10+ Cars Mechanics Hate

[jey]

So I guess mechanics hate Hondas and Toyotas cause they're reliable and don't ever require expensive repairs.

But most people don't realize Subaru has a similar reputation for reliability:

http://autos.yahoo.com/articles/autos_c ... nics-hate/ (http://autos.yahoo.com/articles/autos_content_landing_pages/1520/10-cars-mechanics-hate/)

The Impreza and Forester are on the list but there is no reason the Legacy/Outback shouldn't be either since they use the same drivetrain.

Nissan Altima is also usually forgotten too.

[JunkerXL]

hmm i can list 10+ cars i hate, due to their complexity, and general pain in the butt-ness

1. volkswagen rabbit. i had 2 of these, and everything: read -EVERYTHING- , was more complex than need be. many of the bolts are torx, and why they chose to hold each axle on with 6 vw only mongo torx bolts, when it only has 112hp, maybe 125 TOPS, i'll never know. subaru seems to have no trouble with its sealed spline drive and a retaining pin... i had both the fuel injected model and the mechanical injected version and both systems were bizzare, and typically german. that being said that type of complexity is fine on bmw's and benzes but on a rabbit, really? i replaced a fuel pressure regulator, no biggie right? except, that the screws holding it in ( i hesitate to call them bolts) were almost identical to wood screws, but they were made of hardened german steel and precision cut., so u go to screw them in and it feels like they are going to strip out, so you back them out, and hand thread them again, and again, it feels likes its cross threaded. but no no, its SUPPOSED to feel that way. i found this out by trying to tighten it after several restart attempts. or how the gas pedal is hooked in, literally, to the throttle cable. its a hook, with a rubber washer thing, which sounds ok, i guess, but there is no locking mechanism, unless mine was a retro fit or something. so when the washer rotted out, as rubber does, the hook just falls out at random leaving you stuck, where ever you are, to fix it. working on thiese cars was both unrewarding, as well as frustrating, and i seriously considered pushing them both off a cliff, but at the time i was in texas, and there not really any cliffs to speak of. i could go on and on about the strange methods of construction that vw used on this and many other cars, but i'll stop, just know that it made it to #1 on my list. :!: :!: :!:

2. 2006 and up GMC yukon denali. electronics on the space shuttle have to be less complex. and easier to service and diagnose. being that vehicles that are composed of 90% circuit boards should have some built in redundancy, and these do not, it makes it to number 2. there are a million computers on one of these, and they are all incredibly sensitive to low volt conditions, meaning when you have a normally functiong vehicle, suddenly start wigging out, gauges flipping all over the place door locks going up and down like your watching poltergiest, its prolly a low battery. not that non gm techs catch it that often, leading to thousands in unneeded repairs. and lets not forget that everythign, and i mean everything, that COULD be controlled in a standard way, had indeed been digitized, so your signals? digitized, your wipers? digitized, locks? head lamps? blower motor controls? GAUGES!? all digitized, meaning computers for everthing (im harping on this, can you tell?) and of course many repairs lead to reprogramming since many systems are interdependent and NON redundant. gm has a habit of no redundancy. case in point look at the c6 vette. the battery gets low and you cant open the trunk? no big deal to get in the trunk, simply REPLACE THE FREAKIN BATTERY!?!?!? yep, no manual lever on that car, so if you get a dead battery, better hope you have a spare if you left somethign important in there. saw it happen. ...moving right along... :roll:

3. Volkswagen new beetle. sorry vw, but you made it to umber 3 also. sad day, but not unexpected. never before has a manufacturer tried so hard to stuff so much into so many, unneeded tight spaces. apparently at vw function follows form. wanna change the headlight bulbs? no problem, remove the bumper. try not to break any of the millions of lousy plastic clips all over the place, they are vw specific. wanna work on somethign behind the dash? careful, you'll need the hand skill of a surgeon to get all the stuff out with out snapping something in half, since they use the cheapest in mexican plastic in there. (no offense to mexico, but really that crap is brittle) tails lights are way to hard to change also. and of couse if you ever have to work on the engine, dont drop anything, because it seems they have engineered a million places for bolts to be eaten by the car, only to have to go to the dealer and buy new ones, since standard autozone fare is not "on the engineering tip". and if you ahve to remove a coolant hose, careful, the spout going onto the motor might well be made of brittle plastic that only degrades with age and HEAT! :smt013

