Ford Escape 2.3 alternator. That cooling duct was a total nightmare. Having fat hands didnt help either.
Or SVT Contour / Cougar V6 shifter cables, intake gaskets or rear catalytic converters. berkeley that platform. I hate every single Probe/Contour/Cougar/X-type. I hope they all rust in hell.
In reply to kevinatfms :
The converter is a pain in the ass even with the drivetrain and subframe sitting on the ground!
I did two X-type engines one month. For some reason weird things always come in pairs.
In reply to ShawnG :
I thought the FWD was the one with the distributor buried against the fire wall and needed to open the AC to move a unit.
At least it was on the one I tried to replace the cap.
iceracer said:In reply to ShawnG :
I thought the FWD was the one with the distributor buried against the fire wall and needed to open the AC to move a unit.
At least it was on the one I tried to replace the cap.
You could be right, it's probably been 20 years since I serviced either one.
I owned a Fiero and wrenched on a Pontiac Phoenix for a friend and I remember servicing one of them and thinking "Well, that's really stupid" about one or the other.
Chev Monza V8 - had to unbolt the engine and lift it up to replace the rear spark plugs.
MGA Twin Cam (I own and raced these cars) - assembled at the factory by dropping the body onto the chassis with drive line already installed. Impossible to access lower part of engine - solution, retrofit removable inner fenders. Same car - setting distributor advance on hot engine required snaking hand between hot water outlet and blazing hot exhaust header, blind, while trying to loosen adjusting bolt by feel.
Jaguar Mk 2 - almost impossible to remove starter with engine in place - solution was to drill access holes and use a special set up with both attaching bolts welded to a 'U' shaped strap of metal.
And there were lots of cars that needed the engine removed to replace a clutch.
vwcorvette said:Re: drilling holes for access. I worked for a guy who told me that at the shop he was foreman they would drill holes in the firewall from the passenger compartment of various cars to do certain jobs then weld em back up. Took less time than book rate.
Oh my goodness. I am not a litigious person, but if I found out a shop I took my car to did that I would sue them. That's just plain lazy and horrible. I'm willing to bet they even still charged book rate for the job.
On the subject of this thread: headlights in most modern cars. They're a known consumable, but you make me remove anything at all to get to them? Much less something major? Ridiculous!!
The rear coil spring in the Taurus X was a total bastard. I even had the right tool to remove the shocks, but I noticed in the manual that the shock tool was good for "all cars except late model Fords." THANKS A TON FORD. I ended up making a tool that worked well enough to get the one job done but would never work again.
Front control arms for my Mazda 6 required purchase of a high strength balljoint separator. They have SIX ball joints in the front suspension (three each side) and four of them are so tight a standard ball joint tool just spreads open. Even with the specified OTC tool, the tool was just about worn out after only doing those four ball joints.
How about a ps pump on a br body cummins? It's on the back of a vacuum pump(?) and completely obscured by everything.
Replacing a fender on a first-gen LS400—there are around 20 or so fasteners holding it to the car, a few of which are accessible by feel only. And that's AFTER the fender liner is out. It took me over an hour to remove it the first time. Legend has it Toyota spent a billion dollars developing this car and I am convinced that a good chunk of that went to some sort of fender complexity engineering division.
First gen prius. It has brake by wire so you have to make sure the battery is unplugged when you do pads or else it will lose its mind and pressurize the caliper to death. Additionally, the only correct way to flush brakes is at the dealer with some special machine, but it kinda-sorta works if you have the car on jackstands, and running.
Lift pump on P-Pumped 12 valve Dodge Ram.
On the side of the engine.
Too high to get it from the bottom
Too low to get it from the top
Permanent inner fender liners so you can't get it from the side.
I ended up laying on the engine to do it. Was horrible.
Replacing the cabin filters in a 09 Mazda 3.
Another one that really pissed me off. 2003+ Expedition with the 5.4L 3 valve engine required the A/C to be drained to pull the passenger side valve cover. These trucks were notorious for the cam phaser issues and oil debris which always required the cam covers to come off.
So when the owner gets the bill you better be miles away before that gasket blows.
Or the stupid 2 piece spark plugs and the Lisle tool in all the 3 valves.
Navigator 5.4 4 valve and replace the intake manifold gaskets. I had to lay overtop of the engine for 2 hours trying to get one bolt to 1/4 turn because they couldn't move the cowl panel back by 1 inch.
Explorer 4.0L SOHC timing chains on the back of the engine. First step in workshop manual was to remove engine. First thing to go bad on those earlier engines - the back timing chain "cassette" tensioners.
