My car is unusual – a Chery J3.

There are about ten annoyances that came with the car when I bought it.

Normal maintenance shop won’t touch them because that’s an electrical problem. Auto-electrician won’t touch them because they “don’t have the software for that model”. Chery dealers don’t sell or maintain Chery cars any more.

What I need is an old school auto electrician, one who isn’t afraid to use wire cutters to disable a car alarm, or temperature sensor. Any idea where I can find one?

The annoyances are:

1. Air conditioner comes on automatically when we don’t want it to.
Solution – disable this function.

2. Air conditioner after operating about 20 minutes suddenly blasts the interior with superheated air > 40°C for two minutes before resuming.
Solution – either fix this bug … or disable the temperature sensor to have the air conditioner permanently on maximum cooling when switched on, rather than hold to a fixed temperature.

3. Car alarm goes off when boot opened.
Solution – either fix this bug … or permanently disable the noise from the car alarm without disabling the flashing door lights.

4. The “beep” on locking of the car is too loud.
Solution – muffle to reduce the volume by 50% by wrapping in sound-absorbing material.

5. Backing only lights up one rear light.
Solution – wire the second light to the first.

6. Speedometer reads 10% too high.
Solution – is this electrical or mechanical? Change numbers on dial?

7. No reversing camera.
Solution – fit an after-market one.

8. Intermittent windscreen wipers are annoying – when it’s just misty weather then the wipers sometimes run either very fast or not at all on occasions.
Solution – if possible, go back to a fixed-period intermittent windscreen wiper.

9. Cruise control can only be set in increments of 2.5 km/hr.
Solution – if possible, increments of 1 km/hr?

10. Cruise control doesn’t hold speed well.
Solution – don’t fix, I like this, it saves wear and tear on the gears and engine.

mollwollfumble said:

My car is unusual – a Chery J3.

There are about ten annoyances that came with the car when I bought it.

Normal maintenance shop won’t touch them because that’s an electrical problem. Auto-electrician won’t touch them because they “don’t have the software for that model”. Chery dealers don’t sell or maintain Chery cars any more.

What I need is an old school auto electrician, one who isn’t afraid to use wire cutters to disable a car alarm, or temperature sensor. Any idea where I can find one?

The annoyances are:

1. Air conditioner comes on automatically when we don’t want it to.
Solution – disable this function.

2. Air conditioner after operating about 20 minutes suddenly blasts the interior with superheated air > 40°C for two minutes before resuming.
Solution – either fix this bug … or disable the temperature sensor to have the air conditioner permanently on maximum cooling when switched on, rather than hold to a fixed temperature.

3. Car alarm goes off when boot opened.
Solution – either fix this bug … or permanently disable the noise from the car alarm without disabling the flashing door lights.

4. The “beep” on locking of the car is too loud.
Solution – muffle to reduce the volume by 50% by wrapping in sound-absorbing material.

5. Backing only lights up one rear light.
Solution – wire the second light to the first.

6. Speedometer reads 10% too high.
Solution – is this electrical or mechanical? Change numbers on dial?

7. No reversing camera.
Solution – fit an after-market one.

8. Intermittent windscreen wipers are annoying – when it’s just misty weather then the wipers sometimes run either very fast or not at all on occasions.
Solution – if possible, go back to a fixed-period intermittent windscreen wiper.

9. Cruise control can only be set in increments of 2.5 km/hr.
Solution – if possible, increments of 1 km/hr?

10. Cruise control doesn’t hold speed well.
Solution – don’t fix, I like this, it saves wear and tear on the gears and engine.

We have a great auto electrician but we might be a little too far away.

A few years ago, Chery was considered a very unsafe make. There were a whole stack of Chery models rated near the bottom of the pile in terms of safety. Maybe things have improved since the but damn.

There is, unfortunately, not an equivalence between cars of different makes – be it an equivalence of safety (beyond a certain minimum standard that is), technology, engineering, quality of workmanship, cost of maintenance, availability of critical spares and or common ware items, etc…

It seems to me you’ve chosen a car that is well know to be at the lower end of most scales and I’m not entirely surprised by your comments.

As they say, “you get what you pay for”. If you bought this car new then the first thing I’d be doing to going back to the dealer and raising the issues you have, but beware, if you make the modifications you are suggesting you may either void any warrantee that you have or, more importantly, risk voiding your insurance.

This lady could do with a reversing camera, or at least an external rear view mirror.

For some of those I’d try just disconnecting the earth lead on the battery for about half an hour. It can reset a lot of things back to the factory settings.
Before you do that though make sure that you get a copy of any codes that the audio system (and perhaps others) might ask for when the power is back on.

