modern cars are rubbish!

[rayofleamington]

well - I'm generalising a lot, but many many times am I reminded of why minors are so good!!

This week I have been mainly rebuilding a Polo 1.4i engine (and been to work + spent a day and night in hospital with the young un on top )

The hydraulic tappets were very worn (0.5mm dished)
This led to one having a catastophic failure (shrapnel everywhere etc..)
Tappet died about 6 miles from home on a dual carriageway
In the process of getting home the broken tapet chewed the lobe off the cam, and chewed the end of the valve stem, and scraped it's bore.
The tapet also held the inlet valve partly open.
The head is a single piece so the entire head needed replacing due to the damaged tappet bore. The upside was that a new head negated any issue with the damaged valve.
So with a new* cam, tappets and head, + head gasket + fresh oil etc.. we figured it would be fixed...
No!
During rebuilding we spotted that the end of an injector had been melted (which was how we guestimated the inlet valve had been left open)
So when it ran rough we replaced the injector (local scrap yard).

Now it ran smoothly but it was not idling and would surge from 1500 to 2500 rpm.

The answer? - anyone thinking air leak is probably an experienced mechanic!

In desperation I took off the plastic inlet manifold to investigate the seals etc looking for an air leak.
And found that one port was burnt up and had a few small holes in it

By this time, 2 evenings and 2 staturday afternoons had gone, and it was too late to head to the scrapyard to scavenge more parts so another week gone, £110 spent and no car on the road to show for it.


It it had been an A-series engine, the worn tappets would have made it run a little bit noisier. THATS IT AND NOTHING ELSE!

Thin skinned hydraulic tappets = very poor
Single piece head = understandable but less maintainable.
melted injector = annoying
failed plastic manifold = useless!

Long live the trusty Morris Minor!


*new - actually they were 2nd hand but low mileage warranted parts from a VW breaker.

[Mick_Anik]

Give the young 'un my best wishes from Poland!

Modern cars? They all look like they've come out of an injection mould. In contrast, the Moggie looks like an injection mould!!

[WPR678B]

This week I have been mainly rebuilding a Polo 1.4i engine.

Don't get me started on 1.4 Polo's!!

Pedal box are 2 words i don't want to hear for a long time to come!

[Blaketon]

I think to suggest that all progress is bad is to be a bit of a Luddite. However progress isn't always good.

Car design has allowed more to be obtained from a gallon of fuel, both in terms of speed and economy. Many of our Minors have benefited from disc brakes, five speed gearboxes, halogen headlights and rear screen demisters.

In the last twenty years I feel that progress has become counter productive (I suppose "Modern" is a relative term). I have only ever had one brand new car (Mini) and was able to use the same tools on that as the one I had traded in for it. Subsequently I had a Mk 2 VW Golf GTI and in many ways, that was the best car I have ever had. It did everything well. Whilst I have had faster cars, it was more than adequate and it delivered easy performance. It was economical, comfortable, quiet, roomy, the build quality and durability was first class, it handled well (Though wasn't as forgiving or "Chuckable" as a Mini) and it was still easy to work on (Though I have to say that I prefer a Lucas wiring system to a Bosch). Since the days of the Mk 2, I feel that things have gone down hill and cars now seem to be full of unnecessary toys.

I have got a Minor because I want to continue being able to service my own cars. If I bought a new one, I don’t know whether it would be feasible to try and buy all the necessary equipment to maintain it (Some of the resident experts on the Practical Classics forum seem to suggest you only need a multi meter and a pair of scissors). However, if I did that, for how long would I be able to buy spares (My experience with older water cooled VWs was not good). Given that even my runabout car only does 2 – 3000 miles per annum, a new car should last me a long time but what chance would I have of getting spares for my 40000 mile 09 plate in 20 years? I’m afraid that cars are now like white goods or televisions. No doubt that suits many people, whose egos would not permit them to drive an old car but it’s not for me.

I have to admit that whereas at one time, I knew what every car on the road was (As a child, I could tell a lot of them by sound) and roughly what it had under the bonnet, now I have lost interest in most things post 1980 and nearly everything post 1990. I sometimes hear rather absurd stories, like the one about the new Passat that broke down. The handbrake, I am told, is electrically operated and will only release if the engine is running. In this case, the engine would not run and so the car could not even be moved somewhere safe, until the breakdown service arrived and “Plugged in” to the onboard computer, to overrule the handbrake. I am told that to change the plugs in a “Smart” car takes hours, as you need to remove some interior trim to get at them or in the case of an “Espace” part of the bodywork. This sort of thing is not new. It was commonplace for rear engined VWs (And Porsches) to have their engines dropped for routine service, as it was easier than trying to perform the service with the engine in situ. To be fair, the VW engine is only held in with four bolts but it still seems a bit extreme.

I think VW always tried to encourage owners to get the car serviced at the main dealer, even in the air cooled days. When my father had his first VW (Type 3), he noticed that the handbook was pretty hopeless (The car, to be fair, was beautifully made). In his BMC days, he never needed a workshop manual, as the handbooks contained all the information required for routine maintenance. For the VW, he bought a Haynes manual.

