Repair jobs that just shouldn't be that hard

Back plugs on a 996. The front 4 are pretty quick, but the last 2 take a couple of hours to forever.

Spark plugs on 4th-gen F-bodies. Everything with a small-block was easy to do plugs on...until this damn car.

O2 sensors on our 4th-gen Chrysler minivan. Remove the wiper tray and dive in head first from the engine bay was the only way to access the upstream unit. Wasn't that hard, but seemed harder than it should have been.

Oh, and distributor replacement on any LT1 car. Friggin Opti-Spark.

The BMW M50 starter requires removing either the intake manifold or the transmission to replace. How do you manage to make the starter that difficult a job on an inline six?

Anything that I attempt.

buzzboy said:

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.

I found that turning the steering wheel full lock on a W123 (can't forget if it's right or left) allows the starter to drop right out the bottom.  With the wheels pointing straight ahead, there is no physical way to extract the starter.

I just did a water pump in an old Cavalier with the ecotec 2.2.  Pump is driven by the chain and basically lives under the exhaust manifold. IF you have a manual trans it can drop straight down once you've disconnected it from the timing chain drive, but if you have the GM auto which all run the whole length of the back of the motor, you have to take out the exhaust manifold and take it out the top. Which of course means broken studs on a car this old, even in Texas. The job pays 4.6 hours BEFORE dealing with rusty broken stuff. I thought ruefully that it was as much or more hassle than any timing belt water pump that i had to get the timing belt off to do. 

Oh well, its over.

Alternator on a W123.  The lower alternator fastener is a steel bolt inserted into a threaded aluminum casting.  Since the Bosch alternators do last quite a long time, by the time it is time to replace it (in my case, always in the dead of winter) that steel bolt has gone all 'dissimilar metals corrosion' on the aluminum bracket's ass.  It takes patience, care, a can of PBlaster, a hammer (to tap the bracket lightly whilst applying gentle persuasion to the bolt) and a big ass breaker bar.  In my experience you have approximately a 50/50 chance of breaking the head off the bolt, which will then require a complete disassembly of the front of the car so that the bolt can be drilled out and the bracket repaired.  

berkeley you, Mercedes.  berkeley berkeleying you.  

Clutch on a 1st Gen RAV4 AWD is a full engine-out process.    And you of course have to remove the exhaust, subframe, a-arms, driveshaft, half-shafts, all belt-driven accessories, etc., etc. to remove the engine.  Which can only be dropped out the bottom.   

One of the only jobs I ever wish I had just paid someone else to do.   

Anything on a Dodge Intrepid.

Seriously. The battery requires fender access and removing intake piping from above. The thermostat is on the side of the block, requiring either removing a bunch of stuff from above or a painful approach from below (and draining the oil). Once you get there, it's stamped in place. FSM recommends a bench grinder to remove it. FFS.

I don't complain about other cars much anymore.

Waterpump on a Lotus Twincam in either a Europa or Elan.  Head off, pan off, timing cover off, then you can change out the pump.  It's usually easiest to pull the motor.

Yeah a TC water pump is a good one too.  Bonus points because they made the bearing out of tin foil and bubble gum to start with.

A job that should be easy on an older car, one with the engine in the "north/south" location is a water pump. Do we agree?

Do that on a Ford 2.8L V6, elevinimillion bolts later and it still won't come off because there's a hidden bolt that you can't see unless you really get your face down below the pump shaft and clean off the grease and grunge to reveal that puppy.

No it doesn't require pulling the engine, or the heads or any of that stuff but it's a water pump people!

Plug wires on 2003 2.2 liter S10.  Insane routing to coil packs on opposite side down by bell housing.

MadScientistMatt said:

The BMW M50 starter requires removing either the intake manifold or the transmission to replace.

I had to split the intake manifold on the TSX's K24 to replace the starter.  Honestly, it wasn't that difficult.  Is the M50 one piece?

SEADave said:

Clutch on a 1st Gen RAV4 AWD is a full engine-out process.    And you of course have to remove the exhaust, subframe, a-arms, driveshaft, half-shafts, all belt-driven accessories, etc., etc. to remove the engine.  Which can only be dropped out the bottom.   

