Yesterday I had to replace the left hand dip headlamp bulb as a bulb failure message popped up when I switched on the headlights the previous evening. It's not as fiddly as the driver's side but it's still annoyingly fiddly. I know that it was common on all cars of this vintage to have a spring clip to hold the bulb in but surely they could have designed something better? Pushing the connector on through the rubber boot which is splitting was irritatingly fiddly too. The job definitely took longer than it should but at least I am now equipped to go out at night again.
Nigel, I have certainly had cars on which the engineers had actually thought out how to change headlight/sidelight bulbs, which are such a common failure point, but presumably LR didn't employ any of these guys !!!
I can never understand why car manufacturers make it so difficult to change stuff like light bulbs. They must think that their bulbs never fail when you see some of the stupid steps you have to go through, just to change a bulb. And seeing as I am in a grumpy mood I have another point that really gets up my nose - why are manufacturers stopping putting oil dipsticks in cars ???
If anything should be fitted as standard it ought to be a dipstick. Relying on the stupid electronic system, and the 500 steps required to check the oil, is just asking for trouble. At least if there is a dipstick then any twonk can physically check the oil, but with the electronic stuff people won't bother. I had a Merc 220E which didn't have a dipstick, and in the 4 years that I owned it I never checked the oil, except for its' annual service. The requirements for checking the oil made it that you were hardly ever in the correct position to go through the various steps to get a reading.
And, lastly [thank God, says the reader], what has happened to having a spare wheel ?? These days, when people get a flat tyre, they sit on the side of the road for a couple of hours until their roadside service provider turns up and fills the flat tyre full of gunk so that [a] the owner gets home, and [b] the tyre garage chucks out the tyre and fits a new one.
I normally carry one of those kits where you pull out the screw or nail and push in the string thing so that you get an instant repair. The only problem is that I haven't bothered buying an electric pump so I have to use the old fashioned foot pump. My daughter gave me an electric thing, some years back but it was totally useless.
So that's my grumpy rant for the day, now I am going to go out for a walk, just before it rains, with my Te***o umbrella which will probably collapse in the wind just as the rain starts. I could have easily lived next door to Victor Meldrew, we would have had a lot to talk, or complain, about !!!
Pierre3.
pierre3
I know what you mean on your post it a lot harder changing bulbs in my Ford fiesta than what it is on my 06 L320 sport I just pull a couple of latches and the whole head light unit comes out so plenty of room to get to things
Karlos, some manufacturers obviously had engineers who drove cars whose bulbs failed, or needed to change a tyre on the roadside, or some other minor task that is a serviceable item, and then thought about how to make it easy. Whereas other manufacturers had engineers who said to the designers "make the car really cool-looking, and don't worry about serviceable, the owner is bound to take it to their garage to get a new brake-light bulb [or whatever]".
At least, back in the 40's and 50's, as cars were progressing they were also improving. From this point of view I think that when they introduced knock-on wheels, with a nice big wing-nut holding the wheel on, that was the best idea ever !! Jack up the car, bash the wing-nut with a mallet, and the wheel was off. Easy-peasy, and the manufacturer only had to fit on big wheel nut.
Pierre3.
Pierre3 wrote:
I can never understand why car manufacturers make it so difficult to change stuff like light bulbs. They must think that their bulbs never fail when you see some of the stupid steps you have to go through, just to change a bulb.
OK, I know the wire clips holding the bulbs in on a P38 are a bit fiddly but they could be worse. Try changing the sidelight bulb on a Renault Megane, you have to take the headlight out but to do that involves taking the inner wheelarch liner out and the front bumper off to get at the fixings for the headlights. Then there are various models of Audi where you have to jack the front of the car up so you can open the little flap in the wheelarch liner, then do a degree in Gynaecology so you can change the bulb by fell through the little hole....
why are manufacturers stopping putting oil dipsticks in cars ???
Because they know that the modern car driver never opens the bonnet and wouldn't know how to use a dipstick anyway. A woman (not being sexist but it had to be) took her car into my mates garage as her washers had stopped working. He filled the tank and they miraculously started to work again. The owner wasn't aware that she had to fill it.
And, lastly [thank God, says the reader], what has happened to having a spare wheel ?? These days, when people get a flat tyre, they sit on the side of the road for a couple of hours until their roadside service provider turns up and fills the flat tyre full of gunk so that [a] the owner gets home, and [b] the tyre garage chucks out the tyre and fits a new one.
Because it's extra weight so the fuel consumption goes up (by 0.001 mpg). Most modern drivers aren't capable of changing a wheel anyway.
Richard, I agree completely with your comments. You are absolutely correct about drivers today being unable to either change a tyre or check their oil. You're lucky when most of them can actually reverse correctly. As you are probably well aware, the ability to reverse park in a supermarket car parking space is almost unknown. Clowns [sorry, Clowns, I don't mean to disrespect your industry as a whole !!], seem to think that it is perfectly acceptable to park halfway into the space beside them !!!
Pierre3.
I agree to I stopped the other day to help a couple who had a flat tyer thier reply was it OK we waiting for the rac to come out to change it as we don't know how I said I don't mind it will save you some time but they still said no
so I got back in my work van and drove off