I’m an engineer for a company making stamped steel parts for many of the vehicles you work on - engine mounts, CV axle parts, and electric power steering sensor rings. The steel we use to make those parts has to come from only approved vendors, and in some cases specific mills since these parts are safety-sensitive or exposed to salt water in the winter. Many of those suppliers/mills are at half output. Also, Russia and Ukraine were major steel producers. Many of Ukraine’s mills are damaged/destroyed and Russia’s steel has been banned from the world market. Things may take a very long time to get back to ‘normal’.
@@michaelmaas5544 that’s by design. These politicians / Davos men at the WEF don’t want us having so much prosperity. They want a permanent rentier underclass, not an ownership society.
In 2009 i bought a 1998 Corolla for $2500. It has 236,000 miles on it today and still drives beautifully. I put an alternator on it earlier this year which was about $200. The left axle shaft seal is leaking, and i am struggling to find a new seal. But this Corolla has tuned aluminum intake runners from the factory, and independent rear suspension which is a blessing on the highway.. The engine and transmission (5 speed manual) are still in good kilter. Best money I have ever spent.
In December last year I bought a 100,000 mile, old lady driven 2004 Toyota Corolla CE. Always dealer serviced. I had to do the Cat, both front wheel bearings, and the gas tank heat shield. Love the little beastie.
I work in a boat building shop in Ontario, Canada. We are having great difficulty finishing boats because we just can't get parts. It was really bad a year ago, then things started to get better for like 2-3 months and now we are getting back-order after back-order...again.
I'm a Patient Care Manager for a Pediatric ER. We have weekly supply shortages. Sometimes these shortages are for very common medications or supplies. It keeps us on our toes juggling resources.
Car Wizard, I work for a major carrier in the trucking industry and our fleet is 33% down. Almost all waiting for parts to fix the emission systems or sensors and computer modules. We've had to fetch trucks from rental companies just to equip all of our drivers.
I just bought three pieces of 1 x12x8' standard pine for $96! The selection was awful too with only eight pieces to choose from. If you're in the construction industry, things are unbelievable right now.
Absolutely having the same problems in the car wash industry. We're having to fabricate a lot, repair when we would rather replace and wait an incredible amount of time for the things we absolutely need. It's not getting better, so we have to!
I’m a painting contractor and i’ve had a few weird can’t find issues in the last few years. 1. paint , no paint !! cannot paint without it !! 2. Tape, blue tape , green tape etc etc. 3. and then just random things like certain roller sleeves. it’s crazy Also it’s cheaper to put an LS1 in it !!!
Over here where they "build" these, well I say build, its more assemble it, you can get a Bentley or Rolls cheap, but if anything goes wrong with it, forget it. I saw one of these for sale at the equivalent of $13k so should it need any repairs makes it completely uneconmical. Beautiful cars if you can afford the repairs they will need eventually and thats if you can get the parts.
@@cousinjohncarstuff4568 To be honest, I think that average person bank account is already empty. I know a couple people who get loans for these kind of car and barely getting by making the car payment. Some of these people make the same mistake over and over again despite being told to go buya Toyota instead.
Marine electrical superintended here. I can confirm supply chain is a mess. Cable that used to take a couple weeks, maybe a month now takes 16 plus weeks. Messes up schedules big time.
Expensive vehicles require expensive maintenance parts and repairs. Just because the vehicle itself depreciates and becomes "AFFORDABLE" doesn't mean the parts maintenance and repairs needed to keep it operational do the same.
if you remember he had Hoovies old Turbo R and complained about how much of a POS it was with repairs..seems to have changed his tune on this one, and the same with the Bentley convertible Hoovie has and couldnt sell
This is mostly true, but cars that were produced in the hundreds of thousands have reduced parts prices (for equivalent quality) simply because that is scaled production. They make these parts in small batches and you're assuming a large chunk of the labor and tooling cost
Right, the people who buy these for cheap don't realize that's the whole reason *why* they depreciate like they do, because everybody knows what a nightmare they are to maintain and most people don't want to deal with it.
That gear changer actuator on that thing send it to either ECU Testing or BBA Reman (both in the UK) 100% they will manage to repair that and likely without reprogramming
Hi Wizard, I work in the optical industry (manufacturing prescription eyewear). Getting parts for equipment repairs has been the same story. I know of many optical labs who have had a $200 part fail that should be a simple repair, that resulted in having to buy all new equipment ($80,000), because that's more economical than losing 4 months production time
Obvious question. When was this last serviced ? I would bet a lot of the costs here are because annual services have been skipped and therefore you get the bill all in one go. Also, no matter what you paid for it you are still maintaining a $250k car. And $20k repair is actually less than the annual depreciation on a new one. So you could look at it as a bargain.
Car Wizard, its labor issue, its a big problem. I am having problem getting parts for my non automotive line of work as well.. You're not alone. You may need to have people leave their cars at home until the parts comes in if your shop is getting full unless they're from out of town.
@@ttsupra95 if it helps you sleep at night then yea man.. my tin foil hat is chrome plated 3x over. enjoy cars while you can though, we probably got a couple more years anyway. it’s all happening right in front of you and deep down, you know it too.
@@5MGE There's nothing more nefarious going on than an over-reliance on China to manufacture our Western standard of living. Their zero COVID policy of huge lockdowns has destroyed all the supply lines downstream of their factories, which is basically all the world's supply lines.
Wizard, I’m an electrician and we have the same supply chain issues. Can’t get breaker panels, disconnects, smoke detectors and tons of other stuff. Some weeks there’s plenty and some weeks you get told it’ll be a month before we can have that
People outside of Wyoming don’t understand why we hang on to older vehicles. My daily driver is a 1992 GMC K1500. It has the primo 5.7L (350 CID) V8 with a 4L60 Turbo-Hydramatic. It has the simple easy to maintain GM throttle body FI system with a conventional electronic distributer ignition system. Parts are cheap and easy to obtain.
I keepin my 2003 Chevy vans trucks cheap easy to fix junk yards have tons of parts. 350k miles on my 4.3 v6 Original steering rack motor and front end bushings in NYC metro area...Keep that euro trash
I Work in the Hydronic Pump field, for new parts and pumps were are seeing up to 24 week lead times from the factory. We also carry mechanical seals and we're seeing the same thing. Common seal parts are taking 2-3 months to get in. Meanwhile we've seen price increases of almost 30% just this year 😳.
We've been waiting for going on 2.5 years for specific HPC (high-performance compute) servers. They've taken so long to be delivered that the vendor has (on paper) released a new version and is about to release another! To fill the gap we spent ~60k on temporary ones that are something like 1/8th as powerful.
Btw. I believe…. Its not a heads up display, but rather a sat navigation system. And the rear mirrors, in theory, are designed to prevent unwanted flash photography (the mirror reflects back the flash from the camera… in theory at least). Beautiful motorcar. Thanks for the video.
“Labor is up to $200hr? Wow! Last time I had work done it was $75-100hr. Yes it’s been a while but wow!!” I know what you mean. I have resources for food, sometimes in bulk (by the ton). That also comes with its own set of unusual problems (“what am I going to with 8,000 pounds of onions???). I bought groceries the other day and was absolutely floored by the cost of food! There is always a silver lining. People like us can now drive a newer Arnage. We can do the repairs, rebuild some parts that might be too expensive to buy, or replace expensive, and complex systems with simpler systems. It would not be inexpensive and it ALWAYS takes 5X longer than expected but it does open the possibilities of opening a few doors, but then, what do I know. I still have a diesel Mercedes that needs to be finished.
I had an Arnage in this same spec. I only paid $20k for it. The quality is the same a a RR phantom. Nearly impossible to find any plastic in the interior. Mine had the shifter actuator problem for reverse though
I work for one of the largest inbound (into the US) cargo companies in the country and I can say it is likely to get a LOT worse in the next 6-8 weeks as there is likely to be a strike at the West Coast ports.....
@@blaketindle4703 Now we just need matching tinted tail lights so no one can see if you are braking or turning or see the back of your car at night....
I am in the IT world working for a corporate IT department and yes it’s hard to get laptops and desktops. It’s a 2 to 3 month wait after purchase. I have seen our supplier have 50 laptops in stock and 2 hours later they were out of stock.
I work for a company that manufactures industrial electrical panels. The supply chain issues are hitting us hard. From big items like computerized modules to even basic items like screws and spring nuts.
I repair motorcycles and 4 wheelers, same issue with parts, in fact, waiting on a 2019 Polaris Fuel pump (not crap chinese) from Polaris, nothing available until July, thats 4 months I have been waiting. Love your show, nice to see a REAL HONEST mechanic.
That reminds me of the old 1958 Edsel Tele-Touch system. No cable. Buttons in the steering hub ran a shift motor. People used to cut holes in the floor and install a shift lever when the Tele-Touch went bad. I guess you could just cut a hole in the floor of your Bentley and reach thru to shift manually.
I think there's a grand total of two shops in North America that will even look at a Teletouch. Also, that info is from 10+ years ago, so it might be down to one shop now
I was surprised to hear the name Flying Spares. I didn’t realise they were so significant. I live near them in the UK. I’ve parked up and stood looking through the fence at their yard full of Rolls/Bentleys being taken apart. It’s a weird sight! Amazing work as always, Wizard!
@@frederiquekruger4818 That’s exactly why thieves will steal a car and strip it down to the bare frame, sell any parts with no VIN numbers, and scrap any parts with a VIN…
Just paid my mechanic in Romania 1000 euro to repair my Passat 2008... the list included timing belt, oil, filters, water pump, fuel pump and some suspension parts. Compared with this Bentley i think i made a good deal for a sorted vw.
