19 Sep
2011
19 Sep
'11
3:25 a.m.
On Thu, 15 Sep 2011 19:30:36 +0100 (BST), ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk (Tony
Duell) wrote:
Now schematics are unavaialbe and car manufacutrers perpetuate the
myth
that modern cars are harder to service than those or 30 years ago
(hint :
read the approriate workshop manuals, then decide, I have). What has
gone
wrong???
The car manufacturers certainly do their best to prevent their
customers
from servicing their cars. Somebody I know had a Volvo V70 that just
refused to start one morning. Nothing obviously wrong, it just would
not
start. It had to be towed to a Volvo dealer. IIRC the problem turned
out
to be that two of the car's computers decided they didn't want to talk
to
each other. A software upgrade fixed the problem. It may even have been
the case that none of the computers had to do with engine management.
The owner of the car is very clueful about hardware, software and cars,
but it would still have been a major undertaking for him to even find
the
problem, let alone obtain the software upgrades.
And I realyl don't understnad why service
information is not supplied
with (or at least available for) devices that are almost cetainly
goign
to be owned and used by people with eelectroncis knowledge --
soldering
stations , mutlimeters, 'scopes, etc. I've still not bougth a new DMM
after my Fluke failed last year because I've yet to find a
manuafactuer
who will supply a service manual.
Because they want you to either buy a new unit, or send the unit to one
of their own facilities to be repaired? In case of car manufacturers I
believe a significant portion of their profits comes from spare parts
and
service.
Do you have a mobile phone? Modern ones seem to be designed to break
down
slowly after about 18 months, they are full of custom parts, and the
people who repair them do their best to drive you mad. My work phone is
(hopefully) being repaired right now. It is 17 months old, the display
went permanently blank around August 6th, and the repair people have
most
likely not started working on it yet. I shall probably have to wait
another
2 weeks for it.
/Jonas