Nomination for "Worst Automotive Maintenance Feature Ever"

[Bighead38]

Just wait until the day that bmw does something crazy like using the sway bar to charge the battery. Waaaaiiiit a minute...they already are! Those crazy germans

Sway bar charging the battery?

 

[upjeeper]

as i remember my dad telling me, he had a early 1980's pickup when i was a kid
evidently the oil pan didn't have a drain plug, so to change the oil the pan had to be removed.
he asked a guy at a dealership why not drill and tap a hole, evidently that hadn't occurred to them!

 

[GTA Matt]

Sway bar charging the battery?

Yes. Previously bmw used hydraulics from the power steering pump to control the active sway bar. Switching to electric power steering got rid of the pump, so the active sway bar is also electric. It uses movement while driving to charge the battery, up to 125 amps from what I understand, to take the load off the alternator, which translates to better fuel mileage. Many manufacturers have been shutting down the alternator under certain conditions to provide better fuel mileage for a while now, so this is actually a pretty smart thing to do.

 

[Bighead38]

Can't decide if that's cool or crazy.

 

[texasranger]

as i remember my dad telling me, he had a early 1980's pickup when i was a kid
evidently the oil pan didn't have a drain plug, so to change the oil the pan had to be removed.
he asked a guy at a dealership why not drill and tap a hole, evidently that hadn't occurred to them!

Many vehicles still don't have a drain plug on the transmission. Drop the pan to change the oil. I also remember my dad braising a drain plug into his 80s f150 transmission oil pan back in the day, grumbling why OEMs don't do it.

 

[texasranger]

Can't decide if that's cool or crazy.

Cool when it works, crazy when it shorts out and takes your battery and alternator with it!

 

[rjacobs]

That's fine with me, drives prices down for people that aren't scared to work on them themselves. My 06 is about to break 100k miles...in the 2.5 years I've owned it have just done normal wear items like brakes, shocks, wheel bearings. A couple hundred dollars in parts.

06 is completely different than the new F series cars. They are all junk from everything I could tell. The E series cars are actually built well, the F series cars are not built well. BMW cheaping out for the global economy and trying to bring in younger buyers. You never saw them offer anything with the older E series cars, the price was the price and the warranty was the warranty, etc... Now they have to entice people to buy them.

 

[Chilliwack Murray]

Aerostars tended to get a bad rap for this and I was concerned the first time I was going to work on mine until I figured out that it only took a minute or two for most everything to come off and out off the way. After that most things were pretty easy, especially for a van.

Inlaw's Astro van on the other hand seemed to always have a way to make the simple impossible. Same was true of a Corsica, Tempest and Sunbird that friends and other family owned - rear spark plugs on that 3.1, removing the front of the car to change a rad hose.

Timing belts never seemed like an issue - had an ****** for 20+ years and a focus for 10+ and they take 30 - 40 min to change after you've done it once.

No car should be built with the water pump as the timing belt tensioner though - Sunbird.

 

[slowthump]

Wife's Honda Odyssey had the passenger side headlight out. I bought a new bulb and tried to change it but could not get my big hands between the light and the engine. Messed around for about an hour and half taking other parts off and watching youtube. Said screw it and since it needed an oil change brought it in to the dealer and told them to change the bulb. They charged me $2.99 for installing the bulb! Incidentally, it costs me more to change oil myself versus buying an oil change package at the dealership. I am very fortunate to have such a good local Honda dealer.

 

[Advan]

Many vehicles still don't have a drain plug on the transmission. Drop the pan to change the oil. I also remember my dad braising a drain plug into his 80s f150 transmission oil pan back in the day, grumbling why OEMs don't do it.

The wife's '08 Wrangler didn't. I welded on a bung and put a magnetic drain plug in. Ridiculous.

 

[WhiffySpark]

Chrysler products have plastic pans now. Have fun welding that lol.

 

[toplessHO]

On the 2000 and up S10 blazers and XTremes, you have to undo the steering shaft to replace the 2nd plug back on the driver side. No way around it.

Ive done quite a few of these(own 5 presently) and never once touched the steering shaft. What am I doing wrong?

 

[texasranger]

Wife's Honda Odyssey had the passenger side headlight out. I bought a new bulb and tried to change it but could not get my big hands between the light and the engine. Messed around for about an hour and half taking other parts off and watching youtube. Said screw it and since it needed an oil change brought it in to the dealer and told them to change the bulb. They charged me $2.99 for installing the bulb! Incidentally, it costs me more to change oil myself versus buying an oil change package at the dealership. I am very fortunate to have such a good local Honda dealer.

This sounds like some sort of parallel universe! Maybe they're not called stealerships where you live?!

 

[toplessHO]

Exactly. My 06 Pilot's oil filter was pointed down underneath which is fine, but mounted just above a cross brace so when you pulled it oil would fall down, hit the brace and run all over. My 10 RDX's oil filter is the same but there is no brace under it and it fall right down into the drain pan.

Little things like that make a difference.

As far as heater cores, I have done 3, 96 Dodge neon, that 06 Pilot, and my 1999 C230K Benz, they are all a PITA requiring full dash removal. The Benz was the worst with an extra structural member behind the dash, then the core and evap inside a ********* plastic box with a million clips, was not a fun job at all.

Im convinced that the heater core on most is the first part on the assembly line. A special fixture is used to hold it up while the rest of vehicle is assembled around it.

 

[roc_on_the_rocks]

as i remember my dad telling me, he had a early 1980's pickup when i was a kid
evidently the oil pan didn't have a drain plug, so to change the oil the pan had to be removed.
he asked a guy at a dealership why not drill and tap a hole, evidently that hadn't occurred to them!

You meant transmission oil pan, right? Not engine...

 

[Bighead38]

Im convinced that the heater core on most is the first part on the assembly line. A special fixture is used to hold it up while the rest of vehicle is assembled around it.

Lol. It sure seems that way on some cars. I've made good money doing them though since not many people want to.

 

[jfcasey]

2000-2006 Toyota Tundra 4.7 V8 starters, located under the intake manifold. Yes you have to pretty much take off the top of the engine to replace it. I can't wait to do this job twice, I have 2 Tundras. Here's a internet pic for reference. This is a part that shouldn't be that buried to get to imho.

That's really not that bad at all. Try doing it on a 5.7 tundra, you have to pull the rh exhaust manifold and deal with rusty lock nuts and studs.

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk

 

[Blown454ss]

Glad I read this thread so I saw this before posting the same thing.

I have shared many curse-words with my former 6.no super duty.

Headgasket replacement on the same truck - Either pull the cab off or pull the front end apart to slide the motor forward.

These do ****, but you can do the headgaskets with out pulling the cab or moving the motor forward even when installing head studs