Simple Repairs made MORE Difficult

Status
Not open for further replies.
The old 70's Opel Manta took the cake for me. You cannot pull the engine, you must drop it, which involves removing the rack & pinion VERY CAREFULLY which is "not recommended". I junked it. No one rescued it.

All Detroit ball joints that I've ever replaced. All hot riveted. But when I had some replaced on my Dakota on recall, the dealer's new ones had bolts and nuts. Curious how that's not good enough for production but it's better for the recall.

99 Ford Taurus starter solenoid wire was permanently wired into the harness. To replace it the aftermarket part had a splicing kit. I suppose Ford thought they were so good they never needed replacing? Or maybe it was just a disposable car.

Originally Posted By: larryinnewyork
Wow. All very interesting.
With all the labor & frustration, another good reason to buy OEM parts.
Figuring that OEM very well could last longer than after-market parts.
I'll never try and save $10.00 with (some) after-market parts only to do the job a second time.


That's a baffling philosophy. If the OEM parts were so fabulous, they wouldn't need replacing! There's any number of "problem solver" parts that only exist because the originals were so badly designed.

Dakota/Durango window elevators, for example. Replace them all and you'll be doing it again at the same interval thereafter, because they never improved the design. Put in an aftermarket and kiss that problem goodbye.

Just about everybody's sway bar end links. If they used polyeurethane like the aftermarket, we wouldn't be replacing them every 75-85K miles/8 years. Yes, there are soft polyeurethane bushings, no NVH sacrifices need be made.

Those ball joints I mentioned? You can get new ones with zerk fittings. OEM, none. That's supposed to be better? Same with U-Joints.
 
Exactly why I used my cars as an example. Dimensionally nearly identical, but certain things design wise are a step back. When you know the life of a Halogen H7 bulb is around 500 Hrs. it is going to be replaced in the lifetime of ownership; particularly if the average age of cars on the road is still around 11 years.
 
Alternator Replacement 3.4L LQ1 Engine
Removal Replacement Procedure Time 6 hours
Disconnect the battery negative cable at the battery. Refer to

Caution
Before servicing any electrical component, the ignition key must be in the OFF or LOCK position and all electrical loads must be OFF, unless instructed otherwise in these procedures. If a tool or equipment could easily come in contact with a live exposed electrical terminal, also disconnect the negative battery cable. Failure to follow these precautions may cause personal injury and/or damage to the vehicle or its components.


in General Information.
Remove the cross brace.
Remove the coolant recovery tank.
Remove the accessory drive belt.
Remove the steering gear pipes from the clip mounted to the generator upper stud.



Remove the generator upper stud and the nut.
Raise and suitably support the vehicle. Refer to SECTION 0A.
Remove the right wheel. Refer to SECTION 3E.
Remove the right engine splash shield upper retaining clips. Refer to SECTION 4D.
Remove the pull down shield. Refer to SECTION 4D.
Remove the front exhaust pipe and the catalytic converter.
Remove the generator splash shield that is attached to the cowl.
Install a jacking fixture to support the engine.
Remove the two rear cradle bolts.
Remove the intermediate shaft lower pinch bolt at the steering gear. Refer to SECTION 3B.
Remove the right front cradle bolt.
Remove the right side tie rod.



Remove the generator splash shield at the drive axle.
Disconnect the electrical connections at the generator.



Remove the generator cooling duct.



Remove the generator rear brace.
Remove the generator rear brace nut at the engine.
Remove the generator.
 
Last edited:
My Mazda requires the front fascia to be removed to replace the HID bulbs. I was involved in a minor fender bender at @140k miles so I bought a pair of Philips D2S bulbs and had the body shop R&R them while they were replacing the fascia.

My '02, ti, and Wrangler are the easiest of my cars to work on- all longitudinal inlines...
 
