Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[ukdave2002]

My modern (a BMW) has a factory fitted upgraded sound system, and it is really good, that was until about 2 weeks ago when it decided to only supply sound to the sub woofers

And yes it is just out of warranty , my local dealer diagnosed that the amp was faulty (no sh...t Sherlock!) and quoted £1200 to replace it , I know the amp is a self contained unit tucked away in the boot..."Do you not repair or exchange?" I asked..."no its not a repairable item" was the response.

Now my background is electronics (many years ago!) and I know of no £1200 bits of electronics that are not repairable, so I took a look myself...It took 10 mins to remove the amp from the car, about another 5 to open the case, and a further 20 to find the faulty coupling capacitor (faulty condensers again!!) a trip to Maplin this afternoon relived me of 19p to purchase a suitable replacement capacitor, a further 30 mins saw the amp repaired and fitted back in the car, 20 mins of AC/DC and Motorhead confirmed all was working well ....

Being serious this entire repair took about an hour and a 19p component, compared to the BMW £1200 ( and I didn’t take note if this included labour and VAT) I guess most customers would have bitten the bullet and got the credit card out.......Am I wrong here but if I had a £1200 amplifier as part of my home hifi, and it went wrong , I think like most folk you would attempt to have it fixed by an electronics engineer? and would probably be successful. Why does the motor trade continue to give its self a bad name by failing to acknowledge that the electronics in modern cars is here to stay, and needs a different set of skills... we could all be TV repair men if it meant just replacing the TV with a complete new unit! : ......how expensive does the electronics need to be in a car before the manufacturers will actually repair it...???!!!

Sorry for the rant but our throwaway society is really winding me up!!

Dave :

[MVPeters]

Try the Electronic Air Temperature Control (EATC) in Ford/Lincoln/Mercury cars - Crown Vic/Town Car/Marquis.
It's the size of a radio & replaces the sliding heater & A/C controls - set the temperature you want & forget it.

It has failed on ALL EIGHT of these cars in our limo fleet after only 2-3 years. It's not a safety item, so Ford will do nothing but replace it for $600++. Vendors on eBay are selling repaired/exchange & guaranteed units for $175 - & selling hundreds of units.

If I, as a personal buyer, had spent the kind of money to buy these luxury cars & then have to spend another $600 every 2-3 years, I'd be pretty upset.

& the electronic dashboards aren't far behind.........
_________________
Mike - MVPeters at comcast.net
2002 MINI Cooper 'S'

[lowdrag]

If we go further then when I read the Honest John site he implies that all new cars are built for a seven year life and as such are disposable items. |However, in his review of the latest Merc C Class estate he states "seems good for a million miles".

But it does seem that we are in a world of planned obsolescence, despite a car lasting 20 years is far more "green" than one with a seven year life cycle. My Merc is approaching 12 years, isn't rusty, has a minor problem or two from time to time but keeps on running. Which is the greenest?

Will the MOT get so stringent that, like for many years in Japan, a three year old car cannot, without substantial time and effort, pass and is therefore condemned to be cubed?

[poodge]

I know it's not directly related to cars,but a mate of mine has a BMW F650 motorbike.These bikes are prone to melting the rectifier,because it's fitted under the seat,where there is absolutely no cooling air flowing over it.BMW charged him $450nz for a new rectifier,only for another mate to find a chap "oop norf" who supplied re-built units for $40nz!So he now has a spare unit.
We fitted the new $450 rectifier to a bracket on the outside of the frame,witout even having to lengthen the wiring.
BMW have known about this problem for years,yet even the latest models of this bike still have the rectifier fitted in the same position.
Is this just plain "we know better" arrogance,or planned failure in order to sell new parts?
I pity the poor fools who buy used BMW cars imported from Japan.No doubt they're keeping the local BMW dealer in the manner to which he is accustomed.

[Mog]

I was surprised to read that capacitors only have a life span of 10 or so years. this means that your T.V. c. d. d.v.d. player etc. could cark it after that time....

[Mog]

At work we have Watson Marlow pumps made in the UK. Some of the electronics had burnt out. The agent said it was too old, buy a new one for $3,000. Took the burnt out one and another one to my electronics man 500 meters away. He got the values from the good one and charged $100 for the job. It is still working well after 3 years....

