Better Beaters - Building Cars and Daily Drivers

 Where do I go from here? 

"Sure, it's original paint."
Mustang circa 2014

Why are my current automotive problems and setbacks now hitting me so much harder? I'm facing a lot of disappointment. My conviction that I can hold on to a favored, late model car, well into the future, has been severely shaken. You mean that I can't have my "forever" car? 

The cars in question are the 2005 through 2014 model Mustangs.

I have documented my trials with the '07 Mustang's electrical system. The component that causes the trouble is the Smart Junction Box, which is a combination of a fuse box and the body computer. All of the electrical connections that control the body functions are routed through this box. There are nine, I'll repeat that, NINE, connectors plugged into this box, with hundreds of connecting pins. 

The computer controls all the memory and accessory functions, as well as the radio, HVAC, and power assists.

These components are no longer available new, nor are they available as rebuilt/refurbished//tested and guaranteed units. I found that my Ford dealer has little interest in assisting the customer, even if they had bought the car new from them. There are plenty of used units available on EBay, some with return guarantees.  There are lots available used from the wrecking yard, I pulled four from my local P/P ( Pick and Pull) yard a week ago. It cost me less than 30.00 for the one that I selected.

These have been popular cars, so I imagine that the will be populating the wrecking yards for the immediate future. Of course a savvy guy, (like me?) will probably start buying them up from the yards and reselling them as a business. So the supply of these things might be assured. 

I read a post on the Jaguar forums where a poster mentioned his concern that our older Jags might become un-repairable in the future, and maybe not that far off in the future. As I've learned, many dealerships will not work on cars that are over twenty years old. This also extends to the motorcycle world, a friend has a 2000 Harley Wide Glide told me the dealer won't do anything beyond a tire change. Another member commented that late models Jags were just a collection of modules on wheels, and a failure of one of these modules could render the car  un-driveable. Another commenter wrote that there was no reason to worry, there would probably be plenty of junkyard parts available. 

Maybe so. Maybe no.

It's not like a work around could be easily accomplished with an arm load of electrical wire and a handful of wiring connectors!

Earlier I had complained about the power seat motor tracks. This was a failure prone mechanism that had been extremely expensive to fix, as a new track assembly was over 800.00. There are a few NOS units floating around on the internet, but they are pricey. The discussion on the forums was that there weren't any alternatives. Were there manual units available?  Most guys had never seen one. When I bought my '96 Mustang, 13 years ago, the power seat was also inoperative, I replaced it with a manual track sourced from the junk yard for 15.00. A replacement N.O.S. motor assembly was over 400.00! 

I eventually found a post that showed a manual seat adjuster unit for a 2005, it also had a lever that could raise or lower the seat a couple of inches. I went to P/P and found and bought a complete manual seat, and swapped it into my Daughter's  '07. Later I found a working seat motor assembly in another yard, along with another manual adjuster. That went onto the '07's seat.  Now I have two spare manual units in case my '06 needs one. I also held onto the '07's seat motor. Maybe in the future there will be aftermarket service parts available to repair it. 

Using wrecking yard parts to fix a car is a common method, but usually these are mechanical or cosmetic parts. That's where I found a replacement radiator for my '97 Jaguar XJ6. It cost me 50.00 as opposed to 6-700.00 dollars that I was quoted at the auto parts store. I didn't have any reservations about using it. I just replaced the radiator in my '96 Mustang, but with a brand new one. It was locally available for 300.00

Photo source: Chinatown
If you've seen the movie, you know what comes next.
Let's all keep our hands to ourselves!

I'm sure that you've seen some old movie that presented some stereotypical, hysterical women in a crisis situation who is running around all agitated and unable to think clearly and the male hero grabs the woman and slaps her across the face. Telling her "Get a hold of yourself!" (Yes, I know that is a patronizing and demeaning portrayal of a woman. I'm not a cave man!) 

That's just what my Wife did to me, well, verbally, at least. She saw me moping around and heard me complaining ( whining perhaps?) about possible future scenarios. She firmly told me "What are you worrying about? Do what you always tell me to do- start worrying when you absolutely need to!" She was right of course. I really don't know what had come over me. I just felt as though the ground was shifting under my feet, that something that I'd just taken for granted was going to disappear, and it really threw me off balance! 

None of us knows what the future is going to bring, California has decreed that there will be no more new ICE vehicles sold after 2035. That is only 13 years from now. In that year I will be 80 years old! I probably won't be driving that much then. 

I'm not driving that many miles per year anymore. I never had a long commute, and now, I have no commute! There are days when I don't drive anywhere at all.  My estimate is probably around 200 miles a week, not counting our road trips. Any car that I have may well last a very long time, and I have several cars that I use. If I were to buy a new car next year, how long would it take me to hit 100,000 miles? 

Do the math, 200 miles a week is only 800 miles a month, is only 9.600 miles a year. So it would take around ten years to hit 100,000 miles. Those miles would also be spread over several different vehicles.

I have actually decided to log my mileage on every vehicle, so that I would have some concrete data to discuss. It's kind of funny because sometimes I'll go days without even starting up one of the cars, then I took three trips up the Sacramento area and another one recently down to Pismo Beach. 

I've decided to buy an exact replacement S.J.B. for my '06 Mustang. I'll store it safely away in the garage with the one that we bought for the '07.  Just in case.

Drive more, worry less. Just like my Wife said!

With all that being said, I've discovered a new YouTube channel that deals primarily with fixing up newer, post 2000 year model cars. Not only that, but they specialize in older European, high dollar models. The exact types of cars that scare me the most. They deal with a bunch of electronic component malfunctions  (ya think!) and have a very practical and positive attitude abut how to handle these problems.

Just  the new attitude that I need to develop to deal with the not so new Millennium. More on this to follow.