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True...one of the previous owners of my '67 Catalina did that, installing an aftermarket temp gauge and oil pressure gauge under the dash.
I was checking out a new Dodge durango and the info available on the lcd display in the gauge cluster was impressive. Engine temp, oil temp, trans temp, oil pressure, voltage, and engine hours etc. All that can be had by simply plug into the ECM.
Back when I had my trans rebuilt on my '00 Suburban, the rebuilt trans had a problem with not keeping the torque converter locked. The tech brought a scan tool and as we drove down the road it was amazing all the info he could get. After a 15 minute drive he new exactly what the problem was. It ended up being a faulty connection on one of the actuators in the valve body of the transmission.
I definitely remember that light on my grandparents' '63 Bel Air wagon.
IMO, it seems kinda silly that a dirt-cheap Dart or Valiant would have a real gauge standard, while a mid-level car like a Newport would just have idiot lights.
My wife had an '01 Impala that had a oil sending unit fail. The oil light was on for a few days before she said anything to me. If it hadn't been a company car, I would have been upset. I don't know how she wasn't concerned with the huge yellow light. But nothing was actually wrong other than a faulty signal being sent to the gauge cluster.
I think the migration to idiot lights might have actually started in the late 50's. To use one example, my '57 DeSoto has full gauges, but for '59 the oil and amps were replaced with idiot lights. For some reason, I'm thinking Olds was an early adopter of idiot lights, and might have actually started phasing out real gauges for 1957. For some reason I'm thinking Cadillac did, as well.
At some point, they started combining gauges with idiot lights. Not sure when, exactly, but the full-sized '79 Mopars have full gauges standard AND idiot lights for everything (oil, fuel, temp, amps, a door is a jar, etc).
I guess an idiot light is enough to do the job for the most part, but I'm a bit leery of them. Awhile back, my 2000 Intrepid's oil pressure light started coming on at low rpm, and flickering. My '67 Catalina used to do the same thing, and the aftermarket oil gauge would back it up, by showing low-ish pressure. It's since been fixed, although I forget what the mechanic did to it, but it really did have a low pressure problem.
So, when the Intrepid started doing it, I figured it was a real problem. But nope, turned out there was a TSB on it. In certain situations, such as fully warmed up, stopped at a traffic light, lack of air flow and heat build-up from the engine would trigger the light, and make it flicker. Once you got moving again it would cool down and turn off.
Mazda does the same thing. It's easier to tell with a glance if there's a temperature problem or not, since those temperature gauges are typically right next to the fuel gauge, and are a near identical twin of same, except all the way to the right on the fuel gauge is GOOD, all the way to the right on the temperature gauge is BAD. :sick:
GM is perfect (for you) you pay for something it doesnt work they say "um we're just gonna disable that" and you're ok with it.
What if it was the trans.....we'll just disable it......you'd be just fine walking.
I think it was model year 1995, but they started using a "dummy" guage, which merely reported a lack or presence of oil pressure. Problem is you had no way to tell oil pressure was too high, from a clogged filter for instance.
If you ever see an NA Miata in the junk yard, odds are that part was scavenged already.
So an idiot light may actually be better than a dummy gauge. :sick:
Oil pressure gauges aren't fool proof as they usually only give the oil pressure at the mains. My wife had a '92 Saturn SL2 that burned quite a bit of oil back when we were dating. She drove that car 100 miles to see me one time. She showed up and mentioned the engine was clattering. Curious, I go out and start it up. Sure enough it was making a lot of noise at the top of the engine. The oil pressure gauge was reading in the normal area. I checked the oil and nothing on the dipstick. I ended up putting nearly 4 quarts of oil in it. It had enough oil for the pressure sending unit, but not enough flow to keep the valvetrain quiet. It took about 30 minutes of running to quiet back down.
A few years ago in our old boat that had a 305 chevy motor. I was running WOT a 5k rpm when I just happened to notice the oil pressure gauge was reading 20 psi (way to low at that rpm). I immediately slowed to idle, when the gauge went under 10 and a warning beep started going off. I shut it down and checked the engine compartment to find an oil line running from the remote oil filter had failed at the connection. All was okay, besides having to get towed in and having one hell of a mess in the bilge area. The ECM would have put it in limp home mode had the pressure dropped anymore when I was at WOT. I just happened to check the gauge at the right time.
I think most engines only need about 10psi of oil pressure per 1000rpm.
Mine rises "slowly" but not so slow that it's going up as the car warms up, which argues that the bottom mark on the gauge represents a relatively high temperature. But once it hits that near-middle "normal" point it never budges, which would indicate that that one spot covers a relatively wide range of temperature variation. Hence me being convinced it's not a real gauge.
That's how the temp gauge is in my Expedition and the wife's Taurus. But in general ford gauges for temp, oil, and voltage are pretty lame IMO. I've never seen them budge other than the temp gauge from cold to warm.