[peter scott]

I guess any manufacturer is entitled to offer their goods without a repair facility although perhaps this should be stated up front. This should present an opportunity for others to step in and offer that service.

The problems are that service information is not always available and purchasers still expect repair to be an option.

Peter
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http://www.nostalgiatech.co.uk
1939 SS Jaguar 2 1/2 litre saloon

[buzzy bee]

[richardlw]

Several times when I've posted my repair tips from my 88 BMW 325ic on BMW forums I see replies like: It's a BMW, you shouldn't mess with it. or something stupid like that. There are many tricks I learn or teach on forums from my restorations or other activities.

I think it was after posting on how to repair the window switches several said why waste the time (15 min) when new ones only cost $40 (x4). it is sad.
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[34HF90]

I'd tentatively suggest that the reason that many manufacturers quote huge prices for a certain part is that it doesn't go wrong that often, and the logistics for shipping, storage etc don't make financial sense: i.e. it makes better sense to use the resources in storing and shipping brake pads than it does for In Car Entertainment.

If a genuinely expensive component were to keep failing, the word would soon get around and they would lose sales pretty quickly.

Having said that, I can totally understand the OP, and faced with that situation ( and being a vintage radio nut) I would have done the same- what have you got to lose?

As regards starting a business in this, it brings me back to the original point- how many of these things are you likely to have to fix? Also, it has been known for manufacturers to start doing dirty tricks (like using unmarked or potted/sealed components) to stop people from fiddling.

As far as I can see the whole thing is a gravy train. you're either on it, or not, sadly.

[buzzy bee]

Hi

I can see where you are going with the storage thing, but would think that to be only a small percentage of the reason? I would think it would more than likely be as Dave suggested, the fact they can actually get away with customers buying a new unit, thus making more money. It is simmilar with most large companies sadly. I know of one large company like you say in the warehouses, that if a part gets missplaced, no one puts it away, it is just skipped! I know this as we (when I worked at the college), were allowedto removed things from the said skip for college use on the understanding we scrapped them, never sold them, some parts were thousands of pounds, tens of thousands of pounds, and could easily pay a mans wages to sort them out and return them to the correct place in the warehouse.

I didn't mean a business in repairing just these, but to carry out simmilar tasks, supose that is an auto electrian, then again, I know few auto electricians with no work! hehe I would do just this, if I knew what I was doing.

Cheers

Dave

[Jim.Walker]

Slightly different, but I used to run several Peugeot 405 diesels on private hire work.
It was not long before I realised that many mechanical parts on the Citroen BX were the same, but prices very different.
One example was the engine stabiliser bush behind the engine. This was a huge silent bloc (void) type bush carried in an aluminium alloy casting which strangely had a drive shaft passing through a hole in it.
The Peugeot replacemant was only available as a complete casting and bush @£90 and it was necessary to dismantle the offside steering and drive shaft to fit it.
Citroen sold the bush on its own for about £10 which could be pressed into place from beneath the car with he removal of only one bolt!
These are approximate 1995 prices. What would the difference be today? Especially if fitting was done by a Peugeot Agent. Were Peugeot ripping people off or just uncaring?
Jim.
_________________
Quote from my late Dad:- You only need a woman and a car and you have all the problems you
are ever likely to want". Computers had not been invented then!

[lowdrag]

Completely different, but the kitchen sink plug leaks. Went to several shops and found out it is specific to the kitchen manufacturer. Took it along to get a new one and was told that "the plug comes with the sink insert and U-bend - 45€ to you sir". I'll live with the leak.

[Roger-hatchy]

Lowdrag

Mine leaks as well, same responce from retailers.
If I need to keep a sink full of water overnight, or any length of time an off cut from a plastic bag then the plug dose the trick in mine.

[richardlw]

Then there are my $120 Sony headphones. The cheap (uncomfortable) foam covers dried out and fell apart. Sony took my order for a new set of covers at $25, but never sent them. So after shopping around and reading all reviews about how short-lived they are, I went to the local "5 and below" store and paid $5 for a set of cheap headphones with nice ear piece covers, put the covers on my Sonys and now have a brand-new (cheap) headset to throw away.
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