I had to take a lot of flack from the “tree huggers” for running a 19 year old, but still fine condition, Renault Espace 2.0i.* that did a couple of thou. miles a year. The rest of my travels were on the bike. The fix to these short sighted attitudes was to start on the embedded energy argument.
If you are right about the looming austerity programme perhaps the world will start to learn the just fix it idea again. That’s real re cycling.
Perhaps my out of date knowledge on things mechanical might have a new future, albeit in my case perhaps a bit short.
(*Stupid government gave me £2K for this £300 (?) car under the scrappage scheme to let me buy a brand new, even less fuel efficient, 2 seat coupé while a still good product got crushed.)
Mechanical knowledge is never out of date, IMHO - stuff works, then stuff breaks and needs fixing, and always will
My knowledge has mostly been gleaned from fixing my own stuff from an early age - apart from a few years working in manufacturing (when there was such a thing in this country…)
gurninman I wish I had your faith in “mechanical knowledge”.
O.K. Some things don’t change but having helped out a friend with an independent service station recently, the knowledge of “how to fix” a lot of small problems has increasingly been over ruled by “will the CPU recognise your fix”
Even repairing the boot lock on one car meant a new lock and coding in the lock when all that was really needed was a simple fix to the inadequate plastic moulding that held the original lock in place. Couldn’t put the fixed original lock back if you wanted. The CPU insisted that one had failed.
Oh well, just a £160 addition to the customers bill.
This, I suspect, is the future.
Oh well, back to building where we are still commonly stick bits of tree on some bits of burnt clay and topping them off with more bits of roasted clay.
I know what you mean - I recently had to obtain a new car key for my ex-wife’s 1999 Corsa (she had lost the only key she had)
Was able to order a new transponder key from a place in Kent for £35, and it did fit perfectly, but then had to find an auto locksmith to come out and code it… which was £65 +VAT
I’ve been looking into doing a course as a locksmith ever since…
Today’s goody was a late model Merc. The main beams came on with the flasher pull back on the stalk but didn’t come on switching to main beam.
Auto electrician, 1 hour at £65. Labour for fix, £35. Part £260 (trade) £320 retail. All plus VAT Do the sums. For a frigging light switch.
Problem was, the processor in the switch block (what!) was not talking to the CPU.
Forget being a locksmith, become an auto electrician specialising in digital sh*t
The future for them is almost guaranteed.
Electronic Stability Programmes become mandatory on all new vehicles in the EU from this November.
By 2014 all new 4 wheeled vehicles will have 3 catalisers and require their own collective processor to talk to the engine management bit of the CPU.
What price for knowing about Morse tapers and Woodruff keys?
Think you might not have quite grasped what the ESP concept is all about.
(Well, what it’s really all about is making money for the car and car component manufacturers, but the gullible dolts that make up the majority of EMP’s have fallen for the trick again; at our expense.)
Personally I hate this deluge of electronics and over-engineering - I can understand why a gp bike is riddled with electronics - but I don’t need all this cr@p on my bike or car - all it amounts to is me not being able to fix it myself which makes it expensive - plus there are more things to go wrong.
I’m seriously thinking of going luddite as a response to the whole digital thing - at work people can contact me all the time via my phone or screen - so no peace at all, everyone expects everything to be done in five minutes flat because everything is computerised and internetted - so thereis no ‘thinking time’ anymore, when I go out for a walk with my mp3 I don’t know what record to listen to because my entire record collection is on there!
I’m seriously thinking of going analogue - 1970’s sound system with turntable and records - walkman with only one taped album on it - and as for bikes - I want a single cylinder with a kick start and as for ‘electronics’ - a simple relay controlling a headlamp, tail light and indicators will be fine thanks.
We all need to slow down a bit and rediscover our HUMANITY . . . :crazy:
*although even there - things like traction control narrow the gap between geniuses like Rossi and lesser riders - leave the traction control off and let Rossi’s genius shine even brighter.
Ninjajunkie you’d be surprised how many people are with you on this attitude.
Example: A friend has recently sold his immaculate 1 owner, full history, 20 something year old BMW 2000 (a car) on ebay. He got about twice what he was expecting. The most often asked question? Is it the carburettor model?
No fuel injection, so no CPU. Mechanical switches. No catilisers. No bells. No whistles. Just a car.
Not the most fuel efficient, but we’ve already visited the “embedded energy” thing.
I love digital technology but, like you, I don’t want to be a slave to it.