OTOH, the gauges in the Suburban would move and actually gave a value for each item. It wasn't unusual for the temp gauge to rise 10-15 degrees when I was towing our boat in high heat. Same with the oil pressure gauge. It would indicate an oil pressure increase between idle and acceleration. Same with voltage.
I am convinced the temp gauge in my 07 Expedition is at least based on reality. Now that it's cold out, the temp gauge doesn't climb as quickly and it will stay about a 1/16 of inch for a while before moving to where it always sits when at normal operating temp. Plus the torque converter won't fully lock up until the gauge is well into the normal band, any lower and it doesn't go into lockup mode.
Looks like most are in the home market.
Five models are affected by the water pump recall, though we're still waiting for confirmation from Toyota as to which they are
Please PLEASE recall my Sienna! It needs a car wash badly!
Though I wonder if the film of dirt on it now makes it more aerodynamic?
My favorite land yacht with the awesome 12" media screen, looks like the rear headrest is the issue. Just 12,626 cars, though.
I remember going through a MD inspection one time when I was buying a car. One of the fog light lenses on the car I was buying was cracked.
They said it would fail for that reason.
If I removed the fogs, it would pass. But if they are present they have to be perfect.
I thought it was odd because they're optional anyway, but oh well.
That's what the Buick Reatta looked like. Remember those? Seemed like a big car chopped horizontally to become a smaller one.
It was...the Reatta was essentially a 1986 Riviera with something like 12 inches of wheelbase removed.
Fewer than 3000 units affected.
I first noticed this on the new BMW 328 that I test drove 3/4 months ago.
I suspect this will become more common as an optional feature on cars that are viewed as performance oriented. Without checking, I'd bet the new Caddie ATS has this feature...
IIRC, I think Mazda offers it on some models, too... Seems like I remember reading that somewhere...
Mazda has a screen in the gauge cluster (the right-most binnacle in the current designs for the CX-5 and 6) but it's supplemental, the speedo and tach are still there in the other two. The LCD provides extensive trip computer info, and a fuel meter at the bottom.
Because of the thin and inferior steel frames on Toyota trucks you will never hear a claim like that in one of their commercials. I took a look at the frame on the '84 Chevy and although it was rusted, it still looked solid.
By the way the daughter of the tenant next door to me at my job needed a new frame on her 2000 Tacoma about 2 years ago.. Yes Toyota paid $13,000 for the replacement, but that was on a 10 year old truck!
My '85 C10 Silverado, with its 305 and THM350C tranny doesn't look too pretty these days, but it's still alive and kicking. I don't really need it anymore since I bought my 2012 Ram, but kept it around to handle any rough, dirty work I might need done. Hate to say it, but the Ram's too new, shiny, and purty to dirty up!
I'm getting some pretty bad rust in the rocker panels and over the rear wheel openings, but the frame is still pretty solid. And it still starts right up...still on the original engine and tranny, and they work just fine, although it does leak and burn a bit of oil.
It held up a LOT better over the years (Granddad bought it brand new, so I know its history) than my uncle's '97 Silverado, which we used as a trade-in on the Ram. In fact, my uncle's '97 is one of the main reasons I bought a Ram. :surprise:
"We design components so they're not 1 gram bigger than they need to be," Leone said. A gram is about one-thirtieth of an ounce, for the metrically challenged.
That's a huge change for GM, whose vehicles have usually been among the heaviest in their classes, but weight is among the most important criteria in automotive engineering. Light weight leads to higher fuel economy, better performance and often lower costs.
GM is also instituting a new level of flexibility in its assembly plants, so it can adjust the mix of vehicles it builds to meet demand."
GM's top leadership embraces an 'all-new way of doing things' (Detroit Free Press)
"General Motors' Opel division is halting talks aimed at forming a deeper partnership with PSA Peugeot Citroën after the French government offered Peugeot a bailout in hopes of reducing layoffs the automaker announced earlier this year."
General Motors' Opel division is halting talks aimed at forming a deeper partnership with PSA Peugeot Citroën (Detroit Free Press)
You know, Daewoos were always on the heavy side too, maybe it's a consequence of GMDAT?
What were they thinking? When the boat's taking on water, you do not buy an anchor!
The Sonic looks like fun but she's chubby and could lose a few pounds.
And supposedly well-built and reliable if you're a fan of CR.
Seems a tad sloppy to me.
But I'm sure when it comes to the Impala it really means that it's a vast conspiracy against GM, rather than just their usual policy like it is with Ford, Honda, Toyota, etc...
Don't take my word for it? It's on newsstands now.
You're right - they could have just said it was an old car and not mentioned that a new one was coming and not included a picture of the new one. I know that if I were anti-GM, that's what I would have done. :P