Edit post

Edit your reply below.

Post Body
Enter your post below.
vsmith In Heavy Trucks on the road (18 wheelers) I drove by wire many years. While I started out thinking I will be buried with manual transmission in my hands because it is king. Humans cannot get that last bit of really useful efficiency out of a rig. They do get close. Everything on a typical Freightliner Classic XL or Century is driven by a computer. Very little of the hundreds of "Points" is manually configurable on the tractor. Driving a old R model mack equippted with many gauges, you had to think about transmission heat, axle heat, manifold heat, current fuel usage, availible horsepower to the wheels etc etc etc... It is quite possible to drive across a state by keeping the 60 or so gauges "In the green" and not recall anything outside on the highway unless something like a developing accident grabbed your attention. Now computers take care of all that. No problem. Except that in low water situations you need a peice of metal to bypass the sensor when you are only a gallon low. That is my only complaint. When the ECM fails (The brain) there is no choice but to replace it before you can even crank it again. It is not cheap. I long for the old days of muscle cars and a tool box from sears with extra points, wires and plugs as well as the Fluids that are usually needed to keep it running in good shape. The days of power and simplicity. I think those days are gone. I know of several places out west where I could still purchase one of these preserved by the hot desert heat for a few thousand dollars. But in my vehicles the computer does a pretty good job. I have a supercharged V6 in one of them and I enjoy being able to get up and go at times. But that old thing is quite consistent with the mileage. It is going on something like 210,000 miles now and on it's second or thrid set of everything such as tires, plugs etc. And running at factory tolerances as well as the day it was first built. According to the onboard computer at the shop.
Tags (Optional)
Tags are keywords that get attached to your post. They are used to categorize your submission and make it easier to search for. To add tags to your post type a tag into the box below and click the "Add Tag" button.
Add Tag