4. 1991 geo prizm GSI love the car, hate opening the hood. during an age of friendly gm/toyota relations, gm decided to rebadge the corolla/caldena chassis and in their uncertain wisdom, they decided, for a limited time, when they couldnt sell enough to warrant it, to stuff a jdm 4age small port into that car. the GS-i was born. anyone who has worked on an mr2 of the era, or a cheva nova 2, with the standard usdm 4age, knows that gettign your hands in there is a challenge, well couple that with its performance enhancing strut bar, and its pretty much impossible to reach anything in there. on top of that since the engine was SPECIFIC to that car, as were the rear brakes, and a few other odds and ends, getting parts was almost a joke, and when you COULD find them, they were often the wrong ones. i had the wrong coil 2wice, 2 different designs, even. since the head was NON t-vis, you couldnt change alot of maintenance parts from the non small port either. no plug wires, no distributor, etc. to add insult to injury, mine was an auto, which should never have been allowed and is an abomination in the sports car world, to suffer a 4age with anything but a 5spd. if you have a lift in your garage, the car is not too dificult to work on, but other wise, please break your arm in 3 places to reach anything. great drive btw, even with the auto. if u are experienced driving rare cars, go for this one, just hire someone else, who is trustworthy, to fix it. :smt023

5. Volvo 240dl. deceptively simple...? while these cars are not the worst ever, they lull you into a false sense of security, by appearing very simple to service. but some of the hoses are only serviceable when removing the intake, the wireing harness is made of plastic that ages poorly, and disintegrates, causing some electrical nightmares. some had a push button 5th gear, which adds a nice little button to push, but as the age, engagement becomes spotty, and the braces and bushings can be a real headache. if they werent so reliable and fun to drive, i would write this one off. i have worked on worse, but it's the visual trickery that made it appear on the list. so simple indeed.... :smt012

6. cadillac sts. fwd north-star v8. working on this car is like committing suicide over and over, so u can drive to the store. everything sucks on this car. everything. nothing comes easy, and parts are UNREAL. avoid at all costs. comfy and fast though... :lol:

7. cadillac caterra. its practically a bmw, only built with modeling putty and aluminum. it fails at every idea. at least from a service point of view. german trans (shared with the bmw 3 series of the day im told), lsd, strange twincam motor, that had no counterparts that were easily available in the states. not a horrible car in concept, but parts were crazy expensive, everything is hard to reach and cadillac electronics ensured a wiring nightmare that would haunt you for the rest of your days... on the plus side it's rwd, and had good suspension, so its a cheap drift car, once you strip out the "luxury" items (added weight), werent bad looking either. :smt017

8. 1st gen infinity q45. workhorse luxury speedster, difficult to service. i own one. its fast (300+hp), it handles great, especially for a giant sedan, and i feel like a g when i drive it around, BUT! parts are high, and because the motor is tight as a drum, it's over built to some degree, and servicing it is not fun. plug 8 is behind an ac line, and the abs module, so u have to be very dedicated to change it. on top of that, the spark plug valley covers are held on with 8 allen bolts each, then each coil on plug is held on with 2 precision phillips screws, which are REALLY in there. 6 book hours for a spark plug job, puts this one on the list. that and you cannot reach the ac compressor, or really anything else for that matter with out lifting and disassembling the car. i love that big white bird, but its a pain in the butt to work on. :smt007 / :-(

