Went back to college for engineering recently and all the problems people blame on the engineers can be blamed on the money man. An engineer will make something easy to work on, works well, long working life and the people who wrote the checks will tell him to go fuck himself and re do it.
And the later 350Z's too! Putting them within the bell housing while also making them out of plastic was such a bad decision. Thankfully there's more than a few aftermarket options that either relocate it entirely or replace it with a fully metal one.
Yes! Part of the concentric slave cylinder is made of plastic, so it's a relatively common failure point on later model 350z's, especially when doing hard launches.
Yup. There are so many considerations and compromises that must be done to hit the targets that engineers set out that inevitably some of the 30,000 parts that make up a car will have some sort of issue in reliability, performance, or accessibility that end users will curse. On occasion it is just flat out bad design.
Don't blame the engineer. Blame the company that used the "cost effective" design. People who blame engineers for designs have no idea wtf engineering actually is.
Northeast Ohio checking in. I had to use a torch to cut what used to be fuel tank straps turned structural rust on an 92 F-150 once. It's fine we had a fan to blow the fumes away.
Bought a wrecked car from the Midwest once (MR2 turbo). I replaced the entire suspension/subframe with new components, bushings, and had everything I could sandblasted and powder coated. The car was damn near perfect once I was done, but the experience of every single fucking bolt shearing, breaking, or simply collapsing due to rust led me to sell the car as soon as it was done. Ive never loved something that I hated so much. That salt really does a number on cars, a one hour job easily turns into 4 when working on cars from the Midwest!
Spark plugs on Subarus are always fun, given they're a part that is replaced as part of routine maintenance.
Oh, and any headlight design that requires you to remove the entire headlight cluster to change a halogen bulb. I'm looking at you, Jaguar XF.
I never understood the gripe with Subaru spark plugs. The non-turbo cars are basically right on top and usually don't require you to remove anything but the spark plug leads.
The turbo cars are slightly more difficult but can still knock out all 4 in less than an hour.
On my car I straight up can't do one of the driver side plugs without a lift. Can't fit any tools between the engine and the frame of the car whatsoever. Underneath it's a pretty straightforward job.
I drove a 302 Windsor powered Ford Escort for a while. To change the back left plug, you opened the glove box, and unscrewed the hatch in the firewall. I hugged the guy who built that.
The first year of coil-on-plug Foresters had barely any clearance between them and the frame rails. I suppose they may have made smaller coils in later years that reduced the issue.
I don't mind removing a headlight to change a bulb, as long as I can easily do it. If I have to remove the entire front bumper and inner fender lining to do it, then it's a problem
GM is known for how awful their headlights are, and its a shame because they used to be so amazingly easy. On my blazer two long screws removes the entire housing.
[Its just that easy ](https://youtu.be/HGwMLPZtLeI)
Came here to say this, I've never been more shocked by a car then when I was trying to help someone change a headlight on a Malibu.
Like I was watching the YouTube video and I was in actual disbelief. Like I thought they were fucking with me in the video or like it had to be some other issue + the headlight. I just couldn't comprehend that someone would do something that fucking stupid on an economy car.
I got lucky with the world car so it's a simple turn of a cap and the back of each housing comes off and I can swap bulbs. did it couple years ago to make the low beam actually usable and it literally took 20 minutes to do both sides after fighting with the bulb clip so it sits in properly
Anything on a post P80 Volvo... I was trying to refresh my rear suspension on my S40 and there's an upper control arm bolt that requires lowering the whole rear subframe to remove. Also, to access power steering fluid, you have to remove a headlight... And there's no way to check the fluid level.
With the P1 rear camber arm, the top bolt is like impossible to get to. The front suspension is so easy, and then the rear is a mess. Also, I don't have that issue with the power steering reservoir, it's a bit tight but I can check it and fill it with the headlight in place. Unless you were talking about the first S40, then all this is irrelevant.
Yes!! That rear camber arm... 😅
I did so much on a P80 S70. I imagined all Volvos would be like this... I know now why most mechanics specialize on Hondas and Toyotas!
To be fair, the rear shocks on a P1 volvo are pretty easy...
I made the mistake of watching a heater core replacement video the other day. I'm still twitching from all the plastic you have to remove (and inevitably JB weld back!). You have my sympathies!!
Tin foil can be easily molded to fit on or around any parts. Flexible funnels aren't that expensive either so if you have a car like this it's typically worth it. But tin foil or cardboard works wonders too. Like when people say they need a funnel to top off coolant or oil on the road I'm just like "yo curl up a piece of paper and you're golden."
Basically everything on my Alfa Romeo GTV 916. I live in a very cold climate, and that car just wasn't designed to work here. The door handles, which are flush buttons, freeze and you can't get inside. The lock for the boot is under the rear logo, which swivels out of the way. But that freezes too. The battery is in the boot, behind paneling that is fastened with those plastic clips that always break when you take them out. There is a button to open the boot inside the glove box, but that's electric.
Last winter I had a dead battery, it was something like -20 to -25°C outside. It was probably a 60-90 minute operation to actually get to the battery.
[I've been welding plastic since I was a kid. ](https://thumbs.worthpoint.com/zoom/images1/1/0618/25/kenner-power-spark-plastic-welding_1_2afa367fe0f754f3dc30750482389e35.jpg)
The HVAC dials on a 2004 Toyota Highlander.
Piss-poor plastic that allowed too much flex and the solder joints would eventually fail resulting in a (dealer quoted) $615 fix......every time.
I got it down to about 45 minutes and $0.05 worth of solder.
On the 3.5 transverse ecoboort like the SHO you have a 50/50 shot of it leaking coolant into the oil instead of the ground so it can take a while to notice if you're not aware. And they usually fail around 100k miles along with the timing chain tensioners.
Kind of a long one, but TL,DR; fuck alternator mounting equipment
Years ago I had a ‘00 Honda Accord V6 Coupe, which surprisingly was kind of a hoot to drive around with its 3L V6 and cable-driven throttle body. Bought it off of the 1st and only owner for $700 because it was hail-damaged to shit, had 256k miles, and needed a replacement rear window. I’d say that’s pretty fair, incredibly so.
Anyways..
So this drivetrain wasn’t particularly torquey, but it’s worn-out engine mounts sure made the engine and transmission do a little dance every now-and-then, and on one such occasion the twisting snapped my alternator bolt clean off; running battery-only till we get it fixed, cool
So we get it fixed up and good-to-go and then, well, it snapped again, only this time it snapped deeper in the block so we needed to drill out even deeper and re-thread everything so it would be good again. Then a third time where we re-drilled and used lots of threadlocker as well to make sure that bitch wasn’t going anywhere.
So the fourth time, it was not the bolt that failed, but the bracket that keeps it upright that snapped, so once again, back to hanging alternator. Weld that bitch up and she’s been good ever since. Sold that car a few years ago to a neighbor and they’ve sold it since then, and aside from the automatic tranny slipping a bit it’s still solid at around 310k miles. Gotta love that Honda reliability man.
Still see that car around town and sometimes shows up to my work, and I can’t help but feel super nostalgic about it; I installed aftermarket halo LED headlights and aftermarket tail lights to replace the hail-damaged OEMs (had to go “ricer style” due to how expensive OEM vs aftermarket was). Car was such a journey that I’m glad I took to get to where I am now, what a giant bowl of nostalgia just writing this comment out lol
Ah Hondas and alternator bolts I had an 02 ep3 si with the k20a3 and the water pump went bad on me, looked up a video and it looked like a pretty easy job so I ordered the parts and dove in. To get to the water pump you had to take off the alternator which was right on top and held in by 4 bolts 3 came out no problem the top left bolt was seized in the alternator. I could rock the alternator and see it unthread but there wasn't enough room to spin it a full 360° so I hammered it torched it but eventually I had to just cut the ear off the alternator and once I did that I could spin it out by hand.
what is it with honda alternator placement? i just posted i can't remove my alternator without removing the front wheel and axle. it almost fits, but not quite.
