Wet Cabbage :(

[barefoot]

 as the old song goes - do I look like I give a fuck? You go your way, I'll go mine.

 

 

I've never heard that one.

 

Our 29 year old/300,000 mile 944 copes with the fair wife's 250 mile weekly commute,

& we're off on the first of many holidays this year in our 37 year old campervan before I finish this pos...

[PiperCub]

^^ DILLIGAF - By the Aussie comic Kevin Bloody Wilson. 

[Eddie Honda]

I was going to comment if adjusted periodically, points are no less reliable - but condensers are shit.

Condensers are fine, well they were back in the good old days when they actually made them properly.

 

Modern condensors, modern monkey-plastic rotor arms, some modern caps and some modern points are all a big steamin' pile o'cack.

[derskine]

Aye, that's what I mean, it's pretty difficult to find original parts now.

[garethj]

Most people think that if you've got the bonnet up then your car is shit/unreliable/broken down or you're poor/a cunt. That's their mentality.

Seems very true. My cars are late '90s and they don't use oil or water but I still have a quick look when I'm topping up the washer fluid. I have never seen anyone else in the street with their car's bonnet up.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

That's the biggest nonsense I've ever read. The exact opposite is true.

No,its exactly right I'm afraid

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Didn't we have this discussion 2 weeks ago?

We have it every flippin day man

[Guest Hooli]

Old shit maintained the way it should be maintained is reliable, maintained to the modern schedule of 'do fuck all till the MOT & that's a service innit' it breaks down.

 

Odd that, that exceeding service intervals reduces reliability, who'd have thought it?

[jonny69]

I was going to comment if adjusted periodically, points are no less reliable - but condensers are shit.

 

Condensers finally became the Achilles heel with my car last year. I couldn't find a reliable one, not even the so called guaranteed reliable Distributor Doctor ones. I finally had to resort to an electronic ignition module (Powerspark one) which promptly packed up after about 1000 miles. Before that I don't think I'd touched my points more than once every couple of years - I'm still not convinced this leccy ignition module will give me reliable motoring like that.

[Guest Hooli]

Condensers finally became the Achilles heel with my car last year. I couldn't find a reliable one, not even the so called guaranteed reliable Distributor Doctor ones. I finally had to resort to an electronic ignition module (Powerspark one) which promptly packed up after about 1000 miles. Before that I don't think I'd touched my points more than once every couple of years - I'm still not convinced this leccy ignition module will give me reliable motoring like that.

 

I've upgraded my '77 Triumph Bonnie to points, replacing the aftermarket Boyer Breakdown electronic ignition. Oddly enough it ran better & never stopped again due to a lack of sparks.

 

Cheaper too as the boyers lasted 2.5k maximum & cost £80 to replace. Points are £20 every 3k.

[Eddie Honda]

I think the new Valeo condenser lasted all of 20 seconds on my GS. Pile o'pish.

[stripped fred]

A girl at work has a new focus. It's been back at the dealer's for several weeks now. The reason is that the adaptive headlight which moves the beam as you go round a corner has become confused and is pointing to the side all the time. The dealer has been unable to sort it so they are waiting for a Ford engineer to visit and try and diagnose the problem. So, the summary is new cars are more complex with more to go wrong and more difficult and often more costly to fix when they do.

[sierraman]

By the same token, cars do 200k in their stride these days. You'd be on your 4th engine rebuild on a cortina by this point. Again its it like the body doesn't last these days. It's likely a component fail like a fuel pump that kills them now

[djimbob]

Of course new cars are more reliable as a general rule, due to the improvements in manufacturing and quality control, changing demands of consumers etc and so on.

 

This does not mean that driving older cars cannot be acceptably reliable, or even cheaper IF you know what you are doing and/or a lucky bugger.

 

Anyone who is involved in modern vehicle manufacture knows the standards set by the Japanese for instance, and knows how impressive they are - compare and contrast with British Leyland practices and there is your answer.

 

Do I want a standard eurobox straight off the robotic conveyor line personally??

 

Do I bollocks, cars don't become remotely interesting to me until at least ten years old, when they have begun to form a personality (and the price is right of course), and the fear of all that money tied up scares the crap out of me.

 

Thank fuck some people do buy new cars and break them in for me as I wouldn't be able to spunk £300 on a fine motor on a semi-regular basis like I am wont to do, it takes all sorts to make the world go round

[lisbon_road]

I guess we all base our comments on our own experiences.

 

The Vauxhall Viva ignition system was rubbish, end of.  The points were always difficult to adjust and it rarely really ran right.  I knew a full time mechanic who agreed and said that distributors would often give uneven points gaps out of the box.  

