quackshot
Posted a lot
...friggin' cars...
Posts: 1,354
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May 16, 2015 14:25:10 GMT
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Thought of another. On a pre '67 Beetle, the glovebox release is a push button at the top of the glove box lid. There is no handle, just a button so to release the latch you need to push the button but to allow the lid to drop open you need to release the button instantly re-engaging the latch. THIS!!!!
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May 16, 2015 16:23:55 GMT
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Loads. Its a Peugeot 406.
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tofufi
South West
Posts: 1,454
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May 16, 2015 21:00:43 GMT
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The new Astra VXR has stop-start. If you pull up to a halt and stick it in neutral, the engine turns off. But it turns itself back on again if you open the door. Er... wtf? Just had a Skoda Octavia auto as a hire car. Pull up to a junction and keep your foot on the brake, and it kills the engine. Put it in Neutral and apply the handbrake, and the engine restarts...
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May 16, 2015 23:49:10 GMT
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Saab 9-3 - undertray catches everything and causes the subframe to rot rapidly, to disable the ultrasonic sensors, you need to go through a menu(unlike its sister the Vec C where you just push a button), no mesh in front of the air con condenser so it rapidly gets smashed by anything that penetrates the grille (bugs, stones etc), Z19dth engine cover leaves the mount rubbers on the engine and they need put back into the cover before it will fit back on, if the fobs go out of sync then using the key causes the alarm to go off when you open the door and it won't shut up till you turn the car on..., also fibre optic links so the stereo is a nightmare to swap, plus what appears to be the stereo is only a control panel, real stereo is buried in the dash somewhere hidden, rubbish cupholder (in front of the arm rest and doesn't grip cups, the add on cup holder that sits to the left of the handbrake is equally useless and on a 2005 "executive" market car....what in hades... - still love it though
1992-1997 Corolla - spoiler on the rear window makes it a pain to swap the wiper blade, never figured out how so just left it, never seemed to noticeably wear...
Pug 205, screenwash reservoir in the boot and easy to knock cap off, also boot that leaked no matter what you did to seal it (often had an inch of water under the back seats, though knew someone who had 6 inches of water in the back footwells everytime it rained)
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Last Edit: May 16, 2015 23:57:12 GMT by Deleted
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Not quite a design fault but the above will happen if you try to make your poverty spec Renault somewhat swanky
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I was staring at that photo for ages before I worked out what was wrong.
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Dez
Club Retro Rides Member
And I won't sit down. And I won't shut up. And most of all I will not grow up.
Posts: 11,712
Club RR Member Number: 34
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Design Faults on your carDez
@dez
Club Retro Rides Member 34
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Sierra. steering wheel's not central to the seat and pedals. That's a proper stupid problem. a trait of pretty much every car that was designed LHD then a RHD variant was developed. german and french cars are particularly bad for this- bmw e30s, most vws, porsche, etc. its down to the lhd variants usually have a throttle pedal that angles sightly over the tunnel, but it a rhd car the clutch is that side which needs more space round it so your foot doesnt hit the tunnel. so the whole pedal assembly ends up shunted too far to the right. about the only cars that have the driver geometry right for rhd models are japanese.
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Last Edit: May 17, 2015 9:34:24 GMT by Dez
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dikkehemaworst
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 1,581
Club RR Member Number: 16
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Design Faults on your cardikkehemaworst
@dikkehemaworst
Club Retro Rides Member 16
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The fiat 500 classic and the fiat 126 have frontscreen drainage tubes that end between the front inner and outer front wing. But the wings lack a drainage hole in the bottom. It's driving along with a big fishtank in your wings
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May 17, 2015 20:50:14 GMT
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BMW E39. God damn heater motor resistor blows every 18-24 months with a genuine part at £85 a pop. Pattern parts I've had last 3-4 months.
That and for something as big as it is the rear seats don't fold down, at all! Let alone fold flat! Insanity!
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Ford Falcon EA onwards, both sedan and station wagon, have an awkwardly shaped fuel filler pipe making them difficult to fill. The pump almost invariably clicks off repeatedly if one attempts to leave the handpiece locked on. It becomes necessary to hold the handpiece the whole time while filling the tank. Honda EN Civic alternator mounting bolts. I had the motor out of my Civic some years ago and attached all ancillaries before putting it back in. So far so good. I later required to change the alternator and found that one of the bolts could not be removed because I had put it in the wrong way. This was not obvious with the motor sitting on the workshop floor. In general I have found that almost every mechanical assembly I have ever worked on has at least one bolt that is almost impossible to reach. This is not model specific or even car specific. It is everywhere almost as though the designers do not wish us to fix anything. Perhaps it is a global conspiracy to make us buy new stuff every time something breaks down.
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60six
Posted a lot
(╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻
Posts: 1,658
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May 18, 2015 10:44:39 GMT
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*On a vw t4, if you have a twin passenger seat, the gearlever hits it when you go into 2nd gear. Eventually wears a hole in the seat cover. On my mate's T4 the dashboard has a huge unprotected air vent at the apex with the windscreen. What falls down there, stays down there .... reckons he must have at least 50 quid in change down the gap ...