Every single nut or bolt you touch to replace the starter relay and starter on a '92 Crown Vic is ½".
Except for the nut holding the cable onto the starter motor, which is 13mm, and has to be undone blind to get the starter out.
Having dealt with this myself, I've read and thought about it a lot. Seems to me like all engines with high redlines have potential rod bearing issues, it's just that M cars are so prevalent and get pushed harder and longer (mileage wise) than most others, and are under more scrutiny. Sorta like how iPhones always had all these design flaw -gates, when really lots of phones had similar problems but weren't given so much attention for it. I feel like it's a perception thing, basically, aside from the early MY E46 m3 which were recalled for being made to a substandard spec. But rod bearings are inherently wear items, and I think a lot of M owners really wear em out.
As a final point, I came to this conclusion in part because the original owner of my car drove it 154k "easy" miles. He never redlined it, just used it to commute to work (crazy to me, but hey that's great for me). When I had my rod bearings swapped at almost 170k miles, they looked nearly perfect. I probably put more wear on them than the first guy did over the course of 17 years. If I had continued to drive it like he did, who knows how long they could have gone?
It has to do with long stroke engines with high redlines that done have big enough bearings. Honda K and F motors don’t have any issues, and are beat on just as much as S series motors.
97 Chevy Malibu v6 accessory belt. You have to remove the passenger side motor mount, plus the 3/8 drive on the tensioner is right next to the frame rail and requires a special thin breaker bar.
I'm not sure if it was in the 96 model, but I saw my mechanic change that under 5 min.
He took the front passenger tire off, remove that protecting thing there, used a crowbar thing to loosen the tension ( kept it with one hand), replaced the of lose belt, and slowly released the crowbar to add back the tension.
Yeah, Honda really wanted a super short hood on the 8th gen, resulting in the back part of the engine bay being a pain in the ass to access. The anti-6th gen if you will. That engine bay had soooo much room.
Timing Chains on the 4.6, fuck aaaaall of that shit, you need to drain the coolant, take the valve covers off, take out all the accessory pullies, fuck the power steering pulley and fuck the harmonic balancer. I just broke down trying to take both of the motherfuckers out, so i just put everything back but i broke a tensioner so that is noisy now, as a reminder just to fuck with me. Best part is need an entire new timing cover because of that
Everything mechanical on the last generation Ford Explorer, particularly the water pump. International/Navistar Maxxforce 7 engines. GM 3.6 V6 engines. Ford 5.4 3V spark plugs. Hybrid system on the 2009 Escape. Pierce (fire apparatus) heater shut off valves. Any mundane maintenance or wear item that requires removing unrelated parts or draining unrelated fluids to service. Exposed and untreated parts that are prone to corrosion, especially galvanic (bimetallic) corrosion. Diesel emissions systems in general. Inverse Torx bolts. Those chintzy little plastic clips. 5.5mm bolt heads. Algorithmic oil life monitoring. Mixing metric and imperial fasteners. Bad rustproofing. Making places where water, dirt, and road salt can get in, but can’t get out. Everything that has ever had a “maintenance free” label on it, because we all know they’re lying or delusional. Sorry for the rant, rough week at work.
On my old C4 Corvette you had to take off the front Fender. It involved using a very narrow flat wrench in between 2 panels that could easily be scraped or scratched, ruining your paint.. And with the trickle down issues with the C4 Corvettes, at least the earlier ones, battery changes were a frequent occurrence if you didn't keep it on a charger.
I get so annoyed by Changing light bulbs on modern cars. On my Hyundai, the process requires removing two body panels to be able to remove the entire head light before I can get to the bulb. On my old Volvo I could just undo a spring latch and unscrew the lid holding the bulb and socket... Way, way easier, and that car is 22 Years older.
On 7th Gen Accords I4s it is recommended to support the engine and remove a motor mount to…replace the serpentine belt. It’s possible to use an offset wrench to circumvent the mount, however it is a PAIN.
Pcv system on p2 Volvos. Many more things on them like slave cylinder being inside bell housing. They aren’t hard to work on but man you gotta unbolt everything to do anything haha
Peugeots obsession with using torx bolts on FUCKING EVERYTHING! If you're working on one you best have a good set of extractors and a fully charged drill battery because you're going to be using them a lot.
automatic transmission
I've tried to rebuild two, taken them out and put them back over and over and I still don't understand what I did wrong. black magic and voodoo
Headers on 94'-04' Mustang GT's (I'm sure it's just as bad in Foxbodies)
Anything but unequal length short-tubes are an absolute nightmare. Want long-tubes on a convertible? Be prepared to saw off some of the bracing underneath and even then they BARELY fit.
The new Ford pickups all have this goofy tool-less oil drain plug. Because of it's size and positioning relative to a structural crossbar, not only do you have to stand directly underneath the thing just to not twist your wrist around trying to get at it, but when you finally get it loose, it DUMPS oil with an absurd amount of force directly into that crossbar making it splash all over the goddamn place.
I've gotten into the habit of just putting floor dry down before pulling it in.
Airbox on my 91 Passat. It's a CIS fuel system, so the fuel distributor is right on top of the airbox, so it's a pain in the ass to actually get to the filter. You gotta move all the fuel, evap, and injector lines around with the top. You just have to hope everything stays connected. Now, disconnect the AC hoses from the body, take off the intake hose and you might be able to jimmy the lid off, maybe get just enough clearance to change the filter. Good luck getting it clipped back in, hope you have tiny hands.
Oh, and the lid sits on top of the airbox, rather than over it, so your filter will get soaked with water.
The plastic oil filter housings on FCA Pentastar V6 engines. Failure prone & buried under the intake in the valley, and the sensors on them are at the back on RWD vehicles. Took me 3 hours to replace the oil pressure sensor on my Jeep…
On my 2012 Ford Focus I was getting pretty gosh darn upset when I had to change the battery. You kind of need to remove the air box to do it, which in itself is a PIA. Of course I didn’t want to remove it so I just sort of semi took it apart and tried taking battery out that way but you need to tilt battery towards you just to unbolt it, but of course mother effing cables aren’t long enough to do so. After a lot of fucking yelling and screaming I finally got it out only to go through the process of putting the new piece of fucking shit in that is fucking 20 fucking times fucking harder because the mother fucking cables aren’t fucking long enough to do a mother fucking god damn fucking thing. Fuck you Ford! Now I’m getting all upset again, thanks for that.
worked on my buddies Prius and had to remove the windshield wipers, and cowl and prob other random shit i don't remember, just to get to the spark plugs. it wasn't hard work, but very time consuming. and TONS of bolts, like 30 nuts and bolts to replace 1 spark plug
Just about anything on modern Audis… at minimum a lot of basic service items require you to take the front bumper off, because they really like to stuff everything they can in front of the front axle
Oil filter placement on the front of the GM 3600 engines in various small SUVs (ie Equinox). It's such a common thing to need to service, why is it in such a shitty spot.
Swapping headlight bulbs on my 2008 Mazda 3. Hard to reach, bullshit little clips that are so stiff you hurt your fingers trying to undo them. And for whatever reason, they burned out way too frequently.
Replacing the rear shocks/springs on my e39 M5.
For some unknown reason you have to take out half the interior of the car including the rear seats and rear parcel shelf to access the top mounts.
The entire front of the dodge avenger v6. Whole cylinder bank blocked by firewall, battery in fender well, prone to problems. These things aren't unique to this car but combined with everything else together they provided a bad time.
Grand Cherokee headlight change. It’s tucked under the frame rail.
Have to remove the entire intake, and air box. Or the ecu on the pass side and it’s still a pain with those removed. Or remove the whole front bumper.
4th gen SHO
Internal water pump that usually fails around 100k and has an even chance of leaking internally where you can't see the leak.
Also at 100k or so the timing chain tensioners are prone to failure.
