When you first got the Coda, did you ever imagine what an amazing investment in video content subject matter it would be providing? It's like the gift that keeps on giving... giving like a dysfunctional alcoholic aunt or uncle whose bad holiday gifts cause you acid reflux but afford you a never-ending stream of painful stories to tell your friends. 😂

As a fellow coda owner I don’t understand! My car is completely reliable!… except for that time that it had a brake leak and the brakes stopped working… or the many times it over heats when I go to fast… or how the eco-meter has never worked… or how the green screen likes to glitch if it’s too hot out… or how the car will think the charge is too low when going faster than 75 mph… or how the key fob will drain the battery in 24 hours so I don’t have wireless door locks… or how the trunk pop springs break loose at least once a month… or some times the car doesn’t recognize that the seat is buckled and it will beep for hours on end while my girlfriend and I try to enjoy our movie date (also you should show off the fact that this car can play movies on the screen. I’ve used it many times on dates) also sometimes the car warning light comes on inexplicably but it usually turns off after a while. Also my Bluetooth doesn’t work, and the aux in is janky. The button to the fold the rear seats down is smashed… on both seats. Sometimes the car takes a while to turn on or will get frozen on the Coda welcome screen. The navigation system voice will randomly change genders. But other than all of that my Coda is perfect! High-key I do absolutely love my Coda, I use it as my daily driver and it’s just a fun car :)

The complete freedom to do whatever you want coupled with lack of motivation is all too relatable. Oh, and the unforeseen damages part too haha

I've had a motorbike just like the Coda. As soon as you fix one thing, two other things broke. It was strangely hysterical to start with as my mates took bets as to what would go next. In the end I got fed up, took it to the bike breakers and sold it for the bus fare home and enough cash to get drunk, celebrating the fact I got rid of it at last.

Theory, when the previous owner did a CV shaft swap, they got the shafts on the wrong sides. As we can see, the gearbox is not mounted centrally, but it's not far off, so at a quick glance it would be easy to put the shaft in the wrong place.

The only man on the Internet who can make me watch gruesome garage work for 30 minutes only to reveal anything he actually fixed could have been done in 5 minutes and most of what he thought he fixed was actually broken beyond repair the whole time.

Don't ever stop making videos, you really have skills and I love your sense of humor and your fast editing cuts are cool too.

The wheel bearings are installed into the drums on my Ford Focus, and they are very specific about how much you need to torque the nut that holds the drum on. It's most likely the same situation on your Coda.

Man, I feel for you. A lot of those projects are really tiring. The bus is never ending, the Weego is long term, Coda is long term... Make sure to do some stuff that's easy so you can get those wins too eh?

On one hand, this Coda is infuriating in how it breaks when you try to fix it. On the other hand it's basically the gift that keeps on giving in terms of KZfaq videos because I'm gonna watch these Coda vids until the damn thing is fixed, lol

Your channel has become a bit of a safe haven for me, i'm generally not that interested in cars but your videos are both very educational and absolutely hilarious, and me feeling very lost and demotivated towards life in general hearing you say that it's hard to get started sometimes makes me remember that i'm not alone dealing with feelings like this, thank you for doing what you do, Robert. |Your videos inspire me. and cheer me up when i need it most.

As for that door actuator, it always amazes me that manufacturers use plastic parts in places where extreme repetition and/or stress would seemingly call for metal all to save a few cents in manufacturing. Like, a metal version of that gear would have cost, what, 10 cents more? I've seen this kind of short-sightedness lots of times, including on this channel with previous projects! [edit: From manufacturers, not you!]

There comes a time when the Robin (3 wheeler) and Trabant seem modern reliable engineering marvels when compared to the Coda.

Fellow Missourian here, your Odometer in Missouri only needs a permanent tag affixed near the VIN tag in the doorjam denoting the odometer change. That is, assuming you have to take the Coda to a safety inspection for registration soon...