My 1991 Audi 200 Turbo's air filter was among the worst. That was roughly a two hour job, and would have been much worse without my little hands. On the other hand, on the same vehicle, my little hands made the thermostat replacement less than one quarter of the time of the book estimate.
 
When we decided to purchase a vehicle for travel purposes, one of the vehicles we seriously considered was a 2006 Cadillac SRX. After a bit of research I found that in order to do something as simple as a headlight bulb replacement required removal of the entire front facia, I quickly removed it from our list.
 
Originally Posted By: HangFire
The old 70's Opel Manta took the cake for me. You cannot pull the engine, you must drop it, which involves removing the rack & pinion VERY CAREFULLY which is "not recommended". I junked it. No one rescued it.

All Detroit ball joints that I've ever replaced. All hot riveted. But when I had some replaced on my Dakota on recall, the dealer's new ones had bolts and nuts. Curious how that's not good enough for production but it's better for the recall.

99 Ford Taurus starter solenoid wire was permanently wired into the harness. To replace it the aftermarket part had a splicing kit. I suppose Ford thought they were so good they never needed replacing? Or maybe it was just a disposable car.

Originally Posted By: larryinnewyork
Wow. All very interesting.
With all the labor & frustration, another good reason to buy OEM parts.
Figuring that OEM very well could last longer than after-market parts.
I'll never try and save $10.00 with (some) after-market parts only to do the job a second time.


That's a baffling philosophy. If the OEM parts were so fabulous, they wouldn't need replacing! There's any number of "problem solver" parts that only exist because the originals were so badly designed.

Dakota/Durango window elevators, for example. Replace them all and you'll be doing it again at the same interval thereafter, because they never improved the design. Put in an aftermarket and kiss that problem goodbye.

Just about everybody's sway bar end links. If they used polyeurethane like the aftermarket, we wouldn't be replacing them every 75-85K miles/8 years. Yes, there are soft polyeurethane bushings, no NVH sacrifices need be made.

Those ball joints I mentioned? You can get new ones with zerk fittings. OEM, none. That's supposed to be better? Same with U-Joints.



I agree with you on the balljoints. Dang things require a torch or a grinder to get them off. The U-joints, on the other hand, are different. The lubed for life ones really are better. Can't speak for the balljoints, but if they last 10 years/150,000 miles, then that's about all they'll ever last anyway. On my old Dodge I had years ago, the boot dry rotted allowing the grease to get washed away.
 
Last edited:
I have talked to engineers about some of these brilliant designs and have learned quite a bit: certain service procedures are taken into design consideration. Things like checking and adding engine oil, fueling, filling consumable fluids.

Beyond those rudimentary items, the car is designed to be assembled. There is nothing to installing an engine from under the car once your assembly line is set up that way. Once warranty cost issues are identified (such as having to remove the transaxle to replace the neutral safety switch) engineering will be notified that there is a service access issue. The issue will be addressed...at the next redesign.

Its not that any manufacturer tries to make a repair ridiculously difficult or the car a throw-away. Repair is just not a part of the design process. As a result, I was a diesel mechanic for a number of years but I never worked on my own car. I didn't need the frustration.
 
I posted mine last year - Toyota 4 cylinder oil filter change. Completely stupid.

That said the idea that there's some sort of deliberate conspiracy to limit cars' longevity by making some repairs difficult is absurd. Cars are better than they've ever been. Sure maybe swapping out a water pump on a '65 Chevy was easier, but you probably had to do it every 50k
grin.gif


I have had three cars close in on 200k - a 92 Saturn that I got rid of when the clutch went around 185k, a 2000 Civic we sold for $3,600 with about 185k, and a 2003 Saab I'm still driving with 198k. We also have a 2006 Accord with about 94k that's only needed an O2 sensor, coolant temperature sensor, and catalytic converter (this was admittedly concerning but covered under warranty so the jury is out) beyond oil changes and whatnot. 32 car-years of ownership and none have ever required a repair over $900 (the Saab got an AC compressor that failed after being driven in deep water) and the toughest DIY job I've done on them was a brake booster on the Saab that took me almost 6 hours.

jeff
 
Last edited:
Working ng at the dealer;

Removing the front bumper, core support and radiator, with the ac condensor hanging to change the timing belt on an Audi A8. Don't even ask about cam locking tools.