That, and just buy something like a Corolla or Yaris, etc.

mollwollfumble said:

My car is unusual – a Chery J3.

There are about ten annoyances that came with the car when I bought it.

Normal maintenance shop won’t touch them because that’s an electrical problem. Auto-electrician won’t touch them because they “don’t have the software for that model”. Chery dealers don’t sell or maintain Chery cars any more.

What I need is an old school auto electrician, one who isn’t afraid to use wire cutters to disable a car alarm, or temperature sensor. Any idea where I can find one?

The annoyances are:

1. Air conditioner comes on automatically when we don’t want it to.
Solution – disable this function.

2. Air conditioner after operating about 20 minutes suddenly blasts the interior with superheated air > 40°C for two minutes before resuming.
Solution – either fix this bug … or disable the temperature sensor to have the air conditioner permanently on maximum cooling when switched on, rather than hold to a fixed temperature.

3. Car alarm goes off when boot opened.
Solution – either fix this bug … or permanently disable the noise from the car alarm without disabling the flashing door lights.

4. The “beep” on locking of the car is too loud.
Solution – muffle to reduce the volume by 50% by wrapping in sound-absorbing material.

5. Backing only lights up one rear light.
Solution – wire the second light to the first.

6. Speedometer reads 10% too high.
Solution – is this electrical or mechanical? Change numbers on dial?

7. No reversing camera.
Solution – fit an after-market one.

8. Intermittent windscreen wipers are annoying – when it’s just misty weather then the wipers sometimes run either very fast or not at all on occasions.
Solution – if possible, go back to a fixed-period intermittent windscreen wiper.

9. Cruise control can only be set in increments of 2.5 km/hr.
Solution – if possible, increments of 1 km/hr?

10. Cruise control doesn’t hold speed well.
Solution – don’t fix, I like this, it saves wear and tear on the gears and engine.

Most of your annoyances are software related and cannot be easily fixed with a pair of wire-cutters. This is the price you pay for the price that you paid.

Many of the cheap chinese brands suffer from similar unrefinements. They are not designed and built in a way that allows a mechanic to make modifications. They are designed and built down to a price. Sometimes it is better to buy the product that actually works in the way that you want.

fsm said:

mollwollfumble said:

My car is unusual – a Chery J3.

There are about ten annoyances that came with the car when I bought it.

Normal maintenance shop won’t touch them because that’s an electrical problem. Auto-electrician won’t touch them because they “don’t have the software for that model”. Chery dealers don’t sell or maintain Chery cars any more.

What I need is an old school auto electrician, one who isn’t afraid to use wire cutters to disable a car alarm, or temperature sensor. Any idea where I can find one?

The annoyances are:

1. Air conditioner comes on automatically when we don’t want it to.
Solution – disable this function.

2. Air conditioner after operating about 20 minutes suddenly blasts the interior with superheated air > 40°C for two minutes before resuming.
Solution – either fix this bug … or disable the temperature sensor to have the air conditioner permanently on maximum cooling when switched on, rather than hold to a fixed temperature.

3. Car alarm goes off when boot opened.
Solution – either fix this bug … or permanently disable the noise from the car alarm without disabling the flashing door lights.

4. The “beep” on locking of the car is too loud.
Solution – muffle to reduce the volume by 50% by wrapping in sound-absorbing material.

5. Backing only lights up one rear light.
Solution – wire the second light to the first.

6. Speedometer reads 10% too high.
Solution – is this electrical or mechanical? Change numbers on dial?

7. No reversing camera.
Solution – fit an after-market one.

8. Intermittent windscreen wipers are annoying – when it’s just misty weather then the wipers sometimes run either very fast or not at all on occasions.
Solution – if possible, go back to a fixed-period intermittent windscreen wiper.

9. Cruise control can only be set in increments of 2.5 km/hr.
Solution – if possible, increments of 1 km/hr?

10. Cruise control doesn’t hold speed well.
Solution – don’t fix, I like this, it saves wear and tear on the gears and engine.

Most of your annoyances are software related and cannot be easily fixed with a pair of wire-cutters. This is the price you pay for the price that you paid.

Many of the cheap chinese brands suffer from similar unrefinements. They are not designed and built in a way that allows a mechanic to make modifications. They are designed and built down to a price. Sometimes it is better to buy the product that actually works in the way that you want.

Agreed, there are some things I won’t compromise on price… things I eat, things I rest in, things I go fast in, and stilettos.

