Give me a classic any day (compared to the modern cars)

shawnee

I have a classic merc , it is 30 years old ,p/s , c/l , e/w etc and everything works. My experience with modern cars is that while they are comfortable and drive well, they are tempremental bitches ! Warning lights on here and there , egrs, dmf's , etc etc. And when they stop they just stop, no warning, no drive on for the next few miles . Everyday you see these two three year old cars getting a free ride on a tow truck.
Anyway thats is my rant after yesterday when my focus failed to start and move from my driveway. Sounds like a fuel pump , but thankfully I can drive my comfortable classic and play my 70's music while waiting for the main dealer to "diagnose" the problem with his computerised equipment etc etc etc.:p
End of Rant !

galwaytt

Fuel pump issue on Focus- cure is €50.

You can post the diagnostic fee to me

shawnee

Hi Galwaytt .
Car was picked up by garage and lo and behold when they tried to start, it started first time, It's an 05 zetec 1.4 any ideas. They rang me and said they couldn't find a fault, but if it returns , I am pretty sure it will do the same again at some stage

8~)

Coil pack?
Has it been driving okay up to now? If it occasionally stutters or hesitates, especially when warm, it could be a sign the coil pack is on its way out.

unkel

8~) wrote: »

Coil pack?
Has it been driving okay up to now? If it occasionally stutters or hesitates, especially when warm, it could be a sign the coil pack is on its way out.

+1

Focus 1.4 petrol is not a great engine, but the VAG 1.4 petrol is worse. The one that we have in the family needs about a coil pack a year. Also drinks oil.

CamperMan

can you imagine hitting a modern car engine with a hammer to try and fix it?

I used to do that with the engine in an old Austin Meastro van, the old pushrod type...

CamperMan

the last "modern" car I had was a ****ty Renault Laguna, '02, sat on the keycard a few times and breaking them and they are not cheap to replace, went through a small puddle and trashed the cat, electric windows failed, so did the sunroof, coil pack failed a couple of times, air bag light blinking on and off.. blah blah blah.... it was one thing after another, these days I prefer anything from the 1980's or early '90s, less to go wrong with them

Mahatma coat

I concur with teh OP's sentiment

I had a 1984 60 Series Landcruiser, Loved it to bits, then the Compay I worked for decidedthat I needed something a bit flasher for meetin clients and the like so they got me a 2001 100 Series.

fuppin awful bag of Sh!te that.

Nowhere near as capable an offroad vehicle as the 60, tinny and rattly and not nearly as comfortable a machine to drive, I put up with it for about 3 months but one evening it got stuck in the Forest, fortunatley I had lent my 60 series to some friends so that they could come down to the Farm for the weekend and We ended up pulling the 100 out with it.

Gave it to the Bosses Son after that, he used it to ferry his mates to school, which after all is what those machines were designed for:D:D

had the 60 for 5 more years til I lft Australia, never a spot of bother from it

shawnee

Yeah , the secret is to have an oldie classic as well as the Modern sh.... That way you can jump into the oldie when the computerised yoke packs in :D Bring back the old mechanical real cars

Sids Not

shawnee wrote: »

Yeah , the secret is to have an oldie classic as well as the Modern sh.... That way you can jump into the oldie when the computerised yoke packs in :D Bring back the old mechanical real cars

Anyone remember carburettors and points, wind up windows and cassette (muncher) players ...you never see a discarded tape on the side of the road any more...:o

alastair

Sids Not wrote: »

Anyone remember carburettors and points, wind up windows and cassette (muncher) players ...you never see a discarded tape on the side of the road any more...:o

My 'new' car has a carb (and a choke!), window winders, and a tape player. But I've an old school classic too, which ironically has fuel injection!

macplaxton

Sids Not wrote: »

Anyone remember carburettors and points, wind up windows and cassette (muncher) players ...you never see a discarded tape on the side of the road any more...:o

Yep, and points especially are a pain in the hole. Try running a classic daily without a big stash of parts and service items - as soon as anything goes wrong it's wait at least a week to get them from abroad.

Need at least a pair of (fully working) cars operating in rotation.

alastair

macplaxton wrote: »

Yep, and points especially are a pain in the hole. Try running a classic daily without a big stash of parts and service items - as soon as anything goes wrong it's wait at least a week to get them from abroad.

Need at least a pair of (fully working) cars operating in rotation.

Points can be forgotten about if you swap out your distributor for an electronic one. I'm running one on my old Volvo and it does what it says on the tin.



http://www.123ignition.nl/

I take the point (!) about the delay in getting classic parts though - I'm waiting for a brake booster to come back from a refurb in Holland

shawnee

If you have a classic , the first thing to do is get involved in the classic car club, get to meet other owners and after a while you will find that there are a lot of parts to be borrowed or bought locally. (my experience)

alastair

shawnee wrote: »

If you have a classic , the first thing to do is get involved in the classic car club, get to meet other owners and after a while you will find that there are a lot of parts to be borrowed or bought locally. (my experience)

Depends on the car, the part, and how common both are. Not too many 40 year old spare NLA brake boosters knocking about - I had one from my scrapped parts car - but it had the same shot diaphragm problem.

macplaxton

alastair wrote: »

Points can be forgotten about if you swap out your distributor for an electronic one.

a) they don't do one for a GS
b) I can get a 123ignition conversion built into an existing body, but 375 EUR is quite steep. (425 for a Tune version)

And before anyone suggests it, a points conversion can still be a pain because it still leaves a system of mechanical weights to maintain, which in the some crappy Ducelliers are plastic bushes and not oilite bushes.

Even the more common classics, it's still easiest to come by parts in the UK - hence hoarding a stock of stuff is a must if you need a particular part "yesterday" and not at least a week later.

Lyre61

Don't do one for the Sm either..well they did..but it didn't work, so they don't now.

I put in a luminition system, never had a problem with the ignition till I did that..fixed now at a cost of €1.50

I spend more money fixing the C5 than the SM, and every time the C5 lets me down the SM comes to the rescue.