Broken Trunk Lock, page 2

originally posted by: EdisonintheFM

originally posted by: VictorVonDoom

originally posted by: EdisonintheFM
a reply to: VictorVonDoom

A Reliant K-car? The car that saved Chrysler because it used rubber bands on things like the hood release lever in order to make a car as cheaply as they can?

My Grandma had a navy blue w/ smurf blue interior, loved that car, it rode good.

In the time you took to make this thread you could have fixed it already, that's how cheaply made and easy to repair those cars are.

Go to Advance/Autozone/O'Reilly/NAPA, with a hammer and some chewed gum, pay the 0.99¢ for the replacement lock, pop out the old with the hammer, whack in the new one with the hammer, seal with the chewed gum. That's what the Chrysler dealership would do.

Good luck.

This one is a Dodge 400. They made them in 82 and 83. Pretty much the same K-car platform as the LeBaron, 600, Reliant, etc.

But you're right, pretty much a cheaply made POS when it was new. Add to that PITA early 80s emission controls, so many vacuum lines I had to buy six different colors of tubing to keep them straight, and a finicky "computer" controlled 2bbl carburetor. Whoever designed this car had the philosophy, "Never use an electricity when you can use vacuum."

That aside, if I could have just hammered the lock out I would have.

I don't think they were bad rides, Grandma never had much problem with hers. She put a lot of time and miles on it. Very few mechanical issues...huh, I want to say she only had AC issues, freon leak or something, temp gauge whatever it was it was under a couple hundred bucks to repair it.

I'd buy a used one today, but I'd replace all the rubber bands and what not.

Don't get me wrong, there's a lot of love in my love/hate relationship with this car. It's very fuel efficient and easy to repair if you have the factory service manual (thank God for those). This car will outlast me. When I first got the car, it seemed to run OK, but I don't know how. So much was disconnected, cross connected, not working properly, etc. It seemed for every 3 problems I fixed I found one and created one. Runs great now except for a slight hesitation on full acceleration and an occasional stall during the first two minutes of running. I think I need to tweak the carburetor a bit more.

My brother brought me a gift from a trip to Vegas. It's a little stripper in a bikini that hangs on to the antenna like a stripper pole. It gets a little dirty from being out in the weather, so I call the car My Dirty Girl. As you can tell from the pic, my dog loves to ride in it. If I get the keys she never leaves my side.