Have no such problems with my custom Humvee

My name is Chery do you think I am annoying

Arts said:

fsm said:

mollwollfumble said:

My car is unusual – a Chery J3.

There are about ten annoyances that came with the car when I bought it.

Normal maintenance shop won’t touch them because that’s an electrical problem. Auto-electrician won’t touch them because they “don’t have the software for that model”. Chery dealers don’t sell or maintain Chery cars any more.

What I need is an old school auto electrician, one who isn’t afraid to use wire cutters to disable a car alarm, or temperature sensor. Any idea where I can find one?

The annoyances are:

1. Air conditioner comes on automatically when we don’t want it to.
Solution – disable this function.

2. Air conditioner after operating about 20 minutes suddenly blasts the interior with superheated air > 40°C for two minutes before resuming.
Solution – either fix this bug … or disable the temperature sensor to have the air conditioner permanently on maximum cooling when switched on, rather than hold to a fixed temperature.

3. Car alarm goes off when boot opened.
Solution – either fix this bug … or permanently disable the noise from the car alarm without disabling the flashing door lights.

4. The “beep” on locking of the car is too loud.
Solution – muffle to reduce the volume by 50% by wrapping in sound-absorbing material.

5. Backing only lights up one rear light.
Solution – wire the second light to the first.

6. Speedometer reads 10% too high.
Solution – is this electrical or mechanical? Change numbers on dial?

7. No reversing camera.
Solution – fit an after-market one.

8. Intermittent windscreen wipers are annoying – when it’s just misty weather then the wipers sometimes run either very fast or not at all on occasions.
Solution – if possible, go back to a fixed-period intermittent windscreen wiper.

9. Cruise control can only be set in increments of 2.5 km/hr.
Solution – if possible, increments of 1 km/hr?

10. Cruise control doesn’t hold speed well.
Solution – don’t fix, I like this, it saves wear and tear on the gears and engine.

Most of your annoyances are software related and cannot be easily fixed with a pair of wire-cutters. This is the price you pay for the price that you paid.

Many of the cheap chinese brands suffer from similar unrefinements. They are not designed and built in a way that allows a mechanic to make modifications. They are designed and built down to a price. Sometimes it is better to buy the product that actually works in the way that you want.

Agreed, there are some things I won’t compromise on price… things I eat, things I rest in, things I go fast in, and stilettos.

Are you one of these $5k mattress people?

Sell it

wookiemeister said:

Sell it

But frst, replace the bulb in the reversing light.

roughbarked said:

wookiemeister said:

Sell it

But frst, replace the bulb in the reversing light.

It probably only has one reversing light.

fsm said:

roughbarked said:

wookiemeister said:

Sell it

But frst, replace the bulb in the reversing light.

It probably only has one reversing light.

:)

roughbarked said:

fsm said:

roughbarked said:

But first, replace the bulb in the reversing light.

It probably only has one reversing light.

:)

5. Backing only lights up one rear light.
Solution – wire the second light to the first.

roughbarked said:

roughbarked said:

fsm said:

It probably only has one reversing light.

:)

5. Backing only lights up one rear light.
Solution – wire the second light to the first.

There will be no second light to connect to the first.

If these cheap chinese cars were able to be modified and rectified they would sell a bazillion of them.

fsm said:

roughbarked said:

wookiemeister said:

Sell it

But first, replace the bulb in the reversing light.

It probably only has one reversing light.

It hasn’t been mandatory to have to have two reversing lights for a long time now. IIRC the change from two to one reversing light in the ADRs was made in 1989. Many cars (though by no means all) only have one reversing light. The primary function of a reversing lamp is to signal the intention to reverse. A secondary function is to see your way in the dark.

It might be possible to wire in a second reversing light. Some cars do not have the left side lamp capacity though.

Michael V said:

fsm said:

roughbarked said:

But first, replace the bulb in the reversing light.

It probably only has one reversing light.

It hasn’t been mandatory to have to have two reversing lights for a long time now. IIRC the change from two to one reversing light in the ADRs was made in 1989. Many cars (though by no means all) only have one reversing light. The primary function of a reversing lamp is to signal the intention to reverse. A secondary function is to see your way in the dark.

It might be possible to wire in a second reversing light. Some cars do not have the left side lamp capacity though.

There’s certainly been some odd ones. For example there were Mitsubishi Pajero’s sold that had two sets of tail lights on each rear corner. The ones in the bumper-bar worked, the one in the usual place a few hundred mm’s above them didn’t. So a lot of people added the wiring to make the usual ones work.
I say odd, because AFAIK it’s always been a law that if the car is fitted with, say, two reversing lights when only one was required (pre ’89 as you wrote) then they both had to work.