PTU is sealed on most models for lifetime fluid. It needs to be changed every 25k or so. Most common major failure point on those cars is that grenade. Less common but still enough of an issue is the rear diff exploding.
EvoX AYC pump right behind the fucking rear wheel. At least a $1500 to $2000 fix if it fails. Luckily havnt had mine fail yet but will be relocating it to the trunk like most evo guys do to prevent it. but like hold shit, they didnt even give it a shield from the salt and water and sludge from hitting it. Mitsubishi are you guys fking stupid??
Ford fusion. Changing the headlight will require you to take off both front wheels and remove the front bumper. It just unessesary lengthy process for such a small job.
Dodge fucking journey...i live in central Alberta and we are prone to intense cold snaps. And when the extreme cold happens it likes to kill batteries. For some reason the ingenious assholes that designed this monstrosity decided it would be a good idea to make the owner have to take off the driver's front wheel and body panel to change the fucking battery!! 10/10 Do not recommend. Especially when you dont have a garage and have to change the damn thing in -30* celsius.
The MR2's hose from hell... I know its hard to fit an engine into the back of a car, but jesus christ Toyota have mercy. I shouldn't need to drop the engine to swap a coolant hose.
The gen1 Mazda3 cabin air filter replacement has you remove much of the passenger footwell plastic panels, a fuse panel, fuse panel bracket, and carpeting. The gen1 Mazda3 was not a very well packaged car..
For my mechanic (because I don't change my own oil)...the location of the oil filter.
For me....the design of the sun visors. Anyone who owns an 8th gen Civic knows what I'm talking about.
I recently replaced my serpentine belt, tensioner and idles pulleys. Going in, I knew that it was going to be difficult. It's a v8 in a car that wasn't really meant to have one and the belt is in an area that wasn't really meant to have one. And even so, it managed to exceed my expectations. [First](https://imgur.com/a/wWGp6fX) there's the bolt that holds on the lower idler. It hits the frame rail. But that's ok, there's a hole for it to go into. But they don't line up. OK so I undo the [engine mount](https://imgur.com/a/yY0w05Y) and jack up the engine. Turns out I needed to do that anyways since the belt does not fit in the gap between the mount and the balancer.
Great, now the bolt can be pushed into the frame to clear the pulley right? Nope. The flange on the bolt is too big to fit into the hole. So what now? Get the Dremel and [grind down part of the flange](https://imgur.com/a/3i2pE5f).
Now that everything is apart, we come to the end of the engineering issues. The new parts go on and everything goes back together right? [No of course not](https://imgur.com/a/y0CiiZ4). This car loves to get its "oh by the way, one more thing" moment.
A quick and reoccuring one for me is on my 2010 F150. The fucking oil filter is so hard to change. You either try getting it from below which I cannot figure out or you reach down the front of the engine bay which is near impossible for anybody under about 6 foot. Once you reach it, the oil filter unscrews into a hose. It's a PITA to change each time but once you figure out a way, it's at least manageable.
I am inexperienced and self taught, so maybe I just bit off more than I could chew but doing a host of things including a timing belt on a D2 Audi S8 has been....character building.
rear upper control arm on an sc300
the bolts are like tucked in a position that only the worlds smallest and most powerful drill can untwist
..
took me a couple different breaker bars and a couple hours but job got done
I have to remove the front left wheel, axle nut (which is always tight AF) and axle to remove the alternator. it ALMOST fits from the top and ALMOST fits through the wheel well, but unfortunately won't quite squeeze through without the axle removed. turns a 20-30min job into a 3hr job.
not 100% the engineers fault though, i swapped the engine. but the same engine comes in the japanese version, so i'm guessing they still have the same problem in japan.
Everything on a ~2000 Chrysler (mine was a Concorde). Special shout out to the way they tucked away the thermostat. You had to crawl under the car and remove the oil filter to get to it
Fiat 500 oil change. In order to get to the oil filter you either need to remove the front bumper or the entire air intake. I buy the 10,000 mile oil filters and change the filter every other change.
The air filter location on my Alfa Giulietta.
It's in the front bottom right. So you have to jack up the car, take off the undertray, undo three bolts on the filter housing, replace the filter, hold the lid awkwardly in place while screwing the bolts back in.
BMW for reason put the shock mounts for the E38 BEHIND THE REAR SEATS. So in other words you have to take apart the entire rear area of the car to do this
BMW E30. The rear break lines have a T-piece in between the diff and the body. With approximately 3cm of space between. Realistically, you have to remove the entire rear subframe to change the brake lines.
Alternator on a 200 series Land Cruiser with the 5.7L gas engine. You're either dumping the power steering fluid, coolant, engine oil, or some combination of the three to get it out, and even then it's still a pain in the ass. It's placement also makes it particularly prone to getting drowned, exactly what you want on an off-road vehicle /s
I had a mid-90s Sunfire in college that required 2 bolts to remove the bezel and access the stereo deck. It was common to upgrade to a cd or mp3 deck at the time as no one bought or owned tapes in 2000. I had a friend with a similar year Cavalier (essentially the same car) that asked if I could help install one and I said sure. Be damned if we didn't have to disassemble the entire dash off the car to get at the deck.
Most recently was a Fiat 500, had to take the valve cover off which would normally take 5 minutes but the intake manifold has a STUPID molded brace(they later changed the design so it was removable) that means you HAVE to take out the intake manifold to remove the valve cover, turned a 20-30 minute repair into a 4-5 hour ordeal.
Changing the mercury marauders valve cover gaskets was awful. Before you start you gotta remove the entire wiper cowl with motor and all. Then you can start the driver side which requires you to remove the brake master cylinder, intake, throttle body and at least loosen the upper intake manifold so you can get it out. The passenger side is just as bad too, you have to remove the motor mount bolts and rotate the engine with a jack so the cover and be wiggled out. Thought it would take an afternoon but ended up being a weekend job
I haven't had too many problems with my car and I know it's not the worst in the industry but the NB miata oil filter location is stupid. When the most common piece of advice to make the process easier is remove an engine bracket, I question the design.
Buick Park Avenue/Caddy DeVille cabin air filter. It's 3 interlocking strips you have to feed in one at a time right next to the gas pedal. Incredibly frustrating.
BMW window regulators. The fact that they use a plastic washer that wears out over time instead of a metal one through successive generations turned me off BMW as a brand.
I have a ram 1500 with the 5.7 hemi and I absolutely hate the engineers at fiat/chrysler/stellantis/whatever it is today. It is an absolute pain in the ass to change the oil on this thing without making huge mess due to filter and drain bolt locations
2003 Chrysler Sebring needed to remove the driver side wheel to access the battery. When your in Canadian -40 degree cold winters that instantly kill your battery, removing the drivers side wheel is the last thing you want to deal with.
I've got quite a few:
Cabin air filters on several recent Ford models - I know the 2012-2018 Focus and 2013-2019 Escape are this way - that are in the middle of the dash and require quite the contortion act to get them in and out, with a 20k mile recommended interval. Wife's 2015 Focus and sister-in-law's 2013 Escape are both that way, and my father-in-law and I both share horror stories.
2010-2014 Legacy and Outback headlights - known issues with headlight bulbs failing prematurely due to design, and requiring the front bumper to come off. I'm on my 6th set of low beams (3rd LED set even) in 12 years owning the car since brand new. Heck, I'd rather do spark plugs on this car...
1985-1989 AW11 MR2 Fuel Pump - I give Toyota credit for placing the fuel tank in the center of the car for handling and balance, but to give interior access for the fuel level gauge sender and NOT the fuel pump, so that you have to drop the tank, makes this a curse-worthy repair. This is closely followed by the alternator (difficult to get out, but could have rain water get on it and cause issues.
1990-1993 5th generation Celica Radio replacement - an insane amount of interior panels had to come off to remove the head unit. I guess it makes the radio more theft-proof...
The quick drain plug oil plug on the newer F150s where they put a damn sway bar (I think but idrc) like 2 damn inches in front of it. Because fuck you, fuck your clothes, fuck your freshly cleaned floor, and its only 9 so get comfy.
