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(OT) Automotive engineering triumphs breakthroughs...

B

Bob

Well-known Member
WHAT are some of the BEST automotive engineering triumphs, breakthroughs, and better ideas you guys have seen?

I will nominate a few...

>The GM Passlock system... Yesterday, I spent several hours in the middle of nowhere, in a cellphone deadspot, because the lock cylinder housing/passlock sensor failed in my friend's '98 Chevy pickup I was driving while helping him shuttle some machinery around.

(A COMMON and $$$$ (at the stealership) problem.)

>Today, I replaced the starter in a mid-90's Blazer. At the factory, they hung the starter in space, then assembled the ENTIRE vehicle around it. Even worse, it turned out the problem was that a relatively new GM rebuilt starter had simply shook apart. Brushes and bushings were like new.

>Steel backing on the 2nd and 4th band in the transmission of my BIL's SO's 2007 Dorf Escape AWD with less than 100K miles BROKE (a COMMON problem) and they paid $4800 at the stealership for a rebuilt tranny (installed).

>Airbag light on my GMC Yukon is "on". Scantool says left and right side impact sensors are bad. (Low mileage, always garaged, seldom driven in winter.) Internet search shows this is NOT uncommon, and typically costs over $700 at the stealership for diagnosis, and replacement of the sensors.)

What FUN similar stuff have the rest of you guys dealt with?
 
I thought you were asking a serious question there for a minute! The newest vehicle that I own is a '93 with crank-up windows and manual door locks. The other two are an '86 and a 76 F-150. I bought the '86 about three years ago from a man that I THOUGHT I KNEW, who has been running a GARAGE for years. For years I had wanted a XLT Lariat about that year model, 'cause they had all the bells and whistles. I guess I acted too quickly because most of the bells don't ring, and the whistles don't blow. I haven't put a thousand miles on it since I bought it because there are so many things wrong with it and it's hard so come up with the spare change to fix it. I call it my dream truck. But right now it's a nightmare!
 
Oh, I forgot to say that is one reason I don't worry about owning newer model, because it is difficult if not impossible to work on them under a shadetree, and the dealer charges you an arm and a leg to work on them. In North Carolina a vehicle 35 years or older is not required to be inspected and if the vehicle tax is less than $3.00 they don't bill you for that!
 
Lets not forget the v-belts that jump off at 10,000miles. The choke stuck closed wasting fuel. Engines flooded while being over choked. Vapour lock. Stuck heat riser valves. Valve jobs at 75,000miles and engine totally worn out by 100,000 miles. Points every 3000-5000 miles. Plugs every 5000 miles.. Wet distributer caps and cross firing. Dodge ballast resistors. Boiled over rads. Gas Pickups with 4-5mpg instead of 16-20mpg.
You Bob are so full of sh!t .
 
On the bright side problems I had or didn't have:

'88 Ford p/u 5 L gas, loaded, next to the top (top being leather seating): Emission controls, electric window crank, 2nd fuel tank sender, paint. Ford fixed all at no charge to me out of warranty other than the window crank, I fixed.

'98 Dodge p/u 5.9 L gas, loaded, next to the top. One gasket on A/C.

'05 Dodge p/u 4.7 L gas (wife's), loaded, next to top. Nothing

'07 Dodge p/u Hemi, loaded, next to top. Topped off AC as it was low from the factory. Only did it once under warranty.

'11 Chevy. Wife died, had 3 vehicles, only needed one, nearest dealer was Chevy: 4.9 L gas, loaded, next to the top, Onstar satellite monitor for emergency support, directions, or problem diagnostics....costs $200 per year. Only time I see the dealer is when I pass the dealership on the way to the grocery store.

Change oil once a year whether they need it or not; Mobil 1 used in all. Lube chassis if it has zerks. Last 2 Dodges had none. Chevy has one each side on steering arms.

I get great fuel economy, great starts in the mornings, especially cold ones....no more coughing and belching raw gas till the Quadrajet warmed up, no stinking exhaust from the car in front of you, no sparkplugs to fool with every 10k miles and points and plugs, delay wipers rather than vacuum operated, windshield squirters, quality AC systems that clean your windshield in the winter and keep you cool in heavy traffic, disc brakes, rack and pinion steering, auto door and window controls from the driver's seat, tilt steering wheel, and on and on and on.

On the little 4.7's and 4.9's out there: Try one before you comment. You will have to eat your hat if you underestimate them when performing as intended.....not hauling around a 10,000 # trailer; 3,000 ok.....they have a "tow-haul" electric control on the electronically controlled tranny for that along with their fully synthetic oil with 100,000 mile changes in normal service....towing trailers infrequently. I am duly impressed with these little guys.

I am happy with technology and as a result I don't have a "57 fuel injected Fo on the Flo" to play with.

Mark
 
Cruse control, abs, fuel injection, disk brakes, electric fan, seat belts, air bags, 4 wheel independent suspension, power steering, power brakes, power windows, power seats, dual master cylinders, and CUP HOLDERS.
 