I guess this also qualifies.
On the Pontiac Solstice coupe, if a taillight burns out, you have to remove a rear wheel, remove the inner fender liner and then remove the light retaining points and get out from under the car to pull the light out. Then change the bulb (and test it) before reassembling the car.
My 1950s sports cars that took two screws and 5 minutes to change sure seem like a better way to do things....
Removing the crank pulley on a Ford 2.5 4 cylinder. (2009 escape)
Turns out the crank pulley holds the crank timing sprocket in place with pressure/friction from the crank bolt. There is no pin, and no marks. even if you make your own mark on the crank pulley, and take care to not allow the crank to turn, there's no way to ensure the timing chain crank sprocket didn't slip from the cams sliding off a lobe. Therefor, if you remove torque from the crank bolt at all, you must re-time the interference engine. Takes some special tools, after removing the valve cover and a access plug. Thankfully I learned this before attempting reassembly and hitting the key. Apparently many poor souls have killed the engine not knowing this Ford quirk. Good times.
wspohn said:I guess this also qualifies.
On the Pontiac Solstice coupe, if a taillight burns out, you have to remove a rear wheel, remove the inner fender liner and then remove the light retaining points and get out from under the car to pull the light out. Then change the bulb (and test it) before reassembling the car.
My 1950s sports cars that took two screws and 5 minutes to change sure seem like a better way to do things....
My guess is the Solstice shares my favorite - with my wife's Sky RL you had to remove the fender just to change the battery, and there was one screw that I don't know how they expect you to get to it, but I got lucky with a flexible screwdriver.
Ford Flex water pump.
M2Pilot said:Ford Flex water pump.
Those can at least be done in-chassis.
In reply to Knurled. :
Buy why?The leaking water pump will have flooded the engine oil with coolant and destroyed the bearings before you notice anyway, so you'll already have the engine out.
In reply to TGMF :
Not always. Every one I have seen (both of them) made themselves known by coolant drooling out the exit hole on the left side of the block, over the A/C compressor, long before going into oil flood mode.
Chrysler 2.7s are the same way, and the various Japanese engines with chain driven water pumps.
Wanna replace the shift knob on a G35/350Z without completely destroying it? Have fun, the OEM one is threadlocker'd in place.
Anything on a previous-generation beetle.
I have to laugh (not that its a super-hard job)... in one version of the GM B-body manual, it says to R&R the passenger engine mount, you are supposed to take off the A/C compressor and set it aside. Then in another manual, it says to R&R the A/C compressor, you need to take out the passenger side engine mount.
Both are a PITA.
Dad just had the transmission - transfer case adapter replaced on his Duramax. It developed a crack.
Easiest way to do it (probably the only way to do it) is to remove the transmission. The adapter is not just a tube with some seals, it has a whole plate and spring assembly that is impossible to install horizontally. You have to take the transmission out and set in on its snout.
cyow5 said:My guess is the Solstice shares my favorite - with my wife's Sky RL you had to remove the fender just to change the battery, and there was one screw that I don't know how they expect you to get to it, but I got lucky with a flexible screwdriver.
Yup - the same car with different exterior stuff hung on.
Battery is actually not as big a deal as it sounds. I left the dust/dirt on my lower front fender and it nicely outlined the bolt locations to reinstall the fender - went back on perfectly first time, after which I then cleaned the fender. Really no worse than my old MGs that had twin 6 V batteries back near the rear end, accessed through a hatch behind the seats. Good idea to have more cranking time with the twin batteries, but bad trade off for double the clamp connections you had to maintain to get the car to start. We always used to replace the 6's with a single small 12 V battery.
M2Pilot said:Ford Flex water pump.
Is this the Ford V-6 where they brilliantly placed the water pump under the timing chains?
MrFancypants said:M2Pilot said:Ford Flex water pump.
Is this the Ford V-6 where they brilliantly placed the water pump under the timing chains?
Yes, because water pumps generally last longer than the normal lifespan of a vehicle, and so the packaging benefits greatly outweigh the potential maintenance issues.
They are not the first people to drive the water pump by the timing chain, and they won't be the last.
Knurled. said:Yes, because water pumps generally last longer than the normal lifespan of a vehicle, and so the packaging benefits greatly outweigh the potential maintenance issues.
BullE36 M3. Just about anything with a timing belt driven water pump gets the pump swapped when the timing belt is done. And anything I know of with an external water pump ends up needing one replaced due to failure at some point in its life. Usually not all that much past 100k.
You'll need to log in to post.
