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Yup. I was also always taking things appart as a youngster banana: My grandfather was a mechanical engineer, so my father and uncles were always fabricating various things in the home workshop, or working on their motorcycles or cars. My father is a carpenter by trade. I would follow him around with a hammer building things out of wood off-cuts as a child. As he needed to save money, he would work on his and Mum’s vehicles.
When I was about seven he brought me an electronics kit with the theory book, circuit diagrams, printed circuit boards and components. I clearly remember getting all stroppy with one project because I accidentally fried an IC while soldering it to the board without a heat sink. From that point onwards most of what I took appart (and often managed to get back together :whistle: ) was an electrical toy or appliance of some kind.
Then Dad brought me a $600 1981 Honda Accord as my first car… when I overheated it (failed radiator fan switch) and it suffered a cracked radiator and heater core, he said ‘Good luck with that’ :stick: As I got dirty replacing the radiator, fan switch, heater core e.t.c. my fascination with the internal combustion engine kinda snowballed. Cars have had me hooked from the age of sixteen onwards.
Agreed. Nothing says pride of ownership like a written service history. I am doing something similar with my most recent purchase, A Kawasaki ZX600 G1. Because not even I can read my handwriting, I’m putting service/ownership history into an online blog.
Yup. I was also always taking things appart as a youngster banana: My grandfather was a mechanical engineer, so my father and uncles were always fabricating various things in the home workshop, or working on their motorcycles or cars. My father is a carpenter by trade. I would follow him around with a hammer building things out of wood off-cuts as a child. As he needed to save money, he would work on his and Mum’s vehicles.
When I was about seven he brought me an electronics kit with the theory book, circuit diagrams, printed circuit boards and components. I clearly remember getting all stroppy with one project because I accidentally fried an IC while soldering it to the board without a heat sink. From that point onwards most of what I took appart (and often managed to get back together :whistle: ) was an electrical toy or appliance of some kind.
Then Dad brought me a $600 1981 Honda Accord as my first car… when I overheated it (failed radiator fan switch) and it suffered a cracked radiator and heater core, he said ‘Good luck with that’ :stick: As I got dirty replacing the radiator, fan switch, heater core e.t.c. my fascination with the internal combustion engine kinda snowballed. Cars have had me hooked from the age of sixteen onwards.
Agreed. Nothing says pride of ownership like a written service history. I am doing something similar with my most recent purchase, A Kawasaki ZX600 G1. Because not even I can read my handwriting, I’m putting service/ownership history into an online blog.
Last three tools were a Kincrome deflecting beam type 3/8 drive torque wrench. It can do 10-120Nm. 10 – 90 Ft/Lb for North American folks.
Mitutoyo 0-25mm external Micrometer.
And a 10mm 3/8 inch drive socket. A good (read; ‘skinny’) 12 point one. It made the difference between having no access with a cheap/fat socket and having to cringe while using an open end spanner :whistle: to having the bolt out in about two seconds.
Considering these aren’t for trade use, most people would call my purchases insane. But I have become impatient and stroppy with the whole ‘D.I.Y’ tool market here in Australia/New Zealand. So now I can go trout fishing with a nuclear bomb 👿 Which is much more enjoyable and less frustrating than going whaling with a sewing needle, if you get what I mean…
Last three tools were a Kincrome deflecting beam type 3/8 drive torque wrench. It can do 10-120Nm. 10 – 90 Ft/Lb for North American folks.
Mitutoyo 0-25mm external Micrometer.
And a 10mm 3/8 inch drive socket. A good (read; ‘skinny’) 12 point one. It made the difference between having no access with a cheap/fat socket and having to cringe while using an open end spanner :whistle: to having the bolt out in about two seconds.
Considering these aren’t for trade use, most people would call my purchases insane. But I have become impatient and stroppy with the whole ‘D.I.Y’ tool market here in Australia/New Zealand. So now I can go trout fishing with a nuclear bomb 👿 Which is much more enjoyable and less frustrating than going whaling with a sewing needle, if you get what I mean…
Cool video, and an interesting question. The first thing that popped into my head when I read it was ‘Fluids and filters!’ One of the very first things I do is change fluids and filters on every vehicle I have owned. Have done ever since opening the radiator of the first car I brought to see it half filled with a brown rusty soup. And engine oil as black as the ace of spades. As far as reliability and longativity go, for me it has gotta be filters and fluids.
That said, I completely agree with the tyres brakes (and suspension) arguement as clean filters and fluids aren’t any use if the car is wrapped around a tree. As this one was. I got to see it’s lovely green coolant drip and steam away. All because I was too young and dumb to fix a leaking axle seal that was alowing differential oil to ‘lubricate’ the left rear brake shoes. :ohmy: To this day I am thankful I was the only one in the car. And that what I hit was big and ugly enough to come out on top.
