Bruiser

Bruiser was a 2001 PT Cruiser Touring Edition in black. I brought him used, but he was only two years old. He came with a great set of options including; powered sunroof and 4 wheel ABS disc brakes with traction control. I added an after market Pyramid CD player with remote control, and the chrome door spears. I installed a K & N air filter, and a air - fuel mod. They both gave Bruiser a good amount of power. I also added a chrome grill kit which I loved, and had many more plans for him.

I had a couple of problems with Bruiser, mainly because the dealership I brought him from really didn't do anything but wash the car, gas it up, and hand me the keys. I brought him when he had 36K miles. I wound up changing the spark plugs myself on thanksgiving morning, because the plugs should have been changed at 30K, and the dealership didn't do it before selling me the car. The rear brakes were never changed, resulting in the brakes wearing out after a couple of months. They cut into the rotors, so I had to change both the rear brake pad and the rotors. I was also given the car with the wrong power steering cap, resulting in me constantly reading the power steering fluid wrong. This constant low level of fluid resulted in the power steering pump failing. Then the transmission started giving me problems. I brought the extended warranty, so the dealership rebuild the transmission, and changed the power steering pump. Unfortunately, they were too cheap to change the power steering hoses. Great 5 Star service from the beginning, huh? The present PT Cruiser recall deals with defective power steering hoses which Bruiser had. One month later I was going to the bank (ironicly to deposit the car payment) when the steering wheel locked up while I was parking, and smoke started coming out of the passenger side fender. I turned off the car and opened the hood. Fire was coming out of the passenger side firewall and quickly spread to the whole engine bay. Two gentleman tried to help with three fire extinguishers, but the fire would not go out until the fire department showed up. I only had Bruiser for eight months. Needless to say, I have posted both before and after pictures of Bruiser.