we do not describe that mush what went wrong but what were the circumstances and consequences, if any…

In my case, as my Pagoda is in the final stage of restoration after being brought from the States, there is not much to say. In other words, the future will - no doubt - reserve some surprises… Nevertheless, for a start …

I had a little mishap when my Pagoda came to Poland in a container and the custom officers waited to see her. The port handler moved the car out, the customs guys did their work and at the end I wanted to fire it up and leave…. shamefully, no sign of life… the fuel was there, but obviously the battery was dead. Nothing special and I guess quite common after a long trip by sea, but my first contact with the car in Poland was not as I hoped it would be…  

[Garry]

I had owned my 280SL for about 7 years without a break down then one day driving on the city freeway80km from home it just stopped. Pulled over to the emergency lane and called the Auto Club and whilst waiting, who should turn up but the previous owner who I had not seen from the day I purchased it.  It was a minor electrical fault a wire had dislodged from the coil and I was soon on my way.  The only day it stopped on me in the ten years I had it and the PO who I had not seen since purchase or since then goes by. What a coincidence.

[w113dude]

I had owned my 280SL for about 7 years without a break down then one day driving on the city freeway80km from home it just stopped. Pulled over to the emergency lane and called the Auto Club and whilst waiting, who should turn up but the previous owner who I had not seen from the day I purchased it.  It was a minor electrical fault a wire had dislodged from the coil and I was soon on my way.  The only day it stopped on me in the ten years I had it and the PO who I had not seen since purchase or since then goes by. What a coincidence.

Sounds like a Twilight zone episode!

[Cees Klumper]

So I tried to think of an 'unusual circumstances breakdown' but unsuccessfully so. In fact, although I've had a few instances where the car would not start due to a loose contact or some such, and twice where it would stall if I would not stay on the accellerator (due to an incorrect distributor having been fitted by a PO, Van Dijk discovered after extensive diagnostics), I've always been able to get it going and never needed a tow (touch wood ...). I did once have one of the brake discs overheat because the brake hose was restricted. But even then, after cooling, I was able to resume the drive. On my other cars, let's see, in chronological order from 1978 on ...

Jaguar XJ 6: brake failure
Triumph Spitfire: breakdowns due to broken alternator (seized bearing) and broken valve spring
Ford Pinto: engine fire
Ford Mustang: coolant leak
Audi 80: dead battery
Alfa Romeo: turbo pipe came undone
Fiat coupe: blown engine, totally blown
Volvo C70: broken alternator, no warning light: dead battery
El Camino: coolant leak

The Pinto was by far the most unusual, in that the fire happened on my way back from work, on a Friday afternoon, after just having gotten off I-95 (South Florida) at the Boca Raton exit. Flames underhood, another driver managed to put it out relatively quickly. But what happened next was the kicker: as the fire drew the usual emergency helpers (ambulance, fire truck, police) after it was over the police officer kindly offered to drive me to my home, two miles east. However, he was young and regulations mandated he frisk me for weapons before allowing me into the squad car. So here I am, off side of road, in my dark blue suit, Bally briefcase in hand, next to my stranded white Pinto, being frisked by a police officer. I was only praying none of my friends or neighbours would spot me with my hands over my head ...

[enochbell]

Pretty funny Cees, reminded me of my own barbecue.  No drama with my Pagoda, but back when I was in college in Boston i was "learning" to maintain my 1971 VW Beetle.  I adjusted the valves, and was surprised at how far out they were.  I figured "Wow, the car will run GREAT now that I have the valves in order".  Wrong.  I set out for school, running late, and the car was running terribly.  But I had to get to class, so I just ran it with terrible stumble and backfire.  About two miles out I smelled that unmistakable smell of red hot metal and rubber.  Pulled over in a residential neighborhood and saw that the tailpipes were glowing and there was significant smoke in the engine compartment.  Went to the closest house to call the fire department.
  
Guy answers the door with hand behind his back.  I tell him I think my car is going to catch fire. He shows me his handgun and invites me inside, where he calls in the emergency.  From his living room window we watched the car ignite  Could not have been more than 2 minutes from putting the call in that the engine company arrived, broke all the windows, and filled the car with foam.  Totaled.

