Lynching party in Detroit.......

[popper]

For some reason Dad always got the biggest motor available, back in the 'order-your-own' days. His company did a lot of refit line work for the Claycomo plant. He got some strange deals from Ford, who was known to bolt anything that would work together. It was the biggest whale looking 65? merc. Mom was always getting speeding tickets with her foot off the pedal. It would run 40 at idle on the flat. Could have been a 460, long time ago. I do remember somebody set a speed record with an old Tbird, 560? bored out Linc. motor. Had a girl (friend) in HS who's dad was a mechanic with a house FULL of service manuals for all makes. He told me Chevy had an alum. V8 OHV in '17, I didn't believe him so he went and got the books. Hope that stuff eventually made it to a museum someplace. Funniest front suspension I ever saw was an early (AU?) tube, hinged spindle bottom & coil spring inside the tube axle.
Anyway, finally changed the plugs on the 4runner @ 100K, did front brakes too. No complaints on certain vehicles.

[HangFireW8]

Reliable, easy to maintain and easy to repair are 3 different things. We shouldn't have to pick 2.

[texassako]

I never understood why more of the 24 hour racing tech does not trickle down. You can change just about anything on those in 15 minutes; so they should be able to make it so you can service your own a little easier. I had the joy of changing out another Dodge minivan EGR valve this weekend that is installed before they put the intake and accessories on the engine during assembly. It was much easier the second time knowing what contortion I had to go through and which odd bits to move or loosen to get to that last bolt in the seemingly inaccessible spot.

[s mac]

I have a 3L motor in a Ford Fusion now way in *** to get to the back plugs.

Piece of cake, remove the upper intake.

[rosewood]

Guys, it is real simple. The engineers design the car to last forever. The parts manufacturers do not design the parts to the same standard.

[Bad Water Bill]

My defroster motor smoked yesterday.

First step in removing the fan motor?

REMOVE ENGINE.

What kind of nonsense is that?

[Djones]

Wait 'til you put a starter and a water pump on a Northstar.

Or replace the head gaskets on a 6.0L F-250 (gotta pull off the cab).

A radiator in ANYTHING is a cakewalk.

Rant over.

Gear

I changed the text to RED to highlight your problem!

I am trying to hang onto my 2000 F250 with a 7.3 as long as I can!!!! It is starting to rust some but in the ten years I have owned it I have had very little problems. My wife has a 2001 Excursion with the 7.3 also. It has over 200k and still going strong. Rust so far has been our only enemy.

Good luck with the six-leaker.

I still have room to climb in under our hoods even with intercooler and turbo piping going every which way.

[s mac]

By the way, you can replace headgaskets on a 6.0 without removing the cab, it ain't easy but it can be done, I've done at least 40-50 different trucks.

[dagger dog]

Worst job I ever had to do as an auto mechanic before joining the military was when I had to change the spark plugs on a late-model minivan. I had to get to the engine through the floor panel in the front passenger seat. Broke two spark plug wires trying to get them out, and had to replace the plug wires as well as the plugs. Took something like 2 hours.

I miss the old vehicles where there was enough room to climb into the engine compartment with the engine, close the hood, and take a nap. Nowadays engines have too much **** on them, and the engine compartment is smaller.

Ford Aerostar 2.9 liter engine, right ?

Once the vehicle leaves the sales floor Detroit doesn't care what kind of money it takes to maintain the car !

There are a few design changes that are mechanic friendly, like multi rib belts that take the place of up to 3 vee belts, and the tensioners that keep the belt tight, 100,000 thousand + mile sparkplugs, ,silica free 50,000 mile antifreeze that doesn't go acidic.

But mostly the thoughts behind most modern automotive design, is to maximize profit.

[starmac]

My defroster motor smoked yesterday.

First step in removing the fan motor?

REMOVE ENGINE.

What kind of nonsense is that?

Sheesh, what model

[IllinoisCoyoteHunter]

This thread applies to Bobcat skidsteers also...

[dakotashooter2]

It always seems like the parts are "stacked".... generally with the ones least likely to need repair on top. What really bugs me is a part with 4-5 bolts holding it on....of which one bolt can't be removed unless 2-3 other parts, each with their own 4-5 bolts, are removed.

I was looking at a Clinton repair manual the other day on how to remove a part from my 95 Dakota. According to the manual it only takes 3-4 steps to remove the part...... they only neglect to tell you about the 6-8 things that are in the way.................

I'm supprised more mechanics don't commit suicide.............................

[Bad Water Bill]

Sheesh, what model

Thought I would finally break down after all these years and try a rice burner.

2002 Toyota Echo with 106,000 miles and averaging about 39 MPG.

Probably cost more to replace the blower motor than the car is worth.

[GRUMPA]

When I used to work on cars (notice I said "used to") I learned real fast a lesson. They could give a rip how much trouble it takes to repair something, and so long as it sells that's all they care about.

All they want folks to do is bring them in for repair, and of course since it takes longer they make more money from you.

THAT'S ALL THEY CARE ABOUT.....IT"S ALL ABOUT THE MONEY

[popper]

BWB - try this, yes they are not cheap.

[Minerat]

...... his engine had double four barrels...

I remember duel quads. Good thing gas was a quarter then. My brother has a foreign job of some kind with 3 duces that had to be timed. That was a chore and he seemed to have 10 thumbs and was about as mechanically inclined as an ape which means I had to do it all the time. HUUUUMMMM maybe he wasn't as dumb as I thought, only took me 40 years to make that observation. I'll get even some day.

[Mk42gunner]

I never saw an auto mechanic use one, but the motorcycle mechanics used to use a manometer to synchronize carbs on multi-cylinder bikes. I have a sneaking suspicion that one would help on multi carb setups in cars.

Robert

[Bad Water Bill]

BWB - try this, yes they are not cheap.

Try what??

[starmac]

I never saw an auto mechanic use one, but the motorcycle mechanics used to use a manometer to synchronize carbs on multi-cylinder bikes. I have a sneaking suspicion that one would help on multi carb setups in cars.

Robert

Possibly because the ones (at least some of them on autos were progressive, on motorcycles they all set the same. I ran a 3 duece setup on my goat for a short time, went back to the 4 barrel. The 3 dueces made a whopping 2 horsepower more. lol It wasn't worth the hassle.

[oneokie]

Manometers were useful for setting Weber carbs.