Worse repair ever?

Chevrolet Traverses and their bretheren from 2009-2011 with the wearing out timing chains are pretty bad if the troublesome timing chains have to be replaced. I gather GM technicians loathe those jobs, because the engine has to come out. That might not be too bad if you could pull the engine with a hoist. Nope. The whole front end has to be dropped out. Propeller shaft, brake lines, steering shaft, air conditioning lines, transmission cooler lines, struts, all have to be disconnected in addition to the usual stuff you would have to disconnect from the engine. Then when it all goes back together, brakes have to be bled, air conditioning has to be recharged, and it needs a front end alignment.
 
Had a doozy recently...

2006 Volvo s40 cabin air filter... yes, the cabin air filter, lol.

In order to get to it, had to remove the electronic gas pedal. Three nuts, very hard to get to. These nuts were ovalized as a locking feature to make them extra-secure. While attempting the remove the third and hardest to access nut, the stud it was mounted to started spinning. And I noticed that the carpet I was lying on was soaked from a bad sunroof drain.

Anyway, I broke off the ear from the gas pedal, sawed off the stud with a hacksaw blade (no room for a proper saw or dremel), glued the ear back onto the gas pedal assembly and JB-welded in a T-nut from the hardware store to replace the stud.

The cabin filter was still a pain to take out even with the gas pedal out of the way. This was not the worst job I ever did, not the hardest, not the longest. But an insane amount of hassle for a pollen filter, a one-minute job in our Honda!

Anything under a rusty vehicle is always unpleasant...
 
Chevrolet Traverses and their bretheren from 2009-2011 with the wearing out timing chains are pretty bad if the troublesome timing chains have to be replaced. I gather GM technicians loathe those jobs, because the engine has to come out. That might not be too bad if you could pull the engine with a hoist. Nope. The whole front end has to be dropped out. Propeller shaft, brake lines, steering shaft, air conditioning lines, transmission cooler lines, struts, all have to be disconnected in addition to the usual stuff you would have to disconnect from the engine. Then when it all goes back together, brakes have to be bled, air conditioning has to be recharged, and it needs a front end alignment.
just shoot it.
 
Had a Mercury Sable and the heater core went. After 3 hours of work, I could touch it but couldn't get it out due the AC lines in the way. Got estimates from like 5 different places ranging from $800 to $2000. Went with the lowest bidder at Pep Boys. Two weeks after the replacement it was leaking again. They got in a bad batch of cores and had to replace it. Again.
 
Cutting a nut and bolt off a rusty seized exhaust manifold bolt that I could not see. My wife had me convinced I was getting arthritis in my fingers because they were sore for months after.
 
Chevrolet Traverses and their bretheren from 2009-2011 with the wearing out timing chains are pretty bad if the troublesome timing chains have to be replaced. I gather GM technicians loathe those jobs, because the engine has to come out. That might not be too bad if you could pull the engine with a hoist. Nope. The whole front end has to be dropped out. Propeller shaft, brake lines, steering shaft, air conditioning lines, transmission cooler lines, struts, all have to be disconnected in addition to the usual stuff you would have to disconnect from the engine. Then when it all goes back together, brakes have to be bled, air conditioning has to be recharged, and it needs a front end alignment.

And those things lose resale like crazy, presumably because of that.
 
My old 3000 VR4 was sometimes a pita car to work on, pretty tight engine bay. And by some reason changing boots on CV joints was a nightmare, on other cars i had/have.
 
Reading all these stories, and the heater core ones in particular, this is why I change out long life coolant every 3 years.

BTW, most time consuming job I ever did was replace the clutch on my V12 E-type Jag. Notice I said time consuming. It wasn't complicated but it required a significant front end disassembly, body work and all. As just one example, the shrouding around the radiator and engine, although very nicely engineered, was held together with several dozen 3/16" fasteners that required a wrench on both sides. And aligning all the holes so I could get the bolts through when reasembling.... Plus that engine/trans combo had to weigh 800 pounds. Or more. And I did this job with my WIFE as my helper!

That big V12 E-type beast was seductive, but dangerous.

Scott

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Basically any time I have to work on the Escalade is the worst repair ever. I don't know why people think GMs are easy to work on. Everything is always way more difficult than it has to be. Two repairs really stand out to me; not sure which one was worse.

1. Replacing the transmission oil cooler lines and the engine oil cooler lines because they were rusted and starting to leak. I had to drop the front differential to replace the engine oil cooler lines, as they snake through a tight area right in between the diff and the engine, and there's no room to fish them through with the diff still there. The transmission cooler lines required removing the whole front grille and bumper to access the connections at the aux cooler (broke two screws holding the bumper in the process), and I had to unbolt the front sway bar from the frame, as the lines snake through right above it. I broke the two bolts on the driver's side. By this point, I was already on day 2 or 3 on what should have been less than a day job, and didn't have time to fix the front sway bar bolts, so I completely removed it and drove without it for several months, until I finally found the time to fix the bolts and reinstall it. I had to finish the job the morning of Christmas Eve, and the wife was NOT pleased about that!