Later I figured out that I had set at least one cylinder's valves 180 degrees off.  Using the muffler as a combustion chamber is a bad idea.
Turns out the guy whose house I went to was the Chief of Boston's Fire Department!

Talk about young and dumb!

Greg

[Cees Klumper]

Wow Greg, what a story ... what made it really come to life was the handgun-behind-the-back .... somehow I picture it with the Fire Chief still in his housecoat. Sorry to hear about the Bug (here in France they have a very nice-sounding acronym: 'Cocinelle', or 'Ladybug'.

It is amazing how fast fires can spread and wreak havock. Ever since then, I always carry a fire extinguisher with me in both of my oldtimers.

Looking forward to hearing others' stories of unusual breakdown situations.

[GGR]

With the Pagoda the other day I hit a pothole and the car died instantly. Turns out that a wire got dislodged from the ignition module. I fiddled in that area little before and I must have pulled on the wire in the process making it prone to dislodging.

In 1987, I was a student and the proud owner of a rusted out Alfa 2000 GTV I had bought in a junkyard. I wanted to see how fast it could go so I took it over 200 km/h on the highway. This is when the oil pressure dropped and a rod went through the engine block right where the engine bracket was, taking it out in the process and causing the engine to drop on one side. I guess this is what we call "catastrophic failure". So here we were, my friend and me, hitchicking next to the car when an old man (to us) stopped and came out of his car with a rope. He explained to us he had sons our age doing the same kind of stupid things and he tied our car behind his. he said he was going to drive relatively fast to avoid being crashed into from behind. So here we were, at 130 km/h in tow 1,5 m behind the towing car, with no power brakes. I still wonder who from him or us was the crazyest. Anyway, we got out of the highway and back home safely.

Another day a friend called me telling me his Mini had gone electric. He was driving when the engine started revving as if in neutral. He stopped the car and tried starting it again. the starter would work but the engine would not engage. While putting in gear, the starter motor would move the car without the engine being engaged. On the Minis the flywheel is held to the crankshaft by one big bolt that had come loose. So the starter motor would engage the flywheel and the transmission when in gear, but not the engine. We repaired the car, which cought fire a few weeks later, unrelated to the previous issue. 

[49er]

 In reading Garry's comment, it reminded me of a very similar problem that I encountered a few days before I traded my ill fated 250 SL for my 280 SL. I had been working late and came out to my car around 9:00pm and could not get it started. I called the auto club and since the dealer was closed, and it it probably would not look to have the car I was going to trade in towed to their shop, had it towed to my home which was about 10 miles from work (no flat beds in those days). After getting some light on things (it was pitch black in the parking lot and I had no flash light/torch) I discovered the coil wire was loose. Plugged it in and the engine fired right up. After the accident I had in the 250 a year prior, the car never really ever ran correctly and was in the shop for all manner of things, primarily electrical. That was the only time though that it actually couldn't get it to start and the car never actually quit on me. Moral of the story, always carry a flashlight

John

[Markbhai]

 Does this count as a breakdown?

Last year (as you may know) I had my engine bay restored, and so good it looks too! On my way back from Manchester on the M62 I could feel that the car was performing better than expected, in fact a little too well! It appeared that going down hill I was braking heavily, rather than become worried, I began marvelling at the difference in performance having the engine cleaned up had made. I suspected nothing until a few miles later, when going up hill, I was still braking.

I was on a motorway (freeway for our US cousins) so I continued as long as I dare, but eventually realised that the car was over revving to the point I was uncomfortable for her health. I pulled onto the hard shoulder, switched off the engine and allowed to come to a graceful halt.

With trucks and cars pounding past at break neck (and for that matter Pagoda) speeds I called the breakdown truck.  She was taken home and the next day I found that the tickover screw had vibrated off putting the accelerator on full.

The cost to fix the fault?... 30p (about 50c).

The cost of my stupidity for driving her on full acceleration?  ... £2,000 (about $2600) as I then had to replace the brakes!

Testimony to he fact that these cars are cleverer than us (or me at least).

Mark.

[KevinC]

My car has left me stranded only once. It was at my brothers house... as I pulled out of the driveway, I felt the shifter dis-engage as I moved from Park to Reverse and found I had no control over the transmission. The "unusual" (or should I mention "uncanny") part is that my brother had owned a transmission repair shop for 35 years and knew exactly what was up. The plastic clip/ring on the shift assembly had fallen off and was on the ground under the car. We snapped it in place and I drove the car home, picking up a replacement part the local MB dealer the next day.   

