Happily living in the past, with our old cars

[Guildedagain]

Wth is happening to new cars?

More than I can handle and I've grown up with a serious love for the automobile, but this age of electronica knows no bounds.

A Fight Over the Right to Repair Cars Turns Ugly

In the wake of a voter-approved law, Subaru and Kia dealers in Massachusetts have disabled systems that allow remote starts and send maintenance alerts.

www.wired.com

We didn't get flying cars, but it won't be long until they return to the dealership on their own if you miss a payment. In a divorce decree, the car can just drive to the other house, hopefully you have time to get your stuff out.

Just on todays news, drivers in Seattle are stuck on one radio station, can't change it. Big possibilities there...

Let's keep this about cars and not the people, gubmint, please.

A while back a bunch of Teslas refused to start and run, a glitch from up on high.

That's going to be real convenient too, the end of police chases, they'll just pull your car over to the side for you and turn the engine off.

Orwell didn't see it all, how could he?

I'm driving a '95 Subaru wagon with stick and analog odometer.

She's driving a 2000 Subaru wagon with auto and digital numbers that turn off with the key, and that's already too new for me.

The 90's were the heyday of decent cars, finally fuel injected, with ECU/closed loop, very clean emissions, everything that has come after has gotten progressively worse and more impossible to service.

The days of sealed hoods are probably coming.

The days of DIY car care is coming to an end.

 

[Bonneville88]

I've read a bit about right-to-repair - pretty interesting, and the implications
are complex and compelling, indeed. In the local news again recently (since this is farming country) was
John Deere equipment owners angry at Deere for similar concerns.

 

[dreadnut]

Bastards!

Ma Dread's VW is still pretty easy to repair:

 

[Uke]

The days of sealed hoods are probably coming.

O.K., now you're just scaring me!

 

[Guildedagain]

Dread, how many guitars do you want for it?

Lol

 

[Guildedagain]

This is my '95. These AWD cars can make you do stupid things sometimes, like driving through wintertime wheatfields for a photo op.

 

[Midnight Toker]

The days of "repairing" most anything mechanical have been going away for quite some time. It's all about running diagnostics, reading fault codes, and swopping out parts until it's fixed. On the plus side. You can buy the plug in diagnostic sensor w/ software that works off the wifi on a laptop and order/replace the parts yourself. I'm in the midst of dealing w/ a faulty catalytic sensor on my F-250 right now. No need to take it to a mechanic or dealer. It's an easy fix.

 

[Guildedagain]

F250 cats are hot right now ;]

That and the Prius, the two most sought after cats in the country.

Something I never saw coming.

Wife's mom had to go get a $500 shield installed because the cat's worth $2500, nearly as much as the car.

Typically the 02 sensor tell the ECU whether to enrichen or lean, but then vehicles with multiple cats and multiple sensors started showing up.

A lot of cars on CL - I'm always looking for someone that needs a car - are now sans cat, owner claiming that they hacksawed off "because of a trouble code". Translation, desperate people selling their own cats themselves rather than waiting for someone else to steal it.



Me: So how's the trouble code now you cut the cat off (merely a $10k federal fine were you to get caught)?

Seller: It's still there.

Me: Speechless.

For the record, wifes Subi has the cat code, strangely dubbed "Code 420" lololol. I don't let it bother me. It doesn't mean anything.

 

[dreadnut]

Dread, how many guitars do you want for it?

Lol

Just one, and I already got it. I gave the car to Ma Dread when I bought the DV52.

 

[Cougar]

I'm driving a '95 Subaru wagon with stick and analog odometer.
She's driving a 2000 Subaru wagon with auto and digital numbers that turn off with the key, and that's already too new for me.

I'm driving one of these. They said you could drive it right up a wall, and that's probably not too far off. I do none of that crazy stuff though, keeping to the roads (tho' our Idaho place is on a forest service road... )

 

[Guildedagain]

Nice to know you can climb up a tree though. I knew a guy up on North Idaho Road (takes off from Hwy 51 between Newman Lake and Rathdrum) way back when, where the road ends into the Selkirks, said he'd been treed by a moose three times.

 

[fronobulax]

While right-to-repair is a driving force the core issue of data ownership and privacy remain unresolved.

