Ford F150 Limited pickup tail light replacement cost.

[martin-w 3,238]

6 hours ago, Fielder said:

What the world needs now is Lucas Electric systems, like the MGB's used to have !

 

God, no thanks. British cars of that era spent most of their time disintegrating with rust, and experiencing electrical and mechanical issue. Hence why they barely had any warranty. 

 

[martin-w 3,238]

13 hours ago, Fielder said:

In the old days there were stories  of rogue police officers secretly cracking someones tail light with a baton after stopping them. Just for an excuse of having made the stop. They tell the guy "Did you know your taillight is broken"? All because something about the driver looked suspicions and they wanted an excuse for a closer look inside the vehicle. There are small cameras everywhere now so it hardly ever happens.

 

From what I've seen on YouTube, the trick with US cops now is to claim they've had a report of a car speeding or some other misdemeanor. 

[Fielder 3,681]

1 hour ago, martin-w said:

 

God, no thanks. British cars of that era spent most of their time disintegrating with rust, and experiencing electrical and mechanical issue. Hence why they barely had any warranty. 

 

Yeah you're right. Finished American high school (18 years old). Bought a new MGB. Drove 90 miles to Yosemite park. And went home at night down the twisting mountain route 140 with only parking lamps.

Actually, the MGB was reliable. Wonderful lever shock absorbers that you could refill by lifting the floor mat and pouring in fluid, nice Stromberg Carlson carburetor, easy to adjust valve tappets. Everything great that didn't say Lucas on it. I still remember 21 pounds pressure front tires, 24 rear. Tubes in the tires (Dunlop of course).

I knew somebody would call me on UK electrics, he he !

[martin-w 3,238]

4 hours ago, Fielder said:

I knew somebody would call me on UK electrics, he he !

 

😉 

My first car was a Ford Escort. My god, it had a so called "economy carburetor". I would sit in my parents lounge AFTER I'd tuned it off, and there it was still chugging along "running on". I had to nip to my local dealer and pick up an "anti-dieseling kit". 🙄 A tube had to be connected to the inlet manifold and then to a solenoid. So that when you switched off the ignition it sucked air into the manifold and cut the word not allowed thing off. Trouble was, I then had a fuse blow, and it sucked in air and cut out the engine while I was driving. 😡 Dreadful design. Only two years old and under the boot was red with rust.

Sorry, no fan of cars of that era. Give me a modern car any day. 

[BillW 210]

If the tail light assembly gets broken by you or anyone else your comprehensive insurance covers it. $100 deductible. You can worry about the technology all you like, but there are few ways to avoid it. I personally have driven my King Ranch F-150 for four and a half years without a problem. It is always a luck of the draw and an extended warranty just in case.😁

Bill W

[Fielder 3,681]

Wow, I never heard of a car dieseling for more than a few seconds. Google told me Escorts and Falcons often had that issue.

MGB electric radiator fans were loud and designed to keep running a couple minutes after ignition shut down. MG's had aluminum manifolds that could get hot. People walking by in a parking lot would tell me I left my engine on, and once I was paged by a blaring store intercom speaker. 

[W2DR 1,860]

12 hours ago, martin-w said:

 

From what I've seen on YouTube, the trick with US cops now is to claim they've had a report of a car speeding or some other misdemeanor. 

Late one evening, a Police patrol car was routinely parked outside a local neighborhood bar at closing time. The officer noticed a man leaving the bar so intoxicated that he could barely walk.

The man stumbled around the parking lot for a few minutes with the officer quietly observing. After what seemed an eternity and trying his keys on five vehicles, the man managed to find his car, which he fell into. He was there for a few minutes as a number of other customers left the bar and drove off. Finally he started the car and even though it was a fine, dry night he switched the wipers on and off. He then switched on the turn signals, then switched them off, tooted the horn, and turned on the headlights.

He moved the vehicle forward a few feet, reversed a little and then remained stationary for a few more minutes as some other vehicles left the parking lot. At last he pulled out onto the street and started to drive slowly down the road. The Police officer, having patiently waited all this time, now started up the patrol car, put on the flashing lights, pulled the man over, and carried out a breathalyzer test.

To his amazement the breathalyzer indicated no evidence of the man's intoxication.

The Police officer said "I'll have to ask you to accompany me to the Police station - this breathalyzer equipment must be broken."

