[AT] Right to repair

Phil Auten pga2 at basicisp.net
Tue Nov 26 12:21:08 PST 2019


I previously owned a '91 F-150. Still computer controlled, but other 
than that, a basic truck. Just before I sold it, it started acting up, 
intermittently. After the third time, I took it to the dealer and old 
them to "fix it" and that I thought that it could be a bad ground 
somewhere that I could not find. Turns out that it did have a bad 
ground, but that was not the cause of the problem I was having. After 
about two weeks, they called me with the diagnosis: a bad PCM 
(computer). No new units were available (it was now 2010) so they 
sourced a rebuilt unit from O'Reilly's auto Parts. Truck ran like new 
and the intermittent stalling never reared it's ugly head again. Only 
cost me about $650. I turned around and sold it to a neighbor for $2,000 
and he resold it to a guy who parked it by US77 and resold it to another 
local. I passed it one afternoon on the way into Temple, and on the way 
back it was parked outside Durango Inn, the local beer joint. I went in 
and found the new owner who stated "That's a good truck". As far as I 
know, he's still driving it. The truck had 226,000 miles on it when I 
sold it 9 years ago.

My "new" truck is a 2009 F-150. It now has a little over 88,000 miles on 
it and has already had the anti-lock brake controller fail. Anti-lock 
function still worked, but the two lights on the dash remained on, so 
the truck would not pass state inspection. That one cost me $1,100. In 
addition, Ford stopped offering manual transmissions in their trucks, 
Sure wish I had a six-speed manual in mine.

The point of all this is that the weak link in the newer vehicles is the 
electronics. They apparently do not understand "worst case design".

Phil in TX


On 11/26/2019 10:44 AM, toma at risingnet.net wrote:
> On 2019-11-21 10:00, Ralph Goff wrote:
>
>>
>> That is just one more reason I'm happy to be running older machinery
>> and vehicles built before y2k.
>>
>> Ralph in Sask.
>
> Exactly Ralph,
>
> When I first got a look at the cars and trucks that came out in 2000, 
> I said no thanks I don't ever want one of those. I am real happy with 
> my '92 Ford F250. All of my tractors and farm equipment are '50's and 
> older. I have since refined it to pre '96 for cars and trucks.  The 
> problem is any potential replacements are over 20 years old now.
>
> Tom in CA
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