and the so-called "idiot light" would have served exactly the same purpose!
so you say. but if you'd used a decent filter in the first place, with the correct change interval, that wouldn't be an issue.
what kind of "engineer" are you? we used to have some guys run about our place only barely smarter than the 10lb hammers they carried - they called themselves "engineers" too.
er, mr "engineer", all vehicles have instrumentation up the wazoo in design and testing stages. and if it's done right, you can take them off again because you can be certain of the spec and the statistical failure rate. if you /haven't/ done this homework otoh, then, sure, you might need more gauges and dials. but that presumes two big dumb things no proficient designer would get wrong:
Ah, that explains your position then. You actually believe that Honda engineers are so superior that your vehicle will continue to run indefinitely with absolutely no faults whatsoever?
Sadly, this belief does seem to be prevalent among owners of certain vehicle brands, especially Honda and Toyota. This probably explains why I see lots of *newer* Hondas and Toyotas on the roads, but very few older ones, despite the fact that for the most part they are fairly decent vehicles.
nate
absolutely not. but the point is, almost nothing comes out of the blue. and the rare things that do are statistically insignificant. it's utterly stupid to argue that all cars should carry extensive instrumentation for the one in a million times it might be useful. and that's assuming the driver of that one in a million car would pay attention.
for good reason!!!!!
eh? where the heck do you live???
Heh... The only "new" car that I bought back in '61, a VW beetle had a little foot lever to activate the "reserve" gas tank. No gage.
OTOH, I still managed to run out of gas on occasion anyway. Yep, the basic four gages should be standard in every car AND everyone should be aware of how they work. Still, some will still complain...
JT
I gotta come to Nate's defense here.
As I stated earlier, everyone should know the four basic functions to trouble free driving;
It should be one of the basic requirements to get behind the wheel.
It's just that simple...
JT
what are you going to do with that? normal operation is controlled by the fully automatic thermostat. all you need to know is whether it overheats. and that's a maintenance issue more than a driver monitoring issue.
see above.
see above.
If that's "all you need to know" I am guessing that a) you don't keep your cars very long, in the grand scheme of things and b) you carry a AAA card.
Some of us like to know about *impending* failures before a tow truck is necessary. It seems somehow more convenient.
nate
some of you may need it because you drive shit cars and you don't maintain them properly. i otoh drive honda. and when i have a car with
306k on the clock, that runs perfectly, and looks set to run another 300k, i read all this inane bleating and wonder how you guys ever get up in the mornings.
I'm dealing in the real world here.
People don't know the basic functions. And you can't make them know. You can't make knowing those functions be required for them to get a driver's license.
Given that, we must find a way to accommodate those people. Or change the law.
These are the same types as people who own computers for the sake of owning computers. They love to fiddle and measure clock speeds and broadband speeds and know the cpu temperature and how it measures on benchmarks, and then fiddle some more to see if they can beat their benchmarks.
You don't want those people making strategical decisions on how to deploy a technology infrastructure within a corporation.
Same with the cars: you don't want the engineers who have to know the temperature at the top of the piston ("just in case, to avoid failure") to be involved in managing the money pump that is an auto manufacturer.
But since you are one of three people who cares like this, the real world says manufacturers wouldn't care about you and your wants even if they knew about you.
I'm talking real world here.
you'd certainly want to know in the r&d phase to see whether the cheapo pistons you're trying to use will melt at w.o.t. but once you've determined that relative to design life, then it's completely over. all attention then turns to q.c. and cost management.
Why not? Driving a vehicle carries with it some sense of responsibility. Certainly CDL holders are already required to know far more about how their vehicle operates than simply monitoring four simple, basic gauges.
nate
We're not talking about throwing thermocouples in there willy-nilly. We're talking about the basic instrumentation necessary to give you a high-level view of the basic operating parameters and health of the engine.
nate
Odd, then, that the two cars that I own came with all the basic instrumentation, with calibrated scales even, straight off the assembly line. Seems like you meant to say "GM, Ford, and Honda don't care about me and my wants." I realized that a long time ago (for many reasons, of which the "idiot panel" is only one small one,) which is why I don't really care about their cars, with the possible exception of the 'vette and the S2000 which I would assume actually come with proper instrumentation.
nate
BMW doesn't, either.
Again: that "basic" instrumentation is beyond 99.9% of the auto buying and driving public.
You wouldn't make much of a politician, I'll tell you that.
Again, real world: there is no personal responsibility. Just ask the courts and any lawyer you want.
We as a society are way, WAY beyond assuming any sort of personal responsibility, ESPECIALLY for something as fundamentally necessary as personal transportation.
You can't put that smoke back into the bottle.
Only for the purposes of taking the CDL test.
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