Jobs that are more awkward than they should be
Discussion
Interested to hear of wasteful jobs you've run up against. I was watching a Saving Salvage video, Dean, the guy who runs the channel buys mostly dodgy BMW's & Audis from Copart & does them up, bit of a Youtube genre but entertaining. He was after removing the upper sump from a TT & discovered two of the bolts holding it on required him to remove the gearbox(!) How I laughed.
Over this way, I'm doing up an old Yaris for my daughter's first car. First easy job, change the drive belt. Easy peasy, slack off the tensioner, swap belts, job jobbed. Except on this car, the PAS pump is sited top left of the engine, so the belt runs over the top of the offside engine mount. Therefore, the only way to change it is to remove the mount & hold the engine up on a trolley jack, which, for a service part is madness on the part of the designers. Why oh why?!!
Over this way, I'm doing up an old Yaris for my daughter's first car. First easy job, change the drive belt. Easy peasy, slack off the tensioner, swap belts, job jobbed. Except on this car, the PAS pump is sited top left of the engine, so the belt runs over the top of the offside engine mount. Therefore, the only way to change it is to remove the mount & hold the engine up on a trolley jack, which, for a service part is madness on the part of the designers. Why oh why?!!
President Merkin said:
He was after removing the upper sump from a TT & discovered two of the bolts holding it on required him to remove the gearbox(!) How I laughed.
I'm not sure what engine it had, and quite what an "upper" sump is, but the sump on a 1.8T Mk1 TT has two (or perhaps three, I forget) bolts that are tricky to get at because they're offset into the bellhousing area. A wobble bar will normally sort it though - I did mine and they were a delay, but nothing terrible. Unless you drop them in the bellhousing, of course.The TT is full of stuff like that though - swapping the cam belt requires the engine mount to be removed, and the bolts are stretch bolts so have to be replaced each time. Removing the rear transverse arms, you can use a socket and long bar on the inner ones because the diff is in the way, so they're quite tricky to torque up properly. And the upper bolt will only come out if you remove the subframe-to-body mounting bolt, which is a stretch bolt and should be replaced, and they're getting difficult to source from Audi now. Apparently one of the front wishbone bushes - a service item - on the 3.2 V6 model requires the subframe to be dropped, requiring four expensive new stretch bolts.
It's not new though (if you can call a car release in 2000 new) - my 1970s Vauxhall has front upper wishbone bolts that won't come out unless you remove the front subframe, and on that car the engine is fixed to the subframe, not the body, so it's a major job. If they were inserted from the front of the car pointing towards the back, they'd come out without any trouble as there's more room at the front.
I have vague memories of having to undo an engine mount or similar to do a belt on a ecotech engined Cavalier some years ago. To change the sump on an Audi A4 you have to drop the bottom subframe which is a pretty large task and its only because you can't get to one or maybe two bolts
droopsnoot said:
I'm not sure what engine it had, and quite what an "upper" sump is, but the sump on a 1.8T Mk1 TT has two (or perhaps three, I forget) bolts that are tricky to get at because they're offset into the bellhousing area. A wobble bar will normally sort it though - I did mine and they were a delay, but nothing terrible. Unless you drop them in the bellhousing, of course.
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It wasn't a Mk1 TT. The video is on youtube for all to see,.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1qPYf8S40U&t=...
Any car that requires something to be removed to replace a headlight bulb (there are many). Jap cars tend to be particularly bad, my Evo needed the wheel arch liner removing. My Corvette requires the front jacking up and a cover removing to reach the indicator bulbs.
For one of the things that's going to need replacing the most it really shouldn't need anything more than a cover taking off the back of the unit.
For one of the things that's going to need replacing the most it really shouldn't need anything more than a cover taking off the back of the unit.
Audi V's with rear mounted timing gear - engine out....
Any FWD drive cars that need the gearbox out to change the clutch (all / most now?). GM nailed it 43 years ago with the F16's removable input shaft;
A jack, couple of spanners, torx key, inexpensive special tool & 20 minutes, job done. In comparison to the current day norm of ramp, engine brace, transmission jack, a large tool chest, subframe removal, shafts out, oil everywhere & several hours down the pan - progress.
Any FWD drive cars that need the gearbox out to change the clutch (all / most now?). GM nailed it 43 years ago with the F16's removable input shaft;
A jack, couple of spanners, torx key, inexpensive special tool & 20 minutes, job done. In comparison to the current day norm of ramp, engine brace, transmission jack, a large tool chest, subframe removal, shafts out, oil everywhere & several hours down the pan - progress.
