qroy@whuxl.UUCP (QROY) (09/13/85)
[ ]
About 2 months ago the drivers side headlight retractor motor on my 1983
Toyota Celica gt liftback decided to crap out. I removed it and followed
the test procedures in the shop manual, sure enough, a main diode was burned
out. I called my local parts store and heard "that's a dealer only item".
Now comes the shock: the dealer wants $218.00 ransom for this item. At that
point I decided it was better to have a winking car then to shell out that
kind of bucks for an electric motor.
I would like to hear about similar incidents from celica or other car owners.
Also any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated.
Thanks,
{ihnp4}!whuxl!qroyjrm@cbuxc.UUCP (John Miller) (09/16/85)
> [ ] > > About 2 months ago the drivers side headlight retractor motor on my 1983 > Toyota Celica gt liftback decided to crap out. I removed it and followed > the test procedures in the shop manual, sure enough, a main diode was burned > out. I called my local parts store and heard "that's a dealer only item". > Now comes the shock: the dealer wants $218.00 ransom for this item. At that > point I decided it was better to have a winking car then to shell out that > kind of bucks for an electric motor. > > I would like to hear about similar incidents from celica or other car owners. > Also any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated. > > Thanks, > > {ihnp4}!whuxl!qroy The 82 Stanza I owned (note the past tense) "let me down" in the middle of a 4 lane highway. When I say let me down, I mean I was flying along at or above the speed limit of 55 and the engine cut out completely. Investigation (using the well written manual) proved it to be caused by a failed distributor module ( a gizzmo that replaces points - it causes the coils to spark at the right time). Several calls later lead me to the dealer who informed that they had one in stock (the good news) and that the price was 175$ (the bad news). I replaced the part and the car ran as if nothing had ever been wrong. A couple of observations: 1) the part was too expensive (a chevy or ford part would have cost < 50$ - too bad one wouldn't fit) 2) for that cost, it must contain a rare and expensive element - I took it apart in a vice, nothing but copper and silicon, shucks! 3) it happened to my stanza @ 50000 miles, a friend also had a stanza - it happenned to his at about the same mileage. (suppose they have a countdown suicide timer in that module?) 4) I traded that car at about 80K miles, mainly because I was scared to death of anything *major* breaking on it! Minor items and costs: carb - 800$, complete distributor - 600$, can you imagine he price of a major item? A lot of yuppies (pardon the term) are buying these cars because Consumer Reports writes nice things about them, because the are truely nice to drive and look expensive and whatever reason - I am sure the market people know best. Considering the cost to fix them if you are one of the unlucky ones I can't help wondering if the Japenese are still fighting the war.
andrew@grkermi.UUCP (Andrew W. Rogers) (09/19/85)
In article <338@cbuxc.UUCP> jrm@cbuxc.UUCP (John Miller) writes: > >The 82 Stanza I owned (note the past tense) "let me down" in the middle >of a 4 lane highway. When I say let me down, I mean I was flying along >at or above the speed limit of 55 and the engine cut out completely. > > [explanation of incident, mild flame about price of parts] > > 4) I traded that car at about 80K miles, mainly because I was scared > to death of anything *major* breaking on it! Minor items and costs: > carb - 800$, complete distributor - 600$, can you imagine he price > of a major item? > > >A lot of yuppies (pardon the term) are buying these cars because Consumer >Reports writes nice things about them, because the are truely nice to drive >and look expensive and whatever reason - I am sure the market people know >best. *Yuppies* driving *Japanese* cars? No self-respecting Yuppie would be seen in public driving anything non-European! My gawd, that would be almost as tacky as owning something (shudder) *American*!!! :-) >Considering the cost to fix them if you are one of the unlucky ones >I can't help wondering if the Japanese are still fighting the war. I own an RX-7 and agree with you about the cost of parts. What I can't figure out is why parts are so expensive when the cars themselves are priced quite competitively - especially when you consider that the US automakers are turning to Japan for parts to save money! If you think you've got it bad, though - my sister-in-law's Mercedes just ate its fuel pump. The local Mercedes dealer quoted her $900 + labor! I know of another MB owner who paid $1300 for A/C repairs, and a Jaguar XK-E owner who paid $800 for a water pump! AWR
kitten@hao.UUCP (09/20/85)
> > About 2 months ago the drivers side headlight retractor motor on my 1983 > > Toyota Celica gt liftback decided to crap out. I removed it and followed > > the test procedures in the shop manual, sure enough, a main diode was burned > > out. I called my local parts store and heard "that's a dealer only item". > > Now comes the shock: the dealer wants $218.00 ransom for this item. At that > > point I decided it was better to have a winking car then to shell out that > > kind of bucks for an electric motor. > > {ihnp4}!whuxl!qroy > > The 82 Stanza I owned (note the past tense) "let me down" in the middle > of a 4 lane highway. When I say let me down, I mean I was flying along > at or above the speed limit of 55 and the engine cut out completely. > > Investigation (using the well written manual) proved it to be caused by > a failed distributor module ( a gizzmo that replaces points - it causes > the coils to spark at the right time). Several calls later lead me to the > dealer who informed that they had one in stock (the good news) and that the > price was 175$ (the bad news). > > I replaced the part and the car ran as if nothing had ever been wrong. > > 3) it happened to my stanza @ 50000 miles, a friend also had a stanza > - it happenned to his at about the same mileage. (suppose they > have a countdown suicide timer in that module?) > > 4) I traded that car at about 80K miles, mainly because I was scared > to death of anything *major* breaking on it! Minor items and costs: > carb - 800$, complete distributor - 600$, can you imagine he price > of a major item? (*These* are *minor*??!!) > > A lot of yuppies (pardon the term) are buying these cars because Consumer > Reports writes nice things about them, because the are truely nice to drive > and look expensive and whatever reason - I am sure the market people know > best. Considering the cost to fix them if you are one of the unlucky ones > I can't help wondering if the Japenese are still fighting the war. ** Although I have lusted over Japanese sheetmetal and innovations, that is the very reason why I'm going to buy an American car. Japanese (or European) car labor and parts are just too dang expensive. I can't see having a car for beyond 3 or 4 years and being so naive to believe that nothing major could crop up. I've had my best experience with Chrysler, and I like their 5/50 plan. But it BETTER BE GOOD to keep me! {ucbvax!hplabs | allegra!nbires | decvax!noao | harpo!seismo | ihnp4!noao} !hao!kitten CSNET: kitten@NCAR ARPA: kitten%ncar@CSNET-RELAY