Based on the build quality of that chinese chassis, coda was doomed no matter how well they sold. People would have been lemon law filing on every single one of those cars when they began disintegrating before 5000 miles.

I find it refreshing how you are very open with you feeling/mental health. Many of us deal with the same issue, lack of motivation was highlighted in this video, but seem to feel we suffer alone. Thanks for putting light on this. As for the car fix I completely understand as I have issues with cars I work on that seem to have no fix, mostly electrical. Great video as always.

Don't be too hard on yourself--if the car's drive train is so tragically maldesigned and poorly built that it's actually _possible_ to break it the way you think you broke it, I would say that takes the whole thing firmly out of the your-fault zone. Suggestion: Add a label on the driver's doorjamb, near the plate that shows the recommended tire pressures, with the same information as the one you put on the back of the gauge cluster. Makes it harder to forget you did it at some distant future point. :) (This is the position required under Maine law for odometer disclosure labels; I don't know whether Missouri has a similar law, but it seems like a decent idea either way.)

If I had to guess I would say when it was converted back, it was fitted with two long shafts rather than a long & short. Then whenever you go over a bump, the long shaft is getting smashed into the gearbox which eventually broke the mounts

God your jokes just crank me up. The intro, the "I know the problem Coda has with joints... There are no joints! Sorry :(" and the "This shaft is too long. Please try to behave yourself". I'm just five minutes in and I already laughed like ten times. It's golden. EDIT: Ok so I finished it and "I don't know what I'm complaining, I'm getting an ice cream anyway" got me smiling for good. Love your videos!

You have the patience of a saint. I can barely change my own oil without wanting to throw something, let alone fix everything wrong with a Coda.

also, that cracked/broken lock thingy looks like the perfect test case for some 3D printing action!

With the odometer, you could find someone who has experience with SMD components and swap the memory chips between the gauge units. Then you will have a working gauge cluster with a correct odometer reading. Regarding the drive unit, it looks repairable if you find a decent welder (we have seen you weld... aluminium is not forgiving) With the video display, I would check first for an output signal from the LMU. It's possible that they have used coax cable for the video signal and the cable has either broken or deteriorated badly.

Watching you work is so relatable, silly mistakes and lack of foresight. I'm sure most creators have similar issues to greater or lesser extent, but you choose to show them, which i love Also that lack of motivation issue hits close to home. Like you, It's just about getting started that's the issue. I like audiobooks and podcasts and i have set a rule that i'm only allowed to listen when i'm doing something productive, like working out or doing any of the many projects in the workshop i have trouble motivating myself to do.

I know working on this car might have made you question your life a little lol but this whole video had me laughing my ass off. Every video you make is funny as hell, really well produced and very original. Your style for all these videos makes me super excited when I see one in my notifications. You do awesome work man and you genuinely help people out. Can't wait for your next video!

Oh god. This is giving me flashbacks to so many fixes I've had to do on old cars I've owned. The one where you drove that spline in backwards especially...

This might be the most depressing Car channel I have seen. It seems like nothing ever gets fixed completely. It's great.

That sort of setback can be motivation breaking, I feel for you. What positive I can say from that whole experience is that it made for a GREAT video. I hope you are able to get it sorted out though I'm honestly not sure how it's possible. Usually the only fix to a broken cast aluminum housing is to get a new housing. Maybe someone with more welding knowledge can correct me - I hope so!

There are people who make money out of their skills to finish the jobs and here you are trying to make money out of your failures and it goes on and on.

I don't think I've ever seen someone rebuild a CV axle before, this is pretty interesting

The piece of plastic above the door rods was likely an anti "slim jim" measure - pretty much every car made after 1006 has some sort of tamper-resistance there.

"What am I gonna do, break it more?" Famous last words.

5:54 Maybe the shafts were the right length all along, and instead the entire GEARBOX is not in the right spot laterally in the car? If it's too far to the right, the right CV tripod will be deep in the CV housing and the left tripod will drop out. It doesn't make any sense for the shafts to be the wrong length.

