Funny true story...but don't look for a moral in it or anything... Part 2
Posted 24th June 2011 at 09:02 AM by bobdoering
But wait...there's more!
So, this morning I am driving into work. The speedometer has gone back to napping at 0 mph. About have way to work, I look down and I see the speedometer at 60 mph. Now, I was going faster than that (per my GPS) and it was on 60 mph but not really responding to any speed change. I figured: "Oh, well." A little later I look down, and it is pegged at 120 mph. Now, had that been true, I would have thought I'd be passing somebody.
But....that is not the scary part.
A few blocks from work, I look down again and.....it was at the correct speed and it was responding correctly to speed changes.
I dunno....
So, this morning I am driving into work. The speedometer has gone back to napping at 0 mph. About have way to work, I look down and I see the speedometer at 60 mph. Now, I was going faster than that (per my GPS) and it was on 60 mph but not really responding to any speed change. I figured: "Oh, well." A little later I look down, and it is pegged at 120 mph. Now, had that been true, I would have thought I'd be passing somebody.
But....that is not the scary part.
A few blocks from work, I look down again and.....it was at the correct speed and it was responding correctly to speed changes.
I dunno....
Total Comments 6
Comments
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I really made up my mind never to buy a new car again. So many electronics to malfunction, and who knows if that info is being fed to your computer, or worse, stored for review somewhere down the road. I will limit my choices to pre 1972 vehicles, if I have to buy them at a car show, already completely restored.Posted 24th June 2011 at 09:09 AM by hogheavenfarm 
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If you stick to common makes, you can get just about any part for them, too!Posted 24th June 2011 at 11:13 AM by bobdoering
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Or manufacture your own. I once read about a guy who hooked up a bbq propane tank to his carburetor and drove back to town after running out of gas. Thats reliable and versatile. Probably the first hybrid vehicle made...
Posted 24th June 2011 at 11:33 AM by hogheavenfarm
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Bob - sounds like an issue inthe ECU. I don't know the law in the US regards faulty manufacture/design, but in the UK I'd be complaining to the manufacturer and expecting them to fix it. For nothing.
Posted 24th August 2011 at 09:30 AM by pearsonow
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After about 100,000 miles they pretty much chuckle and slip you the bill for about the blue book value of the car.
Posted 24th August 2011 at 11:24 AM by bobdoering
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Citroen advertised the C5 as having 9 computers. I'm not sure that was a good idea.
One day I was driving along at night when the lights suddenly blinked out briefly. At the next service they fixed it.
It appears to have been a software problem. The hydraulic pump draws a large current when it kicks in, which it does when the pressure in the reservoir drops low enough (the hydraulics are needed for the suspension and brakes). But the alternator has a clutch so that when the battery is fully charged, the alternator is de-clutched, reducing load on the engine.
So when the hydraulic pump cuts in it pulls all the power from the battery and then when the battery drain is low enough the alternator kicks back in. In the meanwhile the lights go out.
The fix was to make sure that when the pressure switch to start the hydraulic pump tripped in, the alternator was first put on line. End of problem.
Simple problem and fix but pretty worrying. It meant someone hadn't done a proper fault analysis when writing the programs. Oh, another problem. At high speed the front suspension is supposed to lower a bit to change the ride attitude. I discovered that mine was raising the front suspension....
With so many electrics and "fly by wire" systems in cars these days these little problems will be with us. The real problem is that where once doing your own maintenance was easy, now it is not.
Don't even get me started on the demise of the mechanic in favour of the monkey see monkey do "Auto Technicians". They don't diagnose problems, they follow a check list and simply replace stuff till the problem goes away.Posted 20th October 2012 at 10:25 AM by JMW123
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