Thread: Are 4WDs too high-tech for the bush?

Originally Posted by garrycol

On a vehicle with a alt and a completely dead battery I gave used two big 6 volt torch batteries wired together to excite the alternator to start the engine on a push start and it would keep running with the alternator putting enough out into the battery to keep it excited.

My father often crank-started his Morris 8 using a 6V torch battery to power the coil. I wouldn't swap my electronics-filled D4 for it though.

Originally Posted by Graeme

My father often crank-started his Morris 8 using a 6V torch battery to power the coil. I wouldn't swap my electronics-filled D4 for it though.

Thats exactly it. Old cars were unreliable and needed to be fixed all of the time. The modern motor vehicle is more complex and infinitely more reliable. As a kid there were always broken down cars on the side of the road, especially on a hot day. Not now. Apart from dunking a car and stopping in the water, you're not likely to break down, and if it does, it will probably be something mechanical anyway which by many peoples definition means that any mechanic in the outback can fix it anyway. Even reading on here, the vast majority of breakdowns don't seem to be electronics related. Its still just a motor, gearbox and diffs under those plastic covers, they're not that much different still.

Originally Posted by Tombie

**** guys - I take my D4 to places like Emu Junction and Maralinga and don't even take spares...

I have *that* much faith in the vehicle, my diagnostic capability AND my service checks.

Talk to me when your D4 has 378.000 KM's on the clock, like my old/new D2. Bob

Sounds to me like an argument between a tirfor and an electric winch. Which one you gonna use first and will the other one, despite its inherent simplicity, reliability and all your physical efforts, be able to get you out of the same jam?

Originally Posted by bob10

Talk to me when your D4 has 378.000 KM's on the clock, like my old/new D2. Bob

Clutching at straws now Bob, read this post, I see your 378,000ks and raise you 486,000ks

Read the whole thing.

http://www.aulro.com/afvb/d3-d4-rrs/...ge-tdv6-2.html

Baz.

Originally Posted by Redback

Clutching at straws now Bob, read this post, I see your 378,000ks and raise you 486,000ks

Read the whole thing.

http://www.aulro.com/afvb/d3-d4-rrs/...ge-tdv6-2.html

Baz.

Not at all, Baz. Now show me the receipts for servicing & maintenance, & we'll compare costs. My vehicle is 14 years old. I'm guessing the oldest D3 would be 10? Don't get me wrong, it would be nice to have a new D4, but I prefer my D2. Now, a Defender 130, with a TDV6? If only..... Bob

Originally Posted by bob10

Now, a Defender 130, with a TDV6? If only..... Bob

If only you didn't have elbows? Or if only you wanted a car that leaks? What about a Disco with a TVD6? Oh wait, they have one of those already

Originally Posted by Slunnie

Thats exactly it. Old cars were unreliable and needed to be fixed all of the time. The modern motor vehicle is more complex and infinitely more reliable. As a kid there were always broken down cars on the side of the road, especially on a hot day. Not now. Apart from dunking a car and stopping in the water, you're not likely to break down, and if it does, it will probably be something mechanical anyway which by many peoples definition means that any mechanic in the outback can fix it anyway. Even reading on here, the vast majority of breakdowns don't seem to be electronics related. Its still just a motor, gearbox and diffs under those plastic covers, they're not that much different still.

Now that's a crock. But even if they broke, a non mechanic had a chance of fixing it on the side of the road.