Repair jobs that just shouldn't be that hard

We've all done small repair jobs that leave you thinking "why did they make that so hard".  Well, for me, I'll now always have hateful memories of replacing the heater blower motor on my wife's 2011 MINI Cooper S.  Yeah, berkeley you MINI.  It's tucked up high under the dash.  Why in God's name did they have to put a computer in the way mounted on a bracket made from old Panzer armor with razor sharp edges and a mounting nut on top where you can barely get to it.  And next time, please leave one centimeter of slack in that wiring harness that just barely stretches out of the way, but only if you have u-joints in the middle of your forearms to manipulate everything.  I'll set the damn thing on fire and roll it down the driveway before doing that again.  At least the problem is fixed.

Sorry, I'm low on alcohol and just needed to get that off my chest.  Carry on.

PT Cruiser timing belt, pulling the engine might be faster. 

GM power window motors, they're riveted in and you will bleed. 

V6/V8 Chevy Monza starter, step one is to remove the Y pipe and passenger exhaust manifold. 

Ford 4.0 SOHC passenger side timing chain. Against the firewall so you are pulling the engine. 

B14 Sentra 1.6L water pump

Crank position sensor on a 3100 Malibu. Pretty much everything came off that side of the engine bay including the motor mount. The back 3 spark plugs were pretty annoying too but I finally got them with the right combination of extensions and swivels. I was told to do them from the bottom but for some reason that didn't happen. 

Also not really difficult but silly. I had to make a funnel with a hose on it to put oil in a '97 Mustang GT because the oil cap on the valve cover is right under the strut bar.

BMW 750il spark plugs... fun times charging spark plugs on a SOHC V12 in a car that was designed to fit a V8... it's a 3 hour job even if you're good at it.

Ls400 starter. /thread. 

ProDarwin said:

B14 Sentra 1.6L water pump

 

The 2.0L water pump is just as bad if not worse, and so is replacing the starter. Hateful cars, the B14s.

You guys know the solution: just drive 1960-1980’s GM full size trucks. I’m actually serious.

Or Suzuki Samurais if my memory isn’t clouded.

ebonyandivory said:

You guys know the solution: just drive 1960-1980’s GM full size trucks.

Or Suzuki Samurais if my memory isn’t clouded.

I used to change valve guide seals on the old chevys while sitting on the inner fenders, lots of room.  Also once pulled a Sammy engine, it was out before it even cooled off, but it was a hot day.

My Volvo V70...alternator was as much fun as changing the bevel drive splined coupler.

Alternator in a V6 Kia product requires dropping the subframe about a foot and shifting the engine a bit, after removing the A/C compressor.

Any bulb in most modern cars requires that you first remove the bumper skin to some degree, which isn't that annoying, except for the growing trend of using rivets to hold the fender liner to the bumper instead of push clips or screws.

Checking/adding fluid to the transfer case on a CTS4 requires removing the drivetrain unless you modify the heat shield and make a super short wrench.  (Forget if it's Allen or Torx).  And dislocate your thumb so you can reach your hand up there to move the plug with a fingertip after you break it loose.

There are many Nissan products on the road that require you partially disassemble the rear suspension to remove a brake caliper since the caliper clocking on the upright puts one of the bolts behind one of the link pivots.  10 degrees of rotation either way and it would have been fine.

On that tip, SA/FB RX-7s have one of the caliper bolts directly behind the steering arm.  You either unbolt the strut from the arm, or you loosen the bolt with a box wrench, then an open end wrench, and when the bolt bottoms out against the arm, loosen the wheel bearing so the rotor and caliper can slide outboard and give you more clearance.  10 degrees either way and it'd be fine...

Stampie said:

Ford 4.0 SOHC passenger side timing chain. Against the firewall so you are pulling the engine. 

That was mine.  

Chevrolet Trailblazer t-stat.   

Remove alternator.  One bolt is easier to get at through the fender well.  

Remember when t-stats where on top with 2 bolts?   

In reply to JoeTR6 :

Dude, that is pretty much every modern car, not just the MINI.  It's as if they hang the HVAC assembly on the line and then build the car around it. Blower motor replacement just sucks these days. Fortunately, it's not something that goes very often. I spend a fair amount of time in the MINI world and replacing the blower motor isn't a common need.  You just got lucky. 

In reply to Datsun310Guy :

You should try a T-stat replacement in a MINI.  On the R53 it's buried under the supercharger. Granted, replacing the T-state on my '03 TDI wasn't much easier.

05 ish caravan 3.8l water pump. Most annoying i can remember off the top of my head. Remove motor mount, drop passenger side of engine. Take pulley loose, spin it around while unbolting the pump. Jiggle and wiggle to remove together.  Still wasnt terrible, just annoying compared to my 99 caravan.

The blower motor in my 64 chevelle required me to pull the inner fender. Which turned into pullingthe whole front clip.

Most work on a new MINI is a PITA. They're packed together like cell phones.

Can't think of anything that's terribly difficult on a Samurai. Even the heater box is in plain sight ahead of the shifter.

Heater core on my old Escort. I always use this as a good time to powerwash the carpet and seats and a good clean on all the interior plastic bits as they are all removed anyway!

This is why I propose a "Punch an Engineer" booth at SEMA...bet it would make a fortune!

Bruce

thermostat in a Buick Rendezvous is not much better. Who decided it had to be right next to the exhaust cross-over and under the throttle body?

Going to also add replacing the spark plug leads on a Disco 4.6. You need to remove the upper intake off as the coil packs are between the back of the engine and the firewall and under the intake. Really, who decided that replacing spark plug wires would be one of those jobs that takes half a day?

AC compressor on a mid 80's dodge mini van.   Thermostat on a Trailblazer/Envoy/Rainier.   Late model brake jobs, front struts, on a Lincoln Navigator.  Not difficult, but hard, when you have prosthetic shoulders.  Boy, that stuff is heavy.

Thermostat on an NA / NB Miata is in a really stupid place.  I understand why, but still.

Duke said:

Thermostat on an NA / NB Miata is in a really stupid place.  I understand why, but still.

Not to mention the coil pack. Definitely one of those tasks that seemed to take longer than it should, but I guess it was a side effect of a FWD engine fitted to a RWD car.

MINI's aren't too bad once to get used to the quirks of how they were put together and reverse-engineer that process.  Where it goes haywire is when you try to out-think the engineers. 

Trackmouse said:

Ls400 starter. /thread. 

Yeah.  That.  And anything on an Esprit.

2nd on the LS400 starter.  Heater core on my 94 mustang basically requires you to remove the entire dash along with the steering column. 

Heater core ore in my 190 2.6 was about as bad as the mustang.  

Just recently did e brake pads on a ram1500 truck. Those are no fun compared to any other e brake pad swap I have done. 

The w116 300SD is very pleasant to work on. Mostly. Getting to the hot lead on the starter requires a second elbow and a hand that bends the wrong way.