@@chattifactory I don't think is the wizard's foult. In Romania, the mechanic takes 40$ ( + -) for an hour. Also, we have a lot of VW diesels here. Like, there is a joke that the Romanians learn how to say TDI before mama.. Parts are everywhere, all mechanics know how to work on them so is a lot cheaper to repair a VW here.
@@claudiu998 i get what your saying but there is a reason every single video the wizard makes is basically him trying to defend what he charged people lol
@@chattifactory That claim is beyond idiotic. If you think a good mechanic is expensive, wait until you get a bad mechanic to fix your car and see how "cheap" that will be...
I have a feeling we’re going to start seeing by-passes for these older cars with these electronic parts. This might be the easiest one since it might be *theoretically* (emphasis on that, the beers might be talking right now) relatively simple to have a rod do the work.
Wizard, go to the grocery store with Mrs. Wizard this week and look at the shelves. You'll probably see that a lot of items you thought were common are not available. It's not only auto parts.
Former Bentley Service Manager here - The Arnage and its variants (like the initial Continental) are well built, well tested and great driving financial time bombs. The suspension and brake system shares the same hydraulic system. There's a failsafe built in to the system that is something I'd rather not rely on. Don't be fooled by their beauty unless you can spend $3k to $30k a year on maintenance.
I totalled a 1990 Jaguar not long ago. Not a scratch on it but the list of things it needed reached $10k for parts and that was not for air conditioner or a few other things it also needed repaired. Some pieces had no availability and might never have availability.
I really liked seeing the dash without the beauty cover over it and just seeing how nice everything is mounted under the panel, thats real attention to detail
I work in high-end computer storage, and so far repair parts haven't been a major issue, but building new storage arrays or server clusters is definitely being hit hard by the supply chain issues. A system that previously could be delivered within 2 weeks of being ordered is now taking 2-6 months, sometimes even longer. I expect it's going to hit the repair parts soon; in the past if a system was going to be difficult or expensive to repair the customer would just buy something new, but now that's not an option, either.
I'm finding most parts are easier to get than last year, except high speed network. 10GbE is tough, but 100G+ Mellanox EDR and HDR are impossible. Based on ETAs, Mellanox expects delivery a year after we ordered it
Take the cover off the actuator and check the relays inside, worked on these since they came out and never had to replace one, no ecu involved in the shifting, straight voltage from the shifter to the actuator, check the feeds and grounds, good luck. Ck the micro switch's too
I watch the Wizard frequently and I see both hips needing to be replaced in the near future. I've had it done and it's a big deal. Don't get them both replaced at the same time. That concrete shop floor and the extra weight he carries adds up to about $70K, by the time it's over. Do the rehab work or your back will never be the same. I've learned a lot from your channel.
Why don't you repair everything rather than replace, rear bushing can be done in situ, you can rebuild the rack it's not hard, front bushes can be replaced. I'll bet you can fix the gear control unit too. The modules can usually be repaired by companies that repair them.
Wizard has had bad experiences with rebuilt things. He has to eat the cost of re replacing the rebuilt unit with new, so he doesn't play that game any more @ $200 per hour.
@@JohnSmith-yv6eq That's because he gets other people to repair stuff if he's a real mechanic he would repair the stuff himself, I spent 40 years repairing cars and it's usually a mistake if you expect someone else to do it right, I ended up fixing everything myself and had no issues.
i owned a Toyota Camry hybrid 2008 for 8 yrs., not 1 thing broke or went wrong! Love Toyota, so I bought a 2012 Sienna and a 2016 Lexus NX 200T, both just excellent vehicles. they don't look as nice as this Bentley though!
I own a canoe and kayak outfitting business. Getting new equipment has been problematic the last couple of years. Last year half of my kayaks arrived after we had closed for the season. This year the canoe manufacturer told me they were out of materials to build my boats and had no idea when they could get more.
I recently sold my 2011 Rolls Royce Ghost. I had it for 20,000 miles and it never missed a beat. I ran a 1999 Green Label Arnage from 38,000 miles to over 65,000 miles. It never missed a beat. Both cars were maintained by a good independent and his hourly rate was less than half of the cost of a main dealer. Edit: Prior to my Arnage I ran a 5.0 XK (Portfolio) and the headlight failed. £600 to replace.
Agreed. I have had 5 Jaguars over 20 years. All specialist maintained. Family sedan money to maintain. I also watch these videos and I can never see the justification for these RR/ Bentley/Ferrari/ Lamborghini parts prices.
Consistent $20,000.00 repair bills for other Bentley owners; difficulty getting spare parts for a 21-year-old car; mechanics may have to fabricate the needed parts; $3,800.00 to replace four (4) control arms; both sway bar link replacement $1,000.00; $7,800.00 for new steering rack; left rear strut bushing replacement $1,200.00; both valve cover gaskets leaking $1,300.00; brake master cylinder leaking $1200.00; etc. I could not afford to keep a Bentley on the road.
Spending some time with a pair of vernier callipers and a couple of parts catalogs you will be able to find OEM replacement bushes and steering rack service kits to repair most of the faults.. Fitting a cable form a Chevy transmission shifter and getting the ecu hacked to ignore the lack of servo motor would solve that problem. You can also 3d print gaskets now.
One thing they avoid to talk in the news when discussing about workers shortage is long covid. Many good working persons are in a limbo state with no capacity to work. This problem is so much bigger than we expect, I'm not kidding at all.
Long covid sucks. My dr treats me like a lab rat to keep me alive so they know what to do. No joke when my heart went bananas a year ago and everything was “normal” it took two months to get it under control. Four months later they were having to treat their family members for the same problem using me as a road map.
@@hotpuppy1 you're correct...and no one I know that knows anyone that knows anyone does.... Weird how a supposed 1 million people died yet I can't find anyone who knows anyone in my whole town. You would think I could
You had a Rolls Royce Silver Spur in your shop before right? I don’t recall that car needing 20K in repairs. Silver Spur is more reliable than any of the newer Rolls Royce’s and Bentleys. Of course all these cars need to be well maintained.
Deferred maintenance, those rubber bushings didn't completely disappear overnight. This car probably needed $2,000 in repairs a year, every year, for 10 years, none of which was done, so its all come to a head now. Pay now, or pay more later type of thing
Supply chain issues: I sell commercial doors. We have around a 27 weeks lead time on specialty veneers, not counting our production lead time. We joke that they're waiting for the trees to grow. But the issues are real. Any contractor who signs a contingency contract nowadays is out of his mind.
The jokes about fixing Bentleys and Rolls reminded me of something a mechanic I knew was making fun of a customer for. The customer was losing their S, because a service with a coolant flush was over $1000 on an Audi in about 2008. He said he calmly shrugged and said, "you shouldn't have bought a rich man's car if you cannot afford it." It is that way with all European cars. I worked with a guy, a couple years back, that was looking to dump his nicely spec'ed late model Jetta, due to the insane maintenance costs(not even paying on major repairs yet!). If you are in America, you better be able to afford paying double your car payment every month to buy European cars.
@@johnd8892 Running any car in Australia is stupid expensive compared to other parts of the world, let alone a needy and finnicky overpriced and overrated European car.
@@slasher9883 Everything in Australia is going up. I just registered my 08 civic 5 speed here in Sydney. I am a full licence holder got off my ps 3 months ago. 50 for the inspection, 380 for the NSW Rego, 728 for the CTP green slip and 678 for the third party fire and theft insurance. All up it cost me ~$1700 AUD just to put the car on the road. And that's before you pay almost or more than $2/litre for petrol (or gas as the yanks call it). Then you need to add brakes, servicing, shocks etc onto that. Yes, owning a car is VERY expensive in Australia as the government milk the motorists as a cash cow.
@@davidlp3019 I just paid $978 for another year of rego here in qld. A large chunk of that is made of compulsory insurance. It would be nice to get a discount on that considering I've never had to claim on it in my past 20 years of driving. And I still don't get why I get charged hundreds more for having an extra 2 cylinders, yet I already pay more in tax for fuel and use more of it!
@@jamesr5741 yeah mate it's crazy. My car is just a 4 cylinder sedan. The compulsory CTP Green slip injury insurance in NSW is the bulk of the bill aswell. The licence here is 60 bucks a year aswell, or 350 for 10 years, which goes up every year -_-
Looks like the old saying is true; "If you can't afford to buy a new one, you won't be able to afford a used one." Thanks, Mr. and Mrs Wizard, for yet another public service announcement! ✌️❤️🙂🇨🇦
IKR! $1000 for sway bar links! Last set of sway bar links I bought was for a Lexus SC400 - admittedly it was a long time ago, but I think they were under $80 for the pair from the local Lexus/Toyota dealership.
Supply issues...not recent but my dad owned a 2005 BMW k1200rs motorcycle where the ABS unit went bad in about 2012 or so, so the bike was 7 years old. He was more than willing to pay what he expected to be a huge price for a new one, but every shop told him they cant get hold of one, not even a used one. Same story with the dealerships. He even contacted a friend living in Germany to see if he could get one there and ship it, and it was the same deal. The proscribed fix was to I stall a $20 connector that disabled the ABS without making the bike's computer freak out, and ride real gently when it rained.
I’m an electrical engineer and getting components for building automotive harnesses is absolutely terrible right now. Things that I could get in a day in 2020 takes me a month to acquire now. It’s terrible how much the supply chain has deteriorated.