 

When I fitted it with luminition electronic ignition, it has been totally reliable ever since, not that it goes far.  I did 120K miles in my 1986 Sierra and never touched the electronic ignition and the same applies to my Astras which I must have done a combined 100K miles or so.  I carry spares for the coilpack, all sensors and ECU but have never needed them.

 

I can understand that those of you who have had better points systems, and I remember the Lucas systems on BL cars being better, would regard them as reliable as a spare set of points and condensor or a clean up and you're away in a few minutes worst case.  Just isn't my experience.

[danthecapriman]

I've been driving for 15 years now, the newest car I've ever owned and used as a daily was a 1991 Volvo 340 1.7, carb powered still!. The oldest car I've used as a daily, even through winter, is my 1974 Capri. I've got absolutely no complaints about old cars, in fact I'm 100% positive they've actually saved me a fortune over the years.

 

In that time the only problems I can think of that could be considered a breakdown were, some cunt stabbing a screwdriver through the radiator on the 340 - not the cars fault and I spotted it leaking before I drove off so I got away with no further damage and it was an easy fix.

I had a heater hose split on the Capri, it was a slow leak so I just bodged on an old piece of hose from a dead proton in a nearby industrial estate and gave the guy that owned it a few quid for helping. No big deal.

And a flat battery.

That's about it. I've known people have far more hassle from new or modern cars tbh.

 

The other thing is, taking my 85 mk2 Granada as an example. It's over 30 years old, done 200K miles and yet still works and drives perfectly fine. How many cars have been made and scrapped again in it's lifetime? Loads is the answer. So it stands to reason that, actually this old Granada was actually a better car than any of them!?

Yes, you've got to be willing to accept some 'performance' limitations on old stuff and it will need more work and servicing but if you do this the car will be fine and probably last longer than a new car on a manufacturers long life cheapo service plan.

 

 

In my experience points and condensers are ok, but they are from an era when they were the best, easiest solution to the issue with the technology and cost limits of the time.

Nowadays things have moved on. They are still fine, provided you can get points and condensers of decent quality that work. Sadly these days that's getting harder. Fuck only knows why mankind was capable of manufacturing quality condensers decades ago but now it seems to be a problem!?

Based on this, I'm a fan of electronic ignition replacements for my old cars now I've tried one on the Mercury. I'll agree though that even these aren't completely immune from trouble but in most cases they are a better fit and forget method of doing the same job. I'll certainly be using them in preference in future anyway.

[SiC]

A girl at work has a new focus. It's been back at the dealer's for several weeks now. The reason is that the adaptive headlight which moves the beam as you go round a corner has become confused and is pointing to the side all the time. The dealer has been unable to sort it so they are waiting for a Ford engineer to visit and try and diagnose the problem. So, the summary is new cars are more complex with more to go wrong and more difficult and often more costly to fix when they do.

Sounds more like the average straight-out-of-college mechanics that dealers employ (because they're cheap, keen and not stuck in ways so that a manufacturers training regime works) doesn't know what the problem is. All cars have problems at some point - no matter their complexity. Just as they get older, common faults become known and solutions worked out how to fix them.

 

I suspect the mechanics hooked it up to the diagnostics, read error codes (of which there probably was none), tried the reset procedure according to the book and that all didn't work. The next step probably says "contact your Ford helpline". Said mechanic then goes back to doing oil changes, etc where dealers make their money.

[forddeliveryboy]

Are there any decent condensors for sale, anymore?

 

Electronificated ignition is more reliable in the sense if you fail to service, the car carries on and on. Just no warning at all if it fails, like any electronic boxes, something I hate. 

[castros_bro]

I use to commute to work in my Berkeley B90 and was forever having to adjust the points and change the spark plugs just to keep the thing firing on all 3 cylinders yet my more modern Citroen XZ, Peugeot 106 and Renault Megane  I have NEVER has to adjust the points nor change the spark plugs to keep them going.   Therefore going the supplied research data this proves ALL old cars are unreliable compared to newer ones QED.

[danthecapriman]

Are there any decent condensors for sale, anymore?

 

Electronificated ignition is more reliable in the sense if you fail to service, the car carries on and on. Just no warning at all if it fails, like any electronic boxes, something I hate.

 

Some on here may well remember the no start issue I had with my Mercury! It was down to the condenser. One day it worked fine. The next day it was dead. I tried two brand new ones from different manufacturers (one of which wasn't cheap) and one was fucked straight out the box, the other one worked for about an hour then died.

I then stuck electronic ignition in (a quality one) and it's fine. It even improved the starting ability of what turned out to be a worn out engine with rubbish compression.

