I have the same problem, takes me forever to find threads using our search so I just use google it works almost all the time.
Yup it sucks.
I dont type names of anything, but just gereral topics.
Like, "chat thread", "random crap", "crank sensor replace/repair".
takes alot of mixing it up to find stuff, and lots of trolling, because it'll bring up threads where 1 person in a completely different thread unrelated to your topic, says 1 word with your searched word, its annoying.