Spiny Norman said:

Michael V said:

fsm said:

It probably only has one reversing light.

It hasn’t been mandatory to have to have two reversing lights for a long time now. IIRC the change from two to one reversing light in the ADRs was made in 1989. Many cars (though by no means all) only have one reversing light. The primary function of a reversing lamp is to signal the intention to reverse. A secondary function is to see your way in the dark.

It might be possible to wire in a second reversing light. Some cars do not have the left side lamp capacity though.

There’s certainly been some odd ones. For example there were Mitsubishi Pajero’s sold that had two sets of tail lights on each rear corner. The ones in the bumper-bar worked, the one in the usual place a few hundred mm’s above them didn’t. So a lot of people added the wiring to make the usual ones work.
I say odd, because AFAIK it’s always been a law that if the car is fitted with, say, two reversing lights when only one was required (pre ’89 as you wrote) then they both had to work.

Yes, it cannot pass the pink slip test if any light that is on the car, isn’t working. This also incudes number plate lights.

Spiny Norman said:

I say odd, because AFAIK it’s always been a law that if the car is fitted with, say, two reversing lights when only one was required (pre ’89 as you wrote) then they both had to work.

Years ago, me and some others had a discussion about indicators and brake lights on trailers.

Some said that they needed to be working to be legit. Others said that if the trailer and load didn’t obscure the indicators/lights of the towing vehicle, then those signals were sufficient for legit use of the trailer.

One person who worked near a police station was deputed to drop in there, and get the definitive word.

He came back with the answer from a sergeant in Traffic Branch that, basically, if a signal light (brakes,indicator, or similar) is fitted to a vehicle, including trailers etc., then it has to be working, regardless of the visibility of other, working signals. If not, expect a fine.

captain_spalding said:

Spiny Norman said:

I say odd, because AFAIK it’s always been a law that if the car is fitted with, say, two reversing lights when only one was required (pre ’89 as you wrote) then they both had to work.

Years ago, me and some others had a discussion about indicators and brake lights on trailers.

Some said that they needed to be working to be legit. Others said that if the trailer and load didn’t obscure the indicators/lights of the towing vehicle, then those signals were sufficient for legit use of the trailer.

One person who worked near a police station was deputed to drop in there, and get the definitive word.

He came back with the answer from a sergeant in Traffic Branch that, basically, if a signal light (brakes,indicator, or similar) is fitted to a vehicle, including trailers etc., then it has to be working, regardless of the visibility of other, working signals. If not, expect a fine.

Before seat belts were compulsory it was an offence to not use then if they were fitted to your vehicle.

Spiny Norman said:

Michael V said:

fsm said:

It probably only has one reversing light.

It hasn’t been mandatory to have to have two reversing lights for a long time now. IIRC the change from two to one reversing light in the ADRs was made in 1989. Many cars (though by no means all) only have one reversing light. The primary function of a reversing lamp is to signal the intention to reverse. A secondary function is to see your way in the dark.

It might be possible to wire in a second reversing light. Some cars do not have the left side lamp capacity though.

There’s certainly been some odd ones. For example there were Mitsubishi Pajero’s sold that had two sets of tail lights on each rear corner. The ones in the bumper-bar worked, the one in the usual place a few hundred mm’s above them didn’t. So a lot of people added the wiring to make the usual ones work.
I say odd, because AFAIK it’s always been a law that if the car is fitted with, say, two reversing lights when only one was required (pre ’89 as you wrote) then they both had to work.

There was height stuff, too. For instance, my 60 series Landcruiser wagon (manufactured Dec 1980) had to have its number plate mounted in the bumper bar, because the originally designed place in the lower rear tail-gate was above the then-specified maximum height of 900 mm. That height was changed to 1200 mm some years later. I could have changed it upwards then, but I didn’t bother.

Tamb said:

captain_spalding said:

Spiny Norman said:

I say odd, because AFAIK it’s always been a law that if the car is fitted with, say, two reversing lights when only one was required (pre ’89 as you wrote) then they both had to work.

Years ago, me and some others had a discussion about indicators and brake lights on trailers.

Some said that they needed to be working to be legit. Others said that if the trailer and load didn’t obscure the indicators/lights of the towing vehicle, then those signals were sufficient for legit use of the trailer.

One person who worked near a police station was deputed to drop in there, and get the definitive word.

