Reason for new car problems

[caprice_2nv]

Originally Posted by supton
Originally Posted by Exhaustgases
This pertains to all the new cars and trucks. Junk parts that are not made in house and in the manufactures country. And is why everything is junk now.

Didn't watch the video. But now I wonder: did people in the (1930's? 1940's? 1950's? 1960's? 1970's? 1980's? 1990's?) sit around and chat about how wonderful their cars were, how long lived and how well designed, and how they never failed, etc?


There were a lot of bad cars throughout all those years but if you bought certain vehicles which were known to last, like an 87+ Ford crown Vic/mercury Grand Marquis, 77-96 Gm full size car, gm g body or f body, most trucks, etc you could have a car that could last 30+ years under the right conditions. People would scrap cars needing repairs costing much less than what's normal nowadays. I still see lots of 20+ year old cars driving around here and we're in the rust belt. I have my doubts that will be the case in another 20 years.

 

[supton]

Originally Posted by Astro14

The 90's cars aged well??

Fair enough; I might be remembering with rose colored glasses (most anything over 20 years old is rusted away here). Then again, my car is from the 90's and still going (came up from down south), so there's that.

 

[bbhero]

The lady and I have a 1998 Camry 2.2 L.... Still runs great and actually rides very good too.

 

[super20dan]

yet another reason to avoid fiat chrysler

 

[JTK]

Originally Posted by WyrTwister
When I was a Pup , a car was more or less worn out / due for replacement by 100,000 miles . Needed a tune up around every 10,000 miles .

On the whole , they seem to be lasting longer / better , these days .


Living in the rust belt my whole life, it was rare to see a run of the mill household daily driver make it to 100K miles up until maybe the later 1980s.

Prior to that, if you got 4-5yrs out of the car before it rusted to pieces, you were lucky.

I do not miss fiddling with emissions compliant carbureted vehicles. Caps, rotors, ignition wires.. Praying they'll start in the wet or cold, etc.

 

[Saabist]

Originally Posted by super20dan
yet another reason to avoid fiat chrysler


Soon to be Peugeot-Fiat-Chrysler. What could possibly go wrong?

 

[tiger862]

Originally Posted by super20dan
yet another reason to avoid fiat chrysler

Plenty of old Dodge trucks around me with over 200k. There is one down the street from me that has 350k and all it needs to be road ready is steering gear box. When I moved here I need an RV moved and guy was driving a 2500 with a Hemi with 275k. Motor never touched but 2 transmission and it was a 4wd. Dodge does get a lot of bad reps but can said for other vehicles.

 

[caprice_2nv]

Originally Posted by supton
Originally Posted by Astro14

The 90's cars aged well??

Fair enough; I might be remembering with rose colored glasses (most anything over 20 years old is rusted away here). Then again, my car is from the 90's and still going (came up from down south), so there's that.


My winter beater was built in Oshawa Ontario (an hour and a half from here) and it spent it's entire life in Ontario. Oil coated yearly. 240k miles and it's still in reasonably good shape other than things that just go had after 36 years (like the headliner, cracked dash, paint, etc). But the drivetrain is solid still, the frame is like new and half the steering parts are still original. I think most people only remember the bad ones from the 90s and earlier.

 

[CR94]

Originally Posted by JTK
... I do not miss fiddling with emissions compliant carbureted vehicles. Caps, rotors, ignition wires.. Praying they'll start in the wet or cold, etc.
I never had much trouble with carburetors on previous cars. You could replace the cap, rotor, ignition cables, and coil for less than the price of a modern coil-on-plug coil for a single cylinder, even with inflation considered. In 600k+ miles on my Mazda, I replaced the cap and rotor once or twice, #2 and #3 ignition cables twice apiece, coil-to-distributor cable once, and coil once (not the coil's fault).

 

[caprice_2nv]

Originally Posted by CR94
Originally Posted by JTK
... I do not miss fiddling with emissions compliant carbureted vehicles. Caps, rotors, ignition wires.. Praying they'll start in the wet or cold, etc.
I never had much trouble with carburetors on previous cars. You could replace the cap, rotor, ignition cables, and coil for less than the price of a modern coil-on-plug coil for a single cylinder, even with inflation considered. In 600k+ miles on my Mazda, I replaced the cap and rotor once or twice, #2 and #3 ignition cables twice apiece, coil-to-distributor cable once, and coil once (not the coil's fault).