9. fiat x-19 bertone. not needed on the list, because they are almost extinct, but worth mentioning for its epic fails. starting with the wiring the car uses grounding caps, that merge a variety of things into wires with spade terminals that ground to a cap o spade terminal male ends against the engine bay. needless to say they constantly fall off, and need to be updated in order to prevent wiring failures. the clutch master cylinder is under the dash, which is the size of a thimble, so bleeding it is an exercise in contortionism and often ends up putting the tech in strange bodily positions, upside down with their feet sticking out of the t top holes. i could prolly go on, but you get the idea. fiat - Fix It Again, Tony. :smt018

10. chevy camaro/pontiac firebird/ TA - last gen before the redesign... when servicing a car one would expect to be able to have a few things, one of those being the ability to see the rear of the engine on a car with a hundred foot nose. but believe it or not, chevy found a way to obscure the last 3rd of the engine, making it impossible to reach things, like, oh i dont know, SPARKPLUGS! cmon gm, you have been making cars for 100 years or something, FIX IT. not mention shoddily constructed interior pieces in detail, they are hard to NOT break and the passenger footwell is well, a crime agsinst comfort, especially if you have to get into that half of the dash. the cooling lines are a hundred miles long, convoluted and pricey to replace, both in labor and in parts. and the steering and suspension on this car feels as if it was pulled from another vehicle and stuffed into this car, and working on it is no picnic either. fail. yay for big engines and rwd, but how is it possible to make it feel worse than a car built in the 60's? i thought our technology was better? i thought that somehow engines would be EASIER to fix rather than harder. thats the nature of the business though, they DONT want you to fix it your self and gm is showing off their skills in difficulty on this one. :smt009


im not the most technical of writers, but thats my story and im sticking to it



:smt020

[green97gt]

^loved- LOVED- that read
wholeheartedly agree about the STS, or any FWD northstar V8, and the comments about the catera(looked at one once, bought a nissan altima instead..thank god)

and as long as were talking infinity, they dont get much hotter than a VIPed 03/04 M45...sweet deliciousness on wheels.

[TGX4776]

Anybody here worked on a Saab before? I have had a lot of mechanics refuse to work on mine for the sole reason it was a saab.

[JunkerXL]

lol saab. ft..w? they throw the power backwards, lol. i was going to mention them but i have not had a chance to work on them so *no comment* :roll:



:smt020

[green97gt]

only worked on one saab, an old ugly 900 series, guy dropped if off, paid for some parts after diagnosis.... never heard from the guy again, never finished the job, had it towed.

oh, and theres those tricks with the names of cars

ford- Fed over rebuilt dodge, etc...

anyone know one for saab? best we could come up with was "Suck Ass Alter Boy"

[TGX4776]

Bummer Which 900 was it?

I am a huge fan of this one, handled like a dream, kept me form getting into trouble on more then a few occasions. I had a 1993 900s so it wasn't turbo but it was heaps of fun. Never had a single thing go wrong with it. That is until my parents took it after their car died stoped maintaining it.
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2010/09/saab900-1.jpg
or
or this peice of GM shit. my parents had two and both died due to drive train failures
http://www.hdk.gu.se/files/portfolio/119/lowres/Saab900_2.jpg

[JunkerXL]

sold at auction, broken.

stuck at airport, buddy.

saab, akward automotive build

solid, although always busted.

lol i love the older saabs they are so euro-weird :smt007

for ford, i have, ford owners recommend dodge



:smt020

[TGX4776]

If you keep up on maintenance it's not bad at all. before my parents were poor they kept up on maintenance and both of the C900's they owned lasted to well over 300k miles. One was a 1983 900 Turbo and the other was an 89 900s sedan. ETA - never really ahd any amjor problems. took them in twice a year for servicing (my parents put a lot of miles on the cars), I think they only broke down twice and both were easy fixes.

And to be honest my C900 handled much better then my Subaru and neither have suspension mods. My legacy rolls like a mo fo. not sure if it because my Legacy has 150k miles on the suspension on not. It could albe be due to my Fuzions.

the AWD is nice though on my legacy.

[anothernord]

Excellent read Junker!

