It's Monday again and Saturday's Telegraph has reach rural France.
I read, with increasing disbelief, a letter to HJ from the owner of a Porsche Boxster that had very obviously suffered a failed head gasket yet the guy - whose choice of words shows clearly he has no technical knowledge - had gone on driving it with 'plumes of white smoke' pouring out, then taken it to a track day and totalled the engine! All this time his Porsche dealer had apparently been unable to follow the very simple clues that identify the problem.
My point is that having the money to buy a complicated piece of technology and pay for supposedly expert technical attention just isn't enough - surely people should expect to have to put some time into understanding what goes on under the bonnet?
Even writers in classic car magazines these days make throw-away remarks about 'the oily bits' while devoting pages to comparisons of the latest polish at 50 quid a tin.
Am I being unrealistic? Even when I was kid I wanted to find out how my toys actually worked...
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60% of my customers wont even want to look at the engines on the cars i sell
so you are right
i havent read saturdays paper yet
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Be fair to the chap, he spotted the white smoke and went to his dealer. He's not a car expert, he's got enough money to pay somebody to do the expert things for him.
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Mike,
I think you are being a little unrealistic. I was never bothered about how my toys worked. I am one of oldman's 60%. And hence, I am inclined to agree with Mapmaker. Yes - no doubt I ought to be more mechanically interested, but I'm not. Yes, it could end up costing me money, but that's the risk I take. I suppose I had better settle for cheap toys.
That said, if someone could produce a really simple book on how cars work, I'd buy it. But I have searched bookshops in vain for anything like an absolute dummy's guide to car mechanics.
I do like to hope my last couple of years hanging around the Backroom have helped a little though. So - "Thanks, HJ - and everyone else."
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Well, OK, maybe I am being a little unrealistic.
Having said that, the guy went on driving the car - presumably not noticing that nobody else's car pours out plumes of white smoke - and didn't wonder whether it might not be a good idea to get a second opinion.
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>>I am inclined to agree with Mapmaker.
Two people agree with Mapmaker within 48 hours! Is this an Opel Record?
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''That said, if someone could produce a really simple book on how cars work, I'd buy it''
tyro - no need to buy anything, just go to www.howstuffworks.com, and you'll find a wealth of information about car components (engines, suspension, power steering, turbos - the lot). Not sure if it would help from a maintenance point of view, but it will give you a good grounding on, well, how things work.
S6 1SW
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>>an absolute dummy's guide...
Tyro, I think that the questions you ask on this site tend to be perceptive and technically interesting, so, I think that you do yourself a dis-service.
However, I would recommend the books by Heisler and the books by Hillier as an excellent introduction. They have a good mix of text and explanatory diagrams, and are aimed at college students - i.e., trainee mechanics. Bearing in mind the target audience, these books describe how things work and give typical vehicle layouts without going into too much depth, or dealing with the subject in any kind of mathematical rigour.
Number_Cruncher
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Thanks, gentlemen
S6
I've looked at howstuffworks, but I have two problems with it.
1) I'd like a book or mag that I can pick up, rather than a computer page
2) It has a lot of articles on cars, but does not really have one that is basic enough for likes of me.
NC
Quick look on Amazon - Hillier's Fundamentals of Motor Vehicle Technology looks very promising. Thanks for that. (Heisler's books all seem to be "advanced" this and "advanced" that. "fundamentals" sounds more basic.)
(And thank you for your remarks on my questions. You are too kind.)
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Postscript.
S6 - I've just found the article "How Car Engines Work" on howstufwork.com. All it took was a little searching. Just what I was needing. I might even consider printing it out, though I guess the flash items wouldn't print well :-)
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>>(Heisler's books all seem to be "advanced" this and "advanced" that.
Don't be put off, these books aren't too heavy going.
IIRC, there is Vehicle & Engine Technology, Advanced Vehicle Technology, and Advanced Engine Technology.
If you look at Vehicle & Engine Technology, you should find it comparable to Hillier's Fundamentals book that you have also seen. The step in sofistication to the Advanced pair of books is not as great as it sounds.
A good place to have a look at this type of book is in the library of your local FE college - I'm sure they would allow you in to have a browse. Unfortunately, in most bookshops and public libraries, trashy Mills & Boon books get more shelf space than anything worthwhile or useful.
Please forgive me if I sound a bit stuffy, but, in common with a lot of motoring journalism (particularly in Classic Car mags) I find the howstuffworks pages to be less than technically reliable or accurate, and so I would not recommend them.
I hope you find a good read!
Number_Cruncher
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Part of this is caused by people becoming more wealthy. The kind of spoiled rich kid who buys a Porsche in his 20s for example has probably never owned an old car.
It should be part of every new car driver's education to own an old banger at some stage in their early driving. That way they'll get to know the basics of how to keep a car on the road, and the regular problems that you get on such vehicles.
It does take some doing though to destroy a Porker I must say.
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