I replace the rotor about once a year and clean the contacts in the cap. I've replaced one or two of my ignition wires on the Caprice in the last 10 years and only put a fresh set on the Cutlass 12 years ago. I pull the plugs and check them once every year or two. They last longer than the 30k miles that used to be considered normal.

I also keep an ignition module in the glove box even though I've never had that or the coil fail on any of my gm hei vehicles.

I usually have to adjust the choke a little it every couple years. That keeps it reliable starting in the minus twenty and colder temps.

 

[supton]

Originally Posted by caprice_2nv
Originally Posted by supton
Originally Posted by Astro14

The 90's cars aged well??

Fair enough; I might be remembering with rose colored glasses (most anything over 20 years old is rusted away here). Then again, my car is from the 90's and still going (came up from down south), so there's that.


My winter beater was built in Oshawa Ontario (an hour and a half from here) and it spent it's entire life in Ontario. Oil coated yearly. 240k miles and it's still in reasonably good shape other than things that just go had after 36 years (like the headliner, cracked dash, paint, etc). But the drivetrain is solid still, the frame is like new and half the steering parts are still original. I think most people only remember the bad ones from the 90s and earlier.

I'm about to give up on Fluid Film as I don't think it slowed down the rust much on my Toyota's--maybe it'd be better if I just gave up on Toyota instead.

The wife's Camry has done ok, in 200k it's needed a set of brakes and a battery. My Camry, not so much!

 

[jeepman3071]

I think the early 2000s were a good point in time for cars. Still relatively affordable to buy and run, and they had the reliability of systems like fuel injection and OBDII, but were fairly simple with most having port injection and being naturally aspirated. Most of the issues with newer cars seem to be from build quality or the complex systems. I think in the future many modern cars will meet their demise just from being stuck in limp mode and being too costly to repair, not from any mechanical fault.

I saw this on the insurance side of things. Many newer cars were totaled not from the body damage sustained in an accident, but from all of the wiring and systems impacted that would need to be repaired/replaced. My father was recently in a fender bender in his 2013 Grand Cherokee. From a few feet away, the damage looks to be just on the corner of the bumper, but that corner is where the air suspension compressor sits. Just that part alone was $2000 according to the insurance repair bill.

 

[jeepman3071]

Originally Posted by supton
Originally Posted by caprice_2nv
Originally Posted by supton
Originally Posted by Astro14

The 90's cars aged well??

Fair enough; I might be remembering with rose colored glasses (most anything over 20 years old is rusted away here). Then again, my car is from the 90's and still going (came up from down south), so there's that.


My winter beater was built in Oshawa Ontario (an hour and a half from here) and it spent it's entire life in Ontario. Oil coated yearly. 240k miles and it's still in reasonably good shape other than things that just go had after 36 years (like the headliner, cracked dash, paint, etc). But the drivetrain is solid still, the frame is like new and half the steering parts are still original. I think most people only remember the bad ones from the 90s and earlier.

I'm about to give up on Fluid Film as I don't think it slowed down the rust much on my Toyota's--maybe it'd be better if I just gave up on Toyota instead.

The wife's Camry has done ok, in 200k it's needed a set of brakes and a battery. My Camry, not so much!



My family has driven mostly Hondas and Toyotas. They are reliable, but corrosion seems to be what ends their life here in the salt belt. The protection just doesn't seem to be as good as other brands. My mom's 2011 Fit has 85,000 miles, barely driven in snow (she's a school teacher) and the underside has plenty of rust and the paint is too thin. My friend's 2008 Tacoma has been Fluid filmed since new and it has definitely slowed the rust, but you can tell it's a New England vehicle by looking at the frame. My sister's 2005 Civic made it exactly 10 years before the rust got to it.

