| Author | Message | ||
     Vladimir Ivanovich Kirillov Grand Master Username: soviet Post Number: 1408 Registered: 2-2013 |
Our oriental friends have over many decades continued their marvellous march towards obliterating all opposition to their domination of the world car market. Indeed. Rich and nicely cashed up after littering the entire planet with the ghastly muck they produce for the masses, are the head engineers now in the Ginza blind drunk and surrounded by copious amounts of gold plated dishes filled high with coke...? One does wonder for certainly some of their engineering ideas blatantly display perhaps evidence of either too much good times and or a frontal lobotomy. 1. What twit at Toyota thought up the idea of putting the starter motor inside the V of the diesel V8 turning the replacement of the starter motor from a half hour job to a 9 hour job if you are fast?; 2. How many toads did the engineer lick before he thought it jolly smart to locate the thermostat underneath the intake manifold requiring an insane amount of work to get at it on the Holden Rodeo V6 (Isuzu) These are just two examples of a prevailing madness sweeping the auto industry and there certainly are more. | ||
| Graham Phillips Frequent User Username: playtime Post Number: 85 Registered: 3-2019 |
G'day everyone,.... Vladimir,... That sort of thing has been going on for ages now, its all part of the move to make thing so difficult the home mechanic will just give up and 'Pay' somebody to do the job for them. A 'job for the boys' thing. If you do the service they loose money so make it difficult so you have to bring it to them, they create a 'captive market'! Same thing has been happening with small repair items,... before if anything failed you could replace the broken part or repair it, now you cant do that on modern cars, you have to replace the whole ASSEMBLY not just the individual part! Its a conspiracy I tells ya! Its why I will NEVER buy a new vehicle. Graham. | ||
| David Gore Moderator Username: david_gore Post Number: 3289 Registered: 4-2003 |
Vladimir, I have previously referred to the Bentley W12 engine service manual:- To Change Spark Plugs - first remove the engine from the vehicle. | ||
| ross kowalski Grand Master Username: cdfpw Post Number: 1079 Registered: 11-2015 |
It's everyone. The problem sadly is a pandemic. The ford triton v8 using 2 piece spark plugs that are changed every 100k miles. Yeah, they break off. Ford duratec v6 enigne put the water pump behind the timing chains inside the front timing cover. Yeah, the one that needs to be replaced often is behind the one that never needs to be changed. The izusu ascenda suv has the thermostat behing the alternator on the right side of the engine not the thermostat housing on the top of the engine. Yeah, you have to move the full left side front dress to remove it. The ford 4.0L (I think) v6 in the explorer with the modular engine has three timing chains, two in front and one in back. Oh, and the tensionrs are made from plastic. Yeah, you have to pull the engine to replace the tensioner. In general, using more than three oil filters. There are hundreds of oil filters to choose from because of some nonsense. I would recommend a small one, a large one and a truck one. In general, windshield wipers. There are fully 4 different types of 12" wiper blades, that doesn't even count the fact that each has a fitting to allow it to attach to multiple manufacturers arms. Yeah, there should be a couple at best. In general, bright HID headlights that are a help to the dbag driving with them but a problem for everyone else on the road. Yeah, pass some regulations on that one. In general, Automatic transmissions with 6 gagillion gears. That is a cvt by another name. Make a cvt and add fake shift points if people want that. Yeah, this is like the 80's with computer controlled carburetors trying to achieve emissions, already solved it's called fuel injection. In general, farm tractors sold in first world countries with full computer systems. Yeah, sure for engine management, but for hydraulic control on a 15' long 40hp unit??? In general, plastic headlight assemblies that all fog. Yeah that. In general, Any little city cars being offered in a petrol option. In general, User interface nonsense. Multiple manufacturers putting electric parking brakes all over the place with all kinds of actuation actions, controls for functions being physically from distant from the thing they control like volume knobs on the center console, non-tactile controls for things one fiddles with while driving, etc. | ||
| David Gore Moderator Username: david_gore Post Number: 3294 Registered: 4-2003 |
A few weks ago, I had to rescue our next-door neighbour stuck on our shared steep driveway on a wet day in a FWD automatic car with an electronic park brake [you know the ones that have two settings ON and OFF]. She lost traction due to weight transfer which stopped the car and she needed to do a traditional hill start to try and keep moving. She was unable to keep the engine speed low enough to stop wheel spin when the electric brake was released and called out for help. My 4WD was 400km away on the Mid-north Coast and we only had our Mazda AWD CX5 which was yet to be fitted with a towbar so using it as a tow vehicle was not an option [it also has the dreaded electronic park brake]. I solved the problem with two house bricks behind the rear wheels to eliminate the need to use the park brake for stopping the roll-back and I stood on the passenger side front door sill with the door open to put more weight on the front driving wheels, this did the trick on the 1 in 4 gradient and she was able to drive up to the turning apron at the top of the drive to park the car on her property. The moral of the story: when having to drive a FWD car with an electric park brake up a steep wet and most likely slippery narrow drive surrounded by tall trees, carry some bricks and ballast or reverse up so the vehicle weight is transferred to the driving wheels now positioned at the rear to provide maximum traction. | ||
