Manufacturers Keeping Diy Mechanics Out ...

[Iggle Piggle]

Anyone fortunate enough to own a brand new car? Have you been under the bonnet yet? What measures do the manufacturers go to nowadays to keep home mechanics out? Just wondering...

[malagabob]

They normally have maintenance tools for new models not available to the general public.

[TWR]

It's getting to the stage Iggle that all they want you to do is drive the thing, if a breakdown occurs the dealer has to sort it out.

[Arrods]

Some even recommend returning to the dealer for a bulb change (there's a surprise).

[bhg481]

To be fair to the manufacturers, one of the things they've done is to remove the need to go under the bonnet quite so frequently. When I first got involved with cars in the 1960s I was always under the bonnet for contact breaker points, tappets, topping up oil, cleaning spark plugs, greasing prop shafts/ball joints etc. Nowadays points have gone, tappets are self-adjusting, plugs last twice as long and don't crud up, grese points have gone and cars burn much less oil. Oil changes used to be 3000 miles, now often 20,000 miles +.

[New Judge]

I bought a Renault new in 1991. Everything that was accessible was held together with "allen head" screws and bolts. The only trouble was, instead of being the usual hexagonal shape, the indentations on the heads had only five sides.

I needed to change a headlight glass after some scroat bumped into my car in a station car park. No other damage, just a cracked glass. Looked at the fitting - easy to get out by just undoing three or four allen screws. Got the glass from my dealer. Got my set of allen keys out !!!! Back to the dealer to buy a special Renault pentagonal allen key. "We don't sell those to the public" said the man behind the counter with the brown dustcoat.

Had to book the car in to have the glass changed (One and a half hours labour plus VAT for a ten minute job). Fortunately I managed to acquire one of the restricted tools via an acquaintance in the trade a few month's later. But making jobs difficult for the DIY motorist is nothing new.

My current car? I fill it up with petrol and top up the washer bottle (no special tools required - yet) and that's it. Apart from anything else I cannot get my hands to anything under the bonnet as there is no space. (On my old Ford Anglia you could get both hands down each side of the engine with room to spare).

[bhg481]

A bit late for you NJ but several years ago I bought a set of "security" screwdriver bits, similar to these:

http://www.screwfix.com/search?search=security+bits

You will notice the Allen bits are 5-sided.

[Robbbbo]

bhg481 - I hope your car(s) don't go 20,000 between oil changes ?

[bhg481]

18,000 Robbo, is the manufacturer's recommendation. Some newer cars are more than that.

[gingejbee]

There seems to be very little to do these days....my new car even has a "lifetime" cam-belt....first INSPECTION at 160,000m, thereafter every 20,000m. And, it IS a belt, not a chain.