 

[supton]

I'm torn, 10 years isn't a bad run, heck after 10 years my needs change (let alone wants). 10 years is 250k or more for me. So in some ways it's a great spot to jump ship and start over. But. Buying new is expensive. Buying something older and bigger almost always takes more gas, and with that kind of annual miles the mpg matters. Toss in distance to a repair shop, and now that my garage isn't sized for big vehicles...

 

[thooks]

I remember when the standard warranty was 12/12

Then Mazda came out with 3/36, then 3/50.

All of the sudden, the big three had to buck up and their stuff became slightly better. Honda / Toyota followed Mazda quickly and then the big three followed.

It still amazes me that most folks who buy from the big 3 think a vehicle is about dead at 100k miles. Whether it is or not, whether the manufacturer has the reputation or not.

 

[JTK]

Originally Posted by CR94
I never had much trouble with carburetors on previous cars. You could replace the cap, rotor, ignition cables, and coil for less than the price of a modern coil-on-plug coil for a single cylinder, even with inflation considered. In 600k+ miles on my Mazda, I replaced the cap and rotor once or twice, #2 and #3 ignition cables twice apiece, coil-to-distributor cable once, and coil once (not the coil's fault).


Originally Posted by caprice_2nv


I replace the rotor about once a year and clean the contacts in the cap. I've replaced one or two of my ignition wires on the Caprice in the last 10 years and only put a fresh set on the Cutlass 12 years ago. I pull the plugs and check them once every year or two. They last longer than the 30k miles that used to be considered normal.

I also keep an ignition module in the glove box even though I've never had that or the coil fail on any of my gm hei vehicles.

I usually have to adjust the choke a little it every couple years. That keeps it reliable starting in the minus twenty and colder temps.


Good points. At least the parts are serviceable and not crazy expensive.

I haven't owned a car with a carburetor and cap/rotor/wires ignition system since about 1991. I'm sure most of my problems back then was from buying poor quality parts. I didn't know any better at the time.

 

[caprice_2nv]

Originally Posted by JTK
Originally Posted by CR94
I never had much trouble with carburetors on previous cars. You could replace the cap, rotor, ignition cables, and coil for less than the price of a modern coil-on-plug coil for a single cylinder, even with inflation considered. In 600k+ miles on my Mazda, I replaced the cap and rotor once or twice, #2 and #3 ignition cables twice apiece, coil-to-distributor cable once, and coil once (not the coil's fault).


Originally Posted by caprice_2nv


I replace the rotor about once a year and clean the contacts in the cap. I've replaced one or two of my ignition wires on the Caprice in the last 10 years and only put a fresh set on the Cutlass 12 years ago. I pull the plugs and check them once every year or two. They last longer than the 30k miles that used to be considered normal.

I also keep an ignition module in the glove box even though I've never had that or the coil fail on any of my gm hei vehicles.

I usually have to adjust the choke a little it every couple years. That keeps it reliable starting in the minus twenty and colder temps.


Good points. At least the parts are serviceable and not crazy expensive.

I haven't owned a car with a carburetor and cap/rotor/wires ignition system since about 1991. I'm sure most of my problems back then was from buying poor quality parts. I didn't know any better at the time.


It's hard to get good quality aftermarket parts, especially these days. A lot of my failed parts in my 240k mile 83 Caprice get replaced with the original parts from my 100k mile 86 Caprice parts car (a rust bucket that cost me $300 and drove beautifully 45 minutes home on cruise control when I bought it. It even came with a newer battery, aftermarket stereo and 3/4 tank of gas. It paid for itself a couple years ago.

 

[super20dan]

I wont go back to carburetors. but carmakers have taken things to far in an effort to squeeze out every mpg to meet café standards. mid 90,s to early 2000,s is the golden age for cars for me. I never had a single issue with my 81 Cressida,s bosh Jetronic efi system in the 30 years I drove it. top quality parts make all the difference.

 

[wtd]

I still own and drive a few 90's model vehicles listed in my signature. They are still pretty easy and cheap to fix when they do break down.

 

[Toyt1219]

I used to think my 1997 Camry xle v6 was as good as a car could get. Simple robust systems with good build quality.

My 2012 Camry has actually been more maintenance free, however, the 1997 seemed more solid.

I should have kept that old car

I think technology like GDI is not worth the complexity.