by Nigel » Sun Oct 23, 2005 3:29 pm
I'm more than capable of replacing those items, but I don't carry most of them.
I drive 40 - 50,000 miles a year, and can't remember the last time I had a car break down, although I do have breakdown cover from the AA, this is mainly for recovery purposes should something major fail.
Cars are so much more reliable now, providing they are serviced properly, and according to my uncle who is an RAC patrolman, most probelms with cars now are failing sensors, which unless you carry your laptop ( I do, but this is for work), and have the appropriate diagnostic software for your car, you have no chance.
Problems I have had in recent years, which haven't actually stopped me from getting home, are :
A coil pack intermittent faliure ( missfire under load)
A failed ABS sensor, whch just caused the ABS light to come on.
I clean and gap my plugs every 10,000 miles, but will easily get 50 - 60,000 miles out of a set
The most important job on your car now that ecu's are in charge of them is to replace oil & filter regularly, and other important filters such as air filter, fuel filter.
The reason that cars are now so reliable is that the ecu constantly monitors them, adjusting mixtures and timing constantly, this helps you get the best fuel economy, and together with better alloys and engineering tolerances, helps you achieve milages we could only dream of twenty years ago.