I'm 3 min in but I have to say that it's a joy watching any of your videos. They're so well edited, so funny and so informative! I absolutely adore your sense of humor. Thank you.

You have unintentionally mimicked the entire Coda development process in one video. Highly intelligent, detailed, and badly from spare parts.

I worked for a startup EV company that used the same uqm e gear setup. We sheared a lot of half shafts and blew up a lot of cv joints and once all that stuff was fixed - they started to shear the differential pin, etc etc etc. we put a lot of different parts from different suppliers in a lot of cars to meet deadlines. We had used the mushy ICE motor mounts and I blamed that for all the driveline failures since every time the pedal was pushed the motor assembly would twist way back and eventually maxed out the trans mount and make a big knock noise.

The gearbox mounts shearing off just by a quick test drive? I doubt that, but when you look at the breaking point once you pulled the engine out (and we all know you are going to...), the percentage of smooth surface to rough one may give you an estimate over how much time this happened.

Watching Robert pull more and more Coda pieces to try and fix this one- Skinner: Well, I was wrong; the lizards are a godsend. Lisa: But isn't that a bit short-sighted? What happens when we're overrun by lizards? Skinner: No problem. We simply release wave after wave of Chinese needle snakes. They'll wipe out the lizards. Lisa: But aren't the snakes even worse? Skinner: Yes, but we're prepared for that. We've lined up a fabulous type of gorilla that thrives on snake meat. Lisa: But then we're stuck with gorillas! Skinner: No, that's the beautiful part. When wintertime rolls around, the gorillas simply freeze to death.

I bloody love this channel

Thank you for these videos, I’ve been loving them a lot lately. Keep up the great work.

I always know my day is about to get better when I see a new Aging Wheels video has gone online!

Sending hugs! I too struggle with motivation... supremely so, but I want you to know that even in frustration you are such an incredible host. I'm sorry this car is such a problem child, but I hope we all can be that much more satisfied if it gets back on the road. Oh, and those grease sounds were AWFUL! I love it.

I remember when Coda was attempting to sell these cars in California. I say attempting because I went to one of their 'events' and they brought 6 cars to test drive. One wouldn't start, another overheated after 1 person doing an incredibly mild test drive around the lot, a third suffered some sort of 'failure' and had to be put back on the truck to be taken away and the fourth wouldn't go into gear. These were their promotional cars for events and 4 out of 6 failed outright. The one I got a chance to drive felt similar to a 30 year old VW bug on a dirt road. They were junk from the word go, and you're trying to get one operational? Well, bless your pointy little head.

I have been needing a Coda video. Thank you Robert!

Is it possible the left and right shaft were swapped, making one too long and one too short?

This reminds me of my Ford Fiesta adventures as part of miss-spending my youth. I had a Mk1 Fiesta 1300 Supersport which looked good but was slow. I fitted a stage 2 tuned 1600 engine and that made it a fun car. Then it got stolen and recovered with the alloys, seats etc missing. I then had the bright idea of putting the good engine into a Mk2 Fiesta (which only looked like a facelift of the Mk1. Trouble was, Ford had put the engine further to one side of the engine bay on the Mk2 and I ended up making custom length driveshafts.

I love your videos! Please keep up the good work! Always makes my day to see another video from you

I guess you’ll need to weld new points on the drive unit. I now understand a bit why my old tech high school had a mandatory crush after they were done with the cars.

I love his way of fixing unfixable with a hammer.

Fantastic video. I enjoy your content so much and thank you for all your candidness. I hope you are doing well in your life as you have shared with us so much personally. You are awesome and you make awesome content!

I appreciate your efforts, AW. Thanks for taking the time to share your experiences.

My theory on how the window regulators on your back windows broke is because of lack of lubrication in the window tracks; with how slow they were to close when you reinstalled the regulators lends credibility to my theory.

At some point one of the Coda's is going to be down to its old Mitsubishi former self.

I love your humour so much. It makes these videos such a treat.