2. Changing the transmission fluid and filter as regular maintenance. That SHOULD be a very simple and easy task, but noooo. The exhaust Y-pipe runs right underneath the transmission pan, so you have to unbolt the Y-pipe from the exhaust manifolds so the Y-pipe droops down, which gives you enough access to get the pan off. The exhaust hardware looked like it was in good shape and I thought it would come loose no problem. I've never been more wrong in my life! They came out kicking and screaming the whole way, even after heating them with a torch, and the threads got all boogered up. I had to completely remove the driver's side manifold to fix it. Another job that took a few days longer than it should've. I installed an aftermarket transmission pan that has a drain plug so I never have to remove it again. Yeah, I'd still have to drop the pan to change the filter. I'm not changing the filter again. Just replacing the fluid from now on.
 
Hmm.. Replacing the rear differential and viscous coupler on a Volvo P2. Also servicing the PCV system on a Volvo P2. That stupid left-most intake manifold bolt and getting the banjo bolt with 2 copper washers back on the IM took me an hour and a bruised arm. Oh and replacing the bevel gear and transmission-angle gear sleeve collar on a Volvo P2. After the first time, I can get one off in about 20 minutes but figuring out how to get to everything the first time took way too long.

There seems to be something in common with those three instances... can't quite put my finger on it.
 
Probably changing the water pump on my ex-wife's 98 Grand Prix back in the day. Car had the 3800 V6 and every bolt on the water pump but one was accessible and that one bolt required taking something else off to get to it. The worst part was removing the radiator hose that attached to the water pump because the hose clamp was facing toward the block and I could not get any of the pliers I had on the clamp and I didn't even know they made hose clamp pliers back then that might have worked. It took me about 4 hours to get that off. The job took me about 12 hours and I was ready to blow up the car by that time. It was after midnight before I got it done and I had to finish it so that she could drive it to work in the morning.
 
There is a reason the vast majority of owners get rid of cars well before they hit the 20 year old mark when all of these PITA repairs are needed. Even those owners that have the skills to do these jobs just don't want to do it. Nor do they want to pay a shop to do it as the labor costs add up fast.
 
The cabin filter was still a pain to take out even with the gas pedal out of the way. This was not the worst job I ever did, not the hardest, not the longest. But an insane amount of hassle for a pollen filter, a one-minute job in our Honda!

Being aware/having read stories like this about cabin filters, ease of replacement (I have allergies, the cabin filters really help me tbh) was part of my recent round of car shopping. It's amazing how ridiculous the cabin filter replacement procedures are for a lot of cars even today. Anything that wasn't a "drop glove compartment, remove panel, replace filter, replace panel, put glove compartment back" was nixed off the list.
 
Downpipe on an Evo X. 5 bolts on a rear-mounted turbo, 2 to the rest of the exhaust and is an average of a 6 hour job assuming it's not rusted/corroded/broken. Swivel sockets, long extensions, skinny arms, and snapped studs are the norm for the job.

On the plus side, I've heard this is easier than working on the downpipes of the Mazdaspeed 6s.
 
I've had so many over the past 45 ears I can't recall what was the worst thing I ever ran into. I did take a car in for inner tie rods and an alignment once. Next day the tie rod came loose. The idiot forgot to tighten the jamb nut.
 
Common Volvo problem going back decades and several models.
I swear, they needlessly designed it overly complex on purpose.
Everything on a Porsche is as well. Even a simple PCV (AOS) valve rivals an Apollo moon rocket for complexity. That's the German way...
 
Reading all these stories, and the heater core ones in particular, this is why I change out long life coolant every 3 years.

BTW, most time consuming job I ever did was replace the clutch on my V12 E-type Jag. Notice I said time consuming. It wasn't complicated but it required a significant front end disassembly, body work and all. As just one example, the shrouding around the radiator and engine, although very nicely engineered, was held together with several dozen 3/16" fasteners that required a wrench on both sides. And aligning all the holes so I could get the bolts through when reasembling.... Plus that engine/trans combo had to weigh 800 pounds. Or more. And I did this job with my WIFE as my helper!

That big V12 E-type beast was seductive, but dangerous.

Scott

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That has to be the best looking car ever made. Worth the hassle
 
Too many to remember. These days I try to take on jobs I know I can do. Considering I've never been much more than a "B tech" professionally, and a shade tree amateur at best, I've witnessed and assisted on some truly nightmare jobs, but found myself not tackling those alone. Even the "easy" stuff isn't so easy for me any longer.
 
Being aware/having read stories like this about cabin filters, ease of replacement (I have allergies, the cabin filters really help me tbh) was part of my recent round of car shopping. It's amazing how ridiculous the cabin filter replacement procedures are for a lot of cars even today. Anything that wasn't a "drop glove compartment, remove panel, replace filter, replace panel, put glove compartment back" was nixed off the list.

On my Honda, it took as long to empty the glove box, and put the stuff back in it, as it did to change the filter. Generally the Fit is very easy to maintain over all.
 
I'd say doing valve cover gaskets on any modern Subaru. People that work on regular inline 4s hear valve cover gasket and they're like "Oh how bad can it be!".

Do a set on a Subaru and see if you still think that boxer engine is so neat and quirky.

Also, timing chain on the Subaru EZ30. I don't remember exactly how many tiny bolts hold the timing cover on but it's enough that I will never, ever do it again.
 
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