As far as safety and driving pleasure go, I guess you are right. It can only be tires. I had to get a set for a friends 1999 Opel Astra. The salesman was good, he talked me out of the cheapies they wanted me to get. I convinced them to spend a little more, and when I went to pick it up, it did indeed feel like a brand new car. Smooth, quiet, and incredibly grippy :cheer:
Cool video, and an interesting question. The first thing that popped into my head when I read it was ‘Fluids and filters!’ One of the very first things I do is change fluids and filters on every vehicle I have owned. Have done ever since opening the radiator of the first car I brought to see it half filled with a brown rusty soup. And engine oil as black as the ace of spades. As far as reliability and longativity go, for me it has gotta be filters and fluids.
That said, I completely agree with the tyres brakes (and suspension) arguement as clean filters and fluids aren’t any use if the car is wrapped around a tree. As this one was. I got to see it’s lovely green coolant drip and steam away. All because I was too young and dumb to fix a leaking axle seal that was alowing differential oil to ‘lubricate’ the left rear brake shoes. :ohmy: To this day I am thankful I was the only one in the car. And that what I hit was big and ugly enough to come out on top.
As far as safety and driving pleasure go, I guess you are right. It can only be tires. I had to get a set for a friends 1999 Opel Astra. The salesman was good, he talked me out of the cheapies they wanted me to get. I convinced them to spend a little more, and when I went to pick it up, it did indeed feel like a brand new car. Smooth, quiet, and incredibly grippy :cheer:
Hey Eric The Car Guy, just joined. Cool site by the way! Your video got me thinking about an experience I had with a friends 1999 Opel Astra. It had no speedometer and ABS Traction control indicator lights on. I used a generic scanner and it gave me two fault codes. No speed signal or torque control signal to PCM. Both come from ABS module so after double checking the exposed wiring loom and front left Wheel speed sensor for obvious damage, I suspected the ABS module. I went to google.
A whole lot of people were having the same problem. Apparently these modules have gold and aluminium wires about the width of a human hair that are ultra sonicially bonded to a ceramic circuit board. I condemmed the module by scoping the output pins for both signals and (foolishly) couldn’t resist opening it for a peek if there was anything I could see wrong. Nope. The local dealer wanted $4,000 for a new ABS module. They ended up referring me to a small independant shop who specialised in ECU repair. He wasn’t impressed that I had opened it, but he repaired it successfully for a whopping $200.
I guess my point is that as much as the dealerships try and modularise their electronics to attempt to make them exclusive/disposable they unwittingly create a market for people with the know how to repair their failed modules. I love cars, and I know electronics, but I don’t mind admitting that this dude had stuff miles over my head. His shop was like an electronics labratory.
Like you stated in the vid, OBD2 only has to concern emissions related modules. So the dealerships may try and lock independants out of the ABS, SRS, SatNav, Bluetooth or whatever, but in my opinion I don’t think they will succeed because there are too many smart people out there who can crack their programming language and hook up to the diagnostics of each module. Leaving the independants to plug in and enjoy! 🙂
Hey Eric The Car Guy, just joined. Cool site by the way! Your video got me thinking about an experience I had with a friends 1999 Opel Astra. It had no speedometer and ABS Traction control indicator lights on. I used a generic scanner and it gave me two fault codes. No speed signal or torque control signal to PCM. Both come from ABS module so after double checking the exposed wiring loom and front left Wheel speed sensor for obvious damage, I suspected the ABS module. I went to google.
A whole lot of people were having the same problem. Apparently these modules have gold and aluminium wires about the width of a human hair that are ultra sonicially bonded to a ceramic circuit board. I condemmed the module by scoping the output pins for both signals and (foolishly) couldn’t resist opening it for a peek if there was anything I could see wrong. Nope. The local dealer wanted $4,000 for a new ABS module. They ended up referring me to a small independant shop who specialised in ECU repair. He wasn’t impressed that I had opened it, but he repaired it successfully for a whopping $200.
I guess my point is that as much as the dealerships try and modularise their electronics to attempt to make them exclusive/disposable they unwittingly create a market for people with the know how to repair their failed modules. I love cars, and I know electronics, but I don’t mind admitting that this dude had stuff miles over my head. His shop was like an electronics labratory.
Like you stated in the vid, OBD2 only has to concern emissions related modules. So the dealerships may try and lock independants out of the ABS, SRS, SatNav, Bluetooth or whatever, but in my opinion I don’t think they will succeed because there are too many smart people out there who can crack their programming language and hook up to the diagnostics of each module. Leaving the independants to plug in and enjoy! 🙂