 

[bobouz]

Had the 2010 Forester in for a new cambelt. Climbed into the dealer’s shiny new loaner and - OMG, Where’s the CD player??? Without a doubt, the end of the world is near.

 

[Midnight Toker]

Had the 2010 Forester in for a new cambelt. Climbed into the dealer’s shiny new loaner and - OMG, Where’s the CD player??? Without a doubt, the end of the world is near.

That world ended long ago. Today as soon as you get in a car, you connect your phone and then you pretty much have an entire world of music to choose from. Either via the music you loaded on your phone's memory, or you can open an app like pandora or YouTube.

 

[Midnight Toker]

The days of "repairing" most anything mechanical have been going away for quite some time. It's all about running diagnostics, reading fault codes, and swopping out parts until it's fixed. On the plus side. You can buy the plug in diagnostic sensor w/ software that works off the wifi on a laptop and order/replace the parts yourself. I'm in the midst of dealing w/ a faulty catalytic sensor on my F-250 right now. No need to take it to a mechanic or dealer. It's an easy fix.

Swopped out both lower O2 sensors yesterday ($70), cleared the codes, and I should know by the end of the day today if my check engine light goes out and I can go through the Md emmisions test later tonight. (They are 24 hr self serve kiosks here) My truck has 213,000 miles on it. Besides your regular oil changes, brakes, and tires, this is the first time I've ever had to spend any non regular wear money on. Not bad, considering I drive 1 1/2 hrs (one way) to work every day. I got this truck w/ 400 miles on it 5 years ago.

 

[chazmo]

While right-to-repair is a driving force the core issue of data ownership and privacy remain unresolved.

Interesting to see the debate of "proprietary vs. open" tied up with right-to-repair. I hadn't really looked at this closely before, but you're right, Fro. The issues of the data collection and privacy are at the core here. Certainly, this has been a long-standing issue in my business (software) for much of my lifetime. To see it affecting the auto business is, I guess, not all that surprising.

 

[BradHK]

I only drive older vehicles. Newer cars feel like they are designed to be disposable. However, the problem is that unless you do all of your maintenance nobody knows how to diagnose an issue if they can’t just plug it in to a computer. I end up doing all of my maintenance.

My youngest vehicle:

 

[Opsimath]

The days of "repairing" most anything mechanical have been going away for quite some time. It's all about running diagnostics, reading fault codes, and swopping out parts until it's fixed. On the plus side. You can buy the plug in diagnostic sensor w/ software that works off the wifi on a laptop and order/replace the parts yourself. I'm in the midst of dealing w/ a faulty catalytic sensor on my F-250 right now. No need to take it to a mechanic or dealer. It's an easy fix.

Which plug in diagnostic sensor do you have? I've considered getting one.

The little I have read about them, or at least one of them, says you only need one sensor and it can diagnose all the cars you own. Do you need to purchase software for each vehicle, or how does that work?

 

[jp]

Which plug in diagnostic sensor do you have? I've considered getting one.

The little I have read about them, or at least one of them, says you only need one sensor and it can diagnose all the cars you own. Do you need to purchase software for each vehicle, or how does that work?

You'll need an OBD II diagnostic tool. OBD means "on board diagnostics." Pretty much all vehicles sold in the U.S. starting in 1996 are OBD II compliant, and an OBD II reader will read codes from a vehicle through a jack you plug it into. Then you can interpret the codes from your vehicle's computer to see what is wrong with it. The meaning of the codes are posted on the internet, and usually are listed in a manual that comes with the tool.

They're very handy, and I use mine all the time on the cars I have. You can also use it to turn off the codes and turn off the Check Engine light. They used to be expensive ($200+), but nowadays, you can find them for under $100. There are also the kind that plug into a laptop or even a phone to generate codes and even more info, if you want to go that far. Innova and Ancel sell separate handheld units, while the cheaper ones are separate plugs with bluetooth for a wireless connection to a phone or laptop. I have an older Innova that I've had forever.

Here's an good quality inexpensive choice.

Ancel is another decent brand that has even less expensive options.

EDIT: I forgot to answer your other question. You don't need to buy vehicle-specific software. These work for all U.S. sold cars.

 

[spoox]

My diagnostic "tools":