stalling, throttle (gas) cuts out and then restarts

That's because half the cars electrics are now buried deep inside a chip with the only place you can get a new one from is not the AA man who gets called out to the breakdown and used to carry such things as contact breaker points but the (dedicated) parts have to come from the maker at makers prices.

A bit like when your distributor failed or the camshaft snapped.

All too expensive to just have in stock and most these days need to be keyed in to the car, before they will work.

The AA's petrol prices from 1963 suggest it was 57d a gallon for the equivalent of 4star, so 4s 9d.

on 18/08/2012, Chris Whelan supposed :

Done all of that, never again TG.

Chris Whelan explained :

I used the very same trick, but on all cars and bikes - very effective. Pull choke and almost kill the engine with the rich mixture and it would start first pull next morning.

Nothing like the same. A camshaft is still a camshaft. A set of points at £2 has been replaced by an ECU at

Exactly my point.

I had one ECU fail on a new car and that fixed under warranty, other than that none. So these are a generally reliable bit of kit, which would normally outlast the car. Assuming a failed ECU, there are numerous after market companies able to repair ECU's for £70 to £150, enabling it to just be plugged back in (retaining its key).

The ECU has made car theft (without a key) almost impossible. Maintenance of the ECU is not needed, no tuning required and they are much more economical - I think I'll stick with an ECU.

As against my set of points at £2

I can only assume that "60" is a reference to your IQ.

Getting most drink-drivers off the road has been the biggest contributor. I remember when one had to always keep an eye on the approaching traffic, ready to swerve out of the way of somebody who simply couldn't stick to their side of the road.

John

As always happens when the demand is sufficient, a whole industry has sprung up. In this case, it's to repair or re-manufacture electronic items at a fraction of the cost of new. There are some large companies now doing this to a very high standard.

The total cost of car ownership in real terms is lower now that 40 years ago, with the added benefits of much higher reliability and much greater safety.

Chris

What, you only ever needed one set?

That's still £2 more than my total expenditure on ECU's...

Chris

No I had two sets but kept a spare clean pair. You won't find a modern car with a spare ECU in the glove box.

Joe 60 laid this down on his screen :

Probably because there is much less (nil) need to carry a spare ECU. Your £2 points need to be replaced regularly and time spent on their replacement. They are prone to failure and almost as soon as fitted they start to drift.

Chris Whelan brought next idea :

ECU's are incredibly complex, with so many possible components inside able to fail. Much more complex than an entire car of the 60's through the 80's, but they are built to very robust standards and most failures are due to damage, rather than any isolated internal failure. Many suffer water damage.

But I haven't changed a camshaft in over a decade. Or an ECU for that =

matter.

Ummm, no they aren't.