New to me auto.

Does show the throwaway mentality. The vacuum sensor is likely a part - same as a transistor or capacitor etc - and almost certainly could be replaced on its own, by someone skilled at PCB repair. Even more so on something retailing at 1500 quid.

In the early days, diesels came at a considerable premium. So only bought by those doing enough miles to justify the cost - and who weren't in a hurry. Or valued their ears. ;-)

That's because they're engineered to higher tolerances and fuel and oil have improved immeasurably. The advent of semi and fully synthetic engine oil has probably single-handedly given rise to much of the engine longevity we see nowadays, as the cumulative damage due to cold starts and wide temperature ranges has been massively reduced from what it once was.

THAT is not the problem today. The problem today is some ten quid sensor tucked away somewhere failing, which requires a hook-up to main-dealer resources to detect ('cos the independent garages generic code-readers are locked out) after which you find that to replace that sensor's going to cost 800 quid +VAT 'cos it's part of something else so can't be sold separately, and half the car has to come apart to even get at it. This is the kind of s*it that is happening more and more as time goes on and there's no sign of it *ever* getting better.

I've had a few SD1s myself. I recall the electronic ignition went AWOL on one of them. This was in the early days of mass-produced EI. The EI module was all potted so you couldn't readily inspect its constituent components. I think it was 50 quid plus fitting at the time (1978) for a new one. I phoned Caffyns and spoke to their "auto-electrician" about it and it was clear he didn't have a f****ng clue to save his life. I mentioned the situation to an uncle of mine (an old-style radio ham) who was over 80 and he immediately said, "oh, that'll be the power transistor I'll bet. Probably a 2n3055. I've got loads of them. Bring it over." And that was that: fixed for free!

IOW, five quid's worth of parts for which they were charging 400!

No worries. Dave reckons it'll never go wrong. ;-)

I've had loads of old automatics going back decades; Jags, Bentleys and whatnot that were built in the 60s using Borg Warners or GM400 boxes and never had a single issue with any of them! The sole exception was a '67 Ford Galaxie that was stuck permanently in drive, but I knowingly bought it in that condition. :-)

Dad told me that the first car his dad had, got a new short engine every year. Annual service in those days was a decoke, head off, valves out, wire brush the ports and back of valves, grind the valves in. Ford sidevalve with mushroom head valves in split guides, the guide had to come out with the valve. Then the guide housing needed reaming to size and oversized guides fitting. Made it so difficult and expensive to remove the valves that a short "crate" engine was cheaper. Cost about 2 weeks of a skilled mans wages.

Really weird that Ford managed to persuade the public to buy an engine that made it close to impossible to replace the exhaust valves or do a simple decoke. Pre-WWII there are lots of stories of motorcyclists, carrying spares and changing exhaust valves at the road side as they burnt out so often (manual ignition advance?).

BSA research claimed that they couldn't make an OHC engine as people "enjoyed" doing a decoke on Saturday before a run to the coast on Sunday. OHC was too complex to do a decoke on Saturday afternoon after

You'd be surprised.

I'm not sure the VAG group make a N/A petrol anymore - and I'm struggling to think of anything from PSA, too.

with hydraulics, would cost about 40 quid for the industrial version. Apparently there's a leaf which can tear off, then it never reads zero again- and that was confirmed when I got VCDS diagnostics on it and read the sensor values.

There are people rebuilding them now, which is a good job as the cars are often worth less than £1500 today, and ABS failure is an MOT fail.

Did you get it fixed?

I think the torque converter bit is more likely to give problems.

I'm not 100% happy with the TC in my Boxster's Tiptronic. One day I'll get it pulled and replaced, as brand new ones are available for not a lot - and I could even spec. one with a more agressive lockup as I use it on track days.

Merc 300D Auto outsold the manual box. An adequate 134bhp 3L (44 bhp/L)

That sounds like the early Lucas Opus system. And yes, it can be fixed if you know what you're doing.

There were later versions that used potted electronics which wouldn't be practical to fix, but were relatively cheap.

The BW35 that was a favourite with many in the 60s and 70s wasn't the strongest of boxes. But the larger GM and BW boxes were designed for massive US V-8s, and had quite a gentle time in UK applications.

Ah - sorry. Missed the bit that is was an ABS ECU.

Perhaps you hadn't guessed I've just changed my Tip for a PDK.

I really couldn't understand why Porsche had got the 5HP programming so wrong. As the same box was damn near perfect in my previous BMW, with a very similar power engine power output.

The PDK drives just like an auto should. And actually gives smoother changes when pootling round town.

Even the smallest diesel could be OK with a decent auto box. As good as a manual. But a 7 speed auto is likely going to add too much cost to a cheapish car.

It is usually described as being internal to the pump unit, not the ECU.

And made by Teves.