I can attest to the ridiculously terrible "German Engineering" of the New Beetle. Changing the headlight bulb actually involved pressing a little plastic locking tab thing, then at the same time, putting all your body weight on a little plastic lever that circulates a confusing locking ring that holds the headlight in. Of course, everything is sealed in dirt, and the locking lever is guaranteed to break off. Then you get to wrestle the actual headlight out, only to find that you can't get the back cover off to access the bulb.

Then there's more fun involved getting it to align on the 100 little rail things. You'd better hope that you put the E-brake on, because you have to shove the headlight back in so hard, that you can roll the car back and forth. Oops! Forgot to plug the headlight back in.

I did this for a girl because she was hot. Not worth it at all.

Let's compare this to a Subaru headlight bulb replacement:

Open hood
unplug bulb
remove bulb
twist in new bulb
plug bulb back in
close hood
take nap

[Huffer]

VW's are the worst cars to work on. Why people buy them is beyond me.

Honda is starting to get that way - they put bolts on airfilter boxes now instead of clips, and to access a headlight bulb in the Accord you have to remove the battery.

[JunkerXL]

FAIL! BAD HONDA! BAD! lol :smt013 why make it harder, honda?? they are not free from my rant though. DA integra. why put the oil filter in the cars backside? REALLY? im 6'1", i have long, beefy american arms. i dont want to have to stop using my arm for 6 months, so it can sufficiently atrophy, to the point where it's thin enough to reach in behind the HOT engine to take off my stupid filter. i feel compelled to buy fram *shudder* since thats the only way i'll have the grip to remove it. BAD HONDA! BAD! :smt018 also, i wanted to blanket vw's as a whole but air cooled guys would beg for my head on a stick, though why they never really improved the engine design from the year 1541 or whatever, is beyond me. it was cheap they say, or it worked, why fix it, they ask. but honestly, i dont care how easy it is, i should NOT have to adjust valves every 3k, period, would have taken a small head design change, and yet they did nothing. YARG! im going to be killed now i know it :roll:



:smt020

[Okin DaVanh]

Saabs inverted motor in the earlier 900's made it more of a challenge to swap out any belts and to do a power steering service.

[StatGSR]

^ any car that uses the transmission as a oil pan is just wrong......

also, changing the filter on an integra or civic isnt that bad Junker, ya big baby... also purolator pure ones filters are covered entirely with abrasive material so they are easy to grip... the downside to that is that they are now yellow instead of WRB :(.

http://www.carparts.com/wcsstore/carparts/images/imagecache/G_28611G_SW_1.jpg

[JunkerXL]

ahh purolator gold, i used to use those alot. nice filters they are. the last time i had to change an integra filter, i did it in may garage and i had not lift. :-( honda lost 20 pts on that one, thats all im saying. i forgot to add it, because they dont break much, BUT! howabout a toyota sienna!? the engine is in the middle of the..VAN, van!? its not a ferrari, but yet the engine is in the middle, and the van dosent split open and clamshell, like an F50, that would be too hot, no you have to get under the giant flea shaped bugger, and fix it that way.. what do you do for an engine swap, lift it i guess? and there is a drive shaft putting the pulleys at the front, which is good i guess, but talk about weird, i have had 2 ppl come and ask me where the oil goes, and when i tell them to lift UP the drivers seat, they always make the same face :smt017 if they werent so reliable, it prolly woulda made it on the original list, but seeing as how they dont really break, no biggie i guess... :shock:



:smt020

[subie/legacy]