He came back with the answer from a sergeant in Traffic Branch that, basically, if a signal light (brakes,indicator, or similar) is fitted to a vehicle, including trailers etc., then it has to be working, regardless of the visibility of other, working signals. If not, expect a fine.

Before seat belts were compulsory it was an offence to not use then if they were fitted to your vehicle.

the rules of vehicles are some of the most discretionary rules we have. My dads old Holden Kingswood had seatbelts in the front seats but not the back and I remember dad being pulled over once for not wearing his seatbelt and my dad said something to the officer, who laughed in response and then just told him to at least throw it over his shoulder while driving. It’s not mandatory to have a baby seat… you can hold a child on your lap as long as they aren’t strapped in with you… there is no rule (only recommendations) on this and other child carrying things. I know this because when I tried to figure out how to baby seat my children in the Super Happy Fun Bus (to the purists known as a Toyota hiace) where the seats were converted due to wheelchair conversion, no-one from the dept, knew what the ‘safest place’ was.

Michael V said:

There was height stuff, too. For instance, my 60 series Landcruiser wagon (manufactured Dec 1980) had to have its number plate mounted in the bumper bar, because the originally designed place in the lower rear tail-gate was above the then-specified maximum height of 900 mm. That height was changed to 1200 mm some years later. I could have changed it upwards then, but I didn’t bother.

In Qld, that’s the ‘Transport Operations (Road Use Management—Vehicle Registration) Regulation 2010’, Part 30.

https://www.legislation.qld.gov.au/view/whole/html/inforce/2016-06-17/sl-2010-0191

Spiny Norman said:

For some of those I’d try just disconnecting the earth lead on the battery for about half an hour. It can reset a lot of things back to the factory settings.
Before you do that though make sure that you get a copy of any codes that the audio system (and perhaps others) might ask for when the power is back on.

That, and just buy something like a Corolla or Yaris, etc.

Switch it off and on again.

No. These are annoyances that were all part of default mode as it came from the factory

.

mollwollfumble said:

My car is unusual – a Chery J3.

There are about ten annoyances that came with the car when I bought it.

Normal maintenance shop won’t touch them because that’s an electrical problem. Auto-electrician won’t touch them because they “don’t have the software for that model”. Chery dealers don’t sell or maintain Chery cars any more.

What I need is an old school auto electrician, one who isn’t afraid to use wire cutters to disable a car alarm, or temperature sensor. Any idea where I can find one?

The annoyances are:

1. Air conditioner comes on automatically when we don’t want it to.
Solution – disable this function.

2. Air conditioner after operating about 20 minutes suddenly blasts the interior with superheated air > 40°C for two minutes before resuming.
Solution – either fix this bug … or disable the temperature sensor to have the air conditioner permanently on maximum cooling when switched on, rather than hold to a fixed temperature.

3. Car alarm goes off when boot opened.
Solution – either fix this bug … or permanently disable the noise from the car alarm without disabling the flashing door lights.

4. The “beep” on locking of the car is too loud.
Solution – muffle to reduce the volume by 50% by wrapping in sound-absorbing material.

5. Backing only lights up one rear light.
Solution – wire the second light to the first.

6. Speedometer reads 10% too high.
Solution – is this electrical or mechanical? Change numbers on dial?

7. No reversing camera.
Solution – fit an after-market one.

8. Intermittent windscreen wipers are annoying – when it’s just misty weather then the wipers sometimes run either very fast or not at all on occasions.
Solution – if possible, go back to a fixed-period intermittent windscreen wiper.

9. Cruise control can only be set in increments of 2.5 km/hr.
Solution – if possible, increments of 1 km/hr?

10. Cruise control doesn’t hold speed well.
Solution – don’t fix, I like this, it saves wear and tear on the gears and engine.

1. Dunno, does it have climate control?

2. Dunno. Try https://www.easycarelectrics.com/car-air-conditioner-blows-cold-then-warm/

3. Find the car alarm and cut the wire to it, unless the “alarm” is the horn?

4. Find the beeper and zip tie a rag around it, the more times around, the quieter it gets.

5. Buy and mount a small white LED light and wire it to the functioning reverse light.

6. Change the numbers on the dial. I have done this with a white paint pen, using dots rather than trying to write numbers. Calibrate it with a GPS speed app on your phone.

7. While you are wiring up the reversing light, wire in a reverse camera to it.

8. That’s very difficult to change electrically, you may need to just put up with it. You could try spraying some DWF along the base of the windscreen to “clean” the sensor.

9. Requires a major software change. Too difficult to fix, just learn to live with it.

10. Sounds like it’s not a problem. Happy days.