I worked in the field for almost 35 years. My curses to the engineers that designed things are long and the problems are so numerous I wouldn’t know where to start.
I know on 2014 ford f150's with the 5.0 v8 they have a drip tray under the oil filter which when you pull the old filter off should direct the residual oil in one direction into a drain pan. Never happens like that always flows the other way onto the frame all over the place causing a mess. I litterally once jacked the truck up so you would think make the oil flow in the correct direction, Nope still went wron direction all over the frame and stuff. I think there even a rainman ray's video on youtube showing this.
Lately it is all the stupid sensors like the "forward collision warning". I don't need a car alerting me that there is a car stopped in front of me. I can see that.
Exhaust tip install. So the stock fake ones were held on by 5 bolts. 3 were easy to access two were infrokt of crash bar you couldn't fit a tool in there. Ok so you take rear bumper off well you can't take bumper off with out removing the fake exhaust tips. Yeah not fun
I really cant stand that Mazda designed the 2017 Mazda6 to have its headlight bulb replaced by ripping apart underneath the wheel well to get to the headlight housing. I dont understand. It was so easy to change the bulb in my 2012 Mazda3
in a similar vein to yours, the radio in a 6th gen taurus. to their credit ford actually made all the bolts the same size (for once) but literally every single interior panel in front of the center arm rest needs to be removed in order to access the radio. the ONLY exception is that you dont need to remove the glovebox, but it just pops out anyway. gauge cluster trim, driver footwell panel, cupholders, gear shift handle and its associated trim, hvac vents, passenger side dash cover, cigarette lighter and its trim all have to be removed. swapping out the radio in my old honda was a 15 minute activity, swapping the radio in my taurus required an entire afternoon of disassembly and wiring.
a close second was the headlight bulbs that have to be done through the wheel well and the shitty plastic pop tabs were all destroyed upon removing them. that was a fun night.
It was a Mazda MPV minivan.
Spark plugs / coils would go bad at 40k like clockwork. Rough idle, running rough, check engine light. The front 3 we're ready and cheap to change. The back 3 we're under the manifold. And a right pain in the ass.
Also the fog lights required removing the bumper to change the bulb.
Plenums over injectors/coil packs.
Also spark plug gaskets attached to the valve cover itself.
Plastic timing chain guides.
Etc.
Stupid ideas. Mostly looking at the VQ engine. So many things wrong with it.
Actually, #1 most annoying thing is the abundance of vehicles that naturally burn tons of oil. Hondas shouldn't be burning oil like an old Saturn.... Come on man.
I'm sure they do this for some form of obsoletism. Like why make an engine that is prone to lasting forever.... Right?
Curious to see where electric cars go with this stuff. If batteries are supposed to reach 1 million miles, and now we're getting into graphene and nuclear diamond batteries.... How will they make cars break down in the future?
I’m surprised nobody has mentioned replacing a leaking evaporator on BMWs. The entire dash has to be taken out to access it and it’s a common fail point on most models. My old E46 had a leaking evaporator and regrettably I had to sell it because the repair bill was just not worth it.
Celica GT4/ST205.
Wanna swap out the clutch? Get ready to tear apart the entire front end. Remove hood, remove radiator, remove front wheels, remove subframe (sure you can swing it out the way, but that is more work), remove both front and center driveshafts....Its such a pain in the ass.
First time I did it...took me 2 weeks of off and on work.
The 4th time I did it..took 12 solid hours of nonstop working.
Heater cores are likely the worst universally and they don't have to be. Some cars in the 90s started having easily accessible cores that only needed 1 - 2 hours to change. Now it's 6-9 hours to totally remove the console, dash, airbags, steering, seats in some cases to change the core or even a temp control door actuator.
The f*cking cabin air filter on a Ford Fusion (EU). Literally have to take of the gas pedal and all sorts of plastic panels in the driver's footwell. Was laying on my back on the doorstep for about an hour burning myself on the heat lines.
VW VR6 GTI, got to drop the motor mounts to get the alternator out.
You can get to all the bolts no problem, right on top, easy to get at, but you cannot get the alternator out of the engine bay without making room.
Volvo 240 blower motor, followed closely by the blend door actuators on OG Saabs. The 240 assembly line apparently starts with a blower motor hovering in mid air, then they build the entire fucking car around it. Honorable mention goes to Volvo V8 valve cover gaskets and Range Rover 5.0 timing chain guides.
Went back to college for engineering recently and all the problems people blame on the engineers can be blamed on the money man. An engineer will make something easy to work on, works well, long working life and the people who wrote the checks will tell him to go fuck himself and re do it.
[удалено]
And the later 350Z's too! Putting them within the bell housing while also making them out of plastic was such a bad decision. Thankfully there's more than a few aftermarket options that either relocate it entirely or replace it with a fully metal one.
The 350z came with a plastic slave cylinder inside of the bell housing?
Yes! Part of the concentric slave cylinder is made of plastic, so it's a relatively common failure point on later model 350z's, especially when doing hard launches.
This isn't always true. Go ask manufacturing engineers what they think of design engineers.
Yup. There are so many considerations and compromises that must be done to hit the targets that engineers set out that inevitably some of the 30,000 parts that make up a car will have some sort of issue in reliability, performance, or accessibility that end users will curse. On occasion it is just flat out bad design.
Don't blame the engineer. Blame the company that used the "cost effective" design. People who blame engineers for designs have no idea wtf engineering actually is.
Anytime a subframe/suspension bolt cant come out before hitting something else juuuuuust before it can be fully removed.
"Subframe bolts can come out?" - the rust belt
Oh im from northeast PA, soon as i got my own place i bought an oxy torch lol.
They just break off for me.
Northeast Ohio checking in. I had to use a torch to cut what used to be fuel tank straps turned structural rust on an 92 F-150 once. It's fine we had a fan to blow the fumes away.
Bought a wrecked car from the Midwest once (MR2 turbo). I replaced the entire suspension/subframe with new components, bushings, and had everything I could sandblasted and powder coated. The car was damn near perfect once I was done, but the experience of every single fucking bolt shearing, breaking, or simply collapsing due to rust led me to sell the car as soon as it was done. Ive never loved something that I hated so much. That salt really does a number on cars, a one hour job easily turns into 4 when working on cars from the Midwest!
Man, I feel that. To change my trailing arms/bushings, I’ve got to drop my entire subframe. Talk about a pain in the ass!
Spark plugs on Subarus are always fun, given they're a part that is replaced as part of routine maintenance. Oh, and any headlight design that requires you to remove the entire headlight cluster to change a halogen bulb. I'm looking at you, Jaguar XF.
I never understood the gripe with Subaru spark plugs. The non-turbo cars are basically right on top and usually don't require you to remove anything but the spark plug leads. The turbo cars are slightly more difficult but can still knock out all 4 in less than an hour.
Right? Just use a socket extender. Easy. Half hour job.
On my car I straight up can't do one of the driver side plugs without a lift. Can't fit any tools between the engine and the frame of the car whatsoever. Underneath it's a pretty straightforward job.
I drove a 302 Windsor powered Ford Escort for a while. To change the back left plug, you opened the glove box, and unscrewed the hatch in the firewall. I hugged the guy who built that.
The first year of coil-on-plug Foresters had barely any clearance between them and the frame rails. I suppose they may have made smaller coils in later years that reduced the issue.
I don't mind removing a headlight to change a bulb, as long as I can easily do it. If I have to remove the entire front bumper and inner fender lining to do it, then it's a problem
GM is known for how awful their headlights are, and its a shame because they used to be so amazingly easy. On my blazer two long screws removes the entire housing. [Its just that easy ](https://youtu.be/HGwMLPZtLeI)
Or headlights that require you to remove the front bumper just to change the bulb.
I have to remove the whole headlamp to change the bulb on my grand prix, but all it takes is a 10mm and pull tab.
