Am I alone?

I have worked on all generations of motorhomes and agree that many modern vans are too complicated just for the sake of it. But underneath, the basic principles remain the same for electrics and plumbing. Under the engine, far too much is now reliant on the output of a sensor that is made for pennies and sold for a king's ransom, for even basic things. The engine block IS the same basic principle of a simple internal combustion engine. Air, fuel, compression and spark are all needed just the same

Mechanics that can fix parts are a dying breed, because the youngsters are taught to fit parts and the labour rate is dearer than the cost of the part. Nearly everything is diagnosed by plugging a computer in and asking the engine which part is not working. A decent old fashioned mechanic would listen to symptoms and work out the probable cause quicker than getting the computer plugged in. The reason you hear of garages plugging in a computer and changing part after part is because they have no idea how an engine really works and they are dependent upon that computer for the answer

I do feel for others who are unable to take on the challenge of fixing things on their motorhome. Especially when that is down to fear of the unknown and the manufacturer keeping obvious things like wiring diagrams secret. You see both ends of a wire and worry what is there between point A and point B, but if the wire carries a voltage that can be demonstrated to be present at both points, there is no problem. If that wire is so far buried that you cannot access it after a break is detected, run a new wire neatly and keep a record of what you did in the service history
 
You're certainly not on on your own. I had need to car out a well know roadside assistance company last you when the car gave up the ghost. The guy turned up lifted the bonnet and said "these modern cars are for to complicated for us guys" Book it in with Land Rover, let our call centre know when its booked in and will come and recover it in to LR.
 
It is everything these days, and people appear to love it, even elderly people, who I assumed wouldn’t like the change.
 
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mitzimad said:
even changing brake pads is going to be a thing of the past new cars need the pistons retracted by computer
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Not tried it yet but lots of youtube videos showing you how to do it with a spare battery.
 
What is worth noting though is that for all the technicalities of the modern engines, in the main they are for more reliable, more economical and are capable of much greater mileages than pre 80’s engines.
 
Garfields said:
Afraid it's not how Cambus systems work :(
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With Canbus type circuits you need power, earth and signal wires. I agree that reading a canbus signal is beyond most on here, but the first thing to check is the power is getting to the canbus node so that it is capable of reading the signal

This is an ideal example of making things too hi tech just because they can. More to go wrong and very frustrating to trace sometimes, like pairing of nodes. Why they chose to do this, one can only suspect that it is to ensure work later after the warranty period
 
jockaneezer said:
When exactly was "The Golden Age of Motoring" ?
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I'd say the Golden Age is now. Since Covid arrived I've had the road to myself much of the time...Bliss. Drove all the way from South Wales to Brighton last August during the daytime and never had to drop below 50 MPH at anytime! (on the Motorways).
 

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