Don’t blame the radio, it’s the lack of a decent antenna, when is the last time you saw a newer car with an antenna that telescoped out to 6’ or more.
I have no idea if either one of our vehicles will receive AM radio as I have no desire to listen to it.
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Where else would the oil pump be? Are you saying mounted outside the engine like 1960’s Buick?
Years ago I was at AC Delco training and asked why GM vehicles had no fuel pump access panel, either under the seat or in the trunk. He replied that the cost to redesign and tool for those changes was more than what GM was paying to replace pumps under warranty. After warranty, who cares?
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… which is why the timing belt/belt tensioner replacement schedule for those engines was 60k miles, when other mfrs were able to safely specify 90k or 105k intervals. If people bothered to read the maintenance schedule for those cars prior to buying them, they might have realized that–despite their low price–they weren’t a genuine bargain.
I’ve never heard of that configuration. Definitely seems like a questionable idea. But are there any upsides?
The only Ford related design problem I’m aware from the discussions here are difficult to diagnose EGR problems. Often related to the gadget that modulates the EGR system. I haven’t heard many complaints about this lately.
Re: “Cheap radios that have poor AM band reception.”
It seems like in-car entertainment systems in newer cars have generally become more problematic than 20+ years ago. I’ve never owned a car that had poor AM receptions; generally the car’s AM reception is better than any radio inside my dwelling. I’ve gone out to the car to listen to the AM radio at times, when there’s an interesting topic and the AM radio’s inside are full of static. The FM reception tends not to be as good on the car radio when compared to the inside radios though.
Nevada says : “offering a V-8 engine in a compact car is not a design short-cut, some compromise is expected.”
I concur, when performance is the design objective an owner of that vehicle has to expect some repair and maintenance compromises. Raising the engine to replace to spark plugs etc. I expect that’s not a big deal when done in a shop anyway. I have to remove mounts and raise the engine on my Corolla just to remove the water pump pulley, required whenever changing the water pump or the timing belt. On the Corolla that’s easily driveway diy’er do-able.
Regarding brake rotor thickness it has been my experience that almost all rotors have about .030 of an inch above the min. thickness when new.
That is plenty enough to machine except on a very badly warped rotor. If someone shaves .020 off of the rotors and there is a shudder afterwards then I suspect the reason lies elsewhere. Caliper slides, loose steering or suspension component, improper fit in the brake lathe, etc, etc.
A couple of years ago I had a brake shudder in my Sonoma and the cause was a sticking caliper bolt. Cleaned it, lubed it, and shudder gone. (Did both sides anyway in case that question arises.)
My Lincoln at near 280k miles still has the original rotors which have never been replaced or machined and with zero shudder.
Those rotors are .060 over min. thickness so I suspect that might have something to do with it.
What else is new?
One time, but the vehicle had a fuel return so adding a little fresh gasoline is all it needed.
He doesn’t know if his radio is fully functional, that is a helpful tip.
HD radio has been around for about ten years, AM radio quality is nearly the same as FM radio. FM radio stations offer up to three different channels much like digital television.
How well does that work in a moving vehicle? I’ve never used digital radio, and I’m not talking about satellite radio which is also digital. Digital streams are usually very intolerant to small reception errors. I would assume that when moving you go through weak spots in the signal and entire audio frames would get dropped out, whereas with analog it would be a tiny bit of static that would hardly be noticed.
I listen to am radio more than fm. When I as a freight hauler for major union freight companies, the trucks they bought ha no radios or antennas. Not even a power source for a radio or speakers.
We changed tractors every trip, sometimes 2 or 3 times a trip. We all bought or made radio boxes. Mine gad an am/fm and a CB, two 6x9 speakers, a vise grip mount that held two antennas to clamp to the mirror brackets, and fused wires with alligator clips to het power from the fuse panel. Mine had wheels on it so I could carry my overnight bag with a tool kit on top of the radio to take it from the car to truck.
I decided to splurge on a “good” am/fm radio. I bought one from Phillips in Depew NY where guys got their CBs fixed or peaked for $129. This was in the 1980s. It was supposed to be the Cadillac of radios. It worked great on FM but it would not pull in AM unless I was almost sitting in their parking lot. Phillips tries everything he could to fix it and then called the factory rep who said "AM, nobody listens to AM anymore! Phillips did not say anything, just walked over to the cash register and gave me my money back.
AM sounds great but you can only keep a station in range for 30 to 40 miles at best. There are 50,000 watt AM stations that cater to trucker with late night broadcasts that you can keep in range for more than 500 miles.
Radios get beat up pretty good in a freight truck. The best ones I had were Chrysler car radios that Odd Lots was selling for $5 in the early 80s… I bought 3 of them.
I had am reception problems in my Riv. I took it to the delco shop that the dealers used. The guy said it was the fm board. Worked great after that. I don’t know why the fm board would affect am, but that’s what it was.
The primary station will always come in because it simultaneously broadcasts in the non-HD spectrum. The substations (-2, -3, etc.) can be spotty reception even when you’re not that far away from the transmitter.
On one of my old cars, don’t remember which, the oil pump was outside on the side of the block, with all the pieces accessible. On my Mazda GLC, it was in a machined cavity on the inside of the front of the aluminum block and there was nothing you could do about it when the cavity was worn.
As far as the fuel pump access goes, the one in my Plymouth Voyager crapped out on a trip and I was stranded for 3 days on a holiday weekend with all the garages closed. A parts store was open and I could have replaced the pump myself but there was no access port in the van floor. Tried to rent a car but nobody answered the phone number on my insurance card to verify the insurance so they turned me down.
Just a note, you are required to carry proof of insurance in your car. We get two cards, one for the car and one for your billfold. I’ve rented lots of cars and no one has ever asked for proof of insurance. You must use a credit card though with at least a couple thou of credit.
Why was my post with the list of 38 things flagged and removed? No reason was even specified. It didn’t seem like it was violating anything. Was it the part about how some designs are done to make money by making after market service more expensive?
Yes, I forgot about those. Of course, the aftermarket versions are die cast aluminum, another example of aftermarket parts being superior to OEM.
I didn’t realize it was but you may never know why. More than likely someone thought it was off topic which is kind of a catch all. I only flag for profanity, something blatantly wrong or illegal, or like we had some years ago where someone was trying to shut the site down with attacks. Maybe someone will explain why but don’t hold your breath.
The only one that can remove a post is the moderator.
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Up until the mid 1960s, you could tow cars with automatic transmissions because they had front and rear oil pumps.
You could also push start a car with an automatic as easily as you could a car with a manual transmission.
The rear pump disappeared across many manufacturer brands in the mid 60s. It could easily have been to save money. We’ll never know.
Around here, FM radio reception has gotten bad. AM not too bad. I’m convinced that the wind turbines are the cause of it because that is when the problem started. Started out with 140 turbines; now there’s a couple of thousand and to heist a line from a Waylon Jennings song…“still building on”.
I can go into the small city near where I live and no FM issues at all even from stations 100 to 125 miles away. Get out of town and within about 8 miles or so of the turbines and reception is in and out with static. This occurs with 3 different vehicles.