Is this the way we are heading ?

[John Orentas]

Talking to a friend in the pub last night, he operates a small fleet of waggons. He bought a Volvo tractor unit a week or so ago, not a new one but 5 or 6 years old. During it's third day on the road his driver rang in, "Stopped for lunch then the engine would not re-start". As is commonplace these day's the Volvo man was contacted and he duly arrived to sort things out, having plugged his mobile main-frame into the offending vehicle he pronounced "The alternator is knackered". "But why wouldn't it start" came the obvious retort.

 

He went on to explain, the modern units are all like this if you have a problem with any of the systems you are prevented using the vehicle, it may not stop if it already running he said reassuringly, but when you stop it you won't get it going again until you have cleared the problem.

 

But a waggon will run all day on a set of batteries without charging someone protested, why won't it let us drive it back to base so we can fit a new alternator - Shrug of shoulders !

[DHutch]

That is a absolute mess!!

 

However, when the alternator went on the 806 and we drove it to the garage and onto the autoelectical bloke (it would still start, luckly), we asked if it it would get to Essex and back on a full charge, and he said there wasnt a pray!

- The amount of electriclty used by the solenoid/ecu of modern commonrail engines is quite high apprently.

- Long gone is th day when, once started, a diesal required no power to keep running. Plus, we ended up staying later than we planned, and driving back in the dark with headlamps on full!

 

 

 

Daniel

[John Orentas]

That is a absolute mess!!

 

However, when the alternator went on the 806 and we drove it to the garage and onto the autoelectical bloke (it would still start, luckly), we asked if it it would get to Essex and back on a full charge, and he said there wasnt a pray!

- The amount of electriclty used by the solenoid/ecu of modern commonrail engines is quite high apprently.

- Long gone is th day when, once started, a diesal required no power to keep running. Plus, we ended up staying later than we planned, and driving back in the dark with headlamps on full!

Daniel

 

 

Daniel.

 

I was really thinking in terms of when these damned things are fitted into boats. You can bet that there will always be people who will want to do it.

 

It's a matter of added value, like so many other things that are now found on narrowboats, if it will push up the buying price and with it the the margins. So they will be offered for boats and there will be no shortage of gullible people who will fall for it. There are already some people who imagine that a 3Kw inverter is an essential piece of equipment and would not dare to spent a night on a boat which was not fitted with one.

Edited December 6, 2006 by John Orentas

[Guest]

Daniel.

 

I was really thinking in terms of when these damned things are fitted into boats. You can bet that there will always be people who will want to do it.

 

It's a matter of added value, like so many other things that are now found on narrowboats, if it will push up the buying price and therefore the margins they will be used and there will be no shortage of gullible people who will fall for it. There are already some people who imagine that a 3Kw inverter is an essential piece of equipment and would not dare to spent a night on a boat which was not fitted with one.

Given the choice I wouldn't have a bloody engine at all, however my health and bank balance don't run to a sailing yacht.

[david and julie]

Daniel.

 

I was really thinking in terms of when these damned things are fitted into boats. You can bet that there will always be people who will want to do it.

 

It's a matter of added value, like so many other things that are now found on narrowboats, if it will push up the buying price and therefore the margins they will be used and there will be no shortage of gullible people who will fall for it. There are already some people who imagine that a 3Kw inverter is an essential piece of equipment and would not dare to spent a night on a boat which was not fitted with one.

 

Is that not their choice John? We already have Gordon Brown telling us what to spend our hard earned on without you doing the same. Are you advocating the return to paraffin lamps?

 

Modern vehicles are indeed an electronic nightmare, but its not always the manufacturers fault. They are bogged down by ever more stringent regulations, particularly emissions and safety related issues. I agree they take advantage with what they charge to repair or replace these componants, but surely thats a different issue?

[David Schweizer]

Is that not their choice John? We already have Gordon Brown telling us what to spend our hard earned on without you doing the same. Are you advocating the return to paraffin lamps?

 

Modern vehicles are indeed an electronic nightmare, but its not always the manufacturers fault. They are bogged down by ever more stringent regulations, particularly emissions and safety related issues. I agree they take advantage with what they charge to repair or replace these componants, but surely thats a different issue?

It's not just regulations that cause all the elecronic problems on my VW Passat, but unecessary features that I neither need nor want. Some of them make no difference to the safety of driving, but the garage wont pass it's MOT if they don't work. My wife's Bora has more electronics than my Passat, but fewer bleepers and warning light to go wrong which sort of disproves the theory about regulations. Ask anyone who has an Audi A4 or Passat more than 5 years old about the ECR unit attached to the ABS control system, and they will tell you about bills aproaching £1500 to fix it (unless you know of the company on the Isle of Wight which will rebuld the unit for £250)

 

As for Paraffin lamps, What is wrong with them, I have about two dozen and the work brilliantly, as anyone in our village will testify when we have a power cut.

