The wife's '07 Santa Fe is easy to do headlights, now the parking & "city" lights are a pain. The old POS '08 Silverado sucked. The '96 C/K was super easy.
New car rant
- Thread starter Bonnewagon
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Have you ever had to replace a gas tank on a 98-02 Accord? The entire rear subframe has to be dropped.
Never had the pleasure.
I'll be needing to replace the belt tensioner on my wife's Toyota soon. It's sandwiched between the block and AC compressor. Been a few years since I've done one but it's a 3-4 hour job IIRC. Certainly could have been designed for easier replacement. Not sure that it would be considered a regular wear item though. Certainly was on Chrysler minivans a few years ago though. Seems like a week didn't go by that I didn't replace one or two of those.
I'll be needing to replace the belt tensioner on my wife's Toyota soon. It's sandwiched between the block and AC compressor. Been a few years since I've done one but it's a 3-4 hour job IIRC. Certainly could have been designed for easier replacement. Not sure that it would be considered a regular wear item though. Certainly was on Chrysler minivans a few years ago though. Seems like a week didn't go by that I didn't replace one or two of those.
As a has-been tech I've scratched my head at a lot of the OE's engineering decisions. Fact is, they don't really care beyond cost and manufacturing ease. But normal wear items should be accessible. Bulbs, belts, fluids, etc shouldn't take special effort to access. i can understand something like plugs (100k intervals) being a chore on some cars. Heater cores and fuel pumps do fail but aren't expected to so I never expect them to be quick or easy.
I think one thing that is a blatant planned obsolescence is "lifetime" transmission fluid. No dipstick and major complicated refill procedure is total bullshit.
I think one thing that is a blatant planned obsolescence is "lifetime" transmission fluid. No dipstick and major complicated refill procedure is total bullshit.
2.7 in a Venza. I just looked up the part and I may have misspoken. looks like it may be pretty straight forward. The 3.5 is sandwiched though and there isn't much room to lay the compressor out of the way. Then you need to get to a couple hidden bolts. Seems to me that those were the reason I bought a set of EZRed wrenches.
I got to be careful with this thread. I'm more aggravated at work than happy, well neutral, with these new cars. I finde at least 3 things a day that should be here. I don't work on anything without book value so it's all new stuff and I don't care what anyone says it's never easy. Most cars I do I need to disassemble them for a good hour just to measure them. And people wonder why my daily is an 80 K-30
Some of the stories and pictures I've gotten from my brother make me glad I'm not a body guy. I've got a lot of respect for a body tech that can save a heavy hit. It's a rare skill and is underappreciated.
I jus did a Mazda 6 that kicked my *ss last week that 2 Volvo's and a BMW with the normal abuse from the bosses I wanted to kill the next person that asked me a stupid question
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