• gencha@lemm.ee
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    3 months ago

    So electric cars don’t have valves. Oh, you didn’t even think that far ahead with your boomer brain? Try to figure out why they put the warning in the manual. With all that leaded gasoline fogging up the brains, it’s fair to assume grandpa drank from a battery on a dare.

  • ArgentRaven@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    Old cars could actually have their stuff adjusted, though. You’d have to tinker with the carburator if the weather was significantly colder/hotter, etc. to get it to run properly.

    Even cars in the 90s started getting too complex - electronic fuel injection, variable valve timing, and more. There’s no need to adjust the valves because the computer does it, and better than you could.

    • TwentySeven@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      I wouldn’t say the computer adjusts the valves, variable valve timing serves a completely different function than an old fashioned valve adjustment.

      It’s true that most lifters are hydraulic nowadays, and self-adjust by filling with oil. So your point still stands, it’s just mechanical, not computer controlled.

      My 2017 Honda V6 does require valve adjustments, but I doubt many people actually do it themselves though. And most people probably don’t have it done at all.

      (I’m a hobbyist, not a mechanic, so anyone feel free to correct me if I’m wrong)

  • pyre@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    if everyone has common sense back then we wouldn’t be in the middle of this shitshow today

  • UnfortunateShort@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    The problem are the shitty modern cars that are partly hard to repair so you have to pay for parts and service, partly because they want to sell you bs “features”, while they also break constantly, because they are made to be as cheap as possible. Brought to you by the generation that now makes fun about people stuck in the system they helped to create

  • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldM
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    3 months ago

    Arrogantly calling out the intelligence claims of others works better if you know when and how to use punctuation.

  • HelixDab2@lemm.ee
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    3 months ago

    ::sigh:: Old cars had instructions on adjusting valves because you needed to. Improvements in manufacturing processes means that valves and valve seats simply don’t wear the way that they use to. You may still need to change valve shims if your clearance is out of tolerance, but on most cars that’s going to be well over 100,000 miles before service is needed. It’s also a really tedious, long job, and takes tools that most people aren’t going to have. (I have done it multiple times on a motorcycle; that’s a 10,000 miles service interval b/c the engines on the bikes I ride redlines at 18,000rpm, which means significantly more wear on engines, and higher chances of thing like valve flutter.) Cars are vastly more complicated than they used to be, because they’re also far, far more efficient, and last far longer; it used to be a big deal if a car made it to 100,000 miles, and now a car that dies at 100k is considered an unreliable lemon.

    • horse_battery_staple@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      Well, they don’t last far longer as a whole, but the advances in machining tolerances and material science, the mechanical internals can go far longer without anything more than fluid changes.

      As far as longevity, soy based wiring harnesses, poorly shielded ECUs, and borked software updates are what are killing cars these days.

      • HelixDab2@lemm.ee
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        3 months ago

        As a whole, they def. do last longer. I can look on FB Marketplace right now and find cars that are in fairly good, operational condition with 250,000 miles. The issues you’re talking about aren’t the kind of major mechanical things that become improbably expensive to repair, e.g., a broken timing chain with high interference valves & cylinders. Although yeah, replacing a main wiring harness on a car is a PITA and very expensive unless you can find a functional used one on eBay.

        Also, there’s not great empirical evidence that the soy-based insulation is significantly worse than its petroleum based counterpart. There’s a ton of anecdotal claims about it attracting rodents, but no direct evidence AFAIK. The class-action lawsuits over rodent damage have been dismissed. And, TBF, I’ve had older cars that had wiring chewed by mice. Part of the difference with newer cars seems to be that there’s just more wiring packed into smaller areas, areas that look like great nests for rodents; you didn’t see that kind of wiring density 20 years ago.

  • Mr_Dr_Oink@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    Taking away the instructions on how to service and repair a car was a result of capitalists wanting to make more money by forcing you to get your car repaired by them.

    Adding instructions not to drink battery acid is likely for companies to avoid getting sued because people will always argue that there was no warning about drinking battery acid so the company owes you compensation.

    This is a false comparison.

    • Dasus@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      I mean I do agree with you. Planned obsolescence and whatnot is very real.

      But also, fixing a car from 70’s is very different than trying to fix a car from this millenium.

      As technology improves and becomes more detailed, it might also get harder to repair. This isn’t to be taken as a defense of companies which have used planned obsolescence. But even if there was a very user friendly car company, I think it would be more complex to adjust your valves today than it was 30-40 years ago.

    • andros_rex@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      Also helps them get away with hiding shoddy/cheap parts.

      ~2018-2020 Hondas have defective air condensers. They aren’t rated for the refrigerant. They are basically guaranteed to fail. You also have to go to a dealership to get your AC serviced. There’s a warranty for the AC, but it’s that dealer that checks whether your AC meets the warranty or not (amazing how easy it is to find bits of debris and deny the warranty when no third party can double check.)

      You could crack open an original Xbox and do a lot of modifications with it. The Xbox 360 was designed to be as annoying to take apart as possible, possibly to hide the cheap components that lead to the red ring of death…

    • Dagwood222@lemm.ee
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      3 months ago

      This is the best way I can put it.

      Before Reagan was elected, middle class was defined as one income supporting a family of four. In those days $1 million was still considered a vast fortune. By the time Bush Sr. was voted out, middle class had been redefined as two incomes to run the house, and $1 million was what a rich guy paid for a party.

  • d00ery@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    many engines do not require this procedure. It depends on whether the engine is equipped with hydro-compensators: these are devices designed for automatic adjustment of the thermal gap. They work at the expense of the oil entering them from the engine (that is why, actually, and are called “hydro-compensators”) and completely exclude the necessity of periodic manual adjustment of valves.

    https://www.bradkimberley.com/valve-adjustment-what-is-it-why-is-it-needed-and-what-happens-if-you-dont-do-it/

  • wiccan2@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    That’s because in the last 50 years someone somewhere was stupid enough to drink the battery. You can’t blame that on the latest generation.