Worse repair ever?

[BMWTurboDzl]

"Rebuilt" auto transmission on a wagoneer. (shared with Isuzu). They had no idea what they were doing. Aamco kinda fixed it well enough to sell the vehicle.

Apparently I "wore out the valve body" because the trailer I towed to/from college was too heavy.

Close second was getting water in the transmission my 1965 Mustang and going through 10 bottles of ATF because I didn't know why it kept blowing out through the seal onto the ground. I was 17 or so and drove through some deep water trying to get my date back home.

 

[Red Crow]

I've not tackled one myself, and wont, but these Ford crossovers with the 3.5/3.7 v6 require engine removal to replace the water pump. The water pump is also timing chain driven. Whoever thought enclosing a water pump within a chain driven timing system was a good idea has a special place reserved on the eternal short bus.

 

[14Accent]

I've not tackled one myself, and wont, but these Ford crossovers with the 3.5/3.7 v6 require engine removal to replace the water pump. The water pump is also timing chain driven. Whoever thought enclosing a water pump within a chain driven timing system was a good idea has a special place reserved on the eternal short bus.

Well, Nissan has used that setup for years on the VQ engines and it works fine. Ford just used a crappy pump so they fail.

A good "what were they thinking" one is the blower motor on newer Volvo's. You have to remove the instrument cluster and lower dash under-cover to get at the back side of the motor, them remove the entire passenger side of the dash to access the blower housing. After you get that out of the way, you then have to install a special tool through the fan cage, secure it to the fan shaft, have a helper hold the retaining tab back through the cluster opening, Twist 45 degrees, and it pulls out "barely". Then you reverse the procedure, blindly, trying to get the tabs lined up to secure it in. Completely ridiculous.

Rear brakes on Ford Transit's, those are a joke. the rotors are mounted inboard of the hub, much like an old Honda Accord. It's just unnecessary. I did an evaporator core in one once, and step one of the procedure is 1. REMOVE FRONT DOORS. Wow... thanks Ford.

I recently did a VTEC spool valve on an Acura RDX turbo. I thought hey, how different can it be from an n/a K24. Boy was I wrong. It's surrounded by 3 heat shields you can't see, that are held on by bolts you can't access, in a location that's impossible to reach from either the top or the bottom. I had to take 3 separate smoke breaks during that job.... and it only paid 1.1 or something crazy like that.

Engine replacement on a Lincoln Aviator back in the day. 4.6 DOHC. Ford said it would come out through the top.... yea OK. I couldn't reach half the bolts I needed to remove if I wanted to. I ended up just saying screw it and removing the body from the frame. MUCH easier. Funny thing is, 6 months after that job the trans went out. Guess what... body back off.

 

[AutoMechanic]

I've not tackled one myself, and wont, but these Ford crossovers with the 3.5/3.7 v6 require engine removal to replace the water pump. The water pump is also timing chain driven. Whoever thought enclosing a water pump within a chain driven timing system was a good idea has a special place reserved on the eternal short bus.

Oh man don’t remind me. I had to do one on a Ford Flex at school by myself I always got the big jobs because I was the only one who could be trusted. Man that was a terrible job. The teacher did lend a hand some but he was trying to keep the other crazies in control lol. My 1989 Mazda and 1990 Mazda has an internal timing belt driven water pump but the engine doesn’t have to come out to remove it.

 

[Red Crow]

Oh man don’t remind me. I had to do one on a Ford Flex at school by myself I always got the big jobs because I was the only one who could be trusted. Man that was a terrible job. The teacher did lend a hand some but he was trying to keep the other crazies in control lol. My 1989 Mazda and 1990 Mazda has an internal timing belt driven water pump but the engine doesn’t have to come out to remove it.

A timing belt driven pump isnt as bad as a chain driven one, but I'm old school American. Give me pushrods and drive belt driven water pumps.

 

[zfasts03]

I hear a alternator on a all-wheel drive Ford Focus RS the transmission has to come out. Pays a little over 9 hrs.

FUN! I mean RUN from this job!

 

[AutoMechanic]

A timing belt driven pump isnt as bad as a chain driven one, but I'm old school American. Give me pushrods and drive belt driven water pumps.

Absolutely lol. It’s being brought home with an American truck LOL.

 

[AutoMechanic]

A timing belt driven pump isnt as bad as a chain driven one, but I'm old school American. Give me pushrods and drive belt driven water pumps.

Absolutely lol. The new one is being brought home by an American truck LOL.

 

[Deamos]

A good "what were they thinking" one is the blower motor on newer Volvo's. You have to remove the instrument cluster and lower dash under-cover to get at the back side of the motor, them remove the entire passenger side of the dash to access the blower housing. After you get that out of the way, you then have to install a special tool through the fan cage, secure it to the fan shaft, have a helper hold the retaining tab back through the cluster opening, Twist 45 degrees, and it pulls out "barely". Then you reverse the procedure, blindly, trying to get the tabs lined up to secure it in. Completely ridiculous.

Heh, you just highlighted or enhanced a reason why I ended up nixing Volvo from car hunting 6-8 months ago. Looked up common replacement procedures for a few things to get a feel for how painful/expensive repairs would be. Especially after seeing in-my-price-range lightly used models that were appealing.

I really like Volvo's but yikes, no.