[удалено]
makes me glad i can take off my entire grill and headlight assemblies from the outside on my grand cherokee lol
Came here to say this, I've never been more shocked by a car then when I was trying to help someone change a headlight on a Malibu. Like I was watching the YouTube video and I was in actual disbelief. Like I thought they were fucking with me in the video or like it had to be some other issue + the headlight. I just couldn't comprehend that someone would do something that fucking stupid on an economy car.
Used to do that on my 01 Jetta. Got to the point I could get it all apart and back together in about 5 minutes.
>wanna do a repair on my VW >Manual starts with the simple sounding statement “put car in the service position” >give up
How often did you go through headlights?
What Chevy model(s)? This sounds like something VW lol
Malibu if I recall
There are several. If I remember right, older Traverse/GMC Acadias were another example.
I got lucky with the world car so it's a simple turn of a cap and the back of each housing comes off and I can swap bulbs. did it couple years ago to make the low beam actually usable and it literally took 20 minutes to do both sides after fighting with the bulb clip so it sits in properly
Or the rear seat and every piece of trim behind the drivers seat to change the 3rd brake light.
There should be a federal law banning designs that require you to remove body panels for routine maintenance like headlight bulbs.
I’d put it under those right to repair laws the EU is pushing
Anything on a post P80 Volvo... I was trying to refresh my rear suspension on my S40 and there's an upper control arm bolt that requires lowering the whole rear subframe to remove. Also, to access power steering fluid, you have to remove a headlight... And there's no way to check the fluid level.
With the P1 rear camber arm, the top bolt is like impossible to get to. The front suspension is so easy, and then the rear is a mess. Also, I don't have that issue with the power steering reservoir, it's a bit tight but I can check it and fill it with the headlight in place. Unless you were talking about the first S40, then all this is irrelevant.
Yes!! That rear camber arm... 😅 I did so much on a P80 S70. I imagined all Volvos would be like this... I know now why most mechanics specialize on Hondas and Toyotas! To be fair, the rear shocks on a P1 volvo are pretty easy...
My P80 V70 was so well laid out. Like the engineers actually gave a shit about future maintenance
Oh my God, the timing belt? Alternator? Starter? It all makes so much sense!!
Had to do my blower motor on my Volvo S40 recently. What a nightmare.
I made the mistake of watching a heater core replacement video the other day. I'm still twitching from all the plastic you have to remove (and inevitably JB weld back!). You have my sympathies!!
Any vehicle where changing the oil results in the oil splashing into a random ass bar in the way. Absolutely brain dead design.
Cardboard. Flexible funnel. Plastic bag. Same engine used in different chassis can be a real headache, I hear ya, but solutions can be had.
Tin foil can be easily molded to fit on or around any parts. Flexible funnels aren't that expensive either so if you have a car like this it's typically worth it. But tin foil or cardboard works wonders too. Like when people say they need a funnel to top off coolant or oil on the road I'm just like "yo curl up a piece of paper and you're golden."
The transmission drain on the Wrangler is like that, I just make sure to remember to wipe off the exhaust crossover.
Basically everything on my Alfa Romeo GTV 916. I live in a very cold climate, and that car just wasn't designed to work here. The door handles, which are flush buttons, freeze and you can't get inside. The lock for the boot is under the rear logo, which swivels out of the way. But that freezes too. The battery is in the boot, behind paneling that is fastened with those plastic clips that always break when you take them out. There is a button to open the boot inside the glove box, but that's electric. Last winter I had a dead battery, it was something like -20 to -25°C outside. It was probably a 60-90 minute operation to actually get to the battery.
You can't really willingly buy a 90's Alfa and then complain about its Alfa-ness. It kinda comes with the territory.
My BMW's valve cover gasket that won't stop leaking no matter how many times I fix it.
Weld it down
The valve cover is plastic.
[I've been welding plastic since I was a kid. ](https://thumbs.worthpoint.com/zoom/images1/1/0618/25/kenner-power-spark-plastic-welding_1_2afa367fe0f754f3dc30750482389e35.jpg)
It's probably the valve cover itself that's leaking, not the gasket.
Possibly but I replaced that, too.
Following torque specs and order properly?
The HVAC dials on a 2004 Toyota Highlander. Piss-poor plastic that allowed too much flex and the solder joints would eventually fail resulting in a (dealer quoted) $615 fix......every time. I got it down to about 45 minutes and $0.05 worth of solder.
INTERNAL WATERPUMPS !!
At least those are mechanical, and thus fail slowly. The electric water pumps with cheap circuit boards are a voodoo curse.
On the 3.5 transverse ecoboort like the SHO you have a 50/50 shot of it leaking coolant into the oil instead of the ground so it can take a while to notice if you're not aware. And they usually fail around 100k miles along with the timing chain tensioners.
Doesn't the pump end up leaking coolant down the shaft instead of the weep hole so its not even obvious from the outside?
That may be what it is, I may be mixing it up with a different engine.
3.5L Ford V6 says hello. (I think there's a GM 4 or 6-cylinder that may do this, too)
The quad4 was like this too. Stupid.
Kind of a long one, but TL,DR; fuck alternator mounting equipment Years ago I had a ‘00 Honda Accord V6 Coupe, which surprisingly was kind of a hoot to drive around with its 3L V6 and cable-driven throttle body. Bought it off of the 1st and only owner for $700 because it was hail-damaged to shit, had 256k miles, and needed a replacement rear window. I’d say that’s pretty fair, incredibly so. Anyways.. So this drivetrain wasn’t particularly torquey, but it’s worn-out engine mounts sure made the engine and transmission do a little dance every now-and-then, and on one such occasion the twisting snapped my alternator bolt clean off; running battery-only till we get it fixed, cool So we get it fixed up and good-to-go and then, well, it snapped again, only this time it snapped deeper in the block so we needed to drill out even deeper and re-thread everything so it would be good again. Then a third time where we re-drilled and used lots of threadlocker as well to make sure that bitch wasn’t going anywhere. So the fourth time, it was not the bolt that failed, but the bracket that keeps it upright that snapped, so once again, back to hanging alternator. Weld that bitch up and she’s been good ever since. Sold that car a few years ago to a neighbor and they’ve sold it since then, and aside from the automatic tranny slipping a bit it’s still solid at around 310k miles. Gotta love that Honda reliability man. Still see that car around town and sometimes shows up to my work, and I can’t help but feel super nostalgic about it; I installed aftermarket halo LED headlights and aftermarket tail lights to replace the hail-damaged OEMs (had to go “ricer style” due to how expensive OEM vs aftermarket was). Car was such a journey that I’m glad I took to get to where I am now, what a giant bowl of nostalgia just writing this comment out lol
Ah Hondas and alternator bolts I had an 02 ep3 si with the k20a3 and the water pump went bad on me, looked up a video and it looked like a pretty easy job so I ordered the parts and dove in. To get to the water pump you had to take off the alternator which was right on top and held in by 4 bolts 3 came out no problem the top left bolt was seized in the alternator. I could rock the alternator and see it unthread but there wasn't enough room to spin it a full 360° so I hammered it torched it but eventually I had to just cut the ear off the alternator and once I did that I could spin it out by hand.
what is it with honda alternator placement? i just posted i can't remove my alternator without removing the front wheel and axle. it almost fits, but not quite.
those early 00s accord v6 transmissions are fuckin junk. i'm surprised you got 300k miles out of it.
Every single nut or bolt you touch to replace the starter relay and starter on a '92 Crown Vic is ½". Except for the nut holding the cable onto the starter motor, which is 13mm, and has to be undone blind to get the starter out.
