Classic relibility

mustang68

Came out to go to work this morning in the mazda, the door on it had been left ajar all night and it had a flat battery. :mad:

So I started up the mustang, poured some warm water over it to melt the ice and it drove me happily to work. Its a great car and even though its grumpy when it starts it has never let me down.

Anyone else find their classic more reliable then their daily driver?

mike65

tbh you should close the car door! Maybe the Mazda has an ancient battery.

Mike.

Dades

Maybe you subconsciously left the door open so you could drive the Mustang...

mustang68

mike65 wrote:

tbh you should close the car door! Maybe the Mazda has an ancient battery.

The mazda got broken into and now the door doesn't always close properly and it has six inside lights which will drain the battery after 12 hours, in freezing temp.

I was trying to start a thread about peoples experience with how reliable their classic is (or not), and maybe a comparison to their modern car.

mike65

Fair enough, it sounded like a moan! (six lights?!)

Mike.

mustang68

mike65 wrote:

Fair enough, it sounded like a moan! (six lights?!)

Six! Four in the doors, one main light and one in the boot!! Happy to take the Mustang in to work, needed a run.

Wibbs

Somewhat related; many moons ago a friend of mine in Germany bought an old ferrari 308 gtb(very cheaply too) as a second weekend car as a partner to his BMW(can't recall what model, but nice upmarket job IIRC). In the end he used to drive the ferrari more often as his particular Beemer had "issues" with reliability. In the end it was his daily driver. He put huge mileage on the yoke and had very little trouble, other than pricey oil changes and a dicky wheel bearing at 70,000 miles:eek: Went through tyres fairly rapido as well. He sold it on when it had 120 odd thousand miles on it. He bought it with 15000 miles on the clock. His local ferrari dealer couldn't believe the mileage he had put up on it. The damn thing was near bulletproof. Who would have thought.

Gerry

Its an interesting topic alright. I've only got one car, a 900 turbo. So it has to be reliable. I've driven it to work for 3 months, has never broken down or failed to start. I left it in the airport carpark for 5 days, when I came back the battery was completely flat. But after a while, I realised that I'd left the interior light switched on. I mustn't have noticed it because it was daylight when I left the car there.
But, thats my fault, not the cars. Luckily the attendants at the car park carry around booster packs in their jeeps. Once the booster was attached to the battery, it fired right up.
In the OP's case, it looks like the classic is reliable, but its hardly more reliable than the daily driver. Remove or bypass the switch on the door for the interior light. As for ferraris, some of them are pretty reliable. Jeremy Clarkson commuted in his 355 when his daily driver broke down. He was so shocked with its reliability that he drove it to work for months.

Oshbosh

My merc has never let me down in 5 years, not once has it failed to start or left me at the side of the road, my mechanic is always moaning about modern cars, he reckons the engines and gearboxes themselves are good but the electronics which surrounds them are always causing problems, problems which are designed to be fixed by main dealers only, wonder why ?

I wonder how easy it will be to maintain future classics given the electronics involved in today's cars ?

Here's a nice article about the Ferrari 328 and its reliability / affordability.

http://www.sportscarmarket.com/affordable-classics/2004-September/1986-1989-ferrari-328-gtbgts.html

RobAMerc

Those big lazy v8's they put in American cars will go on for ever, often long after the body has fallen to bits ( or been shot, just look at the movies )

Unfortuneately my 280CE stop being reliable at all, so I had to get rid as I only drove it once every 2 months and it broke down when I did, so I'd have tell a different story than you I am afraid.

MercMad

I've been driving 40 year old Mercs for the last 6+ years and never been let down. Then again I do my own maintenance and repair work which helps !

To be honest, if I had to drive across Europe, I would take one of my old Mercs rather than my modern one !!

8~)

I've been driving 20+ year old Mercedes and BMW for the last few years. Only issues have been a burned out rotor arm and a fuel pump relay (had a spare relay in the boot).

Currently using a modern (10 yr old) car for the winter months. Had to abandon it the other day because the handbrake stuck on with the cold... so the Merc fired up first twist of the key, heater kicked in quicker than the modern and off I went.

