British engineering

[Soren Lorenson]

The other day my LR freaked out, gave Park Brake failure, transmission failure, hill decent control failure, and lowered the air suspension to access height and wouldn't go up. So I naturally assumed it was something bad. Nope. All this from a bad tail light socket. 5 bucks and a few minutes with some shrink wrap and I'm good to go. Crazy car.

[Charles Freeborn]

... try switching to positive ground.... I hear they relate to that over there...

[chapo]

Good stuff. I feel your pain having owned a BMW 740 il, same crazy electrical. Literally gave the car away. Probably the same 4.4 BMW v8 as your Rover?

[Cooper911SC]

Classic...😕
I know multiple seemingly unrelated faults can also be caused by a weak battery. I see that comment on Jaguar forum frequently.

I too recently experienced some British engineering. Got a call at 4:45pm on a Fri. night from my wife at the office, "car won't accelerate over 5mph. Have to go pick up Hudson (our son) from child care"

With all the rain in SoCal our '05 STR suffered from the water leak down the cowl onto the throttle position sensor. Same type deal, start car, it will idle but you get "park brake fault, DSC not available, limited performance"

Had this happen once 2 years ago when parked on a steep uphill slope. Figured it was random due to extreme angle of car...

Guess not. She called AAA and I headed out with the other car to get our son and meet her.

Crazy heavy rain coming down.

I beat the tow truck driver there. (Was supposed to be there at 5:50pm)
I start car and let it idle 20 minutes. Still no sign of Tow. We wait 20 more min.

I think screw it. Jump in car and drive it around large parking lot. All seems fine! Sensor dried out from idling engine!!

She calls back AAA to cancel tow. It's an automated system, it recognizes her number and provides a new "estimated arrival time for tow"
"Your truck will arrive between 8:50 and 9pm"
Guess they got slammed with accidents and people trying to ford flooded streets...😔

So glad the sensor dried out. We drove the Jag home.

Then I went about "waterproofing" the electrical connector with dielectric grease and dum dum, plus following a Jag TSB and applying gaff tape over several holes in the cowl sheet metal under the plastic covers.

It's amazing to me that these cars were sold widely in far rainier climates than CA... Yet critical sensors aren't waterproof?

[tabs]

And how much did you pay for those piles of British technical know how?

[pwd72s]

I still consider the original Austin Healy "bugeye" Sprite to be a genius design by Donald Healey. The entry level sports car based on a Morris Minor platform. Cute little body...sure they were slow, even in their day...but delivered tons of fun!

[svandamme]

my Bmw1 series had some rain coming in via open windows on the window buttons in the door.

Car went totally mental.. indicator left made right window open
window wipers made high beam go on.
Everything flipped out. Because of oné panel that got a bit wet in the door. Go figure.

[targa911S]

here is a link to the Lucas website..

[recycled sixtie]

Originally Posted by targa911S

here is a link to the Lucas website..

Very good!

Being of British extraction and my father used to sell Austin/Morris BMC products back in the 1950's in the UK these were pretty solid cars until about 30k miles and then things would go south like engine burning oil.

Now my son in law has a five year old Landrover. He can't help himself because he comes from Ireland. I went through that stage when I was younger living in Canada and buying the TR3, old Austin Mini and MGB. They had that definite British feel and keeping them going through cold prairie winters was a chore.

Having said that there are many new Landrovers running around now. And that says a lot but they could be displaced Brits thinking that they could reduce the darkness....

[pavulon]

A lot but not all of it has been crap.

[Cooper911SC]

Originally Posted by tabs

And how much did you pay for those piles of British technical know how?

In my case $14k. Can't complain too much. 😄
Lots of "car" for the $$ as a used vehicle for transportation. Approaching 150k miles now.

Overall (luckily?) hasn't had many more issues than other cars we've owned.

[manbridge 74]

Being designed and built by imperfect people, every make has a stupid fault. I'm looking at you Cayenne with auto trans leak through wiring harness causing replacement of harness. Or AC evap line which backs up causing wiring issues and entire interior to smell like an old boathouse.

[Fast Freddy 944]

British crap, sir I beg to differ!

[aschen]

jumbo shrimp

[James Brown]

get some of this just in case

[schnelltarga]

Lucas tried to re-write Ohms law, but he met too much resistance...

[petrolhead611]

Incidentally, the Austin Healey Frogeye Sprite was in no way based on a Morris Minor 1000 platform .
Sure, the drivetrain was Austin A35, shared with the Morris, but the hull was all Healey, as was the rear suspension.

[Aerkuld]

I really don't understand all the bashing of Lucas. I've owned several cars with Lucas electrics and never had an issue that I recall. On the other hand, a Ducati with Magneti Marreli components was far from a 'trouble-free' experience.

I suspect the British engineering wouldn't have gained the same reputation if it hadn't been for the British 'bean counters'. The engineering side of things was usually quite elegant, but everything was cost cut down to the minimum when it was produced. I think the gap between the imagined and the reality was responsible for many shortcomings.

[Tervuren]

Originally Posted by Aerkuld

I really don't understand all the bashing of Lucas. I've owned several cars with Lucas electrics and never had an issue that I recall. On the other hand, a Ducati with Magneti Marreli components was far from a 'trouble-free' experience.

I suspect the British engineering wouldn't have gained the same reputation if it hadn't been for the British 'bean counters'. The engineering side of things was usually quite elegant, but everything was cost cut down to the minimum when it was produced. I think the gap between the imagined and the reality was responsible for many shortcomings.

I think it also depends on the environment a car is operated in.

[targa911S]

Originally Posted by Aerkuld

I really don't understand all the bashing of Lucas. I've owned several cars with Lucas electrics and never had an issue that I recall. On the other hand, a Ducati with Magneti Marreli components was far from a 'trouble-free' experience.

I suspect the British engineering wouldn't have gained the same reputation if it hadn't been for the British 'bean counters'. The engineering side of things was usually quite elegant, but everything was cost cut down to the minimum when it was produced. I think the gap between the imagined and the reality was responsible for many shortcomings.

It's just part of the fun. My namesake was quoted as saying " gentlemen don't motor after dark". However they do have a reputation for leaving you stranded.