Grrr, rubbish modern consumables

[GadgeS3C]

Had the 3000M booked in for an MOT this morning. Starting fettling ahead of going to the Le Mans classic. So last minute check over - no lights. It did something similar at the Donington Historic and a bit of wire waggling "cured" it. So tried the same with no luck. Visually checked fuses - all looked OK. Just in case I swapped the lighting fuse for a new one. Still no lights.

Pop the switch out to check it has a feed - no power to switch. Thinking - ouch, connection somewhere under the dash. After some more faffing & being puzzled I resorted to measuring things again - just in case. Both the original and new lighting fuses have infinite resistance. Both look brand new with not sign of being overloaded. Get new fuse and check that - infinite resistance. Next fuse, well you can guess...

Out of 6 new fuses I had in a nice plastic assortment box 5 were defective.

So the moral of the story is - just 'cos it's new - don't assume it works.

The above wouldn't have been too painful if I hadn't also popped the other switches out to check connections and had the hazard switch self-destruct. That took 2 hours of careful reassembly

Just hoping she's passed the re-arranged MOT!

[na]

I've been plauged with dodgy rubber for the last 6 years, fuel lines at first, then coolant hoses, seals, tyre valves, boots and gaiters

then there were the flasher units, bulbs and switches (others had rotors, condensors, . . .)

you certainly can't trust new parts to always work correctly or that the part you already have fitted is correct or original with old cars

I had a dicky blade fuse (or fuse and holder combination who knows) that cost me a £130 tow off a motorway, it looked fine and even tested ok but I had no more trouble after replacing it

I've had a glass fuse once that looked fine but wasn't when put on a tester - then of course there's the people that put blown household plug fuses back in with good ones like they do with matches!

I had a fair time with a neighbour's brake light, put in a new bulb tested it in the car and with tester and swapped over to other side of car, it would work then stopped turned out to be when filiment got hot it would break away and then when it cooled it would reconnect itself and cycle on - of course I checked loads on the car before trying a different bulb

it was a ride in a 2500M that got me into buy my TVRs they almost cost as much as my classics to keep going well !

[GadgeS3C]

I'm glad it's not just me - if you see what I mean!

After all that failed MOT on the number plate lamps not working - fixed with a bit more wire waggling!

Also, front brake imbalance - but the friendly tester suggested that should be cured by taking it for a good thrash

[jith]

GadgeS3C said:

Out of 6 new fuses I had in a nice plastic assortment box 5 were defective.

So the moral of the story is - just 'cos it's new - don't assume it works.

And I'll bet you anything you like they're made in bloody China!

J

[Riley Blue]

Rubber parts, even those sold by reputable UK suppliers, are often made in India. They're not cheap either and often needing replacing every year or two, shocking quality really. Chinese-made electrical parts have been letting classic cars down for years. More often than not they're in 'original' Lucas boxes and sold on Ebay.

[na]

Riley Blue said:

Rubber parts, even those sold by reputable UK suppliers, are often made in India. They're not cheap either and often needing replacing every year or two,

if you're lucky

Riley Blue said:

Chinese-made electrical parts have been letting classic cars down for years. More often than not they're in 'original' Lucas boxes and sold on Ebay.

they actually got so bad that even the tight fisted classic owners must have effect the fact that they had to improve the quality so that the electric bits now are quite good at a reasonable price

hopefully those that will only pay the lowest prices will also get fed up with the quality of rubber too so that the quality improves

I've been moaned at before but I still lay some of the blame with a lot of classic car owners wanting only the lowst prices

[GadgeS3C]

Who'd have thought that one day we'd be wanting the high quality Lucas and Wipac parts back.

If Joe Lucas was "Prince of Darkness" what's the Chinese equivalent?

O/T rant - spent the last couple of years being regularly told by our division's VP that we should move manufacturing to the Far East because it's cheaper and just as good. That was pharmaceutical components - high precision and high reliability needed. Ironically when we actually sort out a supplier they couldn't deliver anywhere near a competitive price (at the right quality) to EU or US suppliers.