[Flyair]

I am glad that this thread has had so many visits and posts since created. One intermediate conclusion I can draw is that Pagoda seems like a very reliable car, and if a breakdown there was, it usually ended up in a minor fault or disfunction. It clearly appears that breakdowns concerned usually "the other cars"

Please keep it alive as I think that it also gives everybody a good sense how personal our rapport is towards these beautiful and rarely capricious ladies

[Ulf]

Apart from a flat battery once, my Pagoda has never failed me yet (touch wood) - quite a change from the succession of British sports cars that I've owned over time - worst failure was when the brake pedal on my 67´Triumph Spitfire suddenly dropped onto the floor while I was doing 75 mph on the highway approaching a long line of slower cars ahead. Only thing to do was to drive on to the grass on the soft shoulder - still can´t forget the facial expression on these people when they were overtaken on the wrong side by a small red sports car flying by on the grass next to the highway before it eventually came to a halt. Could have gone seriously wrong though...
My TR6 caught fire behind the dash board once but I managed to put it out with a bottle of Lipton Ice Tea without even stopping as I was on my way to a job interview - guess I was a bit more reckless in those days.

:-)

[Flyair]

My TR6 caught fire behind the dash board once but I managed to put it out with a bottle of Lipton Ice Tea without even stopping as I was on my way to a job interview - guess I was a bit more reckless in those days.
:-)

I guess that since then you keep a bottle of that beverage in your car handy, as a compulsory equipment

Maybe you should maybe let the producer know about secondary application of that device

[w113dude]

Apart from a flat battery once, my Pagoda has never failed me yet (touch wood) - quite a change from the succession of British sports cars that I've owned over time - worst failure was when the brake pedal on my 67´Triumph Spitfire suddenly dropped onto the floor while I was doing 75 mph on the highway approaching a long line of slower cars ahead. Only thing to do was to drive on to the grass on the soft shoulder - still can´t forget the facial expression on these people when they were overtaken on the wrong side by a small red sports car flying by on the grass next to the highway before it eventually came to a halt. Could have gone seriously wrong though...
My TR6 caught fire behind the dash board once but I managed to put it out with a bottle of Lipton Ice Tea without even stopping as I was on my way to a job interview - guess I was a bit more reckless in those days.

:-)

Ulf

I can imagine the expression on your face going 75 mph without any brakes, I know it would scare the crap out of me, and probably not willing to drive for a while till color of my face came back to normal   

[Alf]

My contribution to this thread is the word 'Boccola' - Italian for bush, as in gear selector linkage bush. Mine disintegrated just outside Rome last summer but got great support and advice from people on this forumthat helped me get up and running again.

Full story here
http://www.sl113.org/forums/index.php?topic=17053.msg117751#msg117751

and this is the offending 'Boccola'

[bsimaz]

I also had the gear shift lever come lose.  Completely off as  a matter of fact.
Since I have an automatic I put on the emergency break, put the wheel choch
behind the rear wheel then crawled under the car and put it in gear.

A little scary but it worked. 

[Cees Klumper]

Bill! A little scary?

At least I hope you lay under the car in such as way that, should the car take off despite the e-brake and the wheel chock, it would not ron over you, just 'past' you! Good trick otherwise, but would have been better with someone applying all their force to the brake pedal on top of the other preventive measures...

So one more story on scary breakdowns, again in a Triumph Spitfire: a friend of mine and I went for a test drive on the highway. After having pushed it to around 70 MPH, just as we left the highway to head home, the car all of a sudden dropped to the right rear, and the chassis started scraping over the road surface. As we quickly came to a stop, the right rear wheel kept going, liberated and leaving us behind, bewildered. Turned out my friend had fitted his knock off wire wheel hubs on their respective wrong sides, not knowing they are uni-directional (like snow tires) so there is a right and a left hand hub. This to prevent wheels from accidentally spinning themselves free ... as happened to us, luckily not at 70 MPH on the highway ...

[Flyair]

Cees
As a side question…. Who was seating on the right side?