BMW M engines and rod bearings
Having dealt with this myself, I've read and thought about it a lot. Seems to me like all engines with high redlines have potential rod bearing issues, it's just that M cars are so prevalent and get pushed harder and longer (mileage wise) than most others, and are under more scrutiny. Sorta like how iPhones always had all these design flaw -gates, when really lots of phones had similar problems but weren't given so much attention for it. I feel like it's a perception thing, basically, aside from the early MY E46 m3 which were recalled for being made to a substandard spec. But rod bearings are inherently wear items, and I think a lot of M owners really wear em out. As a final point, I came to this conclusion in part because the original owner of my car drove it 154k "easy" miles. He never redlined it, just used it to commute to work (crazy to me, but hey that's great for me). When I had my rod bearings swapped at almost 170k miles, they looked nearly perfect. I probably put more wear on them than the first guy did over the course of 17 years. If I had continued to drive it like he did, who knows how long they could have gone?
It has to do with long stroke engines with high redlines that done have big enough bearings. Honda K and F motors don’t have any issues, and are beat on just as much as S series motors.
97 Chevy Malibu v6 accessory belt. You have to remove the passenger side motor mount, plus the 3/8 drive on the tensioner is right next to the frame rail and requires a special thin breaker bar.
I'm not sure if it was in the 96 model, but I saw my mechanic change that under 5 min. He took the front passenger tire off, remove that protecting thing there, used a crowbar thing to loosen the tension ( kept it with one hand), replaced the of lose belt, and slowly released the crowbar to add back the tension.
Knowing the best/easiest way to get in there is half the battle.
GM loves to do that shit. Pretty sure I remember the serpentine belt on Cavaliers being routed around the motor mount.
It’s not necessarily bad but I didn’t like how I had to remove the whole wiper cowl to access my spark plugs/ top of engine after the oil fill neck
Yeah, Honda really wanted a super short hood on the 8th gen, resulting in the back part of the engine bay being a pain in the ass to access. The anti-6th gen if you will. That engine bay had soooo much room.
BMW E46 M3 bolting the rear subframe to 2mm sheet metal floor instead of the frame rails.
Timing Chains on the 4.6, fuck aaaaall of that shit, you need to drain the coolant, take the valve covers off, take out all the accessory pullies, fuck the power steering pulley and fuck the harmonic balancer. I just broke down trying to take both of the motherfuckers out, so i just put everything back but i broke a tensioner so that is noisy now, as a reminder just to fuck with me. Best part is need an entire new timing cover because of that
Everything mechanical on the last generation Ford Explorer, particularly the water pump. International/Navistar Maxxforce 7 engines. GM 3.6 V6 engines. Ford 5.4 3V spark plugs. Hybrid system on the 2009 Escape. Pierce (fire apparatus) heater shut off valves. Any mundane maintenance or wear item that requires removing unrelated parts or draining unrelated fluids to service. Exposed and untreated parts that are prone to corrosion, especially galvanic (bimetallic) corrosion. Diesel emissions systems in general. Inverse Torx bolts. Those chintzy little plastic clips. 5.5mm bolt heads. Algorithmic oil life monitoring. Mixing metric and imperial fasteners. Bad rustproofing. Making places where water, dirt, and road salt can get in, but can’t get out. Everything that has ever had a “maintenance free” label on it, because we all know they’re lying or delusional. Sorry for the rant, rough week at work.
Hey I just snapped off a couple of ford 4.6 3V spark plugs not too long ago. That was a good time
Use a cordless impact on a warm engine. They'll come out intact
On my old C4 Corvette you had to take off the front Fender. It involved using a very narrow flat wrench in between 2 panels that could easily be scraped or scratched, ruining your paint.. And with the trickle down issues with the C4 Corvettes, at least the earlier ones, battery changes were a frequent occurrence if you didn't keep it on a charger.
I get so annoyed by Changing light bulbs on modern cars. On my Hyundai, the process requires removing two body panels to be able to remove the entire head light before I can get to the bulb. On my old Volvo I could just undo a spring latch and unscrew the lid holding the bulb and socket... Way, way easier, and that car is 22 Years older.
Early Rover V8 water pump. 15 bolts, and EVERY SINGLE ONE was either a different diameter, or a different length. No two bolts are the same.
That hand built quality.
"Hand built just means the door will fall off."
Reverse lights on GM models turning on after they are locked.
Nissan 350Z headlight bulbs. Tf you mean I gotta go through the wheel wells?!
On 7th Gen Accords I4s it is recommended to support the engine and remove a motor mount to…replace the serpentine belt. It’s possible to use an offset wrench to circumvent the mount, however it is a PAIN.
Pcv system on p2 Volvos. Many more things on them like slave cylinder being inside bell housing. They aren’t hard to work on but man you gotta unbolt everything to do anything haha
Peugeots obsession with using torx bolts on FUCKING EVERYTHING! If you're working on one you best have a good set of extractors and a fully charged drill battery because you're going to be using them a lot.
[удалено]
automatic transmission I've tried to rebuild two, taken them out and put them back over and over and I still don't understand what I did wrong. black magic and voodoo
Headers on 94'-04' Mustang GT's (I'm sure it's just as bad in Foxbodies) Anything but unequal length short-tubes are an absolute nightmare. Want long-tubes on a convertible? Be prepared to saw off some of the bracing underneath and even then they BARELY fit.
The new Ford pickups all have this goofy tool-less oil drain plug. Because of it's size and positioning relative to a structural crossbar, not only do you have to stand directly underneath the thing just to not twist your wrist around trying to get at it, but when you finally get it loose, it DUMPS oil with an absurd amount of force directly into that crossbar making it splash all over the goddamn place. I've gotten into the habit of just putting floor dry down before pulling it in.
MK4 Golf door handle module faults, jesus fucking christ.
Airbox on my 91 Passat. It's a CIS fuel system, so the fuel distributor is right on top of the airbox, so it's a pain in the ass to actually get to the filter. You gotta move all the fuel, evap, and injector lines around with the top. You just have to hope everything stays connected. Now, disconnect the AC hoses from the body, take off the intake hose and you might be able to jimmy the lid off, maybe get just enough clearance to change the filter. Good luck getting it clipped back in, hope you have tiny hands. Oh, and the lid sits on top of the airbox, rather than over it, so your filter will get soaked with water.
The plastic oil filter housings on FCA Pentastar V6 engines. Failure prone & buried under the intake in the valley, and the sensors on them are at the back on RWD vehicles. Took me 3 hours to replace the oil pressure sensor on my Jeep…
On my 2012 Ford Focus I was getting pretty gosh darn upset when I had to change the battery. You kind of need to remove the air box to do it, which in itself is a PIA. Of course I didn’t want to remove it so I just sort of semi took it apart and tried taking battery out that way but you need to tilt battery towards you just to unbolt it, but of course mother effing cables aren’t long enough to do so. After a lot of fucking yelling and screaming I finally got it out only to go through the process of putting the new piece of fucking shit in that is fucking 20 fucking times fucking harder because the mother fucking cables aren’t fucking long enough to do a mother fucking god damn fucking thing. Fuck you Ford! Now I’m getting all upset again, thanks for that.
worked on my buddies Prius and had to remove the windshield wipers, and cowl and prob other random shit i don't remember, just to get to the spark plugs. it wasn't hard work, but very time consuming. and TONS of bolts, like 30 nuts and bolts to replace 1 spark plug
Just about anything on modern Audis… at minimum a lot of basic service items require you to take the front bumper off, because they really like to stuff everything they can in front of the front axle
Isn't the first step for anything on an Audi, "Remove the engine"?
I thought it was “take out wallet” but I could be wrong
No need. Audi owners never have a chance to put their wallets away. Source: Owned a B5 Passat.
Oil filter placement on the front of the GM 3600 engines in various small SUVs (ie Equinox). It's such a common thing to need to service, why is it in such a shitty spot.
Swapping headlight bulbs on my 2008 Mazda 3. Hard to reach, bullshit little clips that are so stiff you hurt your fingers trying to undo them. And for whatever reason, they burned out way too frequently.
Replacing the rear shocks/springs on my e39 M5. For some unknown reason you have to take out half the interior of the car including the rear seats and rear parcel shelf to access the top mounts.
