diy maintainable car by design

That's not quite true - you can work on your own car as much as you want, but if you want to set up as a mechanic you've got to be licensed.

serviced,

I know they aren't very good anyway. So I just check the pressures, and look for bulges, and nails etc. The rears don't grip very well at all.

I think the problem is when say the brakes on a car fail because they were X years old, and completely worn out. In this case it would almost certainly be due to negligence. If the person DIYed it and didn't bother checking/replacing them then they would be at fault. If the owner has evidence of regular servicing etc then the garage would probably be at fault. There is a limit to what people can do, but they should be able to show that the car hasn't been neglected.

No problem!

Very good point! These people probably shouldn't be on the roads anyway. There are far too many people with *multiple* brake lights not working! The documentation that came with my car has a list of everything that should be done, so there really shouldn't be any excuse for not knowing.

Me :

Dervy :

Erm, it depends really. I was thinking along the lines of a brand new, unmodified, car engine. I think the motorbike engines may have some issues with emissions, but I'm not sure. Also if you get an engine from an old vehicle then the engine is old technology, and may not meet modern emissions regulations. In some of these cases I think the cars can be exempt from MOT's, and tax. Anyway, with a new, modern, and unmodified engine there should be no emissions problems.

Yeah, I think I've got what you were saying.

Soviet era Skodas (came with a very decent tool kit as standard). Saab 900, came with a enough screwdrivers to adjust anything in the engine, and a couple of spanners for other things. Even a set of water pump pliars. Also the handbook gave details of what was required for servicing etc. VW beetle.

lol, never looked at it like that. Good idea though, get a nice bling case ;-)

My computer was new from the start though, just cheap stuff. Then in a couple of years time I get what was top of the range 2 years ago for less than half the price!

Hmm, sounds like a project... chavifying some computers.

priority?I

I've seen a couple of Skoda kit cars actually. Can't find any info on the net about them though. They said 'kit car' on the back. They had minor modifications eg. Zorst, and they were a company car, had phone number etc in the windows. Quite nice!

You've got the idea of PCs totally wrong.

PCs are modular in design to maximise their flexibility. They can be built specifically for one type of task if needs be.

A car only has to do one thing, carry X amount of occupants from A to B.

Because they have to be able to be customised to a wide variety of tasks.

Thats not by choice.

They don't. Its called luck. ALL PCs are modular so the chances of buying a completely proprietry one where you cannot change a single thing is nil.

Not entirely true in my opinion. You can get cars for off roading, cars for lots of people, cars for carrying loads of luggage etc. In addition to this you can get fast ones, slow ones, ones with aircon etc. If what you say was true then when you bought a car you'd just specify the number of occupants that you need, not a particular model etc.

Err, you can only upgrade to a certain extent. If upgrading to *anything* was possible, there would be only one mother board design. But try upgrading an early PC like say a 486 to modern spec and see how far you get...

You'd be happy to pull out the engine and plug in a better one? Have you any idea how complex it would be to make an edge connector for an engine? ;-)

Most modern cars are far easier to service than older ones. They are restricted to simple fluid and filter changes. Which anyone with half a brain can do. Gone are the 'difficult' bits like changing points and setting ignition timing and mixture - the car does this itself.

But it tunes itself - unless there's a fault. Then the basic tool set includes some form of computer. Which you can buy.

Why would you want easily changeable windows and door panels? It's not exactly expensive to get a windscreen changed - nor are you tied to main dealers for this. And the major part of repairing a damaged door panel is painting it - not the cost of the panel itself.

Snag with this is that it becomes difficult to make it part of the structure without adding enormously to the weight.

So you'd go back to something like a P6 Rover where all external panels were bolt on - but only an advantage for very minor damage. Serious damage involved the base unit which was actually rather difficult to repair.

Then you'd be into a very space inefficient car.

And tyres and brake pads? Don't think you've quite thought this through.

Why would you want to alter the factory settings? They've gone to a deal of trouble to get it right.

Triumph did this in the '70s. A FWD where you changed the clutch in 20 minutes from inside the car. But unfortunately, it juddered...

More cost

Noisy and difficult to provide a decent heater. And you'll need a very large and power wasting fan for heavy traffic conditions.

What for? A set of jump leads is more use.

Nothing to stop you buying a 40 year old car. However, you'll be spending a *lot* of time servicing it just to keep it going and running properly.

Basically, you haven't thought this thing through. Those of us who had '40 year old cars' with the then technology remember just how unreliable they were unless given lots of TLC - ie servicing.

Hmm. If a car passes an MOT and remains in that sort of condition no judge in the land would find in favour of an insurance company who tried to get out of a claim on the basis that it hadn't been serviced to maker's requirements. It would come down to whether the car was unsafe or not.

Of course they will. But can be challenged in court where the nonsense of their 'get out' clauses will likely be ignored.

No it's not. It would be laughed out of court, given decent legal representation. Bulbs fail without warning. Even if you carried spares, you'd be breaking the law by stopping on the hard shoulder to change one. You should pull into the first service station and change it there. And unless it could be proved you'd not done this...

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote on Mon, 09 May 2005 17:13:22

It's easy enough. You just buy a new Athlon 64 (or P4 or whatever). Then buy a new motherboard to put it in, with new RAM to put in it. And a new PSU to power it. And a new case to hold it. And a new PCI express video card. And a new bigger fan to cool it.

But hey, at least you can keep your 512MB hard disk, although it's stupidly slow and small by today's standards...

Righto, I haven't seen the details lately, it was being discussed some years ago when I got my licentiateship.

I was merely quoting the letter of the contract. Of course if you want to bring into the whole matter the realms of 'reasonableness', then we'll be here forever and a day.

Yes, that would have to be the case. Of course I am assuming that this only becomes an issue in the event of a claim, and that parts fitted by a non-qualified mechanic could be the cause of the accident.

Indeed, but it depends on who has more clout in the court.

A lot of this is hyperthetical, but I was merely pointing out that the conditions are there in insurance policies.

Nice idea, it could be a market waiting to happen :-)

No, I think it's just the plain ignorance factor. The assumption that Dexron goes into all power steering systems.

(or in one case I saw, washer fluid into a brake fluid reservoir).

Oooh, per day at least ;-)

That would be a different matter of course.

no technical reasons why not. all it takes is for manufacturers to agree on the positioning of inlet/exhaust ports on the side of an engine and transmission flanges and wiring conenctors. it actually is a pretty good idea. i might even patent it.

but getting back to the main topic, diy-a-bility. i think the major obstacle to tuning is the engine management system.

i ask how much would such a computer set you back and for which brands are they available. why cant a manufacturer at least make a diagnostic feature available to connect with a PC

judging from the acitivity on this newsgroup regarding new car engines behaving weirdly,i think these faults occur very often