One of the only jobs I ever wish I had just paid someone else to do.   

steering rack is similarly complicated and painful...

SBC and a distributor, with an engine bay the size of texas why is the one thing I always needed to berkeley with crammed in the back and hard to reach. Even getting the cap on without going nuts on the timing is harder than it needs to be.

any starter on a northstar V8, its UNDER the intake manifold ontop of the valley...

Any rotary engine pilot bearing, no tool works all that great, its just a hassle.

Thermostat on a 05 Colorado sucks pretty well. You have to go through the wheel well to get to it. 

Heater core on a Jeep Cherokee. I can do a Ford E150 in 45 minutes. The Cherokee took 5 hours. 

I would gladly do Atlas thermostats all day if it meant i never had to do another Ford Windsor thermostat!

I think the last Trailblazer stat i did was a half hour.  It's not that you "have to" go through the wheelwell, it is that you are ABLE TO go through the wheelwell!

Now the valve cover is silly because you have to slide the intake manifold off to get it out.  But not as bad as all the Chevy trucks where you have to drop the steering box to get one of the drivers side spark plugs out.

Ian F said:

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. 

 

I guess my 1985 Vanagon is a modern car. Replacing the blower motor is a dash out job.

And seriously, we just had two people complain about the thermostat on an NA/NB Miata? Two bolts. It's hanging out there in space at the front of the engine. The hardest part is opening the hood.

My worst is changing the rear diff on my Locost. I mean, I got it in there, I know it'll come out, but there's only one orientation that will allow it to squeeze past the frame members and it weighs 75 lbs. Fun stuff. I have already apologized to the new owner in advance.

mtn said:

Anything that I attempt.

This x1000

In reply to Keith Tanner :

I think "modern" is relative.  I'm thinking of older cars from the 60's where the blower motor was readily accessible from the engine bay  - 3 or 4 bolts, a couple of spade connections and done.  I guess those motors burned out more often?

A friend had a Volvo 240 for his daughter and replacing the blower motor was a 12 hr task for him. Also pretty much a dash-out job. Book time is something like 8 hrs.  With practice he heard of it getting done in 5.

Try a master cylinder on a X1/9.  It's just two bolts and 3 lines...hanging under the dash above the pedals.  Oh yeah, and once out, nothing lines back up, all the while hanging upside down with brake fluid dripping inside the car and on you.  And did I mention nothing lines back up, as in nothing at all, as in I'm surprised anything even fits under the dash, has to line up and go back together.  The last one I did took like 6 hours for that.  Humm, 6 hours for that, I'm still scarred and that was like 15 years ago.   Sorry, I'm off to therapy.  

racerdave600 said:

Try a master cylinder on a X1/9.  It's just two bolts and 3 lines...hanging under the dash above the pedals.  Oh yeah, and once out, nothing lines back up, all the while hanging upside down with brake fluid dripping inside the car and on you.  And did I mention nothing lines back up, as in nothing at all, as in I'm surprised anything even fits under the dash, has to line up and go back together.  The last one I did took like 6 hours for that.  Humm, 6 hours for that, I'm still scarred and that was like 15 years ago.   Sorry, I'm off to therapy.  

In fairness, I think Girling makes every hydraulic cylinder by hand, so no two are exactly alike.  #becauseLeyland

In reply to Keith Tanner :

Mine isn't...

I admit, the temperature sensor and that rear hose are the real issues, not the stock-location thermostat.

Eh, every single BMW I've owned has required a full dash-out job to replace the heater core and/or blower motor, so that doesn't surprise me at all.

I've got another one: clutch on a 944. The transmission is in the back of the car but the clutch is near the engine, so you basically have to pull apart most of the drivetrain to replace the clutch. I haven't personally done it yet, but I have an 87 944S so I'll have to face that reality sooner or later.

Well, having a panic attack now.

I have to mate a wildly pin incompatible pcm to harness (99 to 98) and pin incompatible harness to chassis (98 to 97).

I hate chevy so much.