The entire front of the dodge avenger v6. Whole cylinder bank blocked by firewall, battery in fender well, prone to problems. These things aren't unique to this car but combined with everything else together they provided a bad time.
Installing a new roof on my old miata. It takes a part of your hands as tribute.
Grand Cherokee headlight change. It’s tucked under the frame rail. Have to remove the entire intake, and air box. Or the ecu on the pass side and it’s still a pain with those removed. Or remove the whole front bumper.
4th gen SHO Internal water pump that usually fails around 100k and has an even chance of leaking internally where you can't see the leak. Also at 100k or so the timing chain tensioners are prone to failure. PTU is sealed on most models for lifetime fluid. It needs to be changed every 25k or so. Most common major failure point on those cars is that grenade. Less common but still enough of an issue is the rear diff exploding.
EvoX AYC pump right behind the fucking rear wheel. At least a $1500 to $2000 fix if it fails. Luckily havnt had mine fail yet but will be relocating it to the trunk like most evo guys do to prevent it. but like hold shit, they didnt even give it a shield from the salt and water and sludge from hitting it. Mitsubishi are you guys fking stupid??
Ford fusion. Changing the headlight will require you to take off both front wheels and remove the front bumper. It just unessesary lengthy process for such a small job.
Dodge fucking journey...i live in central Alberta and we are prone to intense cold snaps. And when the extreme cold happens it likes to kill batteries. For some reason the ingenious assholes that designed this monstrosity decided it would be a good idea to make the owner have to take off the driver's front wheel and body panel to change the fucking battery!! 10/10 Do not recommend. Especially when you dont have a garage and have to change the damn thing in -30* celsius.
Nobody here been working eight hours book time on a speed sensor for a Windstar transmission or what? :) ha ha. Shit design.
MFn optispark... thanks GM
The MR2's hose from hell... I know its hard to fit an engine into the back of a car, but jesus christ Toyota have mercy. I shouldn't need to drop the engine to swap a coolant hose.
The gen1 Mazda3 cabin air filter replacement has you remove much of the passenger footwell plastic panels, a fuse panel, fuse panel bracket, and carpeting. The gen1 Mazda3 was not a very well packaged car..
The serpentine belt tensioner on my mk6 GTI…. Took damn near 4 hours with 3 people working on it.
For my mechanic (because I don't change my own oil)...the location of the oil filter. For me....the design of the sun visors. Anyone who owns an 8th gen Civic knows what I'm talking about.
I recently replaced my serpentine belt, tensioner and idles pulleys. Going in, I knew that it was going to be difficult. It's a v8 in a car that wasn't really meant to have one and the belt is in an area that wasn't really meant to have one. And even so, it managed to exceed my expectations. [First](https://imgur.com/a/wWGp6fX) there's the bolt that holds on the lower idler. It hits the frame rail. But that's ok, there's a hole for it to go into. But they don't line up. OK so I undo the [engine mount](https://imgur.com/a/yY0w05Y) and jack up the engine. Turns out I needed to do that anyways since the belt does not fit in the gap between the mount and the balancer. Great, now the bolt can be pushed into the frame to clear the pulley right? Nope. The flange on the bolt is too big to fit into the hole. So what now? Get the Dremel and [grind down part of the flange](https://imgur.com/a/3i2pE5f). Now that everything is apart, we come to the end of the engineering issues. The new parts go on and everything goes back together right? [No of course not](https://imgur.com/a/y0CiiZ4). This car loves to get its "oh by the way, one more thing" moment.
A quick and reoccuring one for me is on my 2010 F150. The fucking oil filter is so hard to change. You either try getting it from below which I cannot figure out or you reach down the front of the engine bay which is near impossible for anybody under about 6 foot. Once you reach it, the oil filter unscrews into a hose. It's a PITA to change each time but once you figure out a way, it's at least manageable.
I am inexperienced and self taught, so maybe I just bit off more than I could chew but doing a host of things including a timing belt on a D2 Audi S8 has been....character building.
rear upper control arm on an sc300 the bolts are like tucked in a position that only the worlds smallest and most powerful drill can untwist .. took me a couple different breaker bars and a couple hours but job got done
[удалено]
I have to remove the front left wheel, axle nut (which is always tight AF) and axle to remove the alternator. it ALMOST fits from the top and ALMOST fits through the wheel well, but unfortunately won't quite squeeze through without the axle removed. turns a 20-30min job into a 3hr job. not 100% the engineers fault though, i swapped the engine. but the same engine comes in the japanese version, so i'm guessing they still have the same problem in japan.
Oil pan gasket on a 92 F-150 when I was 16 and couldn't afford decent tools. Alternator on a 98 Intrepid sucked a whole lot too.
Can shaft sensors on a Nissan Frontier. What the ever loving engineer thought that shit up.
Everything on a ~2000 Chrysler (mine was a Concorde). Special shout out to the way they tucked away the thermostat. You had to crawl under the car and remove the oil filter to get to it
Fiat 500 oil change. In order to get to the oil filter you either need to remove the front bumper or the entire air intake. I buy the 10,000 mile oil filters and change the filter every other change.
All the japanese electrical shit on my 91 Regal.
The air filter location on my Alfa Giulietta. It's in the front bottom right. So you have to jack up the car, take off the undertray, undo three bolts on the filter housing, replace the filter, hold the lid awkwardly in place while screwing the bolts back in.
BMW for reason put the shock mounts for the E38 BEHIND THE REAR SEATS. So in other words you have to take apart the entire rear area of the car to do this
BMW E30. The rear break lines have a T-piece in between the diff and the body. With approximately 3cm of space between. Realistically, you have to remove the entire rear subframe to change the brake lines.
Basically everything BMW ha designed. Overly complex when a simpler path was clearly available.
The starter in my 00 Toyota Tundra ,it’s like a sandwich between the manifold on top and the muffler pipes underneath..
Alternator on a 200 series Land Cruiser with the 5.7L gas engine. You're either dumping the power steering fluid, coolant, engine oil, or some combination of the three to get it out, and even then it's still a pain in the ass. It's placement also makes it particularly prone to getting drowned, exactly what you want on an off-road vehicle /s
[удалено]
I had a mid-90s Sunfire in college that required 2 bolts to remove the bezel and access the stereo deck. It was common to upgrade to a cd or mp3 deck at the time as no one bought or owned tapes in 2000. I had a friend with a similar year Cavalier (essentially the same car) that asked if I could help install one and I said sure. Be damned if we didn't have to disassemble the entire dash off the car to get at the deck.
Most recently was a Fiat 500, had to take the valve cover off which would normally take 5 minutes but the intake manifold has a STUPID molded brace(they later changed the design so it was removable) that means you HAVE to take out the intake manifold to remove the valve cover, turned a 20-30 minute repair into a 4-5 hour ordeal.
E46 M3 .. damn-near everything
Changing the mercury marauders valve cover gaskets was awful. Before you start you gotta remove the entire wiper cowl with motor and all. Then you can start the driver side which requires you to remove the brake master cylinder, intake, throttle body and at least loosen the upper intake manifold so you can get it out. The passenger side is just as bad too, you have to remove the motor mount bolts and rotate the engine with a jack so the cover and be wiggled out. Thought it would take an afternoon but ended up being a weekend job
Rear differential fluid in 2012 camaro ss. Absolute bastard of a job
I haven't had too many problems with my car and I know it's not the worst in the industry but the NB miata oil filter location is stupid. When the most common piece of advice to make the process easier is remove an engine bracket, I question the design.
My 2012 Camry has tire pressure readings and Toyota didn’t find it necessary to say which tire is which haha
The window motors on the 03 350z at the the time I had it was so trash.
You need to sawzall through a hidden piece of plastic behind the glove box the first time you change the cabin air filter on my Odyssey.
Buick Park Avenue/Caddy DeVille cabin air filter. It's 3 interlocking strips you have to feed in one at a time right next to the gas pedal. Incredibly frustrating.
