5yo Astra, 130,000km, slapping sound poss on the alt pulley. Fearing it COULD HAVE BEEN the lacquer band driving the OHC, I put it in to the dealers.
It was the alt pulley, a seriously complex device with a damper: a PRINCELY $350.00 WORTH!!
Judas Priest! When the contract expires on this one it's going & I'll stick to what I can fix myself. I like el windowrs a/c, cruise control etc etc but not THAT much! This makes an extra annual reg for a back-up car look cheap!!
Just as well you weren't around during the sixties when a VW aircooled vehicle was a "modern" car. You would have really had the gripes with the prices of some bits and that was when they gave trouble at less than 100,000km on the clock!
eg. Ignition switch for a Type 3 (imported type with lock)was around $30 in 1969. Wages were around $50 clear per week!
DH
[ Edited on 24/5/2006 by 1500S ]
Good point!
Gee thanks, I feel MUCH better now!
funny my alt belt snapped last week on my "modern" car, and cost $369. I know almost exactly how you feel. i do like comfort and quiet though...
"Tell him 'We've already got one'"
I hate modern cars even more since i started my apprenticeship. We had a Merc A140 4 door hatchthingy in last week, the owner wanted us to see if we could find out why it was having issues starting SOMETIMES.... it took us 2 days of trying just to get it to play up and then we had to replace the starter. Normally a fairly simple if sometimes painful job to do. We couldn't even see the starter on the hoist. In the owner's manual it had detailed diagrams and instructions on how to see and remove starter. Step 1: lower engine.... we didn't get much past there. You had to lower engine about a foot and then remove a/c compressor to just get your arm in to undo starter bolts. Needless to say we told the guy to take it to a Merc workshop as they'd have the proper tools and trained guys to do it in half the time we could. Unbelievable...
[ Edited on 24-5-2006 by Boozer ]
THe MC Bat Commander's motto: "Never do now, what you could do for 24 hours straight, all night, the night before."
That sort of thing has been normal throughout the existence of the motor car. Try working on some of the older British or French cars.
There should be a United Nations Human Rights clause to the effect that the people who design cars should be forced to work on them or be done for violating the mechanics' human rights. Which right? The one about us not having to suffer cruel and unusual punishment.
indeedium.
THe MC Bat Commander's motto: "Never do now, what you could do for 24 hours straight, all night, the night before."
elect windows,air cond power this power that. you are all going soft. next you will want money out of a hole in the wall. coffee shops on every corner and fast food resturants that dish out comfort food so you can die in a comfy chair shapped like a big fat pillow in front of your remote controlled television.............oooppps toooo late.😀
Customer service is not dead in Australia.
Always after HAZET & MATRA & VW factory tools
Yeah I think electric windows are among the daftest things put on new cars. You gotta always remember to put them up before you stop the car and stuff, and if you forget then gotta get your keys again, and man is whining that much of an effort?
;-) Yeah, I ain't got nothin' newer than '74. Schweet!
i know how ya feel...a newer car was the reason for me going back to the older ones...
I broke down 4 flipping times in 5 weeks...towies knew me too bloody well, mechanics had no idea! All they could say was, must be engine, gunna cost about $2k....
So I left it that way.
And put Edith to the road instead. In 6 months she hasnt broken down once. Towies still know me...they watched me fix her and took her to mechnics when done for her RWC. I love it. And besides, even if I do break down, a VW is way classier than a dumb toyota
dubless. 🥲
🥷 And who the helled parked the Mitsubishi "Prancer" under my house??? 🥷
😏 vw's are fantastic educational tools for the budding mechanic. *gives beb a big round of applause* I have learnt much from festy, modern cars scare me, all those extra 'bits', I am sure half of the 'bits' are for decoration 😉. Have to laugh tho, dad was in his delica at a servo, it stopped... by the time he came back with the mechanic I had already opened it up and done the dub routine: look for fallyoffie wires or wobbly stuff... they returned just as I had re-connected some 'mystery wire' back onto the battery and was about to start it up .... :P nah nah! My eggmobile (barina) wouldn't start the other day, so I nicked festy's 'start ya bastard' gave the little poobox a squirt and we were off *sigh*... I agree, electric windows are annoying...and all that crazy poota crap they throw in nowadays, it's a conspiracy, they are trying to make tiewire obsolete.... 😠