 

As said though, they aren't immune to failure. The best thing I've found to do, is fit a good electronic kit then keep your old points, condenser and base plate etc in a little box inside the car just incase. If my electronic set up does fail I can get the old points set up out of the boot and simply screw it back in. Easy.

[Anthony]

I've always found that older cars (usually 80's and 90's French stuff in my case) can be perfectly reliable even as a high-mileage daily.

 

Issue is that they'll typically need more proactive/preventative maintenance and that to get them to a reliable state you've often got to deal with a decade or more of neglect and bodges from previous owners.

 

I'm much of the opinion that 90's stuff is the current golden age - simple to fix, typically basic fuel injection or simple diesels without millions of sensors, emissions nonsense or over-complex electrics, and new enough that you're not usually dealing with horrendous rot and non-availability of spares like you often are with 80's and earlier stuff (although there's plenty of notable exceptions, like Ford Ka's that all but dissolve in front of your eyes).

[xtriple]

As above, I have never seen anyone in the locale have the bonnet open. I don't think anyone checks anything anymore. Come to think of it, I have never seen anyone wash their car round here either. Guess the Polish guys must be making a good living.

[Tamworthbay]

Are there any decent condensors for sale, anymore?

 

Electronificated ignition is more reliable in the sense if you fail to service, the car carries on and on. Just no warning at all if it fails, like any electronic boxes, something I hate.

 

my mate who is an electronics engineer made me one for my Capri, I will ask him how he did it as I can guarantee it won't be a bodge job.

[SiC]

Surely just buy a quality part with low ESR, enough capacitance, with a 105C odd temperature rating from RS/Farnell?

 

Probably in Polypropylene film flavour designed for snubbing noise.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

As above, I have never seen anyone in the locale have the bonnet open. I don't think anyone checks anything anymore. Come to think of it, I have never seen anyone wash their car round here either. Guess the Polish guys must be making a good living.

 

No-one needs to lift their bonnet, thats why. You don't even need to dip the oil on most modern stuff, it can tell you how much oil there is.

 

Its not cos folk are bone idle or disinterested - its cos the car is perfectly capable of keeping going without it

[Captain Slow]

I used my Stag as an everyday car over winter 2014. A car with a reputation for unreliability, in a particularly nasty winter, averaging 500 miles per week. Not a foot wrong, except that the heater blower didn't work.

 

My newest car is 14 years old, which by my standards is a new car. It's no less reliable than a brand new car - nor, for that matter, is the Stag.

[oldford]

I MOTd a 12 plate car today, I was on the verge of aborting the test as I couldn't get the bonnet open, the secondary catch had seized solid, after 10 minutes of key hole surgery I managed to pry it over with a screw driver, a further 5 minutes of lubrication and working it in had it operating as designed.

 

That hadn't even had the most basic of maintenance checks for a long time.

[RoadworkUK]

It's not cars any more, is it, though?

 

Your average car buyer usually has no more interest in the actual car than your average mobile phone user has in HAM radio.

 

People get their "going down the road" by paying £250 a month for AN PRODUCT, just like how they get their "sitting on my arse being entertained" by £80 a month Sky packages.

 

People don't have Hi-Fi equipment any more, they use their mobile phone and some piss-poor dock thing, but listen to such fucking terrible market-mandated music they could never tell the difference anyway..

 

People drink instant coffee.

 

People are stupid.

[SiC]

You don't even need to dip the oil on most modern stuff, it can tell you how much oil there is.

I've said this before but modern Audi and BMWs don't even have dipsticks that you can check with. They stick great big plastic covers over everything and I guess this is to hide the gubbins and scare people off touching stuff.

 

HOWEVER it has to be said that on modern driving tests, there is a requirement in the actual test to answer basic maintenance questions - like how you'd check the oil/washer fluid/etc, check the horn+wipers, etc.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/car-show-me-tell-me-vehicle-safety-questions/car-show-me-tell-me-vehicle-safety-questions

 

This came in nearly 13 years ago now. I know because my driving test was only 3 days after these rules came in! I had to check the washer fluid level - which on the Clio II I owned doesnt have a dipstick or even a visible container. My answer was that you could stick a twig or something in there to see how much, or just fill it up. Also I had to show how to check horn works. My dad waiting in the test centre didn't quite know what was going on and why I honked the horn! He thought I failed at the very beginning or something...

[robinmasters]

Modern cars aren't any more reliable, they've just improved the manufacturing tolerances to the point where they can almost guarantee those massive FTP's don't happen until just after the three years fleet buyers care about.

 

Touch wood, my (twenty years old this year) Citroen has only stranded me once. And that was fuel to a fuel/distance estimation failure on my part.