Junker-nice read- I never changed oil/filter on an integra before. my crx wasn't much different then in integra both b series engines, and fairly simple to work on IMO.
98 nissan sentra-my wifes car. to change the oil on this damn car you have to remove the passenger tire, and fender lining just to be able to get a hand on the oil filter. Oh yeah, the starter died on this car not to long ago, and it's in the most inconvenient place possible. tucked right up under the intake manifold between the block and firewall. the intake, battery, passenger tire, fender lining, oil filter, and some braces that go from the block to intake manifold have to be removed. The nissan had to be put on jack stands almost as high as they would go.then after all that, there is still no f***ing room to get a wrench up there, but with a foot long extension (maybe not a foot) I was finally able to get to the bolt. Now that I have a socket on the bolt I have no room to even put some leverage on it, but in the end I won. Time to install the new/rebuilt starter. I get it in with some messaging to get it past the axle, some cursing, a few cuts on my hand. button every thing back up nice and tight, and all that just for the starter to be faulty :smt013 . back to the auto parts store to exchange, and pay the difference for a new one, but not without :smt014 back and forth with the douche behind the counter trying to stiff me into buying a whole new one with no credit from the starter (with life time warranty) that forced me into doing the job twice. lets just say his attitude changed real quick when I demanded his manger come handle this. back to the story finally got the son of bitch starter in with no problems since :grin:

[98outbackpdx]

howabout a toyota sienna!? the engine is in the middle of the..VAN, van!? its not a ferrari, but yet the engine is in the middle, and the van dosent split open and clamshell, like an F50, that would be too hot, no you have to get under the giant flea shaped bugger

your thinking of the Previa, and the van before it, the Seinna has the motor in the front.

and with the VW's the old vanagon people are starting to put subaru motors in them.

[JunkerXL]

howabout a toyota sienna!? the engine is in the middle of the..VAN, van!? its not a ferrari, but yet the engine is in the middle, and the van dosent split open and clamshell, like an F50, that would be too hot, no you have to get under the giant flea shaped bugger

your thinking of the Previa, and the van before it, the Seinna has the motor in the front.

and with the VW's the old vanagon people are starting to put subaru motors in them.
ahh you are correct. they need to give them normal names, like steve, or orange, or something, so they are easier to keep track of, instead of making up words that end with "A" (corollA, previA, siennA, celicA... :smt013 ) at least gm has the decentcy to throw us a bone here and there. malibu, impalla, stingray... . as far as the VW guys installing subaru motors? sweet justice. :smt023



:smt020

[Reuben]

Fucking love working on subaru's. Me and a mate pulled an engine out of a Gen 1 GT... from running to out of the car... in 45 mins. Fuck yeah!




and with the VW's the old vanagon people are starting to put subaru motors in them.
I've worked on one of those suckers. Random guy pulled up to our house one day, and said "I saw all the subies parked outside, thought you might be able to help me" Turns out the vanagon he bought had an EJ22 in the boot with a blown HG, I slowly pulled it, and replaced it over a week. It was a fun, but frustrating project, much much much more annoying to do than the aforementioned GT 45min pull.

[Reuben]

for ford, i have, ford owners recommend dodge



:smt020

Fix Or Repair Daily

[Bookem]

for ford, i have, ford owners recommend dodge



:smt020

Fix Or Repair Daily

F'd on race day

Have you driven over a Ford.............lately

At least the tailgates are heated so when it's cold out your hands stay warm cause you have to push it all the dang time.

But the vehicle I hate more than ford, Vw. I inherited a 90's Fox from a guy who didn't want to put any money in the car more than a tune up. So there it sits at my work, fading away. Perfect body, aftermarket wheels, 70,000 miles, good 4-speed trans. I can't sell it for $300.

Can you tell I don't like Fords

Friends don't let friends drive Fords.

[ouch1011]

I disagree with pretty much everything in the original article. Calling new Hondas or Toyotas reliable is laughable. Honda and Toyota has had some of the worst low-mileage failures I've seen amongst newer cars. Honda K-series engines like to have the timing chain tensioner bleed down, causing the timing chain to jump. Quite an expensive job, and I've seen/diagnosed a LOT of them. An Element I diagnosed it on crashed the valves and had to have the engine replaced with < 100k miles. And Honda has had so many trans failures they've actually extended the warranty on them, although many are out of warranty now. We've all read about the Toyota recalls, but add to that their problems with blowing oil lines for the VVT and running the engine dry, sludge problems, trans failures, they aren't reliable anymore. One thing that is actually good about these cars is that their "reliable" reputation seems to make the owners think they don't need maintenance at all. And as any ignorant car owner can tell you from personal experience, repairs cost a LOT more than preventive maintenance. That and they all seem to use specialty maintanance parts, almost seemingly for no other reason than to force owners/shops to buy OE parts only and an extreme mark-up. Want an idea? 1 gallon of PREDILUTED Toyota SLL Coolant is $24/gallon. 1qt of Toyota ATF T-IV is $8/qt. 1 dual tip OE style Toyota Tacoma spark plug- $14 EACH (for the 6 cyl engine). Hondas are a bit better here, but not much.