[spoodler]

Yep, my bugbear also... we run two old Triumphs as dailies ('67 Herald and '71 Vincent Hurricane)and the quality of modern ignition bits is legendary among owners. Thankfully you can get some good stuff you just have to track it down and pay a bit more. Other serial offenders are trunnions that wont hold oil! Recently I bought a "new" steering rack that was a nasty toshed over old one complete with knackered threads that needed recutting etc.
Things have got so bad with some rubber components that a mate has actually gone into business producing higher quality kit from his living room.

Enjoy Le Mans, keep promising myself...

[mph]

GadgeS3C said:

Who'd have thought that one day we'd be wanting the high quality Lucas and Wipac parts back.

If Joe Lucas was "Prince of Darkness" what's the Chinese equivalent?

O/T rant - spent the last couple of years being regularly told by our division's VP that we should move manufacturing to the Far East because it's cheaper and just as good. That was pharmaceutical components - high precision and high reliability needed. Ironically when we actually sort out a supplier they couldn't deliver anywhere near a competitive price (at the right quality) to EU or US suppliers.

The distributors and suppliers in this country are the main culprits in my opinion.
It's their responsibility to ensure the quality and suitability of the items they source. Unfortunately they don't carry out their responsibility.

They are in it for a quick buck and take very little (or no) interest in ensuring the quality of their suppliers.

A friend of mine makes structural parts for Jaguars and supplies them to a well-known Jaguar spares distributor. They have never visited him or his premises and the only question they asked was the cost !

I have bought numerous Jaguar parts from the biggest suppliers in this country.
Many of them are absoloute crap.

I worked for a shipping company and we always went to great lengths before buying any components from new suppliers.

[na]

spoodler said:

Things have got so bad with some rubber components that a mate has actually gone into business producing higher quality kit from his living room.

if your mate does steering rack gaiters and TRE boots he will eventual sell a few as some of the present stock wont last 6 months and it's an MOT failure so will have to be replaced - I know as my Midget has the later Triumph sourced steering rack, new from Argentia at a slightly different size and perishable gaiters

[Richie Howard]

I used to buy a lot of my bits from the MG garage down the road. My theory is that they put them on the cars that come in for service/repairs, so they will not stock the stuff that fails or doesn't work from the off.

They then fitted a crap (almost) knock-off distributor that caused me weeks and weeks of grief trying to troubleshoot, so I stopped using them.

The fact that you can't rely on new parts is THE biggest drawback to classic car ownership, imo.

[na]

Richie Howard said:

The fact that you can't rely on new parts is THE biggest drawback to classic car ownership, imo.

sorry Richie I'm going to have to disagree - a lot of previous and present owners of classics are the biggest drawback to classic car ownership - they want cheap parts not lower cost reliable parts, doesn't matter to many of them as the cars hardly turn a wheel from one year to the next

[jith]

na said:

Richie Howard said:

The fact that you can't rely on new parts is THE biggest drawback to classic car ownership, imo.

sorry Richie I'm going to have to disagree - a lot of previous and present owners of classics are the biggest drawback to classic car ownership - they want cheap parts not lower cost reliable parts, doesn't matter to many of them as the cars hardly turn a wheel from one year to the next

It doesn't stop at classics. You should try working on modern stuff; it's an utter nightmare with faulty components at insane prices.

J

[na]

on another track – I remember a few years back it was found a well known major motor manufacturer had poorer quality counterfeit parts were being used and supplied by their own dealer network

[mph]

na said:

orry Richie I'm going to have to disagree - a lot of previous and present owners of classics are the biggest drawback to classic car ownership - they want cheap parts not lower cost reliable parts, doesn't matter to many of them as the cars hardly turn a wheel from one year to the next

It's true that some owners value cheapness over quality as they don't use their cars much.

That doesn't excuse the suppliers from selling parts that aren't fit for purpose.

[na]

mph said:

It's true that some owners value cheapness over quality as they don't use their cars much.

That doesn't excuse the suppliers from selling parts that aren't fit for purpose.

I didn't just mean those that don't use their cars much, those that use them a little and those that use them a bit more - all want cheap parts even if the suppliers want to get them better parts the buyers wont buy them - obvious if we all stopped buying cheap parts the suppliers would be out of business or have to get better quality parts at higher prices

only those that use their cars regularly can't afford to buy cheap parts because the cost of these cheap parts is too expensive to keep replacing and the trouble and knock on trouble and expense that these cheap parts cause