[Mick_Anik]

I share your opinion about owners of newer cars being more and more excluded from the servicing.

Another issue is this....in my day, dads were out on the street fixing their own and each other's cars. The lads were busy with their motorbikes and scooters. We lived on a new council estate, and nobody had a garage or off-road parking (another issue - all the front gardens there are now car parks!).

These days you are only allowed to change a wheel on a car in a public place, as far as I can see. Modern roads are probably not the place to carry out repairs, anyway.

It's just a shame that a community activity has disappeared, and many young people often have difficulty in finding somewhere to work on, and therefore learn about, the vehicles they drive. It's a kind of social exclusion - if you live in a house with off-road parking, then that's fine. If you don't....tough luck!

[MarkyB]

The sad truth is that what most people want is reliable cars with plenty of toys.
They don't want to open the bonnet and get dirty they just want to get from A to B in comfort.
In fact this has always been true, it's just that they would happily put up with less when that was the norm.
I both deplore and understand this attitude.

[Mogwai]

Most modern mass produced cars seem to be designed for fast assembly at minimum cost with little regard for getting it apart again for service & repairs with loads of stupid plastic clips that break, bulbs, filters, plugs etc that need half the car dismantling to replace, one piece exhausts that need cutting to remove, stretch fit alternator belts the list goes on

[linearaudio]

Harping back to that Passat electric handbrake- my friend had one as a courtesy car for a couple of weeks, and couldn't figure out (nor me) how to perform a hill start with an electric switch on the dash board! He must have shortened the starter motor life somewhat with all the times he stalled it! I wonder how the MOT would view my moggy if I installed an electric handbrake

[Mick_Anik]

An electric switch for the handbrake? Absurd, in the extreme! Of course, you can imagine the sales patter in the showroom, explaining how Mrs Smith would have less chance of breaking a nail.

I've said it before and I'll say it again:

"I despair! I really do!"

Re handbrakes....my old Merc 123 had a foot-operated handbrake on the left of the clutch pedal (LHD), with a 'pull' release on the far left of the dash. That was a beautiful handbrake system. And it allowed space for a handy storage console, which doubled up as an armrest, between the front seats.

I had a two-litre diesel - the Morris Minor of German engineering...a dream to work on, wonderful materials everywhere, never went wrong, plenty of space around the engine, everything simple and logical......a tractor with comfy seats, really!

I would highly recommend this car to anyone, although spares are getting a bit scarcer and are probably expensive in Britain. In Poland I got a gearbox in good working order for thirty quid, as a spare!

[Blaketon]

The sad truth is that what most people want is reliable cars with plenty of toys.

The trouble is that with all the toys comes more to go wrong, so in a sense these two "Attributes" can work against one another. I suspect the cost of repairing these toys is what makes cars increasingly disposable.

It's easy to understand why people would want a reliable car but I suspect the motivation for toys is largely about status. Perhaps this is the deplorable aspect?

An electric switch for the handbrake? Absurd, in the extreme! Of course, you can imagine the sales patter in the showroom, explaining how Mrs Smith would have less chance of breaking a nail.

These days I think that Mr "Smith" would be equally concerned about breaking a nail .

[Mick_Anik]

I have a theory that the motor trade in new cars is rather 'sexist' in many ways. I think they work on the presumption that women play a large part in the decision to buy.

The fragrant smell when you open the door of the car - specially impregnated into the plastic - and all the other 'living room' features you get these days.
I think their approach, if my theory is correct, is nothing short of patronising and condescending. As if they work on the assumption that a woman is all sugar and spice and all things nice and is better off at home doing the ironing - but controls the finances with an iron fist, as a good housewife should.

I always feel nauseous when I enter a main dealer showroom. My going into a bank results in the same feeling. I can no longer go into a mobile phone shop, and I have to look away when I pass a McDonald's.

Is it just me?

[linearaudio]

Oh, my God, and I thought it was me! How you get sooo surrounded by condescending MY FAVOURITE CAR IS A DATSUN CHERRY that you think something is wrong because you don't see it the same way!

Recently read a searching book on the subject called "Big Babies", which expands on the hypothesis that no-one grows up anymore, we all want to be treated as pampered children, and accordingly are! Scary stuff!!

[PSL184]

"Modern cars are rubbish" but, they put a roof over my head and food on the table.....

[Blaketon]

I have a theory that the motor trade in new cars is rather 'sexist' in many ways. I think they work on the presumption that women play a large part in the decision to buy.

The fragrant smell when you open the door of the car - specially impregnated into the plastic - and all the other 'living room' features you get these days.

I think their approach, if my theory is correct, is nothing short of patronising and condescending. As if they work on the assumption that a woman is all sugar and spice and all things nice and is better off at home doing the ironing - but controls the finances with an iron fist, as a good housewife should.

I always feel nauseous when I enter a main dealer showroom. My going into a bank results in the same feeling. I can no longer go into a mobile phone shop, and I have to look away when I pass a McDonald's.

Is it just me?