OMG you saved me!! I was about to buy a 2002 Arnage for 39 Grand with 53 thousand miles stunning car but if parts are that expensive I'm glad I passed too bad about the issues that depreciates the value of a car a whole lot
I spent 3 years in the air filtration industry at one of if not the worlds leading air filtration companies and during the Chinese forced lock downs we thought we were in the best industry. Turns out China bought their own filter making machines from us in 2019 literally months before they forced the world into lockdown. America lost its pigs because ag filters were made my by company and pigs were being pushed into holes in Midwest. That’s why there was a “bacon shortage”. All the supply chains that are suffering are because they didn’t get supply from China before the great China reset.
The timing was very suspicious. The world was starting to call China out for its rights abuses, aggression, and theft. They needed to give the world something else to think about, and while they're at it make some money selling medical supplies and cull their excess population. So they "let" a bioweapon they'd been cooking up slip out the back door of their virus lab.
I had an arnage replaced for a client under the lemon law early 2000s.The car had relatively many minor issues, but the delay in getting parts kept the car in the shop for several months in the first year of service. I suspect its even worse now, not to mention 20 years later. In terms of prices, I was shocked. First year service $10,000. Oil change $1000, replace tire $2500. The straw that broke the camel’s back was a defective dash, which took over 30 days to repair. Bentley agreed to replace the vehicle, but on the first drive of the new car right off the lot, the check engine light on. The owners expectations were that the car could be used as a daily driver, but that’s not the reality with these cars. The dealer provided a loaner, but wasn’t an arnage, rather a “cheap” porsche as the client referred to it.
Very sharp cars… always loved this generation the most. Word to the owner, please untint those headlights. Makes it look kinda cheap. I used to do that with my cars in high school lol.
I remember a friend of my brother bought a used 1971 Rolls Silver Shadow, It went for 24k in 89. He had to stick in another 22k for the suspension and brake system to pass inspection.
I've never understood tinted headlight lenses as a mod. I try to modify headlights to produce more illumination, not less. It never seems like a car has an overabundance of road lighting, and some are just pathetic in stock form. Some of the older Rolls Royce and Bentley models from the 1960's and 1970's, benefited from having their drivelines swapped out with big block Chevys, and a TH400. It made the cars much more drivable, but ruined their resale. With all the crazy hydraulic and electrical systems in these newer models, there's virtually no way to really improve them with just an engine swap. Cadillac really missed the boat by not creating an over 6 liter LS based luxury car, with a 6 or 8-speed automatic. Hopefully, the new EV luxury cars will solve some of these issues.
As a finisher for mostly kitchen cabinets, there are some supply chain issues with a lot of material we work with but not enough to stop us completely. As someone who works in a big video game retail store, there's still supply chain issues mostly in brand new video game consoles but not as bad as it once was
For this kind of money tubular control arms can be fabricated with all new bushings and ball joints. Price about $1,600 Savings = $2,200 . Fabricate sway bar links $250 savings =$750 Steering racks are successfully rebuilt every day. Price = well under $1,000 savings =$5,000. Seriously, $1,200 for a strut bushing? I'm certain a substitute can be found or necessary modifications performed to make another one work. Price=at the top end, maybe $200. Savings=$1,000. $1,300 for valve cover gaskets? Either buy some gasket material and cut your own out, or just use some silicone form a gasket $15. Savings =$1,285. Master cylinder repair kit=$50 at the high end. Savings= #1,150. These repairs can be performed in a perfectly acceptable manner, using industry standard practices for $11,385 less than you are charging this customer, and I estimated high for most of this stuff. Even if you weren't thousands of miles away, you would never find me to be a customer in your shop.
Auto repair videos have convinced me to be very grateful for my 99 Ford Contour. Parts are super cheap, available, and easy to install. It has manual roll up windows and it doesn't wipe my nose when I sneeze or massage my back while driving, but it has never let me down and delivers 35 miles per gal.
I work repairing photographic equipment and I'm having the same problems with parts availability it's killing of potential work and ending up with useable equipment being scrapped I find my self having to find good used parts more often as customers are desperate to get things working again .
This is how bad things have gotten and I fear it will only get worse. This past week I had a problem with getting cat food, I know cat food is not auto parts but it's still a storage. Where I live is not a great place to live (Dundalk MD), if you watch the news this area is bad. Well for 6 days the local store was out of can kitty food, they had the expensive type that most cats hate, but the stuff cats liked was out, I found out why this store was out ,this supermarket chain did not want to pay for the fuel for the delivery trucks, so for 6 days they parted the trucks and stop delivering, now here is the kicker, stuff their stores would make a profit from was getting delivered while the non profit makers would be left at the warehouse. The reason for this comment is to show what's going on across the world, if a company is not going to make a big profit they will cancel the item or not deliver it to the places where you will be able to buy it. I bet you someone has that part you are looking for
Other than the reliability, I don't know why the Arnage gets so much hate. It's one of the most beautiful cars ever created. I fall in love with one every time I see one. Especially the facelift Mulliner T models are to drool for.
@@MrCarGuy Well i dislike this car and brand because of exactly that. Hell, I hate my OWN car when something fails and its a couple of HUNDRED bucks to fix. Luckily that almost never happens
Love isn't supposed to be rational. I don't need a reason to prefer black over blue. I don't need a reason to prefer chocolate over vanilla. And I don't need to justify to other people why I prefer to hold on to my 1988 BMW 750iL instead of having it hauled off to scrap just because somebody else doesn't consider these worth keeping.
3 years ago I seriously considered purchasing one but, not being a mechanic, all I could think of was massive repair bills. I had read that the front suspension had ball joint issues and the bushings fell apart. They are absolutely gorgeous and the craftsmanship is excellent. They require a lot of $$$commitment$$$ and patience.
…and rear brakes. Ownership also means you MUST be a member of the Rolls Royce owners club. Tool rental is free through the club, just pay shipping. Simple repairs like the rear brakes require dedicated tools, and a ridiculous amount of time, but it will save thousands of dollars.
@maxwellspeedwell2585 I do all the basic stuff at home, but needing specialty tools just to do what should be a basic brake job is what puts me off from cars like this. Honestly, I can't see why Bentley and RR couldn't just make their brakes and suspension systems simple to service. I tend to think of luxury partially in terms of durability and reliability, with easy maintenance that doesn't require a loan to buy parts. I know the point is to make the car as smooth as possible in every conceivable way, and who doesn't want that with their road car? But there is a point of diminishing returns that becomes unfathomable for "normal" secondary and beyond owners with basic skills that want to perform maintenance themselves. Yeah, the car was built for the first purchaser, not the second. First buyers live in a different world than the rest of us, and generally don't know or care just as long as the car serves its purpose for a year or two until they buy their next one. Saying all that, if you want to pretend to be a big baller and shot caller, you had better be able to pay up.
Geez Wizard, "the steering rack is $6 grand" and you'll only put a new one in?!?! You can get the rebuilt from Flying Spares for only $800. I realize it's a risk, but at some point the "new" strategy makes no sense. Why not just have them signoff for no warranty coverage. Saves them $5K right there. $200/hr sounds a bit salty...top Rolls/Bentley specialist in NJ, Palma Classics is a shade lower than that. Always thought cost of living was lower in Kansas!! :-) I can vouch that Bentley ownership is VERY expensive and more than Ferrari in most cases, eye watering, but when set up right, it's a really special experience.
I totally agree regarding the three series BMW. It is always been like that from my experience back into the 80s. It seems like there were quite a number of people who always wanted a BMW and finally got to a point where they could barely afford a three series, but they couldn’t afford to maintain them. We used to see them come to the shop and they were just a disaster due to deferred maintenance and neglect.
My 2007 Mercedes S550 may not be hand assembled but it provides a close enough approximation of this Bentley without the headaches. Yes I just said that. Also, I looked it up - my S550 is faster than this Red Label, too....but there is no denying the styling on the Bentley and interior is just gorgeous.
I have worked in printing for over 30 years. We are having trouble getting paper. Something that used to take 2-3 days now takes 4 weeks and in some cases we can't get the paper at all. crazy world we live in.... keep up the great videos.
@@RexKarrs VW own the factory at Crewe and the copyright to the Bentley name. BMW own the Rolls Royce name for cars but nothing more. Back in the day things were different, with BMW very close to the real RR Bentley Co at Crewe. My 87 Bentley Turbo R had a BMW sunroof switch - the very beginning of the end! BMW supplied both the Seraph's V12 and the early Arnage's V8. Customer pressure brought the Rolls 6.75 V8 back into the Arnage. VW outbid BMW in the battle for RR but lost the name to BMW, who were supported by Rolls Royce aero engines.
Even my 1998 Honda Stepwagon nearly fell to the no spares situation. It's an import here in the UK, but the n/s steering rack gaiter was split at it's yearly inspection so it failed, and the garage can't get one. Even Honda UK say there's none in the country! Luckily we have a specialist near here that had a few on the shelf, and one is currently on it's way to me now. I know I bought an import, but it's a Honda, they supply parts worldwide. Except steering gaiters apparently.....
I am an engineer in an technological company related to commercial food inspection. The French fries you eat, the almonds, the potato chips almost certainly have passed through one of our machines. We are having significant issues with parts, mainly motors and electronics with basic chips in them. There is nothing we can do, except come up with substitutes when possible. I have a strong suspicion they have began removing TSMC chip production equipment out of Taiwan and into the US, literally moving the production equipment out of harms way. They have no choice. If China invades they would have to destroy it all, and it seems inevitable China will invade. Of course, this would be related to the military, and kept extremely quiet if it was true. But it makes sense. It explains the sudden loss in global chip capacity, and the absolutely enormous chip plants being built in the US in conjunction with TSMC. China is being cut off from the world. Day by day you hear news of companies pulling out. Just the other day Nike announced they will stop online sales in China. Every day you can read about similar events happening. This pain is necessary. We cannot be held hostage by China. It’s going to get better, but it’s going to take a awhile.