VWs are a joke. Anything plastic on them will break as soon as you touch it, if it hasn't already, and there are a LOT of plastic parts on these cars, including the intake on most of the NA models, a bunch of coolant tubes, t-stat housing, etc. The 1.8t goes through coils and turbos like candy. They are needlessly difficult to work on (timing belt on most of the Audi models and the B5 and newer Passat requires putting the car into "service mode", which involves removing the entire front end of the car, and if you've looked at a VW thats more than a few years old and hasn't been totally babied, you'll see that the interior parts wear out ridiculously fast.

Although if I had to pick the 1 car I hate to work on the most, based on how often they break, how stupidly they are designed, and how common they are, I'd say the PT Cruiser is #1. The 2.0/2.4L has had head gasket problems since its creation, and it still does. The 41TE auto trans they use is garbage, they typically overheat and fail at low mileage, or the shift solenoid pack starts leaking and dumping trans fluid out. The manual trans uses the same cable shift linkage as the Neon, which runs underneath the center console and the dash into the cramped engine compartment, and break constantly. The engine still uses a timing belt, which is almost completely obscured by the high and narrow fender/hood line. They are just garbage cars that break constantly. Combine that with the difficulty to work on them and Chrysler's tendancy to seriously undercut their labor times, and they are certainly the car I hate to work on the most.

[JunkerXL]

hmm i can see that.. pt cruiser... yeah, its a failbox. i have never been a big chrysler fan, for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is their habit of engineering fail into their cars from the get go. 300m? gotta get the wheel off to FIND the battery. :smt013 tired of your car feeling like 10 year old tupperware held together with scotch tape :?: might want to try another brand :lol: . simple features like power windows going out early? they ought to list THAT in the brochure. :smt011

or the real stinger. GEMA. "what is GEMA?" you may wonder. well GEMA is the engine design company that is co-owned by mitsubishi, hyundai, and you guessed it chrysler. :smt017

the reason that this is frustrating? well as most subaru fans know, mitsubishis are as reliable as a thief guarding the evidence locker. no surprise there, but somehow, chrysler has managed to un-improve on those wonderful designs :shock: , and make a -less- reliable car. HOW!?!?!! this is an amazing feat, really considering that chrysler has been in business for like a hundred years. i want to buy american, but chrysler's unreliable, out of touch designs are constantly reminding me that we have a long way to go before we start making an american subaru. the hilarious part of the chrysler GEMA fiasco?? well for one, they have few performance oriented models to speak of from that venture (not counting the damlier-benz meger technology that they are using now ie: rwd chassis, interior bits, etc etc.) and the bigger, more laughable slap in the face? hyundai, HYUNDAI, is making a MUCH better car. do you remember the scoupe? excell? yeah, THAT hyundai. turns out they took a page from the american playbook from 1968, and are making reliable, fun to drive cars at a reasonable price. not sure on that one? it's ok i wasnt a believer either untill i saw the hyndai 420a next to the mitsu version. then i took into account tiburon bottom end failures vs eclipse non turbo's. mitsu 420a engine = junk hyundai 420a = buildable twin cam. still not sure? go drive a genesis or new sonata. sigh - i can't stand modern chryslers. :-(



:smt020

[Reuben]

I've always maintained btw, reliability for a given displacement or cyl number is directly proportional to power produced, rather than manufacturer.

I'll bet my bottom dollar a 2.2 BG is 50 times more reliable than a top end toyota or honda any day of the week. And vice versa for a corola vs, say, a GTB. If you have a 4cyl making 90hp, and you service it say, once every 2 years, it'll be sweet, no matter who the fuck made it.

