Posted on 06/26/2025 1:55:40 PM PDT by DUMBGRUNT
A simple flat tire on an Audi should be a 10-minute fix. But thanks to today's hyper-connected vehicle systems, a TikTok video showed how it turned into a half-hour ordeal involving fault scans, resets, and drive cycles—all because of a nail.
(Excerpt) Read more at motor1.com ...
My 1960 Chevy Biscayne had so much room, I could put a person under the hood, shut the hood and drive it. Now they wouldn’t enjoy the ride LOL, but there was that much room.
Changing a fan belt was easy, spark plugs were easy. Even the starter was easy, but nowadays, nothing is easy.
My pissed off one finger typing shows 🤣🤣🤣
DRIVING 1979 used Buick I bought used in AUGUST 1981==almost 44 years. ABOUT 224,000 miles
Driving 1976 1 ton 4 speed Chevy 454 I bought used in April 1986. ==39 years. OVER 348,000 on the chassis. NEW BUILD 454 UNDER THE HOOD.
NOT GIVING UP EITHER ONE.
HAD REQUESTS TO SELL BOTH/EITHER when COVID HIT.
REFUSED ALL OFFERS.
Peanut plus is a new one to me.
I thought I heard most of the old time automotive bad ideas stories.
“She likely represents the norm. “
And she likely won’t have a problem if the trades in every 3 to 5 years but the insane complexity and computer interaction plus crazy engine builds is going to freeze out guys like me who want to keep cars for ten years minimum.
Word of advice, if you own a Ford truck and the shop has to pull the cab, make sure they properly connect the ground wire back to the frame. This happened to one of my service trucks, which caused it to throw lots of engine codes. The local dealer would clear the code and by the time we got it back the codes would reappear. Finally, my own mechanic crawled under the truck and discovered the loose ground wire connection.
They Call Me Trinity & Trinty Is Still My Name are both hilarious westerns. I put them up there with Support Your Local Sheriff & Support Your Local Gunfighter.
—” Each subsequent car became more and more of a hassle to work on.”
And for many years now, everything under the hood is a plastic puzzle wrapped in an expensive $$$ enigma.
Yes it does a nice job keeping road crap off the wiring and other sensitive parts.
Now, with luck, you can do an internet search on removing the cover.
Even to change the oil, the underside is concealed.
I keep an assortment of plastic panel fasteners and a good luck charm on the wall.
I still hate them.
DO NOT FORGET THE RADIATOR WASHER
Also, so much of this complexity is now mandated by Government regulators.
Ohhhhh how I used to loooove working on my cars. Distributors, timing, dwell, points, gaps and gappers. Once you get used to the sounds of your own car, it was such a joy to make the engine purrrr.
One time, I was at the gas station and witnessed the insanity of computerized automobiles. A very elderly woman was pumping gas onto the cement. Her gas tank was full. I asked if I could assist. She said pleeeeasse. Her car was a brand new Cadillac Eldorado. It even still had the new car smell. I asked if I could sit down in the driver’s seat. The lady was putting more gasoline in because the computer told her to do it. I stated something close to: “Ma’am, you obviously just purchased the car. Take it back, and if they do not fix it, or replace it, scream bloody hell on the showroom floor.”
Both of those Garner westerns are really great as well.
We have a Toyota Highlander we take for service in Bend Oregon. It has well over 100,000 miles and we have always gone to the dealership for maintenance. I certainly cannot understand what is under the hood like I could the Ford F-250 I used to have. A while back there was a terrible noise by one of the wheels and we had it towed to the dealership. They fixed the problem at no cost, because they made the decision it possibly related to a recent scheduled maintenance they had made. The repair would have been really expensive otherwise. I hope we can buy our next car from them.
My 2011 SRX had that issue which was caused by condensation build up in the sealed light housing. The $1,800 is the cost to replace the poorly designed sealed unit with one that was designed not to generate condensation. On my car it was the right headlight so after removing various parts out of the way, I had just enough room to reach in and pull the bulb out and replace it. Of course, the bulb was over a hundred bucks but way cheaper than $1,800.
Thankfully I never had a problem with the left side, as there was no way to get into that unit without dropping the front end off the car.
Vehicles are designed to be cheap to assemble. That’s all they care about. If they could figure out how to design an engine that just snaps together, they would do it.
250,000 miles is routine.
When I was growing up, 100,000 was unusual.
Whereas, I agree with you on the longevity, I was a GM tech in the late 70's and early 80's. There was definitely planned failure built into many of those cars components.
I CAN CHANGE HEADLIGHTS IN MY OLD IRON IN UNDER 30 minutes—at home-—and I am female & 85.
OF I AM CAREFUL-—DO NOT EVEN HAVE To reset the level....
UP TO THE GARAGE DOOR WHEN SUN IS DOWN—USE THE LEVEL DOOR PANELS TO SET THE HEADLIGHTS-—NO BRAINER.
BULBS COST ABOUT $7.
Blinker fluid is way more important!
I have had that condensation problem in one headlight. At someone’s suggestion on a forum, I put little bags of silica gel inside the headlight unit. Haven’t had the problem since then.
You could work on todays cars too. If you spent a few thousand on new tools and another couple thousand on how to classes. Those guys who work on cars now are not rocket scientists. If they can do it, so can you.
These discussions always amaze me. The “good old days” were not all that good. I got my first car in 1966… it was a 1956 Olds 88. Looked good, but was 10 years old then and ready to fall apart which was standard for all makes and models back in the good old days. I drove, nursed, towed and pushed that car for two years and was glad as hell when I could afford something better.
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