I have a '68 1800S. Owned it since '87.
Half heartedly put it out with a "for sale" sign.

Next thing I know a caliper freezes and chews up a rotor ($1200 repair)
Then we discover the rear drums have a cylinder going bad, much cheaper.

DO THEY KNOW?

 

They do know.....especially if they are in a good home and don't want to leave, the will go down kicking and screaming !

 

My S80, Damian, had his midlife crisis went totally insane and died. He had to get a lobotomy and a heart reconstruction (i.e. the ECM (replaced new) and the ABS (rebuilt) Modules went out) just because I went to a Chevy dealership to look at a black Camaro 2SS with ground effects and every option you can imagine. I'm sorry. I like Transformers and I have always wanted a black Camaro SS with ground effects so I had to stop. I am starting to think that once Damian saw that car he had a heart attack because it was so beautiful. In the weirdest way I almost felt like I had to apologize to the car after I got him back from surgery. We are going to couples therapy next weekend when I take Damian (the S80) to Bloomington, IN to visit my Godmother, which is about an hour drive one way. Like I have said in my most recent posts, I think that these cars have some sort of artificial intelligence but who knows.

 

Lol....

 

I've had the opposite experience. When I'm ready to replace a car, all its problems (the ones that have made me decide to throw in the towel) miraculously vanish, even if just for a short while. It's almost like the car's trying to say "see! I can still cut it! What can that Johnny-come-lately do for you that I can't?" I once had a 1985 245 Turbo that gave me all sorts of intermittent trouble. When I started looking at new cars, it began starting and running smoothly every day. But when I had talked myself out of upgrading, it stopped running completely, never to start again. The last-ditch effort must have been too much for it...

 

This experience happened to me when I got my 850. As soon as my grandfather retired, he had the car and was ready to pass it on to me under one condition--that I sold my 1988 Acura Legend. Since the Volvo was eight years newer and much safer, the decision was a no-brainer (even though I did like that Legend). It ran fine, drove nicely, and was in good cosmetic condition for an older vehicle. I even had a potential buyer, but he insisted on having it inspected. I thought it would pass fine, but was told that it had several problems that were in dire need of repair--namely a bad ball joint and a huge oil leak. I had smelled oil in the garage but had assumed it was coming from the snowblower, which had sprung plenty of other leaks (including the entire gas tank) in its lifetime and had always been questionable in terms of how it ran.

Less than 24 hours after that inspection I was driving the 850 to AAA to transfer my plate to it, storing the old Legend in my grandfather's garage until it could be sold. Nearly three months later I found a buyer but got next to nothing for it. Thankfully, the guy who bought it knew how to repair what was wrong and was going to do so.

The Legend had shown no sign of needing any repair until that summer, when my grandfather told me that he wanted me to have the Volvo when he retired in October. In fact, when I had it in for a transmission flush in May, the mechanic told me that it was completely healthy--and I didn't even drive the car much at all that summer--maybe about 1200 miles!

 

If you are not satisfied with its working...it is needed to be sold..