My mates a mechanic at a subaru dealership, and getting owners to service more than the ridiculous 2 year gap i pulled out my arse is too much of an ask though, it would see. He got a 2.5L BP outback in the shop once, the owner said "it's making a funny noise". They ran it, and it sounded like a beb failure. They started pulling the engine, and drained to oil.... Nothing came out. They asked when he last serviced the car, and got "service?" as a reply. They had a look on the comp, and it had never been serviced in the something like 4 or 5 years since it rolled off their shop floor. I was in utter disbelief, i couldn't belief anyone would be that stupid. Turns out i gave the human race too much credit. I was also in disbelief at how long it lasted too!

[JunkerXL]

lol i'll buy that! in every case accept vw, :roll: lol. i had a neon with 160k that ran great. have a customer that i talked with that had 468k mi on his last engine and 280-300k on this one, and its just an old chevy. :shock:



:smt020

[TGX4776]

How about 1 million on the same engine. Took two transmissions. I think one after 100k then the next one lasted 900k.
http://www.saabnet.com/tsn/press/060918.html

[JunkerXL]

brutal! 10pts! that guy gets a cookie. if only someone would own a subaru long enough for that to happen, lol :roll:



:smt020

[TGX4776]

the SPG is a 2L High Pressure Turbo producing 175 HP and 195 LB ft of tourque

[TGX4776]

brutal! 10pts! that guy gets a cookie. if only someone would own a subaru long enough for that to happen, lol :roll:



:smt020


I am shooting for 1 million on mine. well actually 1,146,000 Miles so i will have driven it myself for one million. we will see if it makes it.

[JunkerXL]

just keep it maintained and i bet it'll make it :grin: and of course drive safely :smt005



:smt020

[98outbackpdx]

i have another 2 vehicles people hate to work on, the Chevy Astro/GMC Safarri, and the ford aerostar vans. For an engine replacement on the astro vans i guess the easiest way to do it is to drop the front subframe on a lift and bring the engine down from the bottom.

[JunkerXL]

i have a general hatred of van mechanics anyway, so im going to agree on this one also, particularly the aerostar. the hoses on that are like a puzzle that no one can solve...or afford :mad:



:smt020

[ouch1011]

i have another 2 vehicles people hate to work on, the Chevy Astro/GMC Safarri, and the ford aerostar vans. For an engine replacement on the astro vans i guess the easiest way to do it is to drop the front subframe on a lift and bring the engine down from the bottom.

That's actually pretty typical for a lot of newer FWD vehicles, and some RWD (including the last gen on the F-body Firebird/Camaro)
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2010/09/escapeengine-1.jpg

But the only other option for removing the engine from an Astro is to remove the entire front of the vehicle (which includes cutting the front core support, which GM actually sells a template for) and pull it straight out the front. I'm certainly not a fan of the Astro, they are just generally difficult to work on and between their chronic fuel injection, fuel pump and ignition system problems (as well as trans/transfer case problems) they get worked on a lot.

[JunkerXL]

i never understood why they make vans like that anyway. but it guess if the had a big enough front end to house a motor, they would be suvs :lol:


i hate working on vans :smt071 *vans*


:smt020

[jey]

Yeah SUVs are the best thing that have ever happened to a mechanic. There is SO much room in the engine bay of our Tahoe. Plus you can change the oil and service the diff without even jacking the car up.

[Reuben]

/me changes oil on subies without jacking the car up.

[JunkerXL]

lol me 2...auto zone hates me :smt005 gotta start scrubbing that parking spot...

[d1giPhux]

/me changes oil on subies without jacking the car up.


You using an extractor, ramps, or whats the trick? Gnomes? :lol:

[TGX4776]

probably the special plug. I forget what it is but there is a thread on it somewhere.

Junker, Just ask for some card board and they wont hate you any more :grin:

[JunkerXL]

why u gotta go and ruin my torment? sigh... better that way i suppose lol :roll:



:smt020