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Some 9000's, a 900, an RX8 & a beetle
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May 18, 2015 20:23:45 GMT
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*On a vw t4, if you have a twin passenger seat, the gearlever hits it when you go into 2nd gear. Eventually wears a hole in the seat cover. On my mate's T4 the dashboard has a huge unprotected air vent at the apex with the windscreen. What falls down there, stays down there .... reckons he must have at least 50 quid in change down the gap ... Haha, Yeah, When i got mine, It had been a guys house basically. He used to drive to france and work picking fruit etc, Lived in it in the south of france, Needless to say, The interior was minging, For the first six months , Any time i used the heater, I got the smell of coke (cola) which in turn attracted flys.... great huh... all out of the dash vents, Guessing someone spilt some on the dash and it went thru those vents. Loads of cleaning later and its fine now. Luckily.
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May 18, 2015 20:35:01 GMT
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Another one for the EA Falcon and probably every other Ford vehicle that has the same 3.9 litre OHC straight six. The alternator is mounted directly below the power steering pump so that when, not if, the power steering oil starts to leak it goes into the alternator and kills that too.
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Rich
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 6,248
Club RR Member Number: 160
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Design Faults on your carRich
@foxmcintyre
Club Retro Rides Member 160
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May 18, 2015 21:00:37 GMT
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BMW E39. God damn heater motor resistor blows every 18-24 months with a genuine part at £85 a pop. Pattern parts I've had last 3-4 months. That and for something as big as it is the rear seats don't fold down, at all! Let alone fold flat! Insanity! Tried replacing the motor? Tired motors draw more current and cause the resistors to repeatedly fail..
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luckyseven
Posted a lot
Owning sneering dismissive pedantry since 1970
Posts: 3,839
Club RR Member Number: 45
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Design Faults on your carluckyseven
@luckyseven
Club Retro Rides Member 45
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May 18, 2015 21:47:26 GMT
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It's got a Wankel... p.s. funny thread is funny. Not mine, but a mate had a TWR-kitted XJS. Beautiful car, like a pretty sledgehammer. The designers had made a lovely wide-blade spoiler that elegantly draped downwards at the ends over the rear wings (fenders). Then someone, presumably in what passed for TWR/Jaguar's quality control section noticed that this stopped the electric radio aerial from extending as the spoiler blade was in the way. So they thoughtfully provided a neat hole through the spoiler through which the aerial extended beautifully. At no extra cost, either. And everyone was happy. Except for any TWR XJS owner not blessed with incredible forethought and who had not yet developed the cat-like reflexes and lack of trust that comes from owning an 80s collection of parts all built by the lowest tender... and who saw no reason to not open their boot with the ignition still on. At nearly a hundred quid plus the VAT, it was a lesson you tended to learn quickly
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Last Edit: May 18, 2015 21:48:15 GMT by luckyseven
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May 28, 2015 23:17:15 GMT
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Actually cant seem to pick much fault with my MK2 Golf. Seems so well thought out and well built.
One annoying little thing though. Seat height adjustment. Got a few mates who've noted it too. If you want to raise/ lower the seat it pivots from the back, so only the front of the seat moves up/ down meaning you can never get low enough.
Was the same on my polo's of the same era.
On my T25 van I can find a few.
Heater motor cant be accessed without removing the dash. Need to replace mine.
Dash clocks don't use wiring but a stupidly thin PCB foil that has a tendancy to fall apart even if you don't touch it playing havoc with the gauges and dash lights. Mine seem to work. For now.
When it rains water runs along the gutters and drips straight onto the plastic rear intake vents which are angled in such a way as to channel it straight into the inner rear corner, to the sides of the engine bay. Causing an annoying dripping sound right next to your head while camping.
Those platform trays the water drips onto don't have adequate drainage so collect dirt and water and eventually create there own drainage holes.
Brake fluid reservoir is under the dash pod, next to the clocks. Along with the master cylinder. So replacing any of those components can mean brake fluid spilling inside the van.
Mirrors have a tendancy to move around when driving resulting in an excellent view of your back wheels and nothing else. Passenger side can only be reached and adjusted by pulling over and sliding across or getting out and when you sit back in drivers seat its never anywhere near where you want anyway. It'll only move as you get a bit of speed up. Solution seems to be to tighten up the bolt, which works until it wears some more then you'll need to tighten it again.
Head studs on the waterboxer engine are quite long and run through water paths. A nightmare when you need to change a water jacket as they're always rotten and snap off. Once they're rusted/ snapped its new engine time. Trying to get them out is a waste of time. Problem is caused by irregular coolant changes and use of the wrong type of coolant, something which most of these vans have suffered with being commercial vehicles.
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Try changing a oil filter on a Renault kangoo 1.9 td van , very very messy and tight
Replacing a radiator on the same kangoo van, top hose is a doddle, bottom on the other hand needs the Renault special tool, you could try using vice grips but it's was like playing Russian roulette as you knew 99% of the time they were going to spring off and curse word your fingers. Next to no space to do anything .
Not retro but the 14 plate POS Ford Focus estate we had also had one of those cap less fuel fillers with the oh so helpful drain vent that always always allowed a small amount of fuel to drain onto the petrol station forecourt .
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4 Speed auto attached to a Vtec, I mean really? Couldn't they have squeezed a 5 speed auto in at the very least.
It down changes when it wants and up changes when I don't want it to.
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