| ross kowalski Grand Master Username: cdfpw Post Number: 1088 Registered: 11-2015 |
David, Bricks, I love it. | ||
| John Kilkenny Grand Master Username: john_kilkenny Post Number: 310 Registered: 6-2005 |
David, It might have been easier to reverse up ? John | ||
| Vladimir Ivanovich Kirillov Grand Master Username: soviet Post Number: 1414 Registered: 2-2013 |
David does this mean that driver's license tests have abandoned the handbrake hill start? | ||
| David Gore Moderator Username: david_gore Post Number: 3295 Registered: 4-2003 |
John, Will take some photos of the driveway [actually a right-of-way] later this afternoon and you will see why reversing could present serious problems. Vladimir, I have no idea but I think not as todays young driver brought up on automatics would have little or no idea of the two hand and two feet co-ordination involved for a traditional hill start with the electric park brake: right hand on steering wheel, left hand on brake release, left foot on brake and right foot on accelerator. I can see the mayhem now........  | ||
| David Gore Moderator Username: david_gore Post Number: 3297 Registered: 4-2003 |
OK, here is the location of my neighbour's dilemma: Right of way from street:  Top of drive and splay to adjoining houses with arrow showing where car was stranded:  Looking from below where car was stranded:  Why I live where I live - within 20km [13 miles] of Sydney CBD, fully developed with lots of native bush and wildlife - a little bit of the country in the city:  . | ||
| Vladimir Ivanovich Kirillov Grand Master Username: soviet Post Number: 1417 Registered: 2-2013 |
David old bean, that would be a jolly ripper driveway for a billy cart and good for the kiddies especially if it empties out into a busy street down the bottom. I had a steeper driveway in Hornsby Heights when I lived there yonks ago with a mad woman. A chap once advised me to never marry a nymphomaniac so I asked why. "The nympho goes but the maniac stays". I left Sydney at high speed one night and possibly blind drunk but I did stop laughing until I passed Newcastle and the rest is history. When I retire soon I may return to Sydney in my 500 ci 1976 Cadillac Fleetwood. The mongrel has an automatic handbrake. Pull it into drive and a vacuum diaphragm pulls a lever in the foot operated hand brake. Nasty idea I think. Perhaps time I plugged the vacuum line. Steep driveways....I'll pass... | ||
| David Gore Moderator Username: david_gore Post Number: 3298 Registered: 4-2003 |
Vladimir, I live on a right-of-way off a dead end street that ends on a bay of the Georges River. The street is as steep as the right-of-way from the main access road on the top of the ridge which is a headland on the river. Years ago, on Xmas Day, one of the children who lived at the top of the street did a "ride of death" right to the bottom turning circle on a 3 wheeler trike [the Green Machine version from the 1980's] he had been given as a present. We heard the clattering as it went down and raced down fearing the worst however the kid managed to do a successful circuit of the turning circle and start climbing back up the hill to come to a stop. Needless to say he became a local hero and lived to tell the tale; no-one else has attempted the feat since!! | ||
| Vladimir Ivanovich Kirillov Grand Master Username: soviet Post Number: 1419 Registered: 2-2013 |
David a short part of a good part of my childhood was lived in Woollahra. In those mid sixties days this suburb was indeed the dwelling place of the rich and the poor and indeed the dare I say it - the unwashed. I fitted somewhere amongst this bewildering rabble. I don't drop names often but perhaps you remember Maggie T. Yes that Maggie. Indeedly and furthermore I attended school and was in the same class as her daughter A. a blonde who I had a crazy crush on but she never knew. Quite apart from that down a side street was a new black three head light model Tatra. Worst still some walk away was a toy shop that had in the front window a James Bond Aston Martin with all the gadgets. Somehow, possibly by theft or bottle collection I acquired sufficient funds to purchase the car. I walked one hell of a way to the shop only to be emotionally destroyed by the fact the blasted shop was closed. Being a natural born professional criminal back then before my teens I simply can offer no reason as to why a smash and grab was not considered apart from juvenile incompetence. Loose bricks were available and also, I did have ready available explosives stockpiled as all naughty boy 60s kiddies had back then. Disturbingly, I returned to the shop in regular trading hours and made the purchase. But this is all an aside. Attunga Street Woollahra. The amount of kiddy skin left on that bugger is certainly part of some secret spook DNA bank, possibly Langley or Tel Aviv. We hit it with everything. Billy carts, bicycles, tricycles skateboards the lot. I still have the fear of Attunga Street today! |