Blue850

In the 7 years I've had the Fiat 850 its had to be towed home once when the bolts holding on the dynamo sheared, the water pump ran off the dynamo pulley so instant boil over, cable tied the dynamo in placed and got from Dublin to Rochfortbrdge, fanbelt was very loose and kept jumping off and I had to cut the cable ties to put it back on,ran out of cable ties in Rochfortbridge:D Its now got High tensile bolts and a set of reuseable cable ties in the boot;) I've used it to go to shows all over the country as well as going to work . I've had the clutch cable and accelerator cable snap but cobbled together repairs to get me home. The Triumph 2000 I wouldn't trust to make it out the driveway, it likes to select 4th gear the same time as reverse leaving just 4th and reverse available :rolleyes: It happened to my brother in Athlone , luckily the thing has great torque so it would take off in 4th

dubtom

Got a new yoke last year so I'm hoping I don't have any problems for a while yet. The mustang is a goer every time,apart from a flat battey this weather,it starts and runs like a dream. A friend told me to charge the battery and leave the positive off when parked up,says it will save the charge.we'll see.Apart from a little oil leak the mustang hasn't given me a problem, which tbh,has surprised me. I really didn't expect to make the drive from holyhead onto the boat and home from Dublin docks without something going wrong 18 months ago and it hasn't acted up once. Infact I worry that I'm not driving it enough these days and will do damage to seals etc from non useage.

Volvoboy

Ya see thats how cars should be!! the ones you bodge together with cable ties and yer dates stockin's, and ya have so many ''I was flying by a wing and a prayer and duct tape to hold together the rad hose'' stories, now if ya get a burst rad, by the time ya get to the rad through the plasic mouldings ans aulixary bits and pieces, the on board computer will tell the car that it F'ed in the A and will not let the car move incase a fully trained memeber of the SIMI has a good and expensive go at it with the diagnostics.


-VB-

ds20prefecture

Only one failure to proceed with the DS in 4 years. Cooked points. Replaced with electronic ignition and it's been faultless since.

Dades

dubtom wrote:

A friend told me to charge the battery and leave the positive off when parked up,says it will save the charge.

If I'm leaving the Spider sit for more than a few days I always disconnect the battery. Started up *second* time following a two week sit after my hols last Sunday.

I always disconnect the negative only though...

dubtom

The Atheist wrote:

If I'm leaving the Spider sit for more than a few days I always disconnect the battery. Started up *second* time following a two week sit after my hols last Sunday.

I always disconnect the negative only though...

Oh, I disconnected the postive, does it make a difference?

mustang68

dubtom wrote:

Oh, I disconnected the postive, does it make a difference?

Doesn't make a difference, disconnecting either terminal stops the flow of electricity.

Dades

mustang68 wrote:

Doesn't make a difference, disconnecting either terminal stops the flow of electricity.

I just follow my "Auto Repair For Dummies" book and also disconnect the negative first.

ianobrien

There is a Mk2 escort at home, and the worst that happened was the alternator bolts sheared while driving on the south link in cork last year.

Besides that, it starts first time, every time no problems. It even won it's class in the West Cork Classic Retrospective Trial!

franksm

Both of the Stags I had would start up just fine whatever the weather. I think the fact I used them every other day kept them in better working condition than if they were mollycoddled in a garage

Eric318

In my experience, most reliability failures on a classic are user-induced... The car was not serviced or set up properly.

A well maintained classic has the best chance to be on par with any modern, or even superior, because if it is still on the road, it is the result of the very long selection process and has benefitted from repairs that have sorted out its initial faults.

Hifive

I recently sent back the 05 company Volvo and have been using my Stag as my daily driver and can honestly say it's (so far) been more reliable than the newer car. The Volvo let me down 3 times last year and each time required a tow truck and several days to put right. As I said the Stag hasn't let me down and even if it does, I'd have I much better chance of diagnosing and rectifying the fault than with the modern car.... I suddenly feel the need to touch a large piece of wood!!

Eric318

Sod's law... The Jag is down!! Dead battery!!