When has a car's design turned a simple job into a torture test for you?

The alternator on my father 2005 focus zx3 wasn't very fun.  Tucked up under the exhaust manifold.  Ford had to install a plastic shroud on it.  The shroud prevents you from disconnecting the plug, so you have to loosen the shroud to get the plug off. Only way I got plug off old one is accidently dropping it, plug popped off   Removing the alternator bolts wasn't bad but to deliver the baby you loosen the bottom dogbone and push engine forward, you'll know the alternator is free when it drops like a stone on the ground.  Installing wasn't fun either, just really tight.  

IIRC the way involves removing the studs on the engine and slipping it under the exhaust manifold.  Definitely the studs have to come out, thankfully Ford has hexes on them for R&I.

MrJoshua said:

A clutch job on our '12 WRX is proving to be waaay more time consuming than it should be. Mostly because I kept doing the-I shouldn't have to remove that part, crap, I do have to remove that part. Combine the everything is in the way, and, yaay awd, with the fact that my 15yo is learning to drive by using my 4 runner to play dominoes with my sons TT and the WRX and knock it off of the jackstands, and its even more fun. Fixing a hole in the floor and re-rounding a few things that were now oval was actually one of the easier parts of the job. 

Trans stays in, engine comes out. IIRC it is 6 hours for engine R&R and seven for trans.

Toyman! said:

To add to my above list. 

1987 Lincoln Towncar water pump. 

Everything on the front of that engine is bolted in front of the water pump. To start removing the water pump, you must first unbolt every accessory and bracket from the front of the engine. 

Yup. Ford water pumps are a pain. I nicknamed them the "Zen water pump" because they are one with everything.

When I worked at Mustangs Unlimited I was tasked with creating engine bolt kits. Once you started hitting water pump variations, the part number permutations exploded. And the owner being the completionist that he was didn't understand why we balked at pre-boxing them up rather than kitting them at time of purchase.

NickD said:

The early Colorado/Canyon also suck. They have the stupid design where the rotor bolts to the back of the hub. So, at least around here in the rust belt, a brake job turns into a $1000 job, because you have to replace hubs, rotors and pads. Also, to pull the valve cover or replace spark plugs on the 2.8L/2.9L/3.5L/3.7L, you have to remove the intake manifold, which in turn requires pulling the front wheel well, alternator, intake manifold, and some other stuff I can't remember. It's been a while, but it was pretty roundabout.

I'd read what a nightmare it was doing those front brakes and wasn't looking forward to doing mine. Fortunately they're huge for the size of the vehicle and last a long, long time. Mine's an 11 with 220k, original rotors and I had the first one off in 15 minutes, the second in 10. I couldn't believe how easy it was after reading what a bitch they are.

Did the plugs too, intake did not need to come off.

And you work in a dealership. Isn't every brake job $1000?

Oil change on the 3.5 in the LH chassis.

If for whatever reason that filter gets stuck to the block, there is no room to get any tool on the filter to turn it at all as its situated between the thermostat housing and the engine mount, under the exhaust manifold and just above the subframe. And for whatever reason, every oil change it gets stuck regardless of what I tried during installation so it was always a fight to remove it.

It's now relocated on my car now tho, I need to remove the headlight to access if but gives me a chance to inspect the lines to the cooler at the same time atleast. 

Mr. Peabody said:

NickD said:

The early Colorado/Canyon also suck. They have the stupid design where the rotor bolts to the back of the hub. So, at least around here in the rust belt, a brake job turns into a $1000 job, because you have to replace hubs, rotors and pads. Also, to pull the valve cover or replace spark plugs on the 2.8L/2.9L/3.5L/3.7L, you have to remove the intake manifold, which in turn requires pulling the front wheel well, alternator, intake manifold, and some other stuff I can't remember. It's been a while, but it was pretty roundabout.

I'd read what a nightmare it was doing those front brakes and wasn't looking forward to doing mine. Fortunately they're huge for the size of the vehicle and last a long, long time. Mine's an 11 with 220k, original rotors and I had the first one off in 15 minutes, the second in 10. I couldn't believe how easy it was after reading what a bitch they are.

Did the plugs too, intake did not need to come off.

And you work in a dealership. Isn't every brake job $1000?

I misremembered on the sparkplugs, but it does need to come off to remove the valve cover.

Our brakes used to be $125 an axle for pads and rotors on most vehicles. HD trucks, especially duallies, Corvettes, Camaros, and Colorado/Canyons were the exceptions. Now, so many relatively mundane vehicles have gotten absurdly pricey to do brakes on, like the new Silverado/Sierras or most Cadillacs. 