TSMC is building a plant in AZ. not because of fear of invasion.. the demand just from the US market is off the scale.. plus The TRUMP deal make it financially viable (due to raw materials) for them. Even BOCSH has built thier own factory in GERMANY.
i'm a building engineer, we're running into the same problems as well. Big electrical motors for air handling units are backordered for months, VFDs (variable frequency drives) are backordered for a HALF YEAR, and a ton of random parts whether it be plumbing, electrical, or even carpentry are backordered. Many important tenants get very frustrated at us but our hands are tied. We're usually sitting ducks always waiting for parts.
Same supply chain trouble in the concrete rebar cutter bender manufacturer I work at. These machines use components that are common to lots of hydraulic machines, nothing exotic, and it's now rare to have one go straight from fabrication to shipping without stalling and waiting for stuff. Customers are still ordering anyway, and lots are ordering several machines at once.
Exactly. These are hand built cars in very low volumes for the super-rich, hence prices are very high. For one thing, tooling costs cannot be amortised over a run of tens of thousands of identical parts. The problem is then even these cars are a few years old and get bought by people who cannot afford to maintain them
Large shipping companies (companies like Evergreen for example) are deliberately withholding container capacity to keep the supply low and prices high. Some of these “supply chain issues” are quite deliberate. Sad but true.
These kinds of cars are NOT for ANYONE with average or "middle class" incomes. When they're new, you're paying $250,000 for a new car. When they're used, you might be able to afford the $30,000-$40,000 price tag but if you're not at least making upper-middle-class or more you will not be able to maintain these cars. Make no mistake - if you buy one like Wizzard says, that is "sorted" for $35k, you WILL inevitably run into the tens of thousands of dollars in repairs very quickly. It's a used car and they're not Honda reliable. Just because it works fine today doesn't mean it won't break down tomorrow. If you are fainting at Wizard's prices right now, stick with a Honda. Do not buy a car like this. OTOH, having said all that, I'm really disappointed Mrs Wizard did not point out what you DO get for your emptied savings account....... - That "silly putty" interior is hand cut, hand stitched, and hand dyed leather that has been taken from blemish-free cow skin. The Bentley/Rolls-Royce employees actually will waste a LOT of good leather samples that would be perfect for any other car, only because of an almost invisible blemish visible under a laser scanner. They will then cut entire sections of that leather out and throw it away. - The wood trim is hand cut, hand carved, hand beveled, and excruciatingly hand polished - each and every millimeter of wood trim in that interior - The HVAC vents are solid chrome polished brass or steel. If you were to remove one single HVAC vent it probably weighs a couple pounds. Think about that when you look at your cheap plastic HVAC vent in your car that is well, pretty much every other car on the planet. - The quality of the materials and fit and finish in a Bentley/Rolls-Royce is more important to the factory managers than the time it takes to fabricate and assemble it. They pay seamstresses and luthiers for their skill and craftsmanship, not how many they can push out in an hour. The managers at General Motors or Honda factories would have aneurisms trying to deal with that idea. And that's just for the interior....... engine assembly, and then body and paint, are a whole other story of the highest quality superseding any kind of productivity number. So yes, you do get what you pay for...... you're just going to pay one way or another.
I know its not a Bentley or a supercar, but the shop im using for a 2016 S7 is asking 90€/ hour. 200 /h is too much I think. Not even surgeons ask 200/h for a surgery and I know that cause im one of them.
This isn't unique to Bentley. Numerous parts for the 2nd gen 7-series (1988 to 1994) went NLA (no longer available) just FOUR years after the cars went out of production in April 1994. Usually most car factories don't shut down until June or July to retool for the next model year. But instead of running from September 1993 to June 1994 like most cars, the all new E38's (3rd gen 7-series) were on the way, and BMW wanted to end the production of the 2nd gen to make room for the more profitable and much improved E38s, so the 1994 E32's are among the rarest and lowest production 2nd gen 7-series, running only from January through April of 1994.
As a civil engineer rebuilding a train station, I can confidently tell you we are struggling to get certain material. There have been times where we couldn’t get galvanized kindorf struts, so we had to spend the extra money to get the stainless. Weeks and maybe months of wait time for basic items that we used to get the next day.
I wonder if there is a way to bypass that "selector box" and fabricate a rod linkage directly from the column shift to the linkage on the side of the transmission. AKA it will work like the column shifter in your old Chevy truck/American land boat, no electronics. I'm betting that's the hang-up, the computers would throw a fit if you did that.
I work in the tech field, enterprise (not typical IT) so we are ordering servers fairly regularly. We cannot get servers, not due to chip shortage as most people think. It's printed circuit boards (PCB) for us, PCBs are almost exclusively made in China and with their zero COVID policy prevents a lot of workers from going into work. Meaning PCBs just aren't available for things like power supplies. It sucks as we have million dollar projects that customers want but we can't even get materials to start for 6-8 months.
Packaging plant mechanic here. We are feeling the pinch from the supply chain woes as well. Lead time on parts is as much as 6 months. We rebuild as much as we can.
I’m an engineer for a company making stamped steel parts for many of the vehicles you work on - engine mounts, CV axle parts, and electric power steering sensor rings. The steel we use to make those parts has to come from only approved vendors, and in some cases specific mills since these parts are safety-sensitive or exposed to salt water in the winter. Many of those suppliers/mills are at half output.
Also, Russia and Ukraine were major steel producers. Many of Ukraine’s mills are damaged/destroyed and Russia’s steel has been banned from the world market. Things may take a very long time to get back to ‘normal’.
We will never get close to be “normal “ again
@@michaelmaas5544 that’s by design. These politicians / Davos men at the WEF don’t want us having so much prosperity. They want a permanent rentier underclass, not an ownership society.
@@seanwieland9763 this I know. You will own nothing and like it!
Agreed. No going back to normal. Polish that car up and park it in your driveway. Very impressive!
This is the result of participating so much in the global economy and relying so heavily on just in time production.
In 2009 i bought a 1998 Corolla for $2500. It has 236,000 miles on it today and still drives beautifully. I put an alternator on it earlier this year which was about $200. The left axle shaft seal is leaking, and i am struggling to find a new seal. But this Corolla has tuned aluminum intake runners from the factory, and independent rear suspension which is a blessing on the highway.. The engine and transmission (5 speed manual) are still in good kilter. Best money I have ever spent.
In December last year I bought a 100,000 mile, old lady driven 2004 Toyota Corolla CE. Always dealer serviced. I had to do the Cat, both front wheel bearings, and the gas tank heat shield. Love the little beastie.
Corollas between 1997 to 2010 was the best over the best ever builds ones
Boring
@@ThomasTheDankEngine420er yet not so boring that you took time out of your life to respond to it
@@methylbenzodiazepine it's good if you need to save money
I work in a boat building shop in Ontario, Canada. We are having great difficulty finishing boats because we just can't get parts. It was really bad a year ago, then things started to get better for like 2-3 months and now we are getting back-order after back-order...again.
Boat builder in TN here. Same thing. Various random stuff just goes unavailable.
Any chance that’s Rossiter?
Biden
@@7x779 yep. How's Biden's Build Back Better thing going lol
it seems to match the last China lockdowns... everything come from China.
I'm a Patient Care Manager for a Pediatric ER. We have weekly supply shortages. Sometimes these shortages are for very common medications or supplies. It keeps us on our toes juggling resources.
Car Wizard, I work for a major carrier in the trucking industry and our fleet is 33% down. Almost all waiting for parts to fix the emission systems or sensors and computer modules. We've had to fetch trucks from rental companies just to equip all of our drivers.
I just bought three pieces of 1 x12x8' standard pine for $96! The selection was awful too with only eight pieces to choose from. If you're in the construction industry, things are unbelievable right now.
Absolutely having the same problems in the car wash industry.
We're having to fabricate a lot, repair when we would rather replace and wait an incredible amount of time for the things we absolutely need.
It's not getting better, so we have to!
welcome to the third world
Fjb
Can you give an example of what parts youd like to replace, but cannot?
@@james-he7xv Yea, because he's responsible for WORLD WIDE supply issues, and high gas prices. Insert eye roll emoji here.
@@perryelyod4870 glad you agree
I’m a painting contractor
and i’ve had a few weird can’t find issues in the last few years.
1. paint , no paint !!
cannot paint without it !!
2. Tape, blue tape , green tape etc etc.
3. and then just random things like certain roller sleeves.
it’s crazy
Also it’s cheaper to put an LS1 in it !!!
I have so many friends that bought BMW and Bentleys because it was CHEAP! Then came the repair bill and an empty box of kleenex.
Idk man I have a 2010 BMW X5 XDrive30i and it’s been good for 4 years. Just typical maintenance now the new age bmws are higher and more expensive
Over here where they "build" these, well I say build, its more assemble it, you can get a Bentley or Rolls cheap, but if anything goes wrong with it, forget it. I saw one of these for sale at the equivalent of $13k so should it need any repairs makes it completely uneconmical. Beautiful cars if you can afford the repairs they will need eventually and thats if you can get the parts.
AND, an empty bank account!
@@cousinjohncarstuff4568 To be honest, I think that average person bank account is already empty. I know a couple people who get loans for these kind of car and barely getting by making the car payment. Some of these people make the same mistake over and over again despite being told to go buya Toyota instead.
Trying to look rich costs money
Marine electrical superintended here. I can confirm supply chain is a mess. Cable that used to take a couple weeks, maybe a month now takes 16 plus weeks. Messes up schedules big time.
Expensive vehicles require expensive maintenance parts and repairs.