[Guest]

I confess to being something of a minimalist. However John's post about the Volvo is interesting. My mate is an owner driver with a fairly new Volvo truck (£80K without trailer). Having done 100,000Km in twelve months it is faultless. It returns 11mpg hauling 40 odd tons at an average speed of 40 plus mph. Pretty impressive when compared to his old Foden which did 9mpg. The life expectancy of such a truck is about 1,000,000 Km before the engine will need major components replacing, depending on the driver of course. I am not sure why a designer would build in a shutdown of the truck if the alternator fails though.

[ChrisPy]

and at the other extreme are the series 2 Land Rover Discoverys that we operate in Turkey. 2.5 litre TDi, auto box. If you drive through a puddle there is a good chance that your power will drop off and the auto box will misbehave. For example my present vehicle suffered from that at just 7,000km. At least the engine goes into 'get you home mode' which is like driving a car on 2 cylinders out of 4. When you do get home you need a mechanic to set up the ecus again. All our vehicles have been thoroughly unreliable, to the point that we banned anyone from going off-road unless accompanied (usually by a contractor's Nissan Patrol that never broke down).

[Sir Nibble]

Had a merc in last week, it kept running its battery flat due to a .5A discharge. No "nuts and bolts" problem at all, it's a software glitch! The repair was uploaded from a CD. Few years ago I need ed to remove the radio from a smart car. Took the set out and then, I don't know why, tried to start the engine. Dead, didn't even try and start. Put the radio back, engine starts. Remove the set again with ignition on and the problem goes away. So one day you get back to your smart car to find some scrote has nicked your radio, and just to add insult to injury you're walking home! What's all that about then?

[Amicus]

snip

What's all that about then?

 

Ah! that radio is in fact a "tracker", it transmits data to the "Big Bruver" in the sky. Enables THEM to know where you bin, where you is, after all, you could well be a terrawrist. When you get yer new £333 smart ID Card it will talk to that "radio" and it will talk to the plastic in yer wallet. THEY will know who the "totty on the side" is, where you went with her and how much you spent. Further, as you have been trying to remove said device, you can expect a visit from the geezers wot talk into their sleeves

Edited December 8, 2006 by Amicus

[tomsk]

Ah! that radio is in fact a "tracker", it transmits data to the "Big Bruver" in the sky. Enables THEM to know where you bin, where you is, after all, you could well be a terrawrist. When you get yer new £333 smart ID Card it will talk to that "radio" and it will talk to the plastic in yer wallet. THEY will know who the "totty on the side" is, where you went with her and how much you spent. Further, as you have been trying to remove said device, you can expect a visit from the geezers wot talk into their sleeves

 

This is not on !!!!

[matt]

I took a car in for a service a few years ago, about 100 yds down the road from picking it up - I heard a Ping and the computer said "Fatal Engine Failure" so I drove slowly back to the garage and told the guy on the service desk, he stood with his mouth open for 2 minutes then got someone to look at it - it turns out they didn't reconnect a sensor.

 

Similar thing happened on another car a few years later on the M56, PING, Suspension Failure, PING, ABS Brake Failure and another 3 I can't remember PING, PING, PING. We pulled over called the recovery service as it was in warranty and the guy said we can have someone out in an hour, I shouldn't really say this, but it's probably okay to drive as it happens all the time on these - that was another sensor issue.

 

Matt.

[ChrisPy]

I have an Audi A6 that has an airbag warning sign up on the screen. The Audi agent checked the computer output for free and told me that they don't know if the computer is sending a wrong message, or if the airbag control computer will not work in emergency. After reading all about airbags I'm not sure if I should be too concerned.

 

Then I have an intermittent problem with the passenger door lock. Sometimes the door cannot be operated from inside, outside or anywhere else, even when the central locking is off. Apparently there is a magnetic connection between the door handle and the door latch, which depends on the electronics. Is that possible?? Again the agent told me that the computer decides if you are allowed to open the doors and he couldn't trace the failure 'but it may be faulty wiring - that happens with Audis'. .......... WHAT THE **** ????

 

There's £15K of my money for anyone who can offer me a new quality family-sized diesel estate car that has simple systems and no electronic gizmos. I don't want to pay another £10K for spurious extras.

 

Unfortunately I suppose it's probably not possible under current emissions and safety regulations.

[cheshire~rose]

Nostalgia ain't what it used to be!

Gone are the days of uncomplicated cars...

 

I used to have a Fiat 500L

 

The letter 'L' indicated it was the top of the range model with every conceiveable extra included in the price

 

The 'extras' consited of Carpets and a fuel guage

 

It was ultra reliable and very economical, it even had a sunroof! Ok so it had a maximum speed of 55MPH downhill with the wind behind it but to all you lot that are used to 3MPH on the canal that is quite some speed.

 

Oh and before you all think I am talking about a car I owned 20 years ago you are wrong. this was only 5 years ago!

 

ahh happy times... I loved that car!

[Keeping Up]

Some years ago my then boss had a Montego (?) with the talking dashboard. It was constantly giving spurios warnings, for example you would be driving up the Motorway and a disembodied female voice would suddenly announce "The driver's door is open" or something similar. Once it calmly announced "The brakes have failed, please try to stop" which did lead to a degree of panic!