In reply to DjGreggieP :

Yah, the oil filter pad made sense when it was a 3.3l pushrod engine in a transverse application.

But GM has no excuse for the High Feature oil filters.  Transverse the filter is on a pad over the engine mount in such a way that it drools all over and WILL leave a drops on the customer's nice white driveway, or in their parking garage where they have a clause that cars may not leave oil stains on the ground Or Else.

Longitudinal, they have a nice remote mounted cartridge filter next to the left valve cover.  There is room for this in the transverse applications.

In reply to NickD :

And the usual reason you do plugs is because the valve cover leaked into the wells and the plugs and boots are now carbon tracked on the outside.

Pete. (l33t FS) said:

In reply to NickD :

And the usual reason you do plugs is because the valve cover leaked into the wells and the plugs and boots are now carbon tracked on the outside.

Or the PCV valve integrated into the valve cover freezes up in the winter and blows the rear main seal out. I've seen that a couple times. I also had one where, on a well-maintained vehicle with relatively low miles, the camshaft actuator couldn't hold position and the cam timing would wander around and set a CEL.

I can offer the final stage resistor on a BMW E46. Fortunately, I did mine whilst the seats were out. You can't really see the part that you're trying to remove, and in my case, my 50 something eyes couldn't focus that close to see the fasteners. Everything was done by feel and I spent some time praying that I'd never have to do that job again. Some people of the E46 forum claim it can be done with the seats in place, but clearly they are more limber than a 14yr old gymnast.

A more eclectic job is the thermostat bypass hose on an original Mini. Again, you can feel it but cannot see it and the design calls for the cylinder head to be removed to get a small hose in place. I cursed Sir Alec constantly over that job.

2002-2005 Explorer rear wheel bearings. Made from jellybeans and bubble gum. Regularly fail between 30-60k miles. 

To remove them, whole knuckle needs to come off including rear toe link if it gets frozen(which it ALWAYS does). 

You then end up buggering up the balljoints on both the control arm and tie rod while removing them. 

That doesnt even include the press ruining 20+ tons worth of pressure it takes to remove a rust encompassed version.

The worst of all? This is on a truck where the owners dont give a flying E36 M3 if the wheel comes flying off knowing it will cost them $1000+ to get repaired. Many of times had to get the owner to sign a statement that they cannot hold our dealer liable if the wheel comes flying off on their way out of the dealer. 



I wont even go back into the Contour. I have detailed my rage inducing experiences with the V6 and SVT Contour. Just an abysmal car in every form.

Pete. (l33t FS) said:

MrJoshua said:

A clutch job on our '12 WRX is proving to be waaay more time consuming than it should be. Mostly because I kept doing the-I shouldn't have to remove that part, crap, I do have to remove that part. Combine the everything is in the way, and, yaay awd, with the fact that my 15yo is learning to drive by using my 4 runner to play dominoes with my sons TT and the WRX and knock it off of the jackstands, and its even more fun. Fixing a hole in the floor and re-rounding a few things that were now oval was actually one of the easier parts of the job. 

Trans stays in, engine comes out. IIRC it is 6 hours for engine R&R and seven for trans.

As crazy as that sounds at first read, that makes a lot of sense.

I'm still not done with this cursed job. I am currently fighting with  1/3 of the approximately 50 bolts (slightly exaggerated)  holding the turbo heat shield on that don't even come close to lining up with the intended hole.

In reply to MrJoshua :

There is a good reason why those shields are usually left off  They never line up again even if the bolts come out in one piece.

You folks are making me not want to work on my cars any more.

Duke said:

You folks are making not want to work on my cars any more.

Same. I have zero interest in working on modern cars. It's a good thing they're so capable and reliable these days.

I've been trying to think of a good example, I mean, I've been doing this long enough. The best I could come up with is when I was doing my apprenticeship we seemed to get a lot of Ford V8's that needed water pumps. I don't think I ever did one without breaking bolts off in that stupid aluminum casting between the motor and the pump..

Motor mounts on the 1st gen CTS-V. They're fluid filled, so they failed pretty regularly, especially if you shift with enthusiasm. One of them is fairly easy to get to, but the other involves you fisting the subframe all the way up to your shoulder and trying to remove the bolts completely blind. I ended up rounding one of them off, so I spent about 6 hours with a dremel trying to mold it back into a shape that would grant my socket some traction. 

God, this thread gives me the willies. I'm thinking of pretty much every job I ever do!