Just because the vehicle itself depreciates and becomes "AFFORDABLE" doesn't mean the parts maintenance and repairs needed to keep it operational do the same.
if you remember he had Hoovies old Turbo R and complained about how much of a POS it was with repairs..seems to have changed his tune on this one, and the same with the Bentley convertible Hoovie has and couldnt sell
This is mostly true, but cars that were produced in the hundreds of thousands have reduced parts prices (for equivalent quality) simply because that is scaled production. They make these parts in small batches and you're assuming a large chunk of the labor and tooling cost
@@lutomson3496 car wizard is a bit nicer to actual customers than hoovie
You have to sell after warranty
Right, the people who buy these for cheap don't realize that's the whole reason *why* they depreciate like they do, because everybody knows what a nightmare they are to maintain and most people don't want to deal with it.
That gear changer actuator on that thing send it to either ECU Testing or BBA Reman (both in the UK) 100% they will manage to repair that and likely without reprogramming
Hi Wizard,
I work in the optical industry (manufacturing prescription eyewear). Getting parts for equipment repairs has been the same story. I know of many optical labs who have had a $200 part fail that should be a simple repair, that resulted in having to buy all new equipment ($80,000), because that's more economical than losing 4 months production time
Obvious question. When was this last serviced ? I would bet a lot of the costs here are because annual services have been skipped and therefore you get the bill all in one go. Also, no matter what you paid for it you are still maintaining a $250k car. And $20k repair is actually less than the annual depreciation on a new one. So you could look at it as a bargain.
Scotty Kilmer would rather buy a 90's truck and put $15k into it than buy a new one.
@@gnomiefirst9201 If you know what's good for you, that used truck better be a Toyota! 😄
Car Wizard, its labor issue, its a big problem. I am having problem getting parts for my non automotive line of work as well.. You're not alone. You may need to have people leave their cars at home until the parts comes in if your shop is getting full unless they're from out of town.
it would be nice if it was that simple but it’s a lot more nefarious than a labor shortage. the labor shortage is part of a way bigger and evil issue.
@@5MGE Tin foil hat time?
@@ttsupra95 if it helps you sleep at night then yea man.. my tin foil hat is chrome plated 3x over. enjoy cars while you can though, we probably got a couple more years anyway. it’s all happening right in front of you and deep down, you know it too.
@@5MGE I can't sleep with the tin foil hat on, it makes crunchy noises everytime I toss and turn thinking about birds being drones......
@@5MGE There's nothing more nefarious going on than an over-reliance on China to manufacture our Western standard of living. Their zero COVID policy of huge lockdowns has destroyed all the supply lines downstream of their factories, which is basically all the world's supply lines.
Wizard, I’m an electrician and we have the same supply chain issues. Can’t get breaker panels, disconnects, smoke detectors and tons of other stuff. Some weeks there’s plenty and some weeks you get told it’ll be a month before we can have that
People outside of Wyoming don’t understand why we hang on to older vehicles. My daily driver is a 1992 GMC K1500. It has the primo 5.7L (350 CID) V8 with a 4L60 Turbo-Hydramatic. It has the simple easy to maintain GM throttle body FI system with a conventional electronic distributer ignition system. Parts are cheap and easy to obtain.
I keepin my 2003 Chevy vans trucks cheap easy to fix junk yards have tons of parts.
350k miles on my 4.3 v6
Original steering rack motor and front end bushings in NYC metro area...Keep that euro trash
I Work in the Hydronic Pump field, for new parts and pumps were are seeing up to 24 week lead times from the factory. We also carry mechanical seals and we're seeing the same thing. Common seal parts are taking 2-3 months to get in. Meanwhile we've seen price increases of almost 30% just this year 😳.
We've been waiting for going on 2.5 years for specific HPC (high-performance compute) servers.
They've taken so long to be delivered that the vendor has (on paper) released a new version and is about to release another!
To fill the gap we spent ~60k on temporary ones that are something like 1/8th as powerful.
Btw. I believe…. Its not a heads up display, but rather a sat navigation system. And the rear mirrors, in theory, are designed to prevent unwanted flash photography (the mirror reflects back the flash from the camera… in theory at least). Beautiful motorcar. Thanks for the video.
Just park them in your driveway to appear well to do. Wash occasionally and dry.
GENIUS
Illegal in many places unless it's registered, licenced and insured.
@@golden.lights.twinkle2329 yes govt wants. your $$
Labor is up to $200hr? Wow! Last time I had work done it was $75-100hr. Yes it’s been a while but wow!!
$200/hr for a Bentley is much cheaper than the dealership.
two gold crowns in 1.5 hours for $1700, the other estimate was $2500, approx cost to get DDM $1 mill.
Car wizard works on a chinese car its just 75 wan an hour
“Labor is up to $200hr? Wow! Last time I had work done it was $75-100hr. Yes it’s been a while but wow!!”
I know what you mean. I have resources for food, sometimes in bulk (by the ton). That also comes with its own set of unusual problems (“what am I going to with 8,000 pounds of onions???). I bought groceries the other day and was absolutely floored by the cost of food!
There is always a silver lining. People like us can now drive a newer Arnage. We can do the repairs, rebuild some parts that might be too expensive to buy, or replace expensive, and complex systems with simpler systems. It would not be inexpensive and it ALWAYS takes 5X longer than expected but it does open the possibilities of opening a few doors, but then, what do I know. I still have a diesel Mercedes that needs to be finished.
“two gold crowns in 1.5 hours for $1700”
WOW! THAT is a lot of money! Good thing you didn’t have to hire a plumber!
I had an Arnage in this same spec. I only paid $20k for it. The quality is the same a a RR phantom. Nearly impossible to find any plastic in the interior. Mine had the shifter actuator problem for reverse though
How were those shifter problems solved?
Who solved them?
I work for one of the largest inbound (into the US) cargo companies in the country and I can say it is likely to get a LOT worse in the next 6-8 weeks as there is likely to be a strike at the West Coast ports.....
Tinted headlights 🤦🏻♂️
Some people don’t deserve a car like this.
“I blackened my headlights so they work less.”
They look well done, still an ugly car tho
🤮
@@blaketindle4703 Now we just need matching tinted tail lights so no one can see if you are braking or turning or see the back of your car at night....
I am in the IT world working for a corporate IT department and yes it’s hard to get laptops and desktops. It’s a 2 to 3 month wait after purchase. I have seen our supplier have 50 laptops in stock and 2 hours later they were out of stock.
I work for a company that manufactures industrial electrical panels. The supply chain issues are hitting us hard. From big items like computerized modules to even basic items like screws and spring nuts.
I repair motorcycles and 4 wheelers, same issue with parts, in fact, waiting on a 2019 Polaris Fuel pump (not crap chinese) from Polaris, nothing available until July, thats 4 months I have been waiting.
Love your show, nice to see a REAL HONEST mechanic.
That reminds me of the old 1958 Edsel Tele-Touch system. No cable. Buttons in the steering hub ran a shift motor. People used to cut holes in the floor and install a shift lever when the Tele-Touch went bad. I guess you could just cut a hole in the floor of your Bentley and reach thru to shift manually.
I think there's a grand total of two shops in North America that will even look at a Teletouch. Also, that info is from 10+ years ago, so it might be down to one shop now
@@11sfr Ha Ha. Not many shops would even know what you are talking about. "A Tele-WHAT!!"
I don't mind cutting a hole in the floor of my Bentley Arnage but I'll *never* reach thru to shift manually. I plan to hire a servant to do that.
@@JasbirSingh-zj1fg How much do you pay per shift (each transmission shift or time period in the car shift? )
No, the shift mechanism communicates with the computer which affects lots of other things like fuel delivery and ignition.
I was surprised to hear the name Flying Spares. I didn’t realise they were so significant.
I live near them in the UK. I’ve parked up and stood looking through the fence at their yard full of Rolls/Bentleys being taken apart. It’s a weird sight!
Amazing work as always, Wizard!
Cars and anything intricate in general are worth more in parts than complete.
@@frederiquekruger4818 yeah, aeroplanes are another good example of being worth more in spares parts
@@frederiquekruger4818 That’s exactly why thieves will steal a car and strip it down to the bare frame, sell any parts with no VIN numbers, and scrap any parts with a VIN…
Excellent company, great service and if you have a Rolls-Royce or Bentley try them first every time.
They and Introcar are the largest RR/B parts sources in the UK.
Just paid my mechanic in Romania 1000 euro to repair my Passat 2008... the list included timing belt, oil, filters, water pump, fuel pump and some suspension parts. Compared with this Bentley i think i made a good deal for a sorted vw.
if you woulda taken it to the wizard that woulda cost you easy 8 grand xD
@@chattifactory I don't think is the wizard's foult. In Romania, the mechanic takes 40$ ( + -) for an hour. Also, we have a lot of VW diesels here. Like, there is a joke that the Romanians learn how to say TDI before mama.. Parts are everywhere, all mechanics know how to work on them so is a lot cheaper to repair a VW here.
@@claudiu998 i get what your saying but there is a reason every single video the wizard makes is basically him trying to defend what he charged people lol
@@chattifactory That claim is beyond idiotic. If you think a good mechanic is expensive, wait until you get a bad mechanic to fix your car and see how "cheap" that will be...
@@redbaron6805 oh calm down
I have a feeling we’re going to start seeing by-passes for these older cars with these electronic parts. This might be the easiest one since it might be *theoretically* (emphasis on that, the beers might be talking right now) relatively simple to have a rod do the work.
Yeah I work on lifts, parts are a nightmare recently!
Wizard, go to the grocery store with Mrs. Wizard this week and look at the shelves. You'll probably see that a lot of items you thought were common are not available. It's not only auto parts.
Even the cheaper store-brand items are selling out where I am leaving only the premium expensive.
