RE: Alex's 89 V8

["Buchholz, Steven" <Steven.Buchholz@kla-tencor.com>]

>    My 1990 V8 also had the bad rotor light and continued to after the
> pads were replaced. However, both the rotors and the pads were then fine
> as were the sensors. Apparently the wire in the harness was shorted and it
> didn't warrant replacing the rest of the harness so the mechanic just cut
> it. 
> 
... well, I haven't had cause to look at the V8 myself yet, but IME on the
other cars, the circuit requires a "short circuit" to keep the light off ...
when the PADS wear down they open the circuit which causes the light to come
on.  I have jumpered the connectors on other cars to keep the lights from
coming on because the only pads I could get in a pinch didn't have the
sensors.  IMHO your mechanic was simply lazy ... but then he might have
saved you the $$$ on the time it would have taken to track down the open
circuit ... 

>    As far as buying a V8 anticipate spending lots of $$$ in maintenance
> because it was a low production model and therefore there are no economies
> of scale with respect to parts. Also, the car is a bit fussy. 
> 
I still get the same discount from Carlsen on parts for the V8 ... and I
don't see that much of a premium being charged over the parts I get for the
5k.  AAMOF, they are able to get parts like headlights from the OEM supplier
(Bosch) for even more of a discount.  The cool thing about owning a V8 ...
at least here in the US ... is that AoA has a special "program" for the V8,
which treats the V8 differently than most other cars parts-wise.  There is a
single parts warehouse for the V8 in the US, and AoA pays for overnight
shipping of V8 parts to the dealer.  

Fussy or no, it sure seemed like the 4kSQ was a bit low on power today after
driving the V8 to work the other day ... :-)

Steve Buchholz
San Jose, CA (USA)
'91 V8Q/5-speed - waiting to become fussy ...