Working on non-Jeep vehicles

[V]

I have been working on a 2004 Honda CR-V recently, doing a lot of MOT prep. It passed it's MOT earlier this week and I have been working on the advisories yesterday. I enjoy working on my Jeeps but I am beginning to dislike working on anything else. My opinion of Honda has diminished considerably.

 

Every time I work on the CR-V I spot more aspects of the design that are specific to automated assembly and construction from sub-assemblies with very little or no thought at all for serviceability within warranty or many years after. Obviously, an 18-year old Honda can't be all bad if it's still able to pass an MOT now. As an old car, it is a snapshot in time of Honda's design policies. I guess now, like many other car companies, individual components are no longer serviceable or repairable and the customer has to fork out for a replacement sub-assembly.

 

I needed to replace a headlamp unit for the MOT because a previous owner had fitted a brand new LHD (US DOT not E marked) headlamp. The illegal LED bulbs were replaced with halogens and a fix was required to the motorised beam adjustment. I did manage to remove and refit the motor on the passenger side without removing the headlamp, but only just. Headlamp removal is the way to go. However, to remove the headlamps the front bumper has to be removed. The headlight could have been easily removed without removing the bumper if the lower fastener was inside the engine bay, but this would need manual labour at assembly time even for a design using engagement tabs and a one bolt fixing. By having all of the fasteners forward facing, automated assembly is possible hiding the bolt heads under the bonnet and the bumper when these are fitted later. On a Chrysler Voyager of the same age the headlamp can be easily removed without removing any bodywork. Both vehicles have loosely similar grille and bumper layout of a modern car, but one was designed for headlamp removal and one wasn't.

 

[Ludders]

Oh dear, you'd best keep away from newer vehicles then. They're even worse!

 

No thought is put into repair during the design or manufacturing stages. It's all about reducing production costs, the cheaper, easier to assemble = more profit. 

Some engines can only be disassembled out of the vehicle, it is physically impossible to access certain components in situ. This is caused by stricter emissions targets adding ancillaries that take up almost as much room as the engine.

 

Vehicles are designed, component costed, costs reduced further, then priced to the market, rather than creating a bill from the sum of its parts. 

[Vernon]

I towed (Works trailer, a horse box and a caravan [separately - not all at once]) with Land Rovers (RR Classic, 200 and 300 Discos and  Freelander) and the old school ones were easy to fix, anywhere and in all weathers.

The Freelander was a sign of things to come tho’ and when the towing stopped I bought an ordinary classic car - which was nice but did my back in.

 

So, back to a 4x4 as I missed the versatility.  I discounted the Discovery 3 etc as the number of jobs that required the body coming off the chassis seemed ludicrous.  And on a vehicle with a few years and miles on it I felt I would be stupid to put myself at that sort of risk.

 

Freelanders both 1&2 I dismissed for much the same reasoning as V sets out for the CRV.

 

So Jeep XJ it had to be!!

[V]

23 hours ago, Ludders said:

Oh dear, you'd best keep away from newer vehicles then. They're even worse!

The last brand new car I have had was in 2016. It was obvious then that designing for production cost reduction had defeated maintainability.

 

I qualified as a Mechanical Production Engineer. I tend to notice the design differences between ease of automated assembly and ease of maintenance more than the average car enthusiast. The downside of designing out maintainability is that when a component fails under warranty, the manufacturer loses some of the profit they gained at production by spending more on labour to fix it. This may be why Jeep dealers secretly don't like those of us that are off roaders as we are likely to be claiming on warranties more frequently. It is a numbers game that the car manufacturers.

 

For some pensioners that still drive, the cost of maintaining an out of warranty 21st century car is getting ever more expensive. For those that cannot afford a new car and live in poorly served public transport areas. My parents have rolled the dice on another new car for three years to kick that can down the road a bit longer. It's a huge chunk out their income but so are repair bills on 21st century cars only designed to last six years.

 

11 minutes ago, Vernon said:

Freelanders both 1&2 I dismissed for much the same reasoning as V sets out for the CRV.

 

So Jeep XJ it had to be!!

My neighbour thinks I am nuts spending £10K on doing a 'restomod' on my 1993 XJ. If I can keep that Jeep going for another 10 years or more, I think a thousand £ per year is a reasonable outlay for a vehicle I enjoy owning, driving and maintaining. Surely, a new JL Rubicon will cost £1K a month for four or five years to purchase, or £1K/month forever on PCP/lease.