$300,000 cars have $300,000 car repair bills whether they are 1 year old or 30 years old.
Former Bentley Service Manager here - The Arnage and its variants (like the initial Continental) are well built, well tested and great driving financial time bombs. The suspension and brake system shares the same hydraulic system. There's a failsafe built in to the system that is something I'd rather not rely on. Don't be fooled by their beauty unless you can spend $3k to $30k a year on maintenance.
Including the BMW V8 ?
I totalled a 1990 Jaguar not long ago. Not a scratch on it but the list of things it needed reached $10k for parts and that was not for air conditioner or a few other things it also needed repaired. Some pieces had no availability and might never have availability.
We are a fiat approved workshop in 🇬🇧 i had one van waited for 9 months for a body control module. I feel your pain...
SUPPLY ISSUES: I waited 11 months for parts for my company. What once took 3 days to arrive now take over one week, sometimes two weeks. Ridiculous.
I really liked seeing the dash without the beauty cover over it and just seeing how nice everything is mounted under the panel, thats real attention to detail
I work in high-end computer storage, and so far repair parts haven't been a major issue, but building new storage arrays or server clusters is definitely being hit hard by the supply chain issues. A system that previously could be delivered within 2 weeks of being ordered is now taking 2-6 months, sometimes even longer. I expect it's going to hit the repair parts soon; in the past if a system was going to be difficult or expensive to repair the customer would just buy something new, but now that's not an option, either.
I'm finding most parts are easier to get than last year, except high speed network. 10GbE is tough, but 100G+ Mellanox EDR and HDR are impossible. Based on ETAs, Mellanox expects delivery a year after we ordered it
Take the cover off the actuator and check the relays inside, worked on these since they came out and never had to replace one, no ecu involved in the shifting, straight voltage from the shifter to the actuator, check the feeds and grounds, good luck. Ck the micro switch's too
that's what scanner danner would say, doubt the wizard would miss cleaning the contacts on relays, idk
@@gnomiefirst9201 Who is scanner danner ???
@@robertcolyer3321 th-cam.com/users/ScannerDanner
@@robertcolyer3321 excellent YTuber that has an extensive auto electrical repair/dx videos.
@@leonardodavinci303 Yes 35 years on these cars. so you can f@@k off, just trying to help the wizard, i think he doe's great work
I watch the Wizard frequently and I see both hips needing to be replaced in the near future. I've had it done and it's a big deal. Don't get them both replaced at the same time. That concrete shop floor and the extra weight he carries adds up to about $70K, by the time it's over. Do the rehab work or your back will never be the same. I've learned a lot from your channel.
Scary! I'd rather try to fix the Bently in my driveway. Much less pain.
A couple of ball joints (not from a Bentley) might suffice.
$20k in Volkswagen parts and repairs on Bentley. The drive line and Alot of the electronics are cross-referenced to Volkswagen /Audi parts catalogue.
Why don't you repair everything rather than replace, rear bushing can be done in situ, you can rebuild the rack it's not hard, front bushes can be replaced. I'll bet you can fix the gear control unit too. The modules can usually be repaired by companies that repair them.
Wizard has had bad experiences with rebuilt things.
He has to eat the cost of re replacing the rebuilt unit with new, so he doesn't play that game any more @ $200 per hour.
@@JohnSmith-yv6eq That's because he gets other people to repair stuff if he's a real mechanic he would repair the stuff himself, I spent 40 years repairing cars and it's usually a mistake if you expect someone else to do it right, I ended up fixing everything myself and had no issues.
i owned a Toyota Camry hybrid 2008 for 8 yrs., not 1 thing broke or went wrong! Love Toyota, so I bought a 2012 Sienna and a 2016 Lexus NX 200T, both just excellent vehicles. they don't look as nice as this Bentley though!
I like Magic Mike's dedication. He puts in so much time at the shop, while still doing his night gig.
Dont forget, he spends a lot of time in the gym too!
I own a canoe and kayak outfitting business. Getting new equipment has been problematic the last couple of years. Last year half of my kayaks arrived after we had closed for the season. This year the canoe manufacturer told me they were out of materials to build my boats and had no idea when they could get more.
Everytime I think the maintenance of my Jaguars costs too much money, I watch a Rolls Royce or Bentley video. And then I am happy again. 😊
I recently sold my 2011 Rolls Royce Ghost. I had it for 20,000 miles and it never missed a beat. I ran a 1999 Green Label Arnage from 38,000 miles to over 65,000 miles. It never missed a beat.
Both cars were maintained by a good independent and his hourly rate was less than half of the cost of a main dealer.
Edit: Prior to my Arnage I ran a 5.0 XK (Portfolio) and the headlight failed. £600 to replace.
Agreed. I have had 5 Jaguars over 20 years. All specialist maintained. Family sedan money to maintain. I also watch these videos and I can never see the justification for these RR/ Bentley/Ferrari/ Lamborghini parts prices.
Consistent $20,000.00 repair bills for other Bentley owners; difficulty getting spare parts for a 21-year-old car; mechanics may have to fabricate the needed parts; $3,800.00 to replace four (4) control arms; both sway bar link replacement $1,000.00; $7,800.00 for new steering rack; left rear strut bushing replacement $1,200.00; both valve cover gaskets leaking $1,300.00; brake master cylinder leaking $1200.00; etc. I could not afford to keep a Bentley on the road.
An EASA certified electrical shop could probably rewind starter motors, or almost anything with a coil or winding inside.
Spending some time with a pair of vernier callipers and a couple of parts catalogs you will be able to find OEM replacement bushes and steering rack service kits to repair most of the faults..
Fitting a cable form a Chevy transmission shifter and getting the ecu hacked to ignore the lack of servo motor would solve that problem.
You can also 3d print gaskets now.
Moral of every Bentley story is don’t buy a Bentley.
Better yet, don't vote for liberals and kill all communists.
Definitely never buy a Bentley that has dollar store modifications to it.
Unless you can afford to own a Bentley, of course. 20K to some people is next to nothing.
The moral of this story is "Don't but a Bentley, unless you can afford to run it" - just like with any prestige brand.
Old Bentley. If you can afford a new one why not
One thing they avoid to talk in the news when discussing about workers shortage is long covid. Many good working persons are in a limbo state with no capacity to work. This problem is so much bigger than we expect, I'm not kidding at all.
COVID is a joke.... Not 1 place in my area that is crying "we can't find workers" is actually hiring anyone.
Long covid sucks. My dr treats me like a lab rat to keep me alive so they know what to do. No joke when my heart went bananas a year ago and everything was “normal” it took two months to get it under control. Four months later they were having to treat their family members for the same problem using me as a road map.
@@stephenbarabas6286 Don't think the relatives of the over 1 million people that died from it so far in the USA alone find it particularly comical..
@@stephenbarabas6286 You obviously don't know anyone that has suffered from it or had a close relative die from it.
@@hotpuppy1 you're correct...and no one I know that knows anyone that knows anyone does.... Weird how a supposed 1 million people died yet I can't find anyone who knows anyone in my whole town. You would think I could
You had a Rolls Royce Silver Spur in your shop before right? I don’t recall that car needing 20K in repairs.
Silver Spur is more reliable than any of the newer Rolls Royce’s and Bentleys.
Of course all these cars need to be well maintained.
Deferred maintenance, those rubber bushings didn't completely disappear overnight. This car probably needed $2,000 in repairs a year, every year, for 10 years, none of which was done, so its all come to a head now. Pay now, or pay more later type of thing
Supply chain issues: I sell commercial doors. We have around a 27 weeks lead time on specialty veneers, not counting our production lead time. We joke that they're waiting for the trees to grow. But the issues are real. Any contractor who signs a contingency contract nowadays is out of his mind.
The jokes about fixing Bentleys and Rolls reminded me of something a mechanic I knew was making fun of a customer for. The customer was losing their S, because a service with a coolant flush was over $1000 on an Audi in about 2008. He said he calmly shrugged and said, "you shouldn't have bought a rich man's car if you cannot afford it." It is that way with all European cars. I worked with a guy, a couple years back, that was looking to dump his nicely spec'ed late model Jetta, due to the insane maintenance costs(not even paying on major repairs yet!). If you are in America, you better be able to afford paying double your car payment every month to buy European cars.
Same issues in Australia too.
Lots of Never Again comments from owners
@@johnd8892 Running any car in Australia is stupid expensive compared to other parts of the world, let alone a needy and finnicky overpriced and overrated European car.
@@slasher9883 Everything in Australia is going up. I just registered my 08 civic 5 speed here in Sydney. I am a full licence holder got off my ps 3 months ago. 50 for the inspection, 380 for the NSW Rego, 728 for the CTP green slip and 678 for the third party fire and theft insurance. All up it cost me ~$1700 AUD just to put the car on the road. And that's before you pay almost or more than $2/litre for petrol (or gas as the yanks call it). Then you need to add brakes, servicing, shocks etc onto that. Yes, owning a car is VERY expensive in Australia as the government milk the motorists as a cash cow.
@@davidlp3019 I just paid $978 for another year of rego here in qld. A large chunk of that is made of compulsory insurance. It would be nice to get a discount on that considering I've never had to claim on it in my past 20 years of driving. And I still don't get why I get charged hundreds more for having an extra 2 cylinders, yet I already pay more in tax for fuel and use more of it!
@@jamesr5741 yeah mate it's crazy. My car is just a 4 cylinder sedan. The compulsory CTP Green slip injury insurance in NSW is the bulk of the bill aswell. The licence here is 60 bucks a year aswell, or 350 for 10 years, which goes up every year -_-
We have massive supply chain issues with sourcing IT equipment. Laptops, chargers, cables, and monitors on back order for months.