My next door neighbour knows someone who sells cars at one of the well known local dealers.

He had told me how when customers come in to change their vehicles, often the only figures discussed are what the finance payments are now and what they will be if they buy a certain car. Apparently it is often the case that the wife will say whether or not they can afford it (Are we men that innumerate?? ).

Another thing that happens (And I have heard this one elsewhere) is that the member of staff will produce from their pocket, a £20 note. This will be given to the customer with the words “Get some petrol/diesel on me”. This seemingly magnanimous gesture is nothing of the sort and the £20 has been worked into the figures.

[rayofleamington]

"Modern cars are rubbish" but, they put a roof over my head and food on the table.....

same here (but not for long).

I did say I was generalising a lot! Not everything new is bad, but working on new cars does make me cherish the Minor far more!

It was just infuriating to see a tappet failure with a mild amount of wear, and the massive trail of consequences.

However, if the owners hadn't driven the darn thing home when it failed, half the work would have been avoided.
It's not the first failed plastic inlet manifold I've seen and won't be the last.

If you really want to annoy a Ford dealer, try bump starting a 1.4 Fiesta engine backwards - whilst the car is still under warranty ;-)

had told me how when customers come in to change their vehicles, often the only figures discussed are what the finance payments are now and what they will be if they buy a certain car.

At some places that is how they are trained to work by the regional managers...

[And as for Mercedes foot operated handbrakes - they are fine unless the car has a manual gearbox! Try holding on a hill in a traffic jam using the clutch and then trying to put the handbrake on with the same foot... Mercedes needed stringing up for that one.]

Another issue is this....in my day, dads were out on the street fixing their own and each other's cars. The lads were busy with their motorbikes and scooters. We lived on a new council estate, and nobody had a garage or off-road parking (another issue - all the front gardens there are now car parks!).

I now live on an old council estate - nobody has front gardens as they are now car parking, because if you leave your car in the actual carpark it gets vandalised. When working on this car at a neighbours place the other neighbours have seen me more in 10 days than altogether during the previous year!
This is now well off topic - however I'm a fan of front gardens for being sociable! I think our house will be the first in the street to reintroduce plants etc.. at the front. I expect it'll be a magnet to the kids who vandalise the cars, but time will tell.

[Blaketon]

I live in an old "Pre car" street but the houses have back entrances. My cars are all parked in a garage at the rear of the garden. I am in the minority; most cars are abandoned on the road. Some, who have garages, even prefer to fill them with junk rather than put their car away (Seems about the same as filling a bath with coal to me ).

It would be better if roads were kept for driving on, though clearly some properties do not lend themselves to this. However there is usually some spare ground (Maybe not in big cities) so why don't the councils erect blocks of lock ups and rent them out? In my area, they even made some people demolish their garages, on ground that they were renting from the council. The council have done nothing with the ground, other than a bit of landscaping and now that is neglected .

[rayofleamington]

I live in an old "Pre car" street but the houses have back entrances.

When I was younger and delivered pizza there were a few estates I used to call "built back to front". These had the road and cars at the back, and the front gardens and walkway where the back garden would normally be.
I'm not sure what it would be like to live there but to deliver there was a headache - there was usually no way to tell where to park up and you could end up wandering the walkways 1/2 a mile to get to the right house. I did rather wish they put numbers on the back of the houses by the road, but the residents probably never worried about it as their front door had numbers.

[Mick_Anik]

I see what you're getting regarding the Merc foot-operated handbrake, but you just get into the routine of pressing the brake pedal with the right foot as you press the handbrake' down with the left foot.

I suppose it stops you holding the car on the clutch too much. Maybe that was the idea.

It took a short time to get used to it, then easy-peasy

[Jonah681]

Modern cars are safer & more reliable, but when things go wrong it's impossible to repair at the roadside, particularly if it is the electrics. Plug-in diagnostic equipment is the norm.

A few years back when my 2-door spluttered to a halt, I couldn't get it started. The AA man turned up & exclaimed, " At last, a real car to work on!"

He had served his apprenticeship on Minors, Anglias, etc & just as a squaddie can dismantle & reassemble a rifle blindfold, this chap could do the same with a Morris.

[alainmoran]

I live in an old "Pre car" street but the houses have back entrances.

When I was younger and delivered pizza there were a few estates I used to call "built back to front". These had the road and cars at the back, and the front gardens and walkway where the back garden would normally be.
I'm not sure what it would be like to live there but to deliver there was a headache - there was usually no way to tell where to park up and you could end up wandering the walkways 1/2 a mile to get to the right house. I did rather wish they put numbers on the back of the houses by the road, but the residents probably never worried about it as their front door had numbers.

For the most part these kind of estates become an urban nightmare ... police cant keep up with the hoodies who run 100yds in their terms and a mile or so in the police car terms ... think bracknell and you wont be far wrong.

Talking of bracknell, all those underpasses make a great place for toxins to gather from the exhausts of passing cars & from a personal perspective there are a chuff of a lot more mutants (missing fingers, mis-shaped arms, heads etc) in bracknell than other places ... and that's even before you start to count the mental deficiencies