The worst was changing the suspension on an old Audi A6. I did the shocks, springs and the control arms. All the while on axle stands on my gravel driveway.
Should have been relatively simple but the famous Audi pinch bolt and tapered ball joints made it a week long saga involving blow torches, breaker bars and copious amounts of swearing.
Should have been relatively simple but the famous Audi pinch bolt and tapered ball joints made it a week long saga involving blow torches, breaker bars and copious amounts of swearing.
geeks said:
I have vague memories of having to undo an engine mount or similar to do a belt on a ecotech engined Cavalier some years ago. To change the sump on an Audi A4 you have to drop the bottom subframe which is a pretty large task and its only because you can't get to one or maybe two bolts
Same on my old Civic, one of the engine brackets attaches to the end of the block between the crank and camshafts, meaning the cambelt goes round it, so you have to support the engine and remove the bracket. Was really struggling with the top nut, had a three foot bar on the spanner, then realised the nut was welded on and you had to remove the bolt underneath. Also hate doing anything that involves removing interior trim, a real faff with them poxy fragile plastic clips, click click SNAP FFS!The MG TF has a timing belt that runs around an engine mount which therefore needs to be removed to manoeuvre the belt - those that have done it generally say "it's not so bad" but it adds to the fear when you haven't done any timing belts before! Each time I'm definitely going to do it I end up paying a specialist.
The Vectra 2.8T - this one has caused disagreement on here before but the rear bank of spark plugs require removal of the inlet manifold to replace, and to change the passenger side bulbs you need to drop the front bumper so you can remove the light unit.
MX5 SVT oil filter was in a place that makes sense if you have a ramp, not so much if you are changing the oil on the drive... I didn't even bother trying!
Mercedes W211 fuel filter... It's in the petrol tank. Probably quite common these days but really? Not an in-line one that doesn't involve opening an 80 litre fuel tank to atmosphere inside a car?!
Lexus LS460 brakes - it's got a system similar to Bosche SBC from what I can see. When it thinks it has detected a leak (e.g. when you are flushing the fluid) it throws a code very quickly and cleverly shuts off the supply to that wheel. Which means that flushing the brakes takes an absolute age as you have to clear the code every few seconds. A vacuum bleeder doesn't help because the valves are seemingly shut when the system is powered down.
The Vectra 2.8T - this one has caused disagreement on here before but the rear bank of spark plugs require removal of the inlet manifold to replace, and to change the passenger side bulbs you need to drop the front bumper so you can remove the light unit.
MX5 SVT oil filter was in a place that makes sense if you have a ramp, not so much if you are changing the oil on the drive... I didn't even bother trying!
Mercedes W211 fuel filter... It's in the petrol tank. Probably quite common these days but really? Not an in-line one that doesn't involve opening an 80 litre fuel tank to atmosphere inside a car?!
Lexus LS460 brakes - it's got a system similar to Bosche SBC from what I can see. When it thinks it has detected a leak (e.g. when you are flushing the fluid) it throws a code very quickly and cleverly shuts off the supply to that wheel. Which means that flushing the brakes takes an absolute age as you have to clear the code every few seconds. A vacuum bleeder doesn't help because the valves are seemingly shut when the system is powered down.
donkmeister said:
Mercedes W211 fuel filter... It's in the petrol tank. Probably quite common these days but really? Not an in-line one that doesn't involve opening an 80 litre fuel tank to atmosphere inside a car?!
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My 2004 Mini Cooper S is built that way. It's a heady atmosphere replacing the fuel filter. Same car came with fibreglass dipsticks which would go crispy over time & break off in the tube, cueing substantial dismantling of the front of the car to get to the held in by two bolts tube..
Thats What She Said said:
Pretty much anything under a 986 Boxster, where over the years, aluminium becomes best friends with steel and wont let go of each other.
That^^^ put me off buying an Elise. Not sure if that was frilly knickers on my part but heard electrolytic corrosion between the suspension & the chassis does them in. Is that true, Lotus guys?I have been doing a suspension refresh on my wife's mk1 golf this week. New bottom arms, anti roll bar bushes and coilovers.
It's still on its original near side track rod end, which apparently is non adjustable. Have to replace the entire arm so had to 'make' a 32mm spanner to fit into the bit of access available and break it free only using a couple of fingers pulling on it.
The most annoying bit is that it's just a normal removable end on the other side, why would they do that
It's still on its original near side track rod end, which apparently is non adjustable. Have to replace the entire arm so had to 'make' a 32mm spanner to fit into the bit of access available and break it free only using a couple of fingers pulling on it.
The most annoying bit is that it's just a normal removable end on the other side, why would they do that
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