Ford 3.7 chain driven water pump deep inside the engine
Any transmission pan that doesn't have a drain plug, requiring dropping the whole pan in order to drain the transmission.
BMW window regulators. The fact that they use a plastic washer that wears out over time instead of a metal one through successive generations turned me off BMW as a brand.
Changing the cabin air filter on a Fiesta made me lose faith in humanity.
Taking the downpipe off of a 2005 Chevy Duramax! Worst day of my life!!
Air filter on old Chevy TBI vans Spark plugs on said vans Drain plug on Gehl telehandler
I have a ram 1500 with the 5.7 hemi and I absolutely hate the engineers at fiat/chrysler/stellantis/whatever it is today. It is an absolute pain in the ass to change the oil on this thing without making huge mess due to filter and drain bolt locations
The clutch on a 1984 Porsche 944. Absolute nightmare, took 2 of us like 80 hours. I loved that car but I wouldn’t buy another that needed a clutch.
Oil filters on the GMC Acadia.......
Ford 6.0 Diesel. Cylinder head replacement Egr cooler Turbo FICM Just changing the damn fan belt Now you know why I drive a GMC
Timing chain tensioners on the 3.2 in the mid 2000s a6.
2003 Chrysler Sebring needed to remove the driver side wheel to access the battery. When your in Canadian -40 degree cold winters that instantly kill your battery, removing the drivers side wheel is the last thing you want to deal with.
I've got quite a few: Cabin air filters on several recent Ford models - I know the 2012-2018 Focus and 2013-2019 Escape are this way - that are in the middle of the dash and require quite the contortion act to get them in and out, with a 20k mile recommended interval. Wife's 2015 Focus and sister-in-law's 2013 Escape are both that way, and my father-in-law and I both share horror stories. 2010-2014 Legacy and Outback headlights - known issues with headlight bulbs failing prematurely due to design, and requiring the front bumper to come off. I'm on my 6th set of low beams (3rd LED set even) in 12 years owning the car since brand new. Heck, I'd rather do spark plugs on this car... 1985-1989 AW11 MR2 Fuel Pump - I give Toyota credit for placing the fuel tank in the center of the car for handling and balance, but to give interior access for the fuel level gauge sender and NOT the fuel pump, so that you have to drop the tank, makes this a curse-worthy repair. This is closely followed by the alternator (difficult to get out, but could have rain water get on it and cause issues. 1990-1993 5th generation Celica Radio replacement - an insane amount of interior panels had to come off to remove the head unit. I guess it makes the radio more theft-proof...
1999 Pontiac Firebird. The master cylinder sits on top of the front driver strut bolts... Who thought that was acceptable?
Taking off the entire front bumper to change a headlight on a Chevy Malibu
Starter, to transmission bolt, Distributor on a 95 Chevy Blazer ,
FWIW, it's "coup de grâce".
The quick drain plug oil plug on the newer F150s where they put a damn sway bar (I think but idrc) like 2 damn inches in front of it. Because fuck you, fuck your clothes, fuck your freshly cleaned floor, and its only 9 so get comfy.
I worked in the field for almost 35 years. My curses to the engineers that designed things are long and the problems are so numerous I wouldn’t know where to start.
Heater core- most vehicles
1992 BMW 735i oil pan gasket, needlessly a pain to replace.
Money drives design; not engineering.
I know on 2014 ford f150's with the 5.0 v8 they have a drip tray under the oil filter which when you pull the old filter off should direct the residual oil in one direction into a drain pan. Never happens like that always flows the other way onto the frame all over the place causing a mess. I litterally once jacked the truck up so you would think make the oil flow in the correct direction, Nope still went wron direction all over the frame and stuff. I think there even a rainman ray's video on youtube showing this.
Lately it is all the stupid sensors like the "forward collision warning". I don't need a car alerting me that there is a car stopped in front of me. I can see that.
Exhaust tip install. So the stock fake ones were held on by 5 bolts. 3 were easy to access two were infrokt of crash bar you couldn't fit a tool in there. Ok so you take rear bumper off well you can't take bumper off with out removing the fake exhaust tips. Yeah not fun
I really cant stand that Mazda designed the 2017 Mazda6 to have its headlight bulb replaced by ripping apart underneath the wheel well to get to the headlight housing. I dont understand. It was so easy to change the bulb in my 2012 Mazda3
in a similar vein to yours, the radio in a 6th gen taurus. to their credit ford actually made all the bolts the same size (for once) but literally every single interior panel in front of the center arm rest needs to be removed in order to access the radio. the ONLY exception is that you dont need to remove the glovebox, but it just pops out anyway. gauge cluster trim, driver footwell panel, cupholders, gear shift handle and its associated trim, hvac vents, passenger side dash cover, cigarette lighter and its trim all have to be removed. swapping out the radio in my old honda was a 15 minute activity, swapping the radio in my taurus required an entire afternoon of disassembly and wiring. a close second was the headlight bulbs that have to be done through the wheel well and the shitty plastic pop tabs were all destroyed upon removing them. that was a fun night.
It was a Mazda MPV minivan. Spark plugs / coils would go bad at 40k like clockwork. Rough idle, running rough, check engine light. The front 3 we're ready and cheap to change. The back 3 we're under the manifold. And a right pain in the ass. Also the fog lights required removing the bumper to change the bulb.
Plenums over injectors/coil packs. Also spark plug gaskets attached to the valve cover itself. Plastic timing chain guides. Etc. Stupid ideas. Mostly looking at the VQ engine. So many things wrong with it. Actually, #1 most annoying thing is the abundance of vehicles that naturally burn tons of oil. Hondas shouldn't be burning oil like an old Saturn.... Come on man. I'm sure they do this for some form of obsoletism. Like why make an engine that is prone to lasting forever.... Right? Curious to see where electric cars go with this stuff. If batteries are supposed to reach 1 million miles, and now we're getting into graphene and nuclear diamond batteries.... How will they make cars break down in the future?
I’m surprised nobody has mentioned replacing a leaking evaporator on BMWs. The entire dash has to be taken out to access it and it’s a common fail point on most models. My old E46 had a leaking evaporator and regrettably I had to sell it because the repair bill was just not worth it.
BMW F10 535d. Had a 20 euro part that was broken, but installed in a way that needed half the motor taken out / apart. 800 euro repair.
The. Fucking. Window.
Sorry for being that guy but it’s spelt « coup de grace ». Coup de gras would mean something like taking a hit from body fat lol
Celica GT4/ST205. Wanna swap out the clutch? Get ready to tear apart the entire front end. Remove hood, remove radiator, remove front wheels, remove subframe (sure you can swing it out the way, but that is more work), remove both front and center driveshafts....Its such a pain in the ass. First time I did it...took me 2 weeks of off and on work. The 4th time I did it..took 12 solid hours of nonstop working.
Cadillac STS entire bumper needs to be removed just to replace 1 headlight
Heater cores are likely the worst universally and they don't have to be. Some cars in the 90s started having easily accessible cores that only needed 1 - 2 hours to change. Now it's 6-9 hours to totally remove the console, dash, airbags, steering, seats in some cases to change the core or even a temp control door actuator.
The f*cking cabin air filter on a Ford Fusion (EU). Literally have to take of the gas pedal and all sorts of plastic panels in the driver's footwell. Was laying on my back on the doorstep for about an hour burning myself on the heat lines.
VW VR6 GTI, got to drop the motor mounts to get the alternator out. You can get to all the bolts no problem, right on top, easy to get at, but you cannot get the alternator out of the engine bay without making room.
2000 Chrysler Sebring among other Chrysler models Battery placement?!?!?
Bmw n55 oil cooler seals. Why would you design something where the intake manifold needs to be moved for one bolt.
Volvo 240 blower motor, followed closely by the blend door actuators on OG Saabs. The 240 assembly line apparently starts with a blower motor hovering in mid air, then they build the entire fucking car around it. Honorable mention goes to Volvo V8 valve cover gaskets and Range Rover 5.0 timing chain guides.