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Old October 4th 17, 11:24 AM posted to sci.astro.amateur
StarDust
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Posts: 732
Default Is Elon Musk ready for the straitjacket ?

On Tuesday, October 3, 2017 at 11:02:09 PM UTC-7, Gutless Umbrella Carrying Sissy wrote:

On Tuesday, October 3, 2017 at 9:39:06 PM UTC-7, Gutless
Umbrella Carrying Sissy wrote:

On Tuesday, October 3, 2017 at 9:25:05 PM UTC-7, StarDust
wrote:
On Tuesday, October 3, 2017 at 7:04:05 PM UTC-7, Gutless
Umbrella Carrying Sissy wrote:
:

On Tuesday, October 3, 2017 at 2:51:58 PM UTC-7, Gutless
Umbrella Carrying Sissy wrote:


On Tuesday, October 3, 2017 at 10:43:11 AM UTC-7,
Gutless Umbrella Carrying Sissy wrote:


On Tuesday, October 3, 2017 at 8:27:48 AM UTC-7,
Gutless Umbrella Carrying Sissy wrote:

On Monday, October 2, 2017 at 3:11:17 PM UTC-7,
Chris L Peterson wrote:
On Mon, 2 Oct 2017 13:01:24 -0700 (PDT),
wrote:

On Monday, October 2, 2017 at 6:26:55 AM
UTC-7, Chris L Peterson wrote:
On Mon, 2 Oct 2017 03:54:55 -0700 (PDT),
wrote:

With electric cars, if it breaks down, I
don't think there's a mechanic at every
corner, who can fix it.

Electric cars are mechanically simpler and
therefore easier to repair (although like
all electronics, these days that
essentially means board swaps). When there
are enough electric
cars, there will be more mechanics who can
deal with them than mechanics who know what
to do with a gasoline vehicle. In 20 years
most of the cars on the road will be
electric.

Mechanically simpler, but lot of electronics
and software involved to make the them thing
running. I talk to mechanics, even garage
owners, said- diagnostic equipment is very
expensive to buy than train employees too!
One guy said - he spend $30K for software to
locate parts nation wide! EV cars still
have some way to go!

Well, most cars these days needing anything
more than trivial repairs require the dealer
or a specialist. Your corner mechanic who can
deal with everything is pretty much a thing of
the past.

Most corner mechanics are specialized also.
German cars, Japanese cars etc... Changing
tires, fixing breaks, anyone can do it! Even
me! I have an old BMW,

They key word there being *old*.

--
Terry Austin

Vacation photos from Iceland:
https://plus.google.com/u/0/collection/QaXQkB

"Terry Austin: like the polio vaccine, only with
more asshole."
-- David Bilek

Jesus forgives sinners, not criminals.

Yes, old! 91' BMW , 26 years old, 160K miles, runs
like a Swiss watch! What's wrong with that?

Cars have changed quite a lot in the last two and a
half decades. In 1991, mechanics did tend to
specialize, but any competent mechanic could easily
work on any car, if they had the right manuals (and
the manuals were mostly printed on paper at that
point). Specialized tools were helpful, but not
generally necessary. Now, you can't even duplicate
keys for all cars with the same equipment[1], nor
can you even diagnose what's wrong without tens (or
more) of thousands of dollars worth of specialized
hardware and software - and it's different hardware
and software for different manufacturers. It's not
longer *possible* for a mechanic to generalize,
unless they have the backing of a dealership, and
dealerships don't support multiple brands. (And most
carmakers these days won't sell that equipment to
anyone but a dealer anyway, if they can
get away with it.)


[1]Some car makers use completely different
technology. Japanese and US carmakers use "chip
keys" for everything now, keys that have a small
RFID-ish chip in the head, which forms a necessary
componenet to the ignition system. The engine
*can't* run without it. Mercedes, on the other hand,
doesn't use a radio based system, their keys (at
least, in 2000, when mine was built) had a laser in
the dashboard, that interacted with a chip in the
key, to do the same thing. The advantage was that
the ignition key would work regardless of the
battery status in the remote. The disadvantage is
that the replacement keys cost over $300 each, and
nobody could reverse engineer them to
compete (Go to a dealership for a US or Japanese
car, and the chip key will cost you well over $100,
but if you go to your local Ace Hardware, it'll
probably be more like $30). And that doesn't even
touch on the sidewinder keys, which require a
specialized mill to duplicate. On top of the chip
programming.

--
Terry Austin

Vacation photos from Iceland:
https://plus.google.com/u/0/collection/QaXQkB

"Terry Austin: like the polio vaccine, only with
more asshole."
-- David Bilek

Jesus forgives sinners, not criminals.

(o: When the engine computer ECU went out on my BMW,
fuel injectors wasn't firing right, bought another
one on Ebay for $80. Plug it in, it was a 15 min job,
car ran good after. Some one told me, can't do that
with newer BMW's, because dealer has to flash the new
computer ECU and key security code has to be
installed too. They work together. New computer cost
$1500 + flashing and key install another $600!
LOLOLOLOLOL! Some times it's worth to keep a good old
car! (o:

I have a friend who drives a 30 year old diesel
Mercedes, and is unlikely to ever drive anything else
until it is no longer possible to repair it. It is 100%
electro-mechanical in all critical functions. (It
doesn't even require electricity to *run* the engine,
once it's started.) I see his point.

(On the other hand, I am driving a brand new Toyota
now, because it was far more cost effective than
repairing my 17 year old Mercedes, and because I'm not
inclined to deal with a car that needs regular reapirs,
as any old car does. My seven year warranty includes
rental coverage if it's in overight, for enough to pay
for a better car than I own. Said warranty will outlast
the payments. And I get over 40 mpg on the highway.
Convenience is worth the extra expense.)

--
Terry Austin

Vacation photos from Iceland:
https://plus.google.com/u/0/collection/QaXQkB

"Terry Austin: like the polio vaccine, only with more
asshole."
-- David Bilek

Jesus forgives sinners, not criminals.

You right, if I would drive a lot, commute etc... would
buy a new car or a slightly used one, but I'm not. I
get insurance break, because I drive less than 5K
millage!

I don't drive that much more myself. But in southern
California, it's nearly impossible to survive without a
car for whatever driving you do.

Same here in the Bay Area! Traffic is crazy!


So to me, a good
old car, no payments, fits the bill! I think, BMW's are
better cars than Mercedes!

BMV vs Mercedes is like Monty Python vs Benny Hill. Some
like one, others like the other, but you're not allowed to
like both.

Like apples and oranges! Mercedes is luxury and BMW's are
performance cars. All though, the last 10-15 years both
manufacturers make either style cars. I still miss my 1985
BMW 535i, that box looking car, with lot of trunk and
interior space.
http://img.bmwcase.com/full/f1fb4017...w-e28-535i-roy
al- blue-metallic-535is.jpg

....and of course 5 speed manual, more fun!

Superchargers are fun, too, even (especially) on four cylinder
engines.


Not sure what you mean - supercharger-?
This ugly thing?
http://performancedrive.com.au/wp-co...017/04/Chevrol
et-Camaro-freight-train-supercharger.jpg


In principle, yes, though this was factory installed. And fit under
the hood. That's what the "Kompressor" designation means.

--
Terry Austin

Vacation photos from Iceland:
https://plus.google.com/u/0/collection/QaXQkB

"Terry Austin: like the polio vaccine, only with more asshole."
-- David Bilek

Jesus forgives sinners, not criminals.


Oh, I see! I've seen -Kompressor - written on the back of Mercedes, I didn't know what means?
It's like turbo charge?
miniCooper has turbocharged models!