Do car makers...

[Piemaster]

A story from a car mailing list I subscribe to. Some sort of Audi, guy tops up windscreen washer bottle, an innocent enough task. The stuff in the bottle and the new stuff are not compatible an produce a jelly.
The dealers then charge him £500 to wash out the bottle and pipes as a large chunk of front of car has to come apart to access the water bottle, as well as part of the interior due to the rear screen wash pipe being full of gunge as well.

Lift the bonnet of a modern car and are confronted with a big plastic engine cover, IMHO its main function is to dissuade you from doing anything other than check the oil and close the bonnet again.

 

[Fnaar]

This time last year the "warning" light came on on my car's dashboard. Handbook suggests it's a problem for main dealer. Like a tw@t I took it in to Fiat. Eighty-five pounds later, they called me and said the results of their diagnostic test were 'inconclusive' and that further investigation could be done, but it would cost me upwards of £200. Now the car is old and fairly knackered anyway, and I aim to run it till it finally dies. So spending 200 quid on this seemed silly. I had driven it 18 miles or so to the garage, and it worked fine. So I drove it away again. It's done another 9,000 miles since. The light is still on. The car still goes fine.

 

[Rhythm Thief]

I only ever buy pre - 1998 cars for this very reason. You can pick them up for peanuts (my Saab 900 was £360, with an MOT and tax) and I can fix them myself. Certainly little things like changing bulbs or fitting new exhaust bits are simple.

 

[alecstilleyedye]

Many cars now, typically Citroen's etc, need to part company with their front bumpers to change the light bulbs! They design the car to be as cheap to produce as possible and to look good.

So if your headlight goes one night you need to get the AA to take you home as it's impossible to change the bulb at the roadside. Ridiculous and I don't think it should be allowed. It should be a legal requirement that all bulbs can be replaced easily, without tools and in a short space of time.

It's a major consideration for me when buying a car, how much of this thing can I fix myself. Every car you buy gets worse, I hate it.

apparently, if you carry spares and plod stops you for having a defective light, an archaic law requires them to fit it for you. which, along with the above, is why you see so many one-eyed cars these days (mine included, you have to take the battery housing to pieces to change one side).

 

[Mr Pig]

Lift the bonnet of a modern car and are confronted with a big plastic engine cover, IMHO its main function is to dissuade you from doing anything

And to hide the fact that the rocker cover is also made of plastic!

 

[accountantpete]

My Renault Megane developed a loud knocking - diagnosed by local mechanic as a faulty motor in the heater assembly - to install a new one would mean taking out the facia and cost £300 plus vat so he simply detached connections, insulated the wires and sent me on my way without charging. I still have not been able to discern any difference with the motor disconnected.

 

[Black Sheep]

some dealerships claim certain things; renault claim that the wings need to come off the clio to replace the lights, they don't at all.

as you've already said, they put a plastic cover on which is normally held with just three bolts, undo those and in the last model of range rover, there's a 1970's Rover P6 engine under it.

Ford tried to charge me £80 when booking in my fiesta to have it checked over because the temperature gauge didn't wake up one morning

she'd asked the age and registration of it already before saying it'd be £80 for the diagnostic test

"erm, you'll not find anywhere to plug a diagnostics machine in, its too old"

"i'll get the mechanic"


the mechanic pointed out what part i needed to replace - job done, except i messed it up

 

[gbb]

Dont feel bad Buggi..i'm a spanners man, and had to replace the front bulb on a Focus. I struggled like buggery to get the holders out (yes, that hidden clip you cant see), struggled to get the bulb re-located once i got the holders out, and struggled even more to get the hidden clip back on

I've thought about modern cars against older ones...the simple fact is modern cars are generally so reliable now, more efficient (i read somewhere a modern car is 70% IIRC cleaner than cars of the 70s)..the price you pay is there's not much even a 'handy' guy can do now when something goes wrong.
Complicated and tight under the bonnet ?..theres so much more there now compared with 20 years ago...it's got to go somewhere

 

[Black Sheep]

Dont feel bad Buggi..i'm a spanners man, and had to replace the front bulb on a Focus. I struggled like buggery to get the holders out (yes, that hidden clip you cant see), struggled to get the bulb re-located once i got the holders out, and struggled even more to get the hidden clip back on !

I've thought about modern cars against older ones...the simple fact is modern cars are generally so reliable now, more efficient (i read somewhere a modern car is 70% IIRC cleaner than cars of the 70s)..the price you pay is there's not much even a 'handy' guy can do now when something goes wrong.
Complicated and tight under the bonnet ?..theres so much more there now compared with 20 years ago...it's got to go somewhere

i've been managing fairly well to sort stuff under the bonnet of a 1996 suzuki swift including getting the radiator in and out and hoses on and off.