Looks like the old saying is true; "If you can't afford to buy a new one, you won't be able to afford a used one." Thanks, Mr. and Mrs Wizard, for yet another public service announcement! ✌️❤️🙂🇨🇦
IKR! $1000 for sway bar links! Last set of sway bar links I bought was for a Lexus SC400 - admittedly it was a long time ago, but I think they were under $80 for the pair from the local Lexus/Toyota dealership.
The old saying in the motor trade was “ if you can’t afford a new one you certainly can’t afford a used one “!!!
Supply issues...not recent but my dad owned a 2005 BMW k1200rs motorcycle where the ABS unit went bad in about 2012 or so, so the bike was 7 years old. He was more than willing to pay what he expected to be a huge price for a new one, but every shop told him they cant get hold of one, not even a used one. Same story with the dealerships. He even contacted a friend living in Germany to see if he could get one there and ship it, and it was the same deal. The proscribed fix was to I stall a $20 connector that disabled the ABS without making the bike's computer freak out, and ride real gently when it rained.
I'm a appliance repair person and we are having the same issues more parts are becoming NLA 😔😔 love your channel
No one wants to work anymore!
I’m an electrical engineer and getting components for building automotive harnesses is absolutely terrible right now. Things that I could get in a day in 2020 takes me a month to acquire now. It’s terrible how much the supply chain has deteriorated.
The Arnage never came with the Bentley V12. That was only in the RR Silver Seraph. The Arnage Green Label had the BMW V8 engine.
Twin turbo M62 non-vanos with heads by Cosworth.
with twin turbos! :)
Thank God this the Red Label with the Rolls-Royce-Bentley L-series V8 engine!
@@one_flew_over_the_cuckoos_nest I had the Green Label engine. It was awesome. Very fast
OMG you saved me!! I was about to buy a 2002 Arnage for 39 Grand with 53 thousand miles stunning car but if parts are that expensive I'm glad I passed too bad about the issues that depreciates the value of a car a whole lot
I suspect it was an Arnage 'T'? If so you had a very close shave as they suffer catastrophic camshaft failures.
I spent 3 years in the air filtration industry at one of if not the worlds leading air filtration companies and during the Chinese forced lock downs we thought we were in the best industry. Turns out China bought their own filter making machines from us in 2019 literally months before they forced the world into lockdown. America lost its pigs because ag filters were made my by company and pigs were being pushed into holes in Midwest. That’s why there was a “bacon shortage”. All the supply chains that are suffering are because they didn’t get supply from China before the great China reset.
The timing was very suspicious. The world was starting to call China out for its rights abuses, aggression, and theft. They needed to give the world something else to think about, and while they're at it make some money selling medical supplies and cull their excess population. So they "let" a bioweapon they'd been cooking up slip out the back door of their virus lab.
I had an arnage replaced for a client under the lemon law early 2000s.The car had relatively many minor issues, but the delay in getting parts kept the car in the shop for several months in the first year of service. I suspect its even worse now, not to mention 20 years later. In terms of prices, I was shocked. First year service $10,000. Oil change $1000, replace tire $2500. The straw that broke the camel’s back was a defective dash, which took over 30 days to repair. Bentley agreed to replace the vehicle, but on the first drive of the new car right off the lot, the check engine light on. The owners expectations were that the car could be used as a daily driver, but that’s not the reality with these cars. The dealer provided a loaner, but wasn’t an arnage, rather a “cheap” porsche as the client referred to it.
Very sharp cars… always loved this generation the most.
Word to the owner, please untint those headlights. Makes it look kinda cheap. I used to do that with my cars in high school lol.
Yeah, same back in the day, however it's sorta counter productive for lights (especially headlights).
I remember a friend of my brother bought a used 1971 Rolls Silver Shadow, It went for 24k in 89. He had to stick in another 22k for the suspension and brake system to pass inspection.
I've never understood tinted headlight lenses as a mod. I try to modify headlights to produce more illumination, not less. It never seems like a car has an overabundance of road lighting, and some are just pathetic in stock form.
Some of the older Rolls Royce and Bentley models from the 1960's and 1970's, benefited from having their drivelines swapped out with big block Chevys, and a TH400. It made the cars much more drivable, but ruined their resale. With all the crazy hydraulic and electrical systems in these newer models, there's virtually no way to really improve them with just an engine swap. Cadillac really missed the boat by not creating an over 6 liter LS based luxury car, with a 6 or 8-speed automatic. Hopefully, the new EV luxury cars will solve some of these issues.
I think the logic is - wearing sunglasses at night makes a rockstar look cool, so now the car looks cool
Tinted headlights....
It beez a ghe-to thang.
As a finisher for mostly kitchen cabinets, there are some supply chain issues with a lot of material we work with but not enough to stop us completely. As someone who works in a big video game retail store, there's still supply chain issues mostly in brand new video game consoles but not as bad as it once was
For this kind of money tubular control arms can be fabricated with all new bushings and ball joints. Price about $1,600 Savings = $2,200 . Fabricate sway bar links $250 savings =$750 Steering racks are successfully rebuilt every day. Price = well under $1,000 savings =$5,000.
Seriously, $1,200 for a strut bushing? I'm certain a substitute can be found or necessary modifications performed to make another one work. Price=at the top end, maybe $200. Savings=$1,000.
$1,300 for valve cover gaskets? Either buy some gasket material and cut your own out, or just use some silicone form a gasket $15. Savings =$1,285. Master cylinder repair kit=$50 at the high end. Savings= #1,150.
These repairs can be performed in a perfectly acceptable manner, using industry standard practices for $11,385 less than you are charging this customer, and I estimated high for most of this stuff.
Even if you weren't thousands of miles away, you would never find me to be a customer in your shop.
Auto repair videos have convinced me to be very grateful for my 99 Ford Contour. Parts are super cheap, available, and easy to install. It has manual roll up windows and it doesn't wipe my nose when I sneeze or massage my back while driving, but it has never let me down and delivers 35 miles per gal.
I work repairing photographic equipment and I'm having the same problems with parts availability it's killing of potential work and ending up with useable equipment being scrapped I find my self having to find good used parts more often as customers are desperate to get things working again .
This is how bad things have gotten and I fear it will only get worse. This past week I had a problem with getting cat food, I know cat food is not auto parts but it's still a storage. Where I live is not a great place to live (Dundalk MD), if you watch the news this area is bad. Well for 6 days the local store was out of can kitty food, they had the expensive type that most cats hate, but the stuff cats liked was out, I found out why this store was out ,this supermarket chain did not want to pay for the fuel for the delivery trucks, so for 6 days they parted the trucks and stop delivering, now here is the kicker, stuff their stores would make a profit from was getting delivered while the non profit makers would be left at the warehouse. The reason for this comment is to show what's going on across the world, if a company is not going to make a big profit they will cancel the item or not deliver it to the places where you will be able to buy it. I bet you someone has that part you are looking for
Other than the reliability, I don't know why the Arnage gets so much hate. It's one of the most beautiful cars ever created. I fall in love with one every time I see one. Especially the facelift Mulliner T models are to drool for.
Did you watch the video?
The parts are unobtainable, need to be dealer programmed and cost an insane amount of money IF they are available.
@@alphatrion100 That's not a reason to dislike the car. It's a reason to avoid ownership. Parts are expensive because so few were made.
@@MrCarGuy
Well i dislike this car and brand because of exactly that.
Hell, I hate my OWN car when something fails and its a couple of HUNDRED bucks to fix.
Luckily that almost never happens
Always been my favorite design bentley
Love isn't supposed to be rational. I don't need a reason to prefer black over blue. I don't need a reason to prefer chocolate over vanilla. And I don't need to justify to other people why I prefer to hold on to my 1988 BMW 750iL instead of having it hauled off to scrap just because somebody else doesn't consider these worth keeping.
3 years ago I seriously considered purchasing one but, not being a mechanic, all I could think of was massive repair bills. I had read that the front suspension had ball joint issues and the bushings fell apart. They are absolutely gorgeous and the craftsmanship is excellent. They require a lot of $$$commitment$$$ and patience.
…and rear brakes. Ownership also means you MUST be a member of the Rolls Royce owners club. Tool rental is free through the club, just pay shipping. Simple repairs like the rear brakes require dedicated tools, and a ridiculous amount of time, but it will save thousands of dollars.
The 4.4 Arnage is bullet proof with no known big issues. It is the 6.75 with its plethora of faults that you should avoid. I speak from experience...
@maxwellspeedwell2585 I do all the basic stuff at home, but needing specialty tools just to do what should be a basic brake job is what puts me off from cars like this. Honestly, I can't see why Bentley and RR couldn't just make their brakes and suspension systems simple to service.
I tend to think of luxury partially in terms of durability and reliability, with easy maintenance that doesn't require a loan to buy parts. I know the point is to make the car as smooth as possible in every conceivable way, and who doesn't want that with their road car? But there is a point of diminishing returns that becomes unfathomable for "normal" secondary and beyond owners with basic skills that want to perform maintenance themselves.
Yeah, the car was built for the first purchaser, not the second. First buyers live in a different world than the rest of us, and generally don't know or care just as long as the car serves its purpose for a year or two until they buy their next one. Saying all that, if you want to pretend to be a big baller and shot caller, you had better be able to pay up.
Geez Wizard, "the steering rack is $6 grand" and you'll only put a new one in?!?! You can get the rebuilt from Flying Spares for only $800. I realize it's a risk, but at some point the "new" strategy makes no sense. Why not just have them signoff for no warranty coverage. Saves them $5K right there. $200/hr sounds a bit salty...top Rolls/Bentley specialist in NJ, Palma Classics is a shade lower than that. Always thought cost of living was lower in Kansas!! :-) I can vouch that Bentley ownership is VERY expensive and more than Ferrari in most cases, eye watering, but when set up right, it's a really special experience.