"I doubt it," said the man, "tonight I'm the designated decoy".

------------------------------------

As you may know, some folks have had brushes with the authorities on the way home after a "social session" out with friends. Well, two days ago I was out for an evening with friends and had several drinks of Scotch followed by some rather nice red wine... a dry Chianti I think it was. Feeling jolly, I still had the sense to know that I may be slightly over the limit.

That's when I did something that I've never done before, I took a cab home. Sure enough on the way home there was a police road block, but since it was a cab they just waved it past. I arrived home safely without incident.

This was a real surprise as I had never driven a cab before. I don't know where I got it, and now that it's in my garage I'm not sure what to do with it.

[dave2013 1,130]

On 9/9/2023 at 3:58 AM, Fielder said:

About five thousand, six hundred dollars. I think driving the economy version of the 150 without all the whiz bang upgrades makes more sense.

Yep, having that super duper Limited Edition cost him in more ways than one.

I had a wheel bearing go bad on a GMC truck about 20 years ago.  The mechanic said that he couldn't just replace the bad wheel bearing because they come in a sealed hub unit, so the entire unit had to be replaced - it cost $400.

The fact is that automobiles nowadays are somewhat like aircraft.  A lot of the parts are made by different manufacturers in different countries, so if something breaks down in a supply chain then availability of replacement parts is impacted as well as the vehicle production itself.  When parts are scarce for whatever reason, prices go up.

Ford actually displays a warning on their website about high demand and global supply chain constraints, so I guess the pandemic related supply chain issues have still not been completely resolved.

We truly live in a global economy, with all of its pros and cons.

Dave

[martin-w 3,238]

2 hours ago, Fielder said:

Wow, I never heard of a car dieseling for more than a few seconds. Google told me Escorts and Falcons often had that issue

 

This thing would just continue to chug along for ages till it eventually stopped. This was  a British Ford Escort MK2 Popular Plus. A dumb attempt by Ford to design a more economical car. Don't know what a Falcon is, we didn't have them in the UK. 

Edited September 10, 2023 by martin-w

[Mike A 338]

1 hour ago, martin-w said:

Don't know what a Falcon is, we didn't have them in the UK.

 

[Luis Hernandez 570]

On 9/9/2023 at 12:14 PM, martin-w said:

And I bet you the REAL cost to manufacture is a fraction of what the customer has to pay. 

Trust me it is, indeed.

[Fielder 3,681]

No wonder junkyard owners keep dogs inside the fence to protect their treasure.

[scott967 62]

7 hours ago, martin-w said:

 

This thing would just continue to chug along for ages till it eventually stopped. This was  a British Ford Escort MK2 Popular Plus. A dumb attempt by Ford to design a more economical car. Don't know what a Falcon is, we didn't have them in the UK. 

If you know what a Mustang is, a Falcon is just a Mustang with a basic body, though it also had a pickup version called Ranchero and upscale "Mercury" version called Comet.

 

Falcon had pretty much your standard Ford powertrain with the wimpy "Fordo-matic" 2-speed automatic transmission.  The Motorcraft/Holley carbs didn't really change for a dozen years (until the smog era).   Ford came out with a new small-block V-8 started at 235 ci then 260 finally 289 (in that era -- later 302 and 351).   The 289 with a C-4 transmission is what folks want today, but very few examples are original.  IRL the 175 ci 6-banger was the typical engine.

 

I own a 73 TR-6, and for the most part it's worth it to replace the original electrics with relay operating switches as the originals didn't handle the full current well.  But there's plenty of TR-6s over here and older through TR-3 (US was the main market for Triumph sports cars).  Now Spitfires/Midgets -- those cars I think were disposable.

 

scott s.

.

 

[martin-w 3,238]

5 hours ago, scott967 said:

f you know what a Mustang is, a Falcon is just a Mustang with a basic body, though it also had a pickup version called Ranchero and upscale "Mercury" version called Comet.

 

1970 Falcon last manufactured it seems. The UK MK 2 Escort was 1974 to 1980.

 

Edited September 11, 2023 by martin-w

[Fielder 3,681]

For those that love the electronic doodads in cars, maybe you won't so much if you read this...

https://gizmodo.com/mozilla-new-cars-data-privacy-report-1850805416