Finger rule on car longevity

[Colin62]

my question is this; carb vehicles last forever; why do ECU cars fail? as their designed to do exactly that

Carbs don't last forever, and they're always giving crap. The only people who think carbs are wonderful are people who never spent all day on Saturday fiddling under the bonnet trying to get their old banger running in time to fetch the girlfriend in time for the party that night. And then missed the party, lost the girlfriend and still couldn't get the bloody thing working properly, until about fifteen minutes before the road house closed at 1am and they came and rolled the pavements up for the night.

They're temperamental, need fairly regular maintenance to run properly, can be pretty good (either consumption or power but not both) and there are very few mechanics left who understand and can get a carb working well. But they are no match for a decent fuel injection system.

Your problems mostly come from the fact that the car you bought has been modded by some cowboy who hasn't a clue, and you're now paying the price for his mistakes. It's unfortunate and I feel for you, but it's not the typical experience.

 

[SauRoNZA]

Ahem,


Only down side on newer cars when it comes to the mechanics point of view is the space under the hood.

I keep banging my fingers open on tin like bare ridges left very sharp combined with limited space under the hood.

That's for sure. Gloves or don't even bother.

100% agree with you;

no question your right I did buy a DUD, and thats how you live and learn;
but my further comment is that its easy nowadays to program this exact fault into a certain batch of cars; very secretly and in hiding;

yes maybe Im a nutter, totally agree there too , but seeing this crop up on many different things not just cars and it just seems connected
I mean french cars fall apart quite quickly, cellphones fall apart quite quickly, ect ect.....

Maybe you just need to look after your stuff better.

 

[Jet-Fighter7700]

Your problems mostly come from the fact that the car you bought has been modded by some cowboy who hasn't a clue, and you're now paying the price for his mistakes. It's unfortunate and I feel for you, but it's not the typical experience.

thats actually my next question;

can fiddling with a ECU ruin it slowly? I mean its a computer right? if you load the wrong instruction set it could mess it up?
I mean I do in my particular case know my car was a repo and I brought it at auction, with all its rubbish modifications;

could it be he tried to flash the ECU and only succeded in making it worse? could it be I accidentally stumble across the cause of all this misery for the last month?

I mean when I plug in my ELM327 I cant see the VIN number programmed into the car; not sure if thats normal or not;
also when I replaced my throttle position module, and cleared my codes,
my codes still showed regarding the o2 sensor but the MIL didnt come on, why is that I have always wondered?

could it be another hidden snake has jumped out and bitten me, just as I was done returning the car to stock as much as possible;

one thing I do know is once this is sorted SELL and SELL EXTREMELY QUICKLY; sure a lot of guys will agree with me here?

dont want any more nasty suprises with wheel bearing or ball joints or tie rods to jump up......

 

[Jet-Fighter7700]

Maybe you just need to look after your stuff better.

maybe, or I need to not buy somebody's POS junk!
sure I can ask on myBB if what Im gonna get next falls into that category?

 

[Jet-Fighter7700]

I still see 19fokofeks Mercs on the road and virtually nothing else from the bygone era.

Modern cars are manufactured to last 5years max. Beyond motor plan anything becomes too costly to fix from your pocket.

Without the individual replacing his car every 5 years how are the manufacturers going to make money from a constant income steam. Imagine if you bought a car and never had to maintain it for 10 years.

a fellow conspiracy believer;

at least Im not crazy, you see it in everything nowdays, pick anything like a TV or a printer or even simple like a kettle;
all built with planned obsolescence in mind, cant be fixed, have to buy new, all made to be disposed of quickly and efficiently.


actually even extend to lightbulbs, there is (reportedly) a fine that manufacturers will pay if their products last longer than the average;
if its not true; then how many times have you had to replace the bulb in a microwave oven? even though it has the same element as a regular room bulb?

next thing will be LED bulbs, they will make them fail in some interesting way im sure of it......

 

[JackWhite]

a fellow conspiracy believer;

at least Im not crazy, you see it in everything nowdays, pick anything like a TV or a printer or even simple like a kettle;
all built with planned obsolescence in mind, cant be fixed, have to buy new, all made to be disposed of quickly and efficiently.


actually even extend to lightbulbs, there is (reportedly) a fine that manufacturers will pay if their products last longer than the average;
if its not true; then how many times have you had to replace the bulb in a microwave oven? even though it has the same element as a regular room bulb?

next thing will be LED bulbs, they will make them fail in some interesting way im sure of it......

True story. They can make them last forever but purposely build them to fail.

 

[Jet-Fighter7700]

True story. They can make them last forever but purposely build them to fail.

finally somebody agrees with me!!!!
so Im not a loon that walks around with a tin foil hat and a metal rod to ground myself from the goverment reading my brain......

 

[MickZA]

if its not true; then how many times have you had to replace the bulb in a microwave oven?

... never, Defy thermofan oven lamps are another story though

 

[Sinbad]

finally somebody agrees with me!!!!
so Im not a loon that walks around with a tin foil hat and a metal rod to ground myself from the goverment reading my brain......