Setting the engine/trans on a table and lifting the car off to change turbo oil feed lines on a biturbo A8.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: greenjp


That said the idea that there's some sort of deliberate conspiracy to limit cars' longevity by making some repairs difficult is absurd.



Astro14 is that you?

So you DENY that planned obsolescence exists in industry?
Surly you jest.
crackmeup2.gif
smirk.gif
 
Originally Posted By: HangFire
Sorry Jeff, that's maintenance, not a repair.

Well excuuuuuuse me

Originally Posted By: antiqueshell
Astro14 is that you?

So you DENY that planned obsolescence exists in industry?
Surly you jest.


I wouldn't phrase it that way. The reliability and maintainability of anything is a design tradeoff. More reliability likely means more cost, possibly greater weight. Better maintainability also likely means more cost, weight, and size. This stuff is all tied together. How long would you like cars to last? How long should some specified maintenance procedure be required to take? Surely you jest if you think planned obsolescence is the driver.
 
Originally Posted By: asand1
Working ng at the dealer;

Removing the front bumper, core support and radiator, with the ac condensor hanging..........


Reminded me of when I was young. First year at Ford and I did a lot of AC. Replaced a lot of condensers on Taurus/Sables/Continentals (same platform). Pain in the butt as to get the condenser out you had to pull the radiator, which meant you had to pull off the trans cooler lines which were a PITA. [censored] job really for what FoMoCo paid you, even Chilton time sucked.

So I had the car up on the lift, draining coolant, and prepping to pull everything apart and look over and there is this body shop guy staring at me. He asked "Whatcha doing?" I told him "swapping a condenser core". He said "You are doing that wrong, wayyy wrong". He walked over, asked for a pair of vice grips, and proceeded to have the core laying on the ground in 45 seconds, radiator still in the car. Made me feel stupid, but made me a lot of money over the next 10 years.
 
Originally Posted By: Brybo86
Originally Posted By: wirelessF
Toyota/Lexus UZ-Series engines, you have to remove the intake manifold to change the starter motor.


This one takes the cake.
Starter replacement involves removing airbox, throttle body, upper and lower intake manifold, fuel rail, fuel injectors, rear coolant bridge and the killer EGR valve piping.


Cadillac Northstar V-8 also has the started in the Vee of the engine under the intake. My dad's old Olds Aurora got 3 starters under warranty (downsized 4.0L version of Cadillac Northstar).
 
Originally Posted By: Miller88
On the 3.0 Duratec Tauruses, to replace the alternator, you have to drop the subframe.


First asinine "drop the cradle" repair I heard of was also a Ford product... Lincoln LS... need to drop the cradle for radiator replacement and do it from the bottom.
 
Originally Posted By: asand1
Setting the engine/trans on a table and lifting the car off...


Unfortunately that's been getting WAY too common... To replace timing belts on a Ferrari, sure, the owners can afford that and there's only a couple thousand people in the world that will ever even have cause to whine about it.

Lifting the car off the engine to replace spark plugs on a 1993-2002 Camaro? Don't think the typical Camaro owner has/had the budget for that. (Yes, I know there was a TSB or something that changed the procedure to "drill access holes in the inner-fender").

Removing the engine to reseal the oil pan on a 1992-2002 Cadillac Eldorado? Sure, maybe the original owner won't live long enough for the pan to leak, but some poor sucker years down the road is gonna end up with that car...
 
Last edited:
I read somewhere where you have to remove the bumper to change a head light on an Audi. Also some late model Chryslers, you have to remove the left front tire and the plastic inner fender panel to remove the battery.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top