Bought an 05 Toyota Tacoma new, drove it 150,000 trouble free miles. Did regular maintenance. Never replaced the serpentine belt, no cracks in it when I traded it for a 14. The 14 is no improvement over the 05. Fuel economy is the same. I don't like the touch tone screen, they are too distracting. If I had a built in GPS and used the screen it would be nice, but I didn't get the bells and whistles with the truck. Crank up windows, no remote locks, wish it had rubber floor mats but it has carpet.

KEH
 
Going the opposite extreme of the original poster makes you as full of the same substance you accuse him being full of.
 
remember trying to warm up a vehicle with a carb urator? It would sit out there either gasping for breath or running 10,000 rpm. Multi port injection solved that problem often increased power and vastly extended engine life. I remember in the 70's when the neighbor bought a car for their daughter with over 100,000 miles Dad thought they were nuts. Now 100,000 is half the car's life. I had a 95 F150 4x4 farm pickup with a 302 that I sold a year ago. It had 265,000 miles on it with the original engine.
 
1998 Chevy, so it's fifteen years old. How many miles on it? The way folks drive today, it has to have at least 200 thousand, probably pushing 300K. Split the difference and say it has a quarter of a million miles on it. So you're complaining that you got stranded by a fifteen year old vehicle with 250,000 miles on it. Thirty years ago a 15 year old vehicle would be ready for the junk pile. And it was pretty much unheard of for a vehicle to go over 200 thousand miles.

Yes, those early passkey systems weren't real reliable. But without them insurance rates would be through the roof. And you know what? GM realized they weren't good enough and improved them. The newer passkey systems are rock-solid. I guess you would call that an automotive engineering triumph.
 
Going to throw in my .02,I am running a 81,81 & 86 GM 3/4 ton 4x4 for daily work trucks.Put approx 100-125 mikes per day on a 10 day on,4 day off shift.I have around $4000.00 tied up in all 3 trucks.Parts are cheap,they are easy to work on & no computer !! I can count the times on one hand I have jumped a v belt off in 30 plus years of driving,20 of that on highway trucks....If a carb was tuned correctly,flooding wasn't an issue,my 80 chevy c20 will start in -20 deg C weather with 2 pumps on gas peddle.The 82 has a 6.2 diesel,so my fuel bill is really easy to deal with.
 
1976 Chevy 1/2 ton 6 cyl with 3 on the tree and an AM radio. 2-40 air conditioning and $30.00 I paid for a set of west coast mirrors....$1700.00 new..out the door! Ran it for 170000 miles.
 
whoever makes the BONG BOng key in the ignition chirper bell needs to make the wnole durn fleet of vehicles ,, they never fail , even in general motors JUNK ,, I would bet you could stik a battery in all cars in junkyards and the durn thing will Bong Ding DING
 
putting a starter in a dorf focus with a hydraulic jack for 8 hours ,, ford must have hired a bunch of laid off flunkies from GM to make that mistake
 
Well, just bought a 2014 ford escape, it has a "self parking feature". You turn it on as you drive down a street with parallel parking and it will pick out a spot that it will fit in and park itself in the spot. Now that's a wonderful advancement, at least for MY wife. lol
Untitled URL Link
 
'98 GMC Jimmy I was stuck at an ATM for an hour with the trans stuck in park. It would run just fine. Step on the brake grab the shifter and like it's welded right there, won't even wiggle. Come to find out the little solenoid that unlocks the shifter when you step on the brake died. I removed it and an hour later away I went. Glad it was a slow time at the ATM.

Why don't they have a manual override?
 
Bang on. I would never want to go back to a carbed daily driver. Even cheap junker cars can go to 300,000km with maybe 1 fuel pump and a filter along the way.

The newest carbed vehicle I ever had was a 1987 Dodge Dakota. What a disaster next to any other truck in 87 with throttle body injection. Millions of vaccum lines vs a half dozen wires. Even the best carb's would clog up, wear the throttle shaft, the wax pellet in the choke would die.
 
That's why I drive Toyotas. Just wouldn't tolerate all the failures on U.S. vehicles anymore at my advanced age.
 
That plan didn't work for my son. He recently had a water pump failure on a fairly low-miles Tundra.
 
It happens. My company truck 4.7 is at 125,000 and the engine is running the best it ever has. Still not used one drop of oil.
Anybody who remembers the V8's of the 60's and 70's can really appreciate that.
Still, I can sympathize with the original point. Some things seem engineered to be difficult when they really shouldn't be, specialty tools for this and that etc.
 
Biggest issue I have with any road vehicle is salt damage. It doesn't matter what make, age,country of origin, colour, or what kind of tires it has on it; RUST NEVER SLEEPS
 
In my experience Fords are very good mechanically but anything and everything electric or electronic on them is trouble prone.

