On Sun, 20 Dec 2009 13:05:22 -0600, Jules
wrote:

On Sun, 20 Dec 2009 11:07:22 -0600, krw wrote:
Definitely downhill on serviceability, but thankfully they require a
lot less.

Yes, but they make up for it by often costing a small fortune when
something *does* go wrong...

Not so much now. It's not like the '80s with the GM "computer
controlled" carburetors. I had to replace all of the spark coils (two
at a time - they wouldn't replace them all the first time) on the '00
Sable. It was a couple of hundred each time, but that's not so bad.

Well, I suppose a lot of the cost these days is in the labor to fix it, so
if you can do stuff yourself you save a lot - but the parts on more modern
vehicles that do go wrong always seem to be more complicated and therefore
more expensive to me.

I've found that I spend *way* less on repairs over the life of a car
than I did 20 years ago. It's unusual for anything other than wear
parts (brakes, tires, etc.) to go bad anymore.

... plus I like keeping it simple; if something does go wrong when I'm
out in the middle of nowhere, there's more chance I can fix it by the
roadside in an older vehicle than a modern one. I like that safety and
convenience.

The more chance you'll have to. I *like* fuel injection and all of
that. The only repairs I've ever had to make to a fuel injection system
was a leaking distribution rail in my Vision and that was under a
(silent) recall.

I have issues with any computer-controlled stuff, though. If it was
accessible, they gave me full schematics and a copy of the firmware then I
wouldn't mind; I can fix it myself if it does break. But I really don't
like stuff that's "black boxed" like that and considered not to be field
servicable.

It doesn't break, though. I have no use for schematics or firmware.
I'm certainly not going to take the time to learn what makes it tick,
much less rewrite any of it.

Agreed on the "mechanical" side of FI, though - definitely better than a
carb (although I've stripped and restored a few carbs now and they're not
too bad and *should* work for a long time before they next need to be
messed with).

My '78 Granada went through at least a carb a year.

How come? Was that a known bad design, or was something else causing the
failure (the fuel used, lack of fuel line filter etc.)? I suppose it does
matter how many miles you were putting on it, but I'd expect a good carb
to go for close on 100k miles before needing major surgery.

I have no idea. It was a 1bbl Carter but couldn't even get the one
lung working right. Rebuilding it was a waste of time (they once
tried it four times in three months). They were cheap but being
without a car wasn't.

(I'm starting to feel sorry for all these woodworking folk putting up with
this thread :-)

That's why thread kills were invented.