 

Allan

[John Orentas]

The replies on this thread make very interesting reading, they also bear out my own experience, invariably problems arise not from the clever computer bits but from the peripheral stuff which should never really go wrong, alternatively I have had problems over the years with 'Smart Alec or over zealous programmers".

 

A few years ago I went out of the office to buy a good quality but very simple camera for the use of any of the sales staff so the they could bring back images of locations etc. I told the bloke in Dixon's what I wanted and he pushed in front of me the perfect tool, just point and click, two buttons only, totally automatic. Back at the office I opened the box and in the bottom was a book 2 inches thick. "Hold down the off switch, half press the shoot button, you are now in semi auto mode" this went on for 100 pages.

 

I know that a programmer chap in Osaka had looked at this unit and said "Ah so" there are a billion gigs going spare here, must use them for something. And so it goes, they will rule the world.

[Guest]

"Simple" things still had their problems. I had a Moggy Minor pickup as a youth. Amongst other problems: SU fuel pump used to go on strike at the most inconvenient times (Mersey Tunnel 8 A.M. once). The cure was a lump of 4x2 under the dash, lean across and bludgeon the bulkhead, that used to wake the little barsteward up. Another time I couldn't get reverse for a month or so, further investigation revealed a shirt button had fallen down the gear lever gaiter and was stopping it moving to the relevant position. The wiring harness dissolved leading to the back end. It was only seven cores so a piece of trailer wire, and some trailer lights fixed that. The oil warning light used to come on frequently. I removed the bulb and it never did it again.

Plus points:

Air con was via the ill fitting door seals.

It had its own engine crane on board-stick the starting handle through the lugs on top of the engine and wrap a rope around it, then tie the rope to a ladder (borrowed off the neighbours) balanced across the top of the garage doors.

Brakes could not fail as it never had any to begin with.

Lift the wooden floor out to gain access to the rear axle/springs etc.

Full exhaust system £7-00

Mini cooper bits made it go a bit faster.

Happy Days.

[John Orentas]

"Simple" things still had their problems. Mini cooper bits made it go a bit faster.

Happy Days.

 

 

 

 

Mini Coopers. They are new-fangled to me, in my early working days I had a Ford 100E van. I developed a technique of lifting my feet whilst braking to a stop, the floor and wheel arches leaked so badly that a very predictable sumami would arrive and cover my shoes. Still find myself doing it now.

[Guest]

Mini Coopers. They are new-fangled to me, in my early working days I had a Ford 100E van. I developed a technique of lifting my feet whilst braking to a stop, the floor and wheel arches leaked so badly that a very predictable sumami would arrive and cover my shoes. Still find myself doing it now.

We have such a Ford engine and box at the school where I work. It has been sectioned really well making all the internal components visible. It is side valve with an extremely long stroke. The gearbox is tiny, as is the engine, but the gearlever is something else. How did anybody select a gear at that distance?!

We saw a boat at Skipton 3 or 4 years ago with the very same type of engine fitted. The guy nearly passed out when I told him what had been done to the one at work. He said his engine had run virtually faultlessly for many years.

 

Bikes anyone? BSA Bantam?

Edited December 9, 2006 by Guest

[John Orentas]

We have such a Ford engine and box at the school where I work. He said his engine had run virtually faultlessly for many years.

 

Bikes anyone? BSA Bantam?

 

 

Ah Ford side vales the 100E was an improved version of the pre-war 95E that were fitted in the 'sit up and beg' range of Prefect, Anglia, and Popular. They in turn perhaps surprisingly were a half of the American V8 Pilot engine. They were nice engines in many ways, very simple, quiet, a very wide power band and very slow, that long gear stick was very smooth in operation and slipped into all three gears very easily.

Lots of funny quirks though, split valve guides was one, I never could see what they were getting at with that bit of original design. No water pump, no thermostat, the water circulated just by convection, so heaters were never a standard fitting. I had a sort of uncle who had one fitted in a converted lifeboat on the Bridgewater.

 

Never did much with Bantams, but I was much involved with the Villiers 197cc 9E engine found universally in Francis Barnett, James and many others. I raced in long circuit Karting in my youth, the most popular classes used a very loose specification based on these engines. From the 7 bhp standard engine we gradually got them above 30 bhp. That does not sound much but the entire outfit weighed not more than 60Kg so they could get well above 100 mph. In fact I held the lap record at Oulton Park for a time @ 93 mph. Old hall corner did for me in the end 12 months in plaster and then settled for 3 mph.

[Badger_1]

Wrong forum guys. What happened to the boat forum????? As an ex mechanic who wants to hear about cars?

[Guest]

Wrong forum guys. What happened to the boat forum????? As an ex mechanic who wants to hear about cars?

Very true,it is way off. Notice there are no personal insults flying around yet though?

[John Orentas]

Wrong forum guys. What happened to the boat forum????? As an ex mechanic who wants to hear about cars?

 

 

Damn right Badger, lets get back to the TV aerials and the cooking tips.