You Won't Believe This

Certain cars cost quite a bit of money to buy and maintain. The more expensive the car, the better the brand the more you pay.

So when something goes wrong on an Aston Martin DB9 convertible, would you just throw it at the dealer with a note to fix it whatever the cost ?

As cars get more complex, lifting up the bonnet seems like a waste of time.  You may be able to check oil and water but that's about it.  Gone are the days of changing your own oil and plugs.  How old do I sound ?  But I don't think a bit of basic knowledge about how a car works ever does any harm.

Back to the Aston in question.  The problem is the drivers door window is down and refusing to go up.  So you could just drive it to the nearest main dealer.  But I like a bit of a challenge and the dodgy window in my BMW convertible was just a switch, and that was a five minute fix.

The sensible place to start would be to check the fuse.  First thing you need to do is find the fuse box.  This car has three according to the manual.  One in the engine bay, one in the passenger foot well and one  in the boot.  So far so easy.  For the passenger compartment the fuse box I need was in the passenger foot well.  I hunted high and low practically standing on my head to find it.  Nope no fuse box.  I'm not really that stupid am I ?  There was nothing else for it but to get on the phone to Aston and admit that I couldn't find a fuse box.

Lovely lady put me on hold for a few minutes then came back to inform me as to how to find it.  What you have to do it lift the carpet and you will find an inspection panel with seven star head screws, remove the panel and you should find the fuse box.  Simple.  Except I didn't have a hex headed screw driver.  Flat yes, phillips yes but not the one I want.  As yet I still have to get back to the car and decide whether it is the fuse, or switch or relay or regulator.  Watch this space.

This also has to go down as the most difficult to find fuse box in all the cars I have known.  The car where it is easy to find but you have to stand on your head to get to it, is a Mazda MX5,  if mine ever blows another fuse the garage can have it.  So do you know of any others that are more difficult to find/get to ?