Love the content. Ever since the Reliant video i couldn't stop watching your channel. The Reliant video was very rewatchable and i hope you get what you want and need in life:)

About the sponsor... HOW IS THIS A PROBLEM PEOPLE HAVE?! Okay, I got it out. Thanks for sharing your trials and personal growth with us. 😄😉

Seeing how all these cars have reliability problems makes me appreciate how Toyota can sell the Corolla for just over $20,000. It's amazing how the Corolla is so reliable despite costing relatively little. They even put port and direct injection so that the intake valves would be cleaned.

Robert, you're brilliant and we love you! 😎😁

You are seriously entertaining to watch. Thank you for your videos.

I´ve been waiting for this a while! The hilight of the week, coinciding with a Friday. This week turned into perfect! Thanks Robert! You are one of the most entertaining hosts on the entire KZfaq (.. and I count myself an authority, since I've watched a few..) Now I´m looking forward to the bus follow-up..

Really enjoy your videos regardless what the subject is - your enthusiasm, skill and very likeable nature make the videos interesting, light hearted and very informative. Keep up your good work Rob!

I totally enjoy your videos... great levity. Keep these entertaining videos coming our way.

great vids these, really enjoying them

I love seeing this car. Looking forward to more! At least your spares supply is plentiful, too.

If the door lock breaks again, and your feeling adventurous, you could try to 3D model and print the part that keeps breaking (redesigning it in the process, potentially making it stronger, because a factor of safety of 0.9 is ridiculous). To further explain Factor of Safety (for the curious); say your shelf supports 50 lbs and has a Factor of Safety of 2 - this means that the shelf can support 100 lbs (theoretically) before failing catastrophically. This is no way meant to say "put double the max weight on your shelf" - that's just a recipe for injury, cheaper products have a smaller factor of safety to save costs - overengineering crap is expensive and often wasteful. In terms of the Coda, the locking mechanism was under-engineered, it couldn't withstand the forces involved in locking and unlocking.

Man - I'm feeling your pain....but loving your content (as always).

Excellent video. Thanks matey!

22:09 I've used staples or something similar. Just remove the part, superglue it back together and then press couple of staples across the seam with a soldering iron.

Robert, You're going to want to contact Misouri's DMV (or whatever the hell they're called.) and get the title amended to reflect the odometer change due to the cluster swap. This way, should you want/need to sell the car later down the road, you won't get a bunch of feds at your door. As long as you're honest and upfront, you shouldn't get charged with rolling back the odometer. Also, I've had issues with Speedos dying, albiet with gauge clusters on a 1981 VW Rabbit Pickup. The really weird thing is that it was the speedometer itself that broke, because the odometer would continue to roll. So, there was a point in time I would gauge my speedy by logging the change in odometer readings against a clock. (Yes, MATH.)

You have mastered the art of even making the ad fun. Thanks for the great video.

Great video! Classic funny sarcastic Aging Wheels. This is why I watch your videos. I hope this is a sign your life is getting a little better. 🤗🤗

I would love to see a - sort of - hidden camera skit... trying to sell the Coda that collects all the bad parts to a used car salesman... "Oh, there's just a few minor issues..." 🤣

When you fix the gearbox can you stick the 1 remaining bolt to your wooden wall as the hero bolt of the Koda.

Your videos mirror my life, lots of work, good intensions, and seemingly thwarted at every turn, for no apparent reason. Thank you for making me feel better while entertaining me. :)

_Downloads Truebill. Truebill tells me Patreon should be cancelled. Uninstalls Truebill_

Great video, awesome content. Keep it up.

those door lock parts look ripe for some 3D printer replication ( possibly with a stronger plastic ) ... and for the drive motor/gearbox mountings .. i see a ' learning to TIG weld ' series coming soon

Wow, did they ship every single Coda with a different, bespoke set of CV axles?