[ptooner]

My car has left me stranded only once. It was at my brothers house... as I pulled out of the driveway, I felt the shifter dis-engage as I moved from Park to Reverse and found I had no control over the transmission. The "unusual" (or should I mention "uncanny") part is that my brother had owned a transmission repair shop for 35 years and knew exactly what was up. The plastic clip/ring on the shift assembly had fallen off and was on the ground under the car. We snapped it in place and I drove the car home, picking up a replacement part the local MB dealer the next day.   

I have had that exact problem several times over the years.  The most recent one was after having an expensive transmission overhaul.  I was some 30 miles from home about to enter traffic on US1 when I decided to select low since I thought I'd need considerable acceleration and at the time the kickdown function wasn't working.  I selected low and felt the shifter go limp.  The rollback got there fairly quickly and the transmission shop voluntarily picked up the entire tab.  A much more amusing problem was a few weeks ago.  I had just finished rebuilding the powersteering pump and the car was running beautifully before that job.  I put the hoses back on, fill the system and was going to start it up to check for leaks.  She made no attempt to start.  I fiddled with it for two days when my neighbor who was helping me decided to look at the points.  When he was trying to refit the distributor cap I saw the distributor move.  We rotated it clockwise about 45 degrees and the engine started instantly and purred like a kitten.  Apparently while removing the battery for better access I had moved the distributor which wasn't clamped as tight as it should have been. 

Gerry

[J. Huber]

Well, I have been stranded 5 times in my Pagoda. Now 5 might sound like a lot but considering this is over 25 years and literally thousands of drives it is very minimal I'd say. (it would be interesting to know how many there actually have been...)

1. 1989. While parking, I pulled up too far into the perpendicular facing curb. Bent the crud out of the radiator. Be careful of this.

2. 1992. While coming home on a Sunday from San Diego to Santa Barbara, car overheated (majorly)-- this was pre-cell and being a Sunday evening nothing was open. I had to go for it -- making many stops to cool and add water when I could. I hit the stretch between Ventura and SB just hoping to limp to the finish line. Didn't make it. Blew the engine, car died and had to be towed the last 5 miles... Dang.

3. 1994. While trying to impress my beautiful bride-to-be, we took a ride, ironically from Santa Barbara down to Ventura. On the way home, car sputtered on the 101 and died on the off-ramp. What is it with the Ventura Highway? Would not start. This time, I called for a tow. Faulty points... If I only knew then, what I know now, I'd have probably been able to tinker with the points and get us home.

4. 1999. While getting a couple groceries, I came out and car would not start. You know, its embarrassing to have such a pretty car but have people watch you not get it started... Again points and plugs (but no clue).

5. 2010? While picking up my daughter from a friend's house, the car lights dimmed, then the everything went out. By now, I was a Pagoda Group junkie and thought, I can figure this one out. Checked connections to battery, checked starter, and every other thing I could do in the dark. Still confounded. Friend there had a battery charger -- that didn't help. Battery would charge then ran down really quickly... Had the car towed home and the next day figured it out. I had been detailing the engine compartment earlier that day and accidentally unplugged the wires to the voltage regulator. It is that important.

Thank goodness for AAA!

J

   

[w113dude]

Well, I have been stranded 5 times in my Pagoda. Now 5 might sound like a lot but considering this is over 25 years and literally thousands of drives it is very minimal I'd say. (it would be interesting to know how many there actually have been...)

1. 1989. While parking, I pulled up too far into the perpendicular facing curb. Bent the crud out of the radiator. Be careful of this.

2. 1992. While coming home on a Sunday from San Diego to Santa Barbara, car overheated (majorly)-- this was pre-cell and being a Sunday evening nothing was open. I had to go for it -- making many stops to cool and add water when I could. I hit the stretch between Ventura and SB just hoping to limp to the finish line. Didn't make it. Blew the engine, car died and had to be towed the last 5 miles... Dang.

3. 1994. While trying to impress my beautiful bride-to-be, we took a ride, ironically from Santa Barbara down to Ventura. On the way home, car sputtered on the 101 and died on the off-ramp. What is it with the Ventura Highway? Would not start. This time, I called for a tow. Faulty points... If I only knew then, what I know now, I'd have probably been able to tinker with the points and get us home.

4. 1999. While getting a couple groceries, I came out and car would not start. You know, its embarrassing to have such a pretty car but have people watch you not get it started... Again points and plugs (but no clue).

