bortaf
Posted a lot
Posts: 4,549
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Jan 18, 2009 17:24:18 GMT
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One thing that will kill cars off fairly quickly is the growing trend to 'digitise' all controls, ie fly-by-wire accelerators, digitally controlled lights and good old BMW's trick of getting the various control boxes to talk to each other, even oddball like the rear screen heater...... electronics don't last forever and when your ECU controlled indicator circuit goes pop, it will probably be cheaper to bin the car than repair it. AFAIK, the Rover 75/MG ZT uses a 'one-wire' control system that has everything digitally run from it. That'll be fun when they start going pop...... Now, you see, none of that scares me in the slightest. I just see it as a shift in the way you have to think. Instead of having a few hundred pounds worth of welding equipment and spanners, I'll have a different arsenal of tools, oscilloscopes, logic analysers etc.. I find the fear of 'the little black box' unfounded. I am in the process of 'digitising' the Mini, eventually it'll all be using a CANbus rather than my bodged together UART network. To me at least, this kind of 'tinkering' is much more preferable than playing with carbs and points. That said, the price of consumables on newer cars does scare me. That is the main reason I chose to buy a newish bike rather than a newish car when I needed something to soak up my commuting miles. Black boxes don't scare me either i have an EFi cortina i built a few years ago and i love it (now i have my head around the EFi system). The thing is in the future you will still need that welding equipment and spanners (unless you have an unweldable citroen ) so it's not a case of differant tools but more tools, cars will still rust and they do, i've seen 3 year old transits with the front door steps missing already I guess future owners will have an extra box for sensors and ECUs just as we do for door handles ect BUT it the time the jobs take, IE cortina waterpump and timing belt, an hour, golf Mk4 the same job 9 hours (and that is as quoted from a VW dealer last week) got an old boy mechanic to do it and it took him 2 days (10 hours total), the result was a £250 bill as opposed to the VW quote of £545, a pinto belt change he does for £50 (don't NEED the pump and tensioner as they last unlike the newer car parts). All prices are inc OE parts. The question i have to ask is, is the saving in fuel a modern car gives enough to offset the repare costs? after a week driving both the above cars i'd say no (the golf aint mine i was sorting the belt change for a mate while he was on holiday) .
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R.I.P photobucket
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Jan 18, 2009 17:31:48 GMT
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mate at work has an 04 vectra diesel and hes just been quoted 800 quid cause his engine management lights come on.. turns out theres some swirl thingy in the inlet manifold so the manifold has to be changed. (apparently vaux changed the design in 2006) I'm 66% sure (i.e. check it out first) that there was a recall issued for this fault, or a fault much like it. My mate's 54-plate vectra had 'some swirl thingie' issue and he got it fixed free by the dealer. Worth asking though innit?
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Never trust a man Who names himself Trevor. Or one day you might find He's not a real drug dealer.
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Jan 19, 2009 13:37:06 GMT
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You're missing a lot of the point of moderns: Get in car at 4am in winter to drive 250 miles to cornwall - hit the heated front and rear window buttons, know the A/C will take the moisture out and stop it fogging up again. Stick on your built in sat-nav (no messing with wires) and head off, with ABS etc etc to help keep you on the road, decent headlights so you can see the road properly, heated mirrors so you can see behind you. Settle down into heated seats, engage cruise and off you go. As long as it's warranty or the company paying for all these gadgets when they break modern cars are great! Plus with ice alerts, tyre pressue monitors, reverse sensors, a lot more warning lights etc they help keep the numpties of the world from ruining your car, be it modern or retro by smacking you up the in the snow/car park. This is why I have a company car. Then the few weekends I get to spend under cars I can devote to a nice weekend retro, not messing with my daily.
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ezzysi
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,189
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Jan 19, 2009 16:58:24 GMT
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^^ there all fair points but as mentioned before its the running of a modern motor MYSELF thats a bit scary.... I'm considering going back to a company car for all the reasons you mention above ;D
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1991 Mk2 Golf Gti 8v 2005 Passat tdi (daily) 1971 Mk1 Escort 2004 Touran (her's)
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ezzysi
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,189
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Jan 19, 2009 17:04:10 GMT
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On another note I heard today of a chap who tried to change his own brakepads on a Audi A6 only to find he had to have the computer reset by the dealer when they were done!! ffs.
Its not the mod cons of modern cars that boils my p*ss its the unneccesary technology thats put in place JUST to stop the home mechanic/small garage fixing the car...... the dealers/manufacterers might as well be wearing masks and carrying pistols!!
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1991 Mk2 Golf Gti 8v 2005 Passat tdi (daily) 1971 Mk1 Escort 2004 Touran (her's)
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Jan 19, 2009 17:15:39 GMT
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just had an 02 ml270 in last week, o/s headlamp not working on normal (dip) beam, no probs thought i, bulb or fuse blown, soon be sorted, check bulb - looks ok but put a new one in anyway, still not working, ok, check fuse - ahhhh no fuse for dip beam !!!! turns out that late 02 ml270's don't have a fuse for this, instead they have AAM and EAM modules that power them, phone mercedes for a price....... for diagnosis £127 AAM £276 EAM £254 fitting and coding to the vehicle £130 all plus vat so because the bl**dy factory didnt fit a fuse instead - £905.05 beware if looking to buy an ml270 with a headlight out and don't believe the owner if he tells you its "just a fuse mate"
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Jan 19, 2009 17:16:15 GMT
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Certainly, new cars are not DIY friendly - but then, anyone who's worked on a Citroen H van will know that old doesn't mean easy!! (though if the engine gets too bad to work on, it is only four bolts to remove the entire mechanical unit!)
New cars mean new skills. There are specialists out there who have the kit to speak to new cars and there are ways to get around some of the issues - you DON'T have to remove the engine on a Fiat Coupe to change the cambelt for instance (though only a few people, presumably with small hands, know the secret!)
The choices are very clear. Old stuff - you may have to do quite a lot of tinkering to keep them going, but you can do almost everything yourself with nothing but a basic toolkit. New cars - generally cover thousands of miles with no attention at all, but when things go wrong, it'll hurt.
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1986 Citroen 2CV Dolly Other things. Check out my Blog for the latest! www.hubnut.org
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