Here´s a tip for those power windows. Just because I know you´d love to take those doors apart again... I am the proud owner of some Citroën XM´s. (You need a couple of those too, I promise). They have roughly the same kind of window regulators, but there´s a problem. The early generation last forever (my oldest is from 1990 with four working windows). And the facelift cars needed replacing/repair every 3-5 years. The reason: Early cars runs the cable on TWO "wheels" and had some grease on them. The later cars was like the Cod. Wheel on one side and slider thingy on the other for the cable to slide on. This and a lack of lubrication made the cables to wear down and snap. When greased up they last pretty good. Yeah, they replaced a wheel with a thing that makes friction and then skipped the grease. And Coda was just as "smart". So enjoy taking those doors apart again, I feel you brother. Been there...

Love your content. Yours is the only channel where I enjoy the sponsored parts. I actually watch them! Great fn job!

I don't think a short test drive can break something like that. They must have been bad to begin with. Regardless, this is weldable and a pretty cool welding project in general! Lots of little things to take into account when welding cast material.

The odometer mileage should just be stored in a 8 pin EEPROM in the cluster. You should be able to read it with a eeprom reader and then write the value to the new cluster.

What I like about your videos are that you show warts and all. Disaster and success. There's no BS, just normal wrenching. Love it. :)

Wow, you are really brilliant able to figure out and repair somehow all these problems.

RE: the speed-o-meter: I'm not sure about your jurisdiction but I'm sure where I'm from I'm pretty sure a non-functioning speedometer will fail the safety inspection; whereas an odometer discrepancy is just something you need to keep in mind when renewing your plates.

You're a brave man for this

This is the BEST video I have ever seen!!!! I loved it! I’m sorry your Coda isn’t working, but I really appreciate your hard work and effort…….and the highlarious antics!!!

Speaking from a purely layman's perspective, my first thought about the CV shafts being to long on one side and fallout out on the other was that they had been switched around. The fact that the other right side shaft you pulled out was a little bit shorter kind of backed that up. I suspect that probably wasn't the actual problem, but that would be my first guess.

How is it that a Reliant Robin and a Trabant are your two reliable old mules? You know you have a gloriously deranged car collection when those are the two golden boys. Its a good thing you spent all that change on the Polestar so you can go have some fun with an electric car that was designed by a company who knows what its doing.

Absolutely love your videos, you show the real side of home automotive repair with brilliant humor including the times where things don't go well.

Advertisment: " Learn from my mistakes - so you don't have to" .. Love this channel. Correct amount of comedy seriousness. Perfection really

Never has been so much effort been lavished on a car so worthless. I commend you.

Oddometers do not have to be accurate beyond a certain age. The owner must merely note the miles off actual on the registration paperwork and title when transferring it. Swapping in salvage clusters is a legal method of repairing clusters. Also, with this style cluster usually the issue is the solder joints at the pin connections on the back crack and you just need to reflow them to restore function.

Great video, very entertaining!!

thanks for the videos man

This car is both a blessing and a curse.

Just switched from working in the auto industry to wrenching on airplanes: your content reminds me of when I started working on cars as a hobbyist. Thank you! These are very fun to watch.

If it helps any, I don't think you broke it. I think, since you said the whole front end was messed with before you, I think the bolts were probably never tightened and since the drive unit was able to move, the mounts kept getting slammed back and forth for who knows how long and they broke.

Thank you for sharing your mistakes with us, Robert. You're encouraging me to get back into making videos of all the adventures in the garage living life, having fun. Great work, keep on going! Mistakes are lessons learned, you've grown a ton the past few years, bravo 👏

Thanks for taking the time to show yourwork, wartsand all. Hope you enjoyed your ice cream 🙂

Hmmm... are those rear wheel bearings two piece? i.e. an inner and an outer. If they are then using a big impact gun is going to wreck them! You need to hand tighten them until there's just enough free play to allow the big thrust washer to be prized from side to side under the stub axel nut. If its a one piece then use the german torque setting 'gutten tight' and I'll stand in the corner.