I've never bought a new vehicle. Looking back at the best/most reliable....
84 Grand Marquis, 71 F250, 89 Town Car, 74 F100, 77 Cougar, 68 F250, 84 F250, 86 F350,89 F250, and our current 95 Grand Marquis.

NEVER had carb, ignition, or v belt problems!
Rust was usually an issue.
Average miles when I sell or retire a vehicle is around 200K.

Current truck is a 2000 F250. It's been ok at best. Eats brakes like nobody's business. the 5.4 is a gutless gas hog. Roof is rusting out above the windshield!

Worst list includes a (used up when I bought it) 70 Fairlane. 69 International Travelall. And a 98 Continental. I also had a 78 F150 that was very good except for the trans (toploader 4sp od) would go through bearings.

My Dad thought I was nuts when I bought the 84 Grand Marquis with 81K on the clock. That easily the best car I've ever owned. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if that thing made it to 500K.

Most expensive to maintain were the 98 Lincoln, 2000 F250 and the 78 F150. The 78 did make it to 300K though.

Least expensive to maintain were the 84 Merc, 77 Cougar, 71,74, and 68 trucks.
 
How about managing to make an Oil Pan that rusts through after 125,000 miles or so. And one that costs around $500 when an older model of the same engine (Cummins) costs about $80?
 
I just bought an '05 Silverado Z71 in January. The volt meter was not reading high enough for my liking, checked it running with my shop meter. Alternator was putting out 12.9 running, so changed the alternator. Lifetime warranty, but still not cheap! New one did the same thing. I was away from my computer, so asked my Dad to google it. Sure enough, GM decided, in that year, to turn off the alternator when it is not needed! I ended up needing a new battery too, and it was original. In theory the battery should last longer, 8 years is not bad, but I did not need to replace the alternator because I had not gotten the memo from some overpaid engineer!
 
LOL this is a good one.

Lets see,

86 Ford LTD, 5L MPI, 235,000 miles at trade in, 1 starter, 1 water pump and one alternator.

88 Town Car, 5L MPI, 245,000 at trade, 1 alternator and one water pump.

86 Full sized Bronco, 5L MPI, 212000 at trade. One starter.

2000 Explorer 215,000 at trade, one thermostat.

98 Suburban one alternator, one starter, tranny at 258,000 currently daily driver with 301,500.

Yup, just hate these newer vehicles.

Rick
 
No sir. Actually I would call it the "guberment" getting in bed with GM. MY '11 Chebby is the result of that "loan, bailout, and improved management from the feds".

All the reasons I left GM back in the '80's disappeared. I have had my '11 GM truck for 2 1/2 years and can't find a thing that I dislike with it nor does it have any of the complaints of previous GM ownership I possessed. My test drive was less than a mile long and I could tell immediately it wasn't the same old take what we feel like building.

Remember back in the '70's or '80's this long faced GM CEO, making $450k as I recall in seeing the news interview, said that we, the buying public, would buy what they chose to build or do without....That was about the time the Datsun and Toyota showed up.

I hope he has a hot foot (putting it mildly) for a long, long time. I think he ruined the company.....but no more thanks to the feds. Maybe he's pushing up lilly's in never never land. Good riddance!

Mark
 
One thing I thought was a good idea, was the Studebakers hill holder. Just stop on a hill and no need for the e brake. I guess the auto trans phased that out. Stan
 
They do. When all else fails, read the owner's manual.
On GM vehicles with column shifter- turn key to OFF. That's the spot between LOCK & ON. Pull shifter to N. Start in N & drive away normally.
If you happen to have one with a console shifter, look for a hole on the front face or pop out plug near the shifter. Stick the key in there, shift to N , start in N & drive away normally.
Most cars with the "press brake to shift" have a similar feature. Even the econo box that SWMBO drives has it.
Willie
 
How about when ford put the horn on the end of the blinker stalk in about 79? Like you could find that in a hurry. Or the great ford "variable venture" carb that was so bad the factory fix was to have dealers install a new regular carb. Or GM "X" body cars with brakes plumbed in an "x" fashion that wouldn't stop.
 
Well, GEE, BUICK, stop holding back and let me know how you REALLY feel!

No matter WHAT you choose to think of me, it's an undeniable fact that the GM passlock system and the Dorf Escape transmission were a NIGHTMARE from day one and cost LOTS of folks that probably could least afford it a LOT of money.

A couple of minutes on GOOGLE will bring you up to speed on this.

GOOGLE search "Ford escape transmission problems"
gets you "about 1,640,000 results"/

A search for "passlock " brings up 903,000 "hits" and most are NOT positive.

Care to comment on the "facts", there, big fella?
 
Must be that ND water. I use reverse osmosis water and long-life coolant in my Tundra; 120,000 miles without a problem.
 
Read "LIFE ON THE DRYLINE" It talks a lot about automobiles and how they came from a new invention up through the 1940's. Reading it made me wonder why people ever traded in their horses for an auto. Really good book.
 
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