Morris Minor Owners Club

A failed speedometer.......

On a Minor, you know because it stops working. You fix it by buying a cable for £6.50 and fitting it yourself in about ten minutes flat.

On a modern French built thing, you know the speedometer is failing because a yellow warning light tells you that "Either water in fuel, or electronics fault, consult your dealer ASAP". The dealer then charges £124.50 to connect to his computer, and then supply and fit a new sensor.

Give me the Minor any day!

They don't want you working on modern cars for sure. My Polo needed an aircon sensor, and half the dash had to come out, thankfully with two days warranty left. Aircon specialist charges £124 an hour, job took six hours.

Still at least OBD2 Fault Code Readers are cheap now, so I don't need to pay VW £60 just to tell me what's wrong with the car.

Next door neighbors dads Renualt needs a servo motor that opens a flap for the face vents, not much change out of a £1000

Anything older is cheaper.
My general rule of thumb is - if I cant work on it myself I wont buy it.
Garages are £50 an hour these days.

Hello MT,

"Aircon specialist charges £124 an hour, job took six hours. "

How on earth do they get away with charging that much? It's hardly a 'specialist' trade and the equipment isn't that expensive either?

Alec

Did you see the programme on the Renault Megane? £54 labour to change the headlamp bulb because it is almost impossible to change it yourself! Top gear doesn't tell you that sort of thing when they test the cars.

Top gear doesn't tell you that sort of thing when they test the cars.

Because Top gear wouldn't bother with a 'normal car'

Even my little back street Mechanic charges £35 an hour.

How do they get away with making a vehicle that you can't even change the bulb yourself? I thought the French Police especially were very hot on that sort of thing.

I live in France, and nobody can answer that question - you have to carry a full set of spare bulbs even if you can't change them without garage tools!

It seems that headlamp bulb changing is now virtually impossible on new cars at the side of the road. I am surprised there is no legislation in place that requires headlamp bulbs to be easily replaceable.

All of our sort of vehicles are simple to work on, not just Minors. Any British motor up to about 1986 is straightforward.

The only relatively modern car I have any time for is the Ford Escort Diesel Van, a reliable, dependable tool that is still easy to work on.

It seems that headlamp bulb changing is now virtually impossible on new cars at the side of the road. I am surprised there is no legislation in place that requires headlamp bulbs to be easily replaceable.

changed headlamp bulb on 2 1/2 year old astra last month. I had to look in the manual as it seemed you had to remove bumper to get to headlight! There was a removable panel in the inner wing - all done in 10 minutes without tools.

Minor - needs screwdrivers and if you're unlucky you'll need to drill out the screws on the clamp ring. Then you might find the bulb is ok but the rear bowl is rotted through and the connector is corroded...