5. 2010? While picking up my daughter from a friend's house, the car lights dimmed, then the everything went out. By now, I was a Pagoda Group junkie and thought, I can figure this one out. Checked connections to battery, checked starter, and every other thing I could do in the dark. Still confounded. Friend there had a battery charger -- that didn't help. Battery would charge then ran down really quickly... Had the car towed home and the next day figured it out. I had been detailing the engine compartment earlier that day and accidentally unplugged the wires to the voltage regulator. It is that important.

Thank goodness for AAA!

J

So J, do you think it's time to upgrade to electric ignition yet?

[Flyair]

While J meditates the merits of the 123 ignition, I just want to remark that his list of mishaps is impressive. Who says better? 

[71Beige280SL]

I am a big proponent of the 123 electronic ignition. When I first took delivery of my Pagoda, the points and plugs got fouled frequently caused (as J Huber has elegantly articulated) embarrassing moments. I have installed the 123...Awesome!

I frequently travel. After one trip, I couldn't wait to get home and drive the car. I returned home on a Friday around 9:30 PM. It was a bit late to go out to dinner so, I went out to get a pizza to go. Understand my excitement when I hopped in the car and fired up the "Old Boy". The car ran perfectly, to the restaurant. When I got back in the car and fired it up, no problem...However...half way home, the lights began to dim and the car was acting funny. As I pulled up to my drive way, and hit the turn signal, the car died...I immediately thought the battery. Thankfully, I drifted into the driveway and was off the street. I thought it best to shut the car down and let the car rest. After eating our pizza, I went out about 45 minutes later and tried to start the car...clickkkkkkkkkk...clickkkkkkkk. Yes, dead battery.

My story is not quite finished. Has anyone in this Forum asked their 5'1'', 105lb wife to help you push the car up the drive way into the garage? She was not a happy camper!

To close out, I went to Mercedes and bought a battery...all good!  

[w113dude]

My story is night quite finished. Has anyone in this Forum asked their 5'1'', 105lb wife to help you push the car up the drive way into the garage? She was not a happy camper!

At 105 LB she was keeping you company more than helping you push the car in.

[Flyair]

it seems that I can add one on my own: last Saturday I finally got the key for my Pagoda that was declared as nearly fully finished, fine-tuned etc. I say nearly finish as all the mechanic and body related items have been completed, and there are only a few things that require some more care. Anyway, the car drove well, the sound of the engine was music to my ear and everything seemed fine.

I had an invitation to participate in a vintage Mercedes gathering some 50 km (35 miles) away, so last Saturday I headed in that direction enjoying cloudless sky and green scenery of Warsaw suburbs.

As a part of the route happened to be a Freeway, I pushed the car a bit driving at about 135km/h (85m/h) and then, suddenly, the engine went to idle revs and there was no reaction from pressing the acceleration pedal.

Having stopped on the security sleeve, I tried to see what went wrong and soon was able to locate the culprit: one of the accelerator rods was moving free as its ball socket broke away from the ball. Unfortunately, it was the one that is deeply down under the collector on the right side of the engine.

I called the mechanic who worked on the car and he was only able to advise me to try fixing it by hand. He obviously warned me that it may not work as some force is necessary and the space is very limited, and that I should be careful not to touch the hot parts. With nearly 30oC (95oF) outside and after driving one hour you can imagine that waiting for the engine to cool down could last for ages. After  some 45 min, using as protection the tool bag (original ), I started my unequal battle with the rod. Finally, after several attempts, I pushed it sufficiently well, so it moved again in place. I was first quite sure that it would break free again soon, but to my surprise, things held firmly, so I was able to join my colleagues in the last hour of the gathering and, later on, drive safely home.

Bottom line: I pleased to have fixed this stuff by myself, sadly at the expense of one nasty burn on my hand. I was also surprised that the replacement piece costs only 2.68 Euro at SLS, as I hoped that I repaired something more valuable that would be very costly to replace . Anyhow, it was amazing how a little, if not insignificant piece of metal can affect your life...

And what was so unusual in this story? Well… it happened on... the first day I actually drove my complete and restored Pagoda for the first in Poland after bringing it here fro the US in 2009 and a lengthy renovation ...