Worst car you've ever wrenched on???

Blkvoodoo said:
Wasn't the Z34 Lumina the one that you had to pull a cylinder head to replace the 30cent "O"-ring on the oil pump drive stub ( what USED TO BE the Distributor ) ? one hell of an oil leak if you left it alone.
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you had to pull the intake (i know a trick)

as far as whining, your damn right i'm whining. when they pay an engineer to design this shit, they should make him work on it just to show him (or her) how difficult they make our lives. how many times have you had to take something apart and said to yourself, " now why didn't they just do it this way"
 
I'm certain the reason the manufactures over engineer things and make it complicated is to force folks into taking it into the dealership where they get charged out the ars for repairs. I went by the Jaguar dealership today to get a quote on a maintenance check on a 2000 jag and for them to inspect everything (not fix) and rotate a few tires the bill came out to $1900! I'm like... dafuq?
 
Well don't have much cars horror stories, but with class 8 trucks i hate anything to do with a t2000 at all they're complete PITA truck to work on. Same with pulling a trans on a t700 they give you no room behind trans to pull bellhousing bolts. I love when have to do engine work on a w900 or 379.
 
jammerdad said:
Audi A4 timing belt and water pump. Got a pic if can get it to load. Had to take entire front end off along with radiator and intercooler
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I've done one on an a4 and although time consuming, there were no surprises. It's pretty straight forward once you get started and get the front end off. You can just lay the radiator/condensor out of the way so you don't have to unhook any of those lines.
 
Yea, just a pain to have to take the entire front end off for a simple timing belt. But, that's what u get when u have 3 daughters, u get to find out all these fun things about all these cars. Had to do a clutch in a scion tc for the same daughter, could have put two in my jeep in the same time it took to do hers and that was using my uncles garage and lift. Probably would have kept everybody over at church on Sunday if I hadn't been able to use his garage
 
XJsavage said:
I'm certain the reason the manufactures over engineer things and make it complicated is to force folks into taking it into the dealership where they get charged out the ars for repairs. I went by the Jaguar dealership today to get a quote on a maintenance check on a 2000 jag and for them to inspect everything (not fix) and rotate a few tires the bill came out to $1900! I'm like... dafuq?
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I've said it before...I'll say it again, that's how it is in the Aerospace business. What makes it even better is the FAA certs/requirements pretty much give proprietary rights to repairing what you originally make, because if you don't have the original tooling, or FAA approved tooling (barrier of entry costs are high here), and then you have to certified by the FAA to make such a repair (this part is kind of funny, if you look at the $10/hr employees that are held in such high regard). On top of that, items are in fact engineered to fail, there's a minimum cycle requirement, and let's just say the industry standard isn't going above and beyond that number very often. And to go full circle, guess where we get our engineers and ideology...yup, the automotive industry.
 
90% of stuff on heavy equipment seems to be a pain. I put a new motors in a cat 320 2 years ago and it took me a full 60hr week and after the first day I had two guys helping me
 
Lizooki said:
Since this has turned in to a general whine and moan wrench thread .....
90's Pontiac Grand Am alternator .... deceptively on the top "easy" to reach ... 3 bolts ... 1.5 hours to get the bottom bolt out.
90's Chevrolet Eurosport Lumina. We had a 4 door ( loved that car ... still miss it ) had to remove top engine mounts and push the car forward in gear so the engine would rotate on the lower engine mount away from the firewall ... just to change the rear spark plugs.


Matt
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I have done that job in 30 min start to finish. The secret is to start the car, pit in drive while holding brake and lunge the motor forward while mechanic #2 inserts an engineered 2x4 between motor and firewall.
 
I generally give people advice on buying cars based on how easy they are to work on. Doesn't matter what it is, eventually, it'll have problems.
 
Been quite a few years, but a former sister in law had an 89ish Ford escort or probe.

Needed a timing belt.

It wasnt "hard" per se. But when a timing belt involves removal of the front right tire, CV axle, strut, inner fender skirt well it pissed me off at the time.
 
Any of the S series 94+ with a 4.3....spark plugs suck to change. The plugs also suck in the Camaros and such.
 
Liberty diesel cylinder head replacement, Ford Contour 2.5 rear bank maniverter (integrated manifold/cat converter) and finally the new DC 3.6 when installed in a front wheel drive application. That rear cyl head is a nightmare.
 
Croatan_Kid said:
Any of the S series 94+ with a 4.3....spark plugs suck to change. The plugs also suck in the Camaros and such.
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I had a 1996 Sonoma with the 4.3 and a 5 speed. Changing the clutch was a nightmare. Took half a day just getting the tranny out and then it wouldn't go back in. Had to flat-tow it to a shop for them to finish my abortion and in the process, they pinched the wiring harness between the block and the tranny. Stuff never worked right after that.
 
Toyota paseo. Or something like that. A little 2 door import I had to do a clutch in for my neighbor back when I was 16 or so because I needed some gas/beer money. Did it in a barn with a sawdust floor with one jack and some assorted hand tools. Worst experience ever. But I did get it done and I told him if it needed any more work I would recommend a reputable shop lol.
 
Hyundai clutches are a pain in the ass....they pull on the pressure plate instead of push! The worst part is getting the clutch fork back over the throw out bearing...
 
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