I hate automotive designers

[Fluff]

I thought they designed cars from the perspective of manufacturing cost / ease rather than actual servicability afterthoughts.

[Jon P. Inghram]

I thought they designed cars from the perspective of manufacturing cost / ease rather than actual servicability afterthoughts.

Yep. It's easy to put all these parts onto the engine when it's hanging by itself on an assembly line I'm sure.

[Dr Mordrid]

Two other words of automotive infamy: Chevy Vega

The one that made it into my family scored its un-lined cylinders within a couple of months. A year later the el-cheapo motor mounts broke, leaving the engine laying on the pavement in a pool of oil

Arrrggggg......I hope DeLorean is roasting his arse off in hell.

Dr. Mordrid

[Elie]

to change the oil filter on a Maserati you have to drop the intercoolers and raise the radiator, especially if you have a tall oil filter, the shorter ones are ok.


Sheesh!

[KRSESQ]

All of the above is specifically intended to discourage shadetree mechanics. It's also the reason trained and certified mechanics get paid so much. They're almost as specialized as doctors, which is hardly surprising given the complexity of modern automobiles.

Kevin

[Brian Ellis]

Another one was early engine computers on BMWs. These were bolted to the bulkhead at the back of the engine compartment. You'ld be trundling along a highway at 150 or 180 km/h on a 35°C day when, after a 100 km or so, the engine would simply stop. At that time, Toyota, Honda, Datsun (as Nissan then were) etc. had already learnt that the best place for the computer was with the cooling fins directly in the air intake. It took the Bavarians about a year and many complaints before they realised that placing the computer in a hot zone was not a good idea. Major rewiring job on the recall, fortunately only on their top models as the lower ones weren't yet computerised, at that time.

[VJ]

About those "trained mechanics"...
On my brother's Renault, the distribution belt was changed (not sure about the English name, this is a literal translation from Dutch). A few days later, he drove the car to approx. 120 km. Just before a tunnel he noticed the engine temperature was running high and suddenly his dashboard lit up like a christmas tree. So he pulled over.
He then went to a different Renault dealer, who first said they didn't have time to look at the car at that moment (it was weekend). He said "Perhaps it is just something small?" and the dealer gave in. He opened the bonnet, looked shocked and said:
"What is this, everything is loose!?"

What had happened?
To change the distribution belt, the radiator must be removed. The other dealer removed it, changed the belt, put it back in BUT DIDN'T CONNECT THE RADIATOR...


Jörg

[DukeP]

I once had my brakes changed.

That went well and was rather cheap.
The car DID make a strange noise afterwords, especially when turning.
I asked my X to pull over and whent out to have a look.

Guess what?
Right rear wheel wasnt bolted on - they had forgot every single nut.
The wheel resided solely on the thread.

The strange noise when turning was the wheel slowly skipping the threads...


~~DukeP~~

[VJ]

Yikes....

Along those lines, my parents know someone who had bought a new car. He had his doubts about the brakes, so went back and explained this. They replied "well, it's a new car, it'll just feel differently, nothing to worry about", and didn't bother to check. Driving home from the garage, his brakes totally failed and he drove into a canal... Luckily, nobody got hurt....


Jörg

[Gurm]

I once had my brakes changed.

That went well and was rather cheap.
The car DID make a strange noise afterwords, especially when turning.
I asked my X to pull over and whent out to have a look.

Guess what?
Right rear wheel wasnt bolted on - they had forgot every single nut.
The wheel resided solely on the thread.

The strange noise when turning was the wheel slowly skipping the threads...


~~DukeP~~

Now you can laugh if you want, but I did this once. I was in a hurry switching from my snows to my summer tires, and I got about 5 miles from the house - and onto the freeway - before realizing that I had only hand-tightened the rear wheels. D'oh!