Yes you are

 

[Archer]

I really need to start investing in tin foil by the looks of this thread

if its not true; then how many times have you had to replace the bulb in a microwave oven? even though it has the same element as a regular room bulb?.

Your microwave light is on for 4 hours each day on average? Oh it's not? Then how can you be comparing the two?

 

[Colin62]

finally somebody agrees with me!!!!
so Im not a loon that walks around with a tin foil hat and a metal rod to ground myself from the goverment reading my brain......

Well, you're not the only one...

 

[silent_wolf]

can fiddling with a ECU ruin it slowly?

I doubt it, you will more likely blow up your engine first. I cant see someone wanting to remap your car it would be a waste of money and time. If he did flash the ecu and didnt know what he was doing it would probably cause damage to the engine.

You probably cant see the vin cause you are using a generic program and cable to scan the car, they are unreliable to test the finer details and can miss fault codes sometimes.


There is no finger rule for a car, my fathers w203 c180 merc has done over 250k km, only in november last year did its factory battery die and needed to be replaced. Since he bought it new the only things that have been done to it apart from its services was a new starter motor (its even still on the original clutch).

My mothers 2001 Audi a4 has done over 200k km, slightly less reliable than the merc until it was no longer taken to audi to be worked on. Apart from its normal services the only thing that has been done is a new clutch at 120k and more recently after standing for 2 months the oil sludged up and blocked the oil pump which then had to be replaced.

 

[Colin62]

There is no finger rule for a car, my fathers w203 c180 merc has done over 250k km, only in november last year did its factory battery die and needed to be replaced. Since he bought it new the only things that have been done to it apart from its services was a new starter motor (its even still on the original clutch).

I have a W203 220cdi with 497 000km on the clock, also with original clutch still working perfectly

 

[andreha]

Thanks for the tip - will look into that.

 

[SaiyanZ]

Have you done the clutch yet?

I hear that is an expensive pain in the ass...

No it's still fine. My only costs in 5 years were:
- service R3300
- service R1800
- service R1800
- new battery R900


Other than that I've made only one upgrade, a cosmetic one. New 20" wheels and tyres, imported so expensive.
285/30/20 rear and 255/30/20 front.

 

[ahoudet]

I mean french cars fall apart quite quickly

It seems like all the French cars we've ever owned have given less problems put together than your Picanto

But then again, thoughts like these make them such a bargain when bought secondhand so I thank you sir!

 

[boxerulez]

thats actually my next question;

can fiddling with a ECU ruin it slowly? I mean its a computer right? if you load the wrong instruction set it could mess it up?
I mean I do in my particular case know my car was a repo and I brought it at auction, with all its rubbish modifications;

could it be he tried to flash the ECU and only succeded in making it worse? could it be I accidentally stumble across the cause of all this misery for the last month?

I mean when I plug in my ELM327 I cant see the VIN number programmed into the car; not sure if thats normal or not;
also when I replaced my throttle position module, and cleared my codes,
my codes still showed regarding the o2 sensor but the MIL didnt come on, why is that I have always wondered?

could it be another hidden snake has jumped out and bitten me, just as I was done returning the car to stock as much as possible;

one thing I do know is once this is sorted SELL and SELL EXTREMELY QUICKLY; sure a lot of guys will agree with me here?

dont want any more nasty suprises with wheel bearing or ball joints or tie rods to jump up......

Did you replace the o2 sensor?

 

[SauRoNZA]

at least Im not crazy, you see it in everything nowdays, pick anything like a TV or a printer or even simple like a kettle;
all built with planned obsolescence in mind, cant be fixed, have to buy new, all made to be disposed of quickly and efficiently.

It's not about obsolescence as much as it is about non-economical repair.

Why repair a kettle for R500 an hour if you can buy a new one for similar or less?

It CAN be fixed. Anything can. Just doesn't always make sense.

actually even extend to lightbulbs, there is (reportedly) a fine that manufacturers will pay if their products last longer than the average;
if its not true; then how many times have you had to replace the bulb in a microwave oven? even though it has the same element as a regular room bulb?

"Reportedly" bull****. Never have I needed to change a microwave or oven bulb, ever. But considering the radiation and heat involved I wouldn't expect them to last forever. It's a R5 bulb, nobody is making any money from having it pop constantly.

next thing will be LED bulbs, they will make them fail in some interesting way im sure of it......

No they made them specifically because they last longer.

The conspiracy here is why nobody bothered creating them 20 years ago just because there was an abundance of power available. We might not have had the problems we do now if we did all those energy saving tricks way back when.

 

[JackWhite]

I have a W203 220cdi with 497 000km on the clock, also with original clutch still working perfectly

Impressive. My W203 is coming up to 200 000km soon.

 

[Jet-Fighter7700]

Did you replace the o2 sensor?

no, one o2 sensor showed heater not working and another was missing; as the exhaust was different;

funny thing was the MIL turned off, and I could never work out why, surly it shouldn't?

thats why I think it might have been fiddled with, and that slowly ruined the car?
who knows right? I mean these things are so delicate and fragile if you breathe next to them they fall apart

funny thing is as my picanto is the bog standard one with no P/S even, I though it might last longer than other equivilent cars;

life I suppose.....