There are no rebuilt ones available. Email them and find out.
i found a rebuilt one for 950 ebay with a warranty lol xD
I totally agree regarding the three series BMW. It is always been like that from my experience back into the 80s. It seems like there were quite a number of people who always wanted a BMW and finally got to a point where they could barely afford a three series, but they couldn’t afford to maintain them. We used to see them come to the shop and they were just a disaster due to deferred maintenance and neglect.
I would part it out; worth more in spares, most likely.
You'd have to wait years to get your money back all white paying storage costs.
Municipal water - more and more difficult to get EVERYTHING we need - electric motors - chem pumps - repair kits for most items - chemicals etc.
My 2007 Mercedes S550 may not be hand assembled but it provides a close enough approximation of this Bentley without the headaches. Yes I just said that. Also, I looked it up - my S550 is faster than this Red Label, too....but there is no denying the styling on the Bentley and interior is just gorgeous.
That 550 is a monster
@@williebender1895 Then you'll really like my other car. 2004 E55 AMG.
I have worked in printing for over 30 years. We are having trouble getting paper. Something that used to take 2-3 days now takes 4 weeks and in some cases we can't get the paper at all. crazy world we live in.... keep up the great videos.
And the V12 was Seraph only. The Arnage also came with a twin turbo M62 BMW V8. Interiors are near identical.
I thought VW owned Bentley, not BMW. W12 is the VW Phaeton engine, right?
@@RexKarrs VW own the factory at Crewe and the copyright to the Bentley name. BMW own the Rolls Royce name for cars but nothing more. Back in the day things were different, with BMW very close to the real RR Bentley Co at Crewe. My 87 Bentley Turbo R had a BMW sunroof switch - the very beginning of the end! BMW supplied both the Seraph's V12 and the early Arnage's V8. Customer pressure brought the Rolls 6.75 V8 back into the Arnage.
VW outbid BMW in the battle for RR but lost the name to BMW, who were supported by Rolls Royce aero engines.
Even my 1998 Honda Stepwagon nearly fell to the no spares situation. It's an import here in the UK, but the n/s steering rack gaiter was split at it's yearly inspection so it failed, and the garage can't get one. Even Honda UK say there's none in the country! Luckily we have a specialist near here that had a few on the shelf, and one is currently on it's way to me now. I know I bought an import, but it's a Honda, they supply parts worldwide. Except steering gaiters apparently.....
I am an engineer in an technological company related to commercial food inspection. The French fries you eat, the almonds, the potato chips almost certainly have passed through one of our machines.
We are having significant issues with parts, mainly motors and electronics with basic chips in them. There is nothing we can do, except come up with substitutes when possible.
I have a strong suspicion they have began removing TSMC chip production equipment out of Taiwan and into the US, literally moving the production equipment out of harms way. They have no choice. If China invades they would have to destroy it all, and it seems inevitable China will invade.
Of course, this would be related to the military, and kept extremely quiet if it was true. But it makes sense. It explains the sudden loss in global chip capacity, and the absolutely enormous chip plants being built in the US in conjunction with TSMC.
China is being cut off from the world. Day by day you hear news of companies pulling out. Just the other day Nike announced they will stop online sales in China. Every day you can read about similar events happening.
This pain is necessary. We cannot be held hostage by China. It’s going to get better, but it’s going to take a awhile.
TSMC is building a plant in AZ. not because of fear of invasion.. the demand just from the US market is off the scale.. plus The TRUMP deal make it financially viable (due to raw materials) for them. Even BOCSH has built thier own factory in GERMANY.
i'm a building engineer, we're running into the same problems as well. Big electrical motors for air handling units are backordered for months, VFDs (variable frequency drives) are backordered for a HALF YEAR, and a ton of random parts whether it be plumbing, electrical, or even carpentry are backordered. Many important tenants get very frustrated at us but our hands are tied. We're usually sitting ducks always waiting for parts.
golf course industry is also bad with parts for the equipment
Same supply chain trouble in the concrete rebar cutter bender manufacturer I work at. These machines use components that are common to lots of hydraulic machines, nothing exotic, and it's now rare to have one go straight from fabrication to shipping without stalling and waiting for stuff. Customers are still ordering anyway, and lots are ordering several machines at once.
Expensive repairs on an expensive car? Who would’ve thought?
Parts aren't even available.
So basically Its unfixable Junk.
Exactly. These are hand built cars in very low volumes for the super-rich, hence prices are very high. For one thing, tooling costs cannot be amortised over a run of tens of thousands of identical parts. The problem is then even these cars are a few years old and get bought by people who cannot afford to maintain them
Large shipping companies (companies like Evergreen for example) are deliberately withholding container capacity to keep the supply low and prices high. Some of these “supply chain issues” are quite deliberate. Sad but true.
Goes much higher than that, and times it across all industries.
Stick a Cummins in it with an Allison box and the smoke stack straight up from the turbo and up through the bonnet
lol
These kinds of cars are NOT for ANYONE with average or "middle class" incomes. When they're new, you're paying $250,000 for a new car. When they're used, you might be able to afford the $30,000-$40,000 price tag but if you're not at least making upper-middle-class or more you will not be able to maintain these cars.
Make no mistake - if you buy one like Wizzard says, that is "sorted" for $35k, you WILL inevitably run into the tens of thousands of dollars in repairs very quickly. It's a used car and they're not Honda reliable. Just because it works fine today doesn't mean it won't break down tomorrow.
If you are fainting at Wizard's prices right now, stick with a Honda. Do not buy a car like this.
OTOH, having said all that, I'm really disappointed Mrs Wizard did not point out what you DO get for your emptied savings account.......
- That "silly putty" interior is hand cut, hand stitched, and hand dyed leather that has been taken from blemish-free cow skin. The Bentley/Rolls-Royce employees actually will waste a LOT of good leather samples that would be perfect for any other car, only because of an almost invisible blemish visible under a laser scanner. They will then cut entire sections of that leather out and throw it away.
- The wood trim is hand cut, hand carved, hand beveled, and excruciatingly hand polished - each and every millimeter of wood trim in that interior
- The HVAC vents are solid chrome polished brass or steel. If you were to remove one single HVAC vent it probably weighs a couple pounds. Think about that when you look at your cheap plastic HVAC vent in your car that is well, pretty much every other car on the planet.
- The quality of the materials and fit and finish in a Bentley/Rolls-Royce is more important to the factory managers than the time it takes to fabricate and assemble it. They pay seamstresses and luthiers for their skill and craftsmanship, not how many they can push out in an hour. The managers at General Motors or Honda factories would have aneurisms trying to deal with that idea.
And that's just for the interior....... engine assembly, and then body and paint, are a whole other story of the highest quality superseding any kind of productivity number.
So yes, you do get what you pay for...... you're just going to pay one way or another.
$200/hour He's making it big! In my area the most expensive I've seen was $180. I guess if you are good then customers will pay!
Yeah there are many "costumers" in my area for the actors who work in Broadway. lol You cant even spell.
@@mgrsdgfsdafsdgrsdgfsdg6980lol. I "cant" even spell? Can you?
I know its not a Bentley or a supercar, but the shop im using for a 2016 S7 is asking 90€/ hour. 200 /h is too much I think. Not even surgeons ask 200/h for a surgery and I know that cause im one of them.
@@Hbk1998G no you are not. No need to lie!
all relative - check the rates a RR dealer charges
Yeah we have the same supply issues with ATVs. We've been waiting for some headlamps since October 2021.
It would be cheaper to LS swap it with a modern trans, versus trying to keep it going with original parts.
This isn't unique to Bentley. Numerous parts for the 2nd gen 7-series (1988 to 1994) went NLA (no longer available) just FOUR years after the cars went out of production in April 1994. Usually most car factories don't shut down until June or July to retool for the next model year. But instead of running from September 1993 to June 1994 like most cars, the all new E38's (3rd gen 7-series) were on the way, and BMW wanted to end the production of the 2nd gen to make room for the more profitable and much improved E38s, so the 1994 E32's are among the rarest and lowest production 2nd gen 7-series, running only from January through April of 1994.
Good news: the transmission is already the most common choose for LS swaps. It's a GM 4L80E.
Well, until the vengeful spirit of W.O. Bentley attacks you in your sleep. Then there will be medical bills.
@@kevin9c1 And with a different bolt pattern & output yoke!
As a civil engineer rebuilding a train station, I can confidently tell you we are struggling to get certain material. There have been times where we couldn’t get galvanized kindorf struts, so we had to spend the extra money to get the stainless. Weeks and maybe months of wait time for basic items that we used to get the next day.
I wonder if there is a way to bypass that "selector box" and fabricate a rod linkage directly from the column shift to the linkage on the side of the transmission. AKA it will work like the column shifter in your old Chevy truck/American land boat, no electronics. I'm betting that's the hang-up, the computers would throw a fit if you did that.
I work in the tech field, enterprise (not typical IT) so we are ordering servers fairly regularly. We cannot get servers, not due to chip shortage as most people think. It's printed circuit boards (PCB) for us, PCBs are almost exclusively made in China and with their zero COVID policy prevents a lot of workers from going into work. Meaning PCBs just aren't available for things like power supplies. It sucks as we have million dollar projects that customers want but we can't even get materials to start for 6-8 months.
Ya know things do wear out I understand that but with what those things cost I would think with regular good upkeep you should never have a problem
Packaging plant mechanic here. We are feeling the pinch from the supply chain woes as well. Lead time on parts is as much as 6 months. We rebuild as much as we can.