If you are a Honda engineer,

skier said:
Lights, batteries, and oil. Yeah. Those will all impact my willingness to buy a car. Anything that’s replaced semi-regularly needs to be easy to access.
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LED's never need replacing, right?
 
Try changing an alternator on a 195. Holy **** I was ready to burn the thing to the ground.
 
Albany Tom said:
I do find it annoying when I can't change a light bulb, though.
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I’m a very long term BMW motorcycle owner and aficionado. Still have two, the most recent my 1999 K1200RS.

A lot of the new ones look nice, but they often require some pretty extensive disassembly to change a headlight bulb or a battery. Between that and CANBUS and electronically adjustable shocks requiring thousands of dollars to replace and other annoyances and complexities, I’ve pretty much scratched them off my wish list.
 
455 Bravo Uniform said:
But with whatever the Econ is doing, finding a shop to take it and turn it around in 1 day and on a weekend ain’t happening.
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I had to wait 3 weeks to get an appointment to replace the very dead fob for my new-to-me car. Never mind that you cannot lock/unlock the car without the fob, or start it in a non-emergency mode.

Checkout_my_Six said:
No worries.....they gots BMW engineer's beat.
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I realized this when I had to remove the front wheel to change a headlight bulb. Also, when I had to remove the torsion bar, cabin air filters, and two plastic shields to get at the spark plugs with Torx bits nonetheless. Ugh!
 
I need to change the water pump on my '77 MGB. I can almost step into the engine compartment to work on it there's so much room under the hood.

OTOH, when my Grand Cherokee needed a new radiator last winter I gladly paid somebody to disassemble the $&@!%# front end of the vehicle to do it.
 
FastEddieB said:
…they’re not even captive, so getting them threaded with one hand while supporting the shield with the other is unnecessarily difficult...
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Not sure I’d be re-attaching that thing once it was off if that’s the case.
 
My 2009 Honda Fit has never graced the inside of a shop, neither has my 2011 Honda CB1000r, nor did my 2003 Honda 954rr.
 
steingar said:
My 2009 Honda Fit has never graced the inside of a shop, neither has my 2011 Honda CB1000r, nor did my 2003 Honda 954rr.
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My 2012 Accord, 2014 F150 have both gone to a shop for warranty work, but nothing else.
My 1980s Honda bikes include a Hurricane, XR250R, and XR600R which have never been to a shop.
 
I’m also recalling that we had to use a torch and cut out part of the frame to change the starter on my ‘90 S10 pickup.
 
The most trouble free car I've ever had was my 2000 Chevy Prism. It was actually my first company car. I redlined it at every opportunity, frequently shifted without the clutch, and just thrashed it, and it had never seen the inside of a shop in about 120,000 miles at which point I traded it in for a Crown Vic.

I think the worst vehicle I've ever owned was an '86 S10 Blazer. I really liked that thing, until the engine grenaded itself at 80K. The culpret was a blown intake gasket which dumped all the coolant in the inside of the engine, and by the time I realized what happened it was too late. Then all kinds of little things started breaking, like the hydraulic clutch cylinder (royal PITA to replace).

I also had an 08 Explorer as a company vehicle. It was practical like the Blazer but it went through a couple rear differentials (bad seals), blew a thermostat housing, and had all kinds of weird electrical gremlins. A very minor collision to the front which didn't even result in deployment of the air bag, managed to bend the frame, pretty much totalling the vehicle.

The best motorcycle I've ever owned was my 08 BMW 1200RT. Well, okay, maybe not the 'best' but certainly the most enjoyable to ride. It had some annoying electrical things about it. It was the only motorized vehicle I have ever run out of gas in. Most motorcycles do not have a fuel gauge, and this did. It was some sort of electrostatic strip thingie, and it managed to fail stuck in the 1/3 full position. The one day, the ONE VERY DAY, that I did NOT SET MY TRIP ODOMETER AT THE PUMP, yes I'm screaming, is when it decided to fail.
 
Whitney said:
My 2012 Accord, 2014 F150 have both gone to a shop for warranty work, but nothing else.
My 1980s Honda bikes include a Hurricane, XR250R, and XR600R which have never been to a shop.
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That’s quite an assortment. How often are you riding these bikes?
 
The Hurricane not as much as I wish, but I do plate it yearly, and put on a few thousand kms usually per year.
The XR250R i regularly ride around the farm looking at things, and trail rides with my daughter, so it gets a lot of use in the summer months, none in the winter.
The XR600R usually sits most of the summer, but I go for a couple rides a month on it many winters out in the Baja, although some winters less, if I spend less time in Mexico.
All 3 have been great bikes reliability wise, I would say that fork seals have been the biggest repair item needed, other than chains, sprockets, tires, and brakes. The XR600R needs frequent air filter cleanings, but that is easy.
 
Whitney said:
The Hurricane not as much as I wish, but I do plate it yearly, and put on a few thousand kms usually per year.
The XR250R i regularly ride around the farm looking at things, and trail rides with my daughter, so it gets a lot of use in the summer months, none in the winter.
The XR600R usually sits most of the summer, but I go for a couple rides a month on it many winters out in the Baja, although some winters less, if I spend less time in Mexico.
All 3 have been great bikes reliability wise, I would say that fork seals have been the biggest repair item needed, other than chains, sprockets, tires, and brakes. The XR600R needs frequent air filter cleanings, but that is easy.
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Very nice! I was curious what other things you’re involved with, since it seems like you spend a good amount of time each day on the forum with posts and ‘likes’. I wasn’t sure if you were retired or not!
 
ps. The XR600R and Hurricane have great sentimental value to me, my father bought them new, and I inherited them. The XR250R I bought used from a gentleman about 16 or 17 years ago.
 
RyanB said:
Very nice! I was curious what other things you’re involved with, since it seems like you spend a good amount of time each day on the forum with posts and ‘likes’. I wasn’t sure if you were retired or not!
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I've not said anything about it so far, but I have a lot of spare time as of late, being on light duty for a while, nursing a few injuries sustained while breaking a horse.
As the timing was while I was seriously contemplating my future purchases/rebuild of plane(s) I decided to join the forum to learn more about it.
My attention span is pretty short when it comes to sitting around, so this place has helped immensely.
Would rather be out splitting wood, feeding cattle, running and repairing tractors, fixing fences, breaking horses and riding them, and generally getting my hands dirty.
Going a bit stir crazy to be honest...but you all have helped me not just chew my fingernails off and pace the house all day till I can get back to my normal routine.
 
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