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Modern cars - built in obsolescence? The "fix".
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Ellis



Joined: 07 Mar 2011
Posts: 1382
Location: Betws y Coed, North Wales

PostPosted: Wed Jul 26, 2017 11:17 pm    Post subject: Modern cars - built in obsolescence? The "fix". Reply with quote

For those of you who read the original topic about a "beyond economic repair" 2008 Ford Transit Connect, I have today heard the sequel to the story from the owner of the repair garage where I take our "moderns"for maintenance and classic for MOTs.

His most recently qualified mechanic, a very bright young man, bought the said Transit Connect from the dismantlers - at considerably more than the scrap value given to it's erstwhile owner - and towed it his place of employment.
He removed the Electronic Control Unit which comprises the immobiliser module and sent it to a diagnostic and repair centre for analysis. It was returned to him as unrepairable. The "inspection" charge was not refunded.

He then researched the type of ECU that it was and now I am going to have to be careful that I don't identify well known electrical component manufacturers.
It appears that ECUs for the Transit of that year were made by two or possibly three concerns and from use of the internet, technical friends and help from his employer he bought directly from a certain european country the alternative new ECU. Different manufacturer to the original.
It cost £400 and included a new ignition barrel with keys and a download disc. His employer's computer was used after fitting the components.

The result? An operational and running vehicle.
All this took two weeks to accomplish.

Will university degrees be mandatory for vehicle technicians of the future?
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1964 Jaguar Mark 2 3.4 litre
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peter scott



Joined: 18 Dec 2007
Posts: 7113
Location: Edinburgh

PostPosted: Thu Jul 27, 2017 9:49 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

It's not that this sort of thing requires university degrees. It is that the information regarding these components is available.

Peter
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Riley Blue



Joined: 18 Jun 2008
Posts: 1750
Location: Derbyshire

PostPosted: Wed Aug 02, 2017 5:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Just over a year ago a torrential rain storm drowned the electronics in my Audi A8. Nothing worked, the car was completely dead, I couldn't even get in it. It was taken to an Audi specialist who managed to opene the doors, dismantle the interior and dry it out - rain had overwhelmed the drainage tubes in the engine bay and run down into the passenger footwell where much of the electronics is housed, shorting it out.

After months of three different auto electricans trying this and that and making little progress, I bought some replacement units on Ebay which, I was assured, would enable the car to start - and they did but, coming from a different car, they weren't coded to the rest of the electronics in my car.

Consequently, I now have a car that starts and drives but many of the electrical functions don't work and, I'm told, won't work until a software update from the factory but no one knows when (or if) that will happen. In the meantime, I have an immaculate low mileage (70,000) 2003 A8 that is impossible to use.
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ukdave2002



Joined: 23 Nov 2007
Posts: 4100
Location: South Cheshire

PostPosted: Thu Aug 03, 2017 12:21 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

A degree is not required!!!

Folks have been fixing electronics since Adam was a lad, why oh why does the vehicle repair industry seem to have such an such a problem!

I suppose it's only like asking the local blacksmith 100 years ago being asked to fix a SU carburettor !

The automotive industry is still calling a capacitor a condenser some 70 years after everyone else changed!

Dave
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Ray White



Joined: 02 Dec 2014
Posts: 6284
Location: Derby

PostPosted: Thu Aug 03, 2017 7:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

II used to own a Vauxhall Carlton estate. It was probably one of the best cars I have owned but I was informed that it would require a new ECU and the cost would be more than the car was worth. Facing the possibility of having to scrap a near immaculate vehicle (despite high milage) I paid a visit to our local scrap yard which deals mainly in Vauxhalls. After a bit of searching I found another Carlton estate of the same year and removed the ECU. The scrap dealer didn't hold out much hope but let me have the ECU for the price of a pint.

I fitted the "scrap" ECU to my car and turned on the ignition. At first it didn't look promising, then she fired up and ran like new! Everything worked just the same as before.

I don't know if the same thing can be done these days but I would't be surprised if these modern cars are not as clever as they seem.
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MrWhite



Joined: 09 May 2017
Posts: 105

PostPosted: Thu Aug 03, 2017 8:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Eastern European countries are much more likely to fix things than us and have been doing so for years. They can also get genuine spares cheaper than we can. Don't get me wrong I am not recommending going straight to your nearest Eastern European mechanic (they are not all good, just like UK mechanics!) but maybe don't completely rule them out.
There is a guy local to us who repairs things many other Garages won't touch, he just hates seeing things get scrapped and people who are maybe less well off losing their cars. He has done whole dashboard out type jobs, maybe 7 hours labour and tells you how long he spent but then says "but I can't charge you that, I will charge you 3" or something like that.
I also know a guy who buys in recon Turbos from his home country of Poland, way cheaper than you would ever get them here and sells them on facebook. His phone never stops ringing. He is not a mechanic he came over here as a computer repair guy with a healthy enthusiasm for cars and they rapidly became his main business due to Garages here refusing to repair things and wanting all new parts to replace the old ones, which were then scrapped.
It's the whole throw away society thing, drives me mad as well Evil or Very Mad
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