Mercedes in-car subscriptions for increased performance - photos

[Frank S]

If I had my way every vehicle that comes into my shop filled with plastic and unneeded gadgets would mysteriously catch fire I'd let my ins premiums go through the roof just to get the garbage off the highways Most vehicles that come into my shop are 10 years old or older and by that age all of the plastic and electronics have deteriorated. You can't remove anyhting and expect it to hold together long enough to re assemble all of the copper in the wiring will be burnt stiff, black and brittle. The connectors will crumble when touched and forget even trying to reinstall them. A simple 1 hour job may take all day because of having to replace miles of wire.

[nova_robotics]

If I had my way every vehicle that comes into my shop filled with plastic and unneeded gadgets

That's nothing. In car cheap doo-dads are one thing. Major engine components which used to be stamped steel or cast aluminum are now made of plastic. Duck your head under some of the newer cars in a parking lot. The number of OIL PANS which are made of plastic on modern cars, even very expensive modern cars, is astounding. Valve covers, weird plastic covers with face seals because they're under pressure with antifreeze, intake manifolds... these have been used for a long time. They're awful and always warp and fail, but they've been with us for 15 years. But oil pans?? That just blows my mind. Just imagine these cars sitting there cooking in rush hour traffic in 120 degree heat with the air conditioning on. Old cast aluminum oil pans had fins in them to keep the oil temp down. What do these new PLASTIC pans do to the oil temperature?

Edit: Just had a thought. Maybe keeping the oil temp high was intentional to bump up the fuel economy numbers. Anybody have a new Toyota that takes 0W16 oil?

[Frank S]

That's nothing. intake manifolds... these have been used for a long time. They're awful and always warp and fail, but they've been with us for 15 years. But oil pans?? That just blows my mind. Just imagine these cars sitting there cooking in rush hour traffic in 120 degree heat with the air conditioning on. Old cast aluminum oil pans had fins in them to keep the oil temp down. What do these new PLASTIC pans do to the oil temperature?

Edit: Just had a thought. Maybe keeping the oil temp high was intentional to bump up the fuel economy numbers. Anybody have a new Toyota that takes 0W16 oil?

In my opinion and most everyone else who lives out in the country. There are 3 very dangerous things installed on every pickup made in the past 20 to 30 odd years
plastic headlights mounted in plastic grills wires that are at least 3 gages undersized and air bags.
Air bags will go off for no reason when using the truck in the fields or on the ranches most guys demand the dealer remove the fuses before they will drive a new one off the lot Many of them now refuse to buy a new diesel pickup even though they need the extra torque to pull their stock trailers, because if any water gets in the fuel system it costs as much as $15,000 to get their truck running again.
I have a 10 year old Bowtie in the shop right now that the head lights have been held on with zip ties for the past 7 years
When it rains out here some of the county roads turn into mud bogs for a day or two the electrical connectors for the computer controlled transmissions are barely water tight when new but once the rats or mice dine on the soybean and peanut based insulation on the wires or leave their urine on the connectors the next time you have to drive through the mud your truck will go into limp mode if it doesn't fail completely.
I have 2 guys who have told me it would almost be worth them buying a brand new truck then bringing it to me to armor it against plastic and faulty wiring I think I could give them a 70% plastic free truck for 150K per copy critical components only not any of the interior cabin stuff.

[nova_robotics]

When it rains out here some of the county roads turn into mud bogs for a day or two the electrical connectors for the computer controlled transmissions are barely water tight when new but once the rats or mice dine on the soybean and peanut based insulation on the wires or leave their urine on the connectors the next time you have to drive through the mud your truck will go into limp mode if it doesn't fail completely.

Ugh. Don't even get me started on that. I just went through that transmission thing with my girlfriend's car. Gear selector sensor which measures the rotation of a shaft that goes into the side of the transmission case. Thing would crap out when it got wet, then the car would go into limp home mode. It would only drive around in "Sport" mode for a few weeks, then the sensor would die completely. Went through that least three times. Siliconed the crap out of it the last time and it's lasted about a year now, but still...

Now my car won't start because the immobilizer got wet and locked out the ignition and starter. You can't bypass it because it controls EVERYTHING in the car (seriously, you can't even close the doors if the immobilizer is disconnected) and it has a pair of data wires to the ECU that can't be jumpered. That car has, get this, infrared motion sensors built into the ceiling from the factory to detect if there's movement in the car when the car is locked. Gonna be a nightmare.

[Frank S]

Ugh. Don't even get me started on that. I just went through that transmission thing with my girlfriend's car. Gear selector sensor which measures the rotation of a shaft that goes into the side of the transmission case. Thing would crap out when it got wet, then the car would go into limp home mode. It would only drive around in "Sport" mode for a few weeks, then the sensor would die completely. Went through that least three times. Siliconed the crap out of it the last time and it's lasted about a year now, but still...

Now my car won't start because the immobilizer got wet and locked out the ignition and starter. You can't bypass it because it controls EVERYTHING in the car (seriously, you can't even close the doors if the immobilizer is disconnected) and it has a pair of data wires to the ECU that can't be jumpered. That car has, get this, infrared motion sensors built into the ceiling from the factory to detect if there's movement in the car when the car is locked. Gonna be a nightmare.

Remember the ill conceived cash for clunkers program. I told everyone the program would have been great if they had offered cash for the newer cars so you could buy an older more reliable one preferably pre OBDI