Trending Today..

[billiebob]

Lets talk reliability and field fixes.

The trend is it cannot even be fixed in a shop. The trend is we don't have a clue. Lets spend $5K on this and see...

One thing I see often is the guys having problems with the BIG overlanders. So many say "I'm in limp mode... again" "My third water pump in a year"..... The limp mode thing blows my mind, guys full time overlanding who spend a month searching for an answer, travelling every day at 30kph because some sensor senses a unicorn in the curcuit.

These are the stories that confirm for me that my old school TJR is the newest vehicle I will ever buy. I think my next truck might have a straight six.... likely 300 cubic inches with a carburetor. AND definitely a clutch.... The cost to "repair" a modern automatic would buy my dream truck.

My neighbour, 87 years old who never goes over 30 mph has a six year old Explorer. An old truck driver, logger he changed the battery and lost reverse because he did not follow the 86 step "Change the battery in my six year old Ford"....... That would be me. Took a week to fix it in small town rural BC.

I drove a tow truck for a few years..... Got a new German thing with a dead battery.... we cannot boost it...., the protocol is deck it to the dealer...... WOW with the nearest dealer 100 miles away. That has been a money maker.

So share those stories of stupidity designed into our vehicles and lets hope a few car guys at the big three read them.

FIELD FIXES.... not unless it is 20 years old.

 

[ScottReb]

I have to agree with you. The limp mode and disabling systems when it doesn't like something is kind of a big deal. Only going to continue to get worse I'm afraid.

 

[Tudor Tanase]

One that did not stop me but annoyed the c..p out of me: auto start-stop in a Mazda CX5 work vehicle... in the tropics... where AC MUST work every single second... or you die! No dealer will disable it because... "safety feature"!! Really?? What does it have to do with safety?? Well they can't really answer that, but won't do it anyway. No luck with forum/Google either. You can disable it manually but every time you start the car you need to do it again, as it defaults to original factory setting. So driving this marvellous piece of technology goes like this: jump in, press button on right to start engine, press button on left to cancel start-stop. If you forget you get reminded by a small jolt at the next light.

Field fix: start engine. Push "cancel start-stop" button. Wedge tooth pick between button and housing so it stays pushed in. Computer does not like it much and some light comes on (forgot which) but it worked well for a couple years without the start-stop ever triggering again.

Before any misled greenies comment: I live in a rural area where you hardly stop for more than a few seconds and the only thing this system does is annoy you. If I waited in traffic jams for hours on a daily basis I'd rethink this. Maybe. See aircon comment...

BTW my private vehicle (the forever vehicle) is a Landcruiser 105HZJ. Basically the only electronic thing is the radio.

 

[billiebob]

I'm thinking the electric vehicle might be the road to sanity... Most of the nanny system shut downs are related to some silly sensor thinking their are unicorns messing with the environment..... well with pure electric that unicorn won't be 8M cars.... it'll be 8 energy utility providers. We might get a buy on ALL the silly nanny greeny enviro tree huggers thingys.....

But seriously, there should be a class action lawsuit for everyone delayed when a silly nanny system sensed a unicorn.

 

[Anti-lander]

Luckily for you in Canada you can buy a brand new unreliable diesel and delete all those terrible sensors,egr,scr,etc and replace with a straight pipe and tune that will make them pretty reliable. In USA your screwed or you have to figure out how to get a delete tune shipped to the states without the epa finding out and fining the ******** out of you.

If you can figure out mega squirt or efi live autocal v3 then your golden on new diesels if not get something different you can work on.
I know if I go into limp mode it is one of 8 sensors usually the accelerator pedal or egr sensor 1

 

[4000lbsOfGoat]

I guess as long as there are old men there will be complaints about new technology and romantic visions of "the way things used to be"...You are saying the same thing that old men said about cars back when cars first came around. Why not just stick with a horse and an infinitely "field-repairable" wagon? Break an axle? Just chop down a tree and make a new one.

Any reasonable person who has driven an older vehicle (pre-90s or so) and has also driven a modern vehicle (with "nanny systems") will say that the modern vehicle is undoubtedly superior in every way.

 

[javajoe79]

Blame morons who will drive a car into the ground rather than have it maintained. These little gremlins are unfortunate and I am the last person to embrace much technology but cars these days are on average more reliable.

 

[Todd780]

I guess as long as there are old men there will be complaints about new technology and romantic visions of "the way things used to be"...You are saying the same thing that old men said about cars back when cars first came around. Why not just stick with a horse and an infinitely "field-repairable" wagon? Break an axle? Just chop down a tree and make a new one.

Any reasonable person who has driven an older vehicle (pre-90s or so) and has also driven a modern vehicle (with "nanny systems") will say that the modern vehicle is undoubtedly superior in every way.

Yeah, I have to agree my newer vehicles have been more reliable then my older ones. Different folks will have different experiences.

For me my TJ, 80 Series, XJ6 and Jetta TDI were the most unreliable.

Well... not counting the '86 LeSabre coupe that I owned for less than 24 hours before it burned to a crisp on the side of the QEII highway....

 

[CFMGarage]

Before Electronics, the complaint was all the vacuum lines everywhere. I'd rather plug in a little computer to tell me what's wrong than break out the smoke machine.

 

[thebmrust]

Re: gonna get worse…

Ran across a YouTube channel this week talking about the Transportstion or Infrastructure bill that just signed into law. I totally forgot the number (sorry). But within it is a section with a manufacturer OEM installed kill switch for most consumer vehicles.

What could go wrong there? Skip limp mode and straight to STOP.

 

[Explorerinil]

Luckily for you in Canada you can buy a brand new unreliable diesel and delete all those terrible sensors,egr,scr,etc and replace with a straight pipe and tune that will make them pretty reliable. In USA your screwed or you have to figure out how to get a delete tune shipped to the states without the epa finding out and fining the ******** out of you.

If you can figure out mega squirt or efi live autocal v3 then your golden on new diesels if not get something different you can work on.
I know if I go into limp mode it is one of 8 sensors usually the accelerator pedal or egr sensor 1

You can buy a delete tune here, I’ve never heard (verified) of a person being fined by the epa for deleting a diesel truck. I have heard and can verify a shop that was selling and installing emissions deletes on diesel trucks that was fined by the epa.

A person down the street from me has a 2021 ram cummins deleted, and another neighbor has a 2020 f350 deleted, so the parts are out there and easily available.

 

[Explorerinil]

Before Electronics, the complaint was all the vacuum lines everywhere. I'd rather plug in a little computer to tell me what's wrong then break out the smoke machine.

Hey vaccum issues are still and issue today, look at the super duty hubs! But yeah I’m with you, I remember tracking down vaccum issues, what a total pain.

 

[billiebob]

Nothing more reliable or field fixable than pre emissions vacuum controls.

 

[SootyCamper]

It enrages me that ford has buried their heads in the sand regarding the superduty hub vaccume issue. A friend of mine has had his f350 tremor in the shop twice this winter due to hub failure. I'm in a Similar boat with my tremor, she's going in the shop soon for repair. Nothing like being out in the bush for a fire and getting stuck because your 4x4 dosnt work!

 

[JaSAn]

I'm thinking the electric vehicle might be the road to sanity...

I think you are wrong.
Tesla can remotely:
- disable your car,
- monitor your driving,
- change your cars computer code.

Whatever Tesla can do, the government can do, other car manufacturers will be forced by governments to do, and bad guys will eventually figure out how to do.