Worst job on your car?

[mnde]

I'm with Cavette - finding a way to get to two of the torque-headed bolts is a real pain. But I also agree about the back seat, having had two bolts shear. Neither job left me cursing that much though.

Oh... what I did was: seat all the way forward on runner, loosen rear torx bolts but don't remove. Seat all the way backwards, remove front torx bolts, seat all the way forwards, remove rear torx bolts, jobbed. I did have to use a short screwdriver though, if I remember correctly.

 

The torx screws inside the glovebox are a pain. I need a short stubby angled ratchet screwdriver for those.

 

Mark.

[Rocket88]

.

 

Maserati Bi-Turbo head gaskets, power steering rack and cambelts.

If I have one golden rule, it's do not buy a Maserati BiTurbo. I'd love a Shamal, but I will never buy one. Not after that.

 

I got involved on the peripheries of one of those. A friend of mine bought one, which had a misfire. Spent 2 years, and £3k trying to solve it [head gaskets, air leaks, new distributor, etc] Eventually diagnosed [by oscillascope, no less] as a minor degradation on a tiny piece of wire on the LT side of the ignition.................oh how he laughed....they are the most willfully badly designed piece of Italian nonsense ever made, even when they're running right, which is about .0000876% of the time fuel consumtion is appalling, the ride is abysmal, and they don't handle very well. Fast though............

[scooters]

fuel filler pipe replacement on a Mk1 Golf - nightmare horrible nasty ghastly job

 

Electronic ignition on any 1980's/90's car that links it into the EFI

 

suspension bushes on an XJ40

[Formula Autos]

Not horrendous, but way overly difficult for what you are doing. Last week I had to change a headlight bulb on the Cougar, only to discover that to do so you have to take off the trim panel, grille and then unbolt and pull out the whole headlight units. FFS!

Yep. Been there, done that. It's the same on my Mk 3 Mondeo too, though at least on those the grille just unclips.

 

An even worse job on a Cougar though is freeing the bonnet catch when the cable to the release mechanism in the footwell refuses to work. It involved searching the 'bay for a replacement grille, meanwhile driving around in a car with no bonnet access (and you only find out the bonnet doesn't open when you're wanting in - in this case to check on an oil leak). Then when the new grille arrives hacking the old one to bits with a pad saw to get in.

 

Even with the grille gone, my stumpy fingers struggled to release things. Half an hour of swear-laden groping around and I was finally in.

[CreepingJesus]

I suppose what this should teach me is that with proper tools, a budget that covers replacing the worn out parts around the repair and an avoidance of 16v Renaults then repairs may even be stress free.

I was just going to say 'Dunno about the Megane, I haven't worked on it yet.', 'cos as it stands, it needs a cambelt, and the N/S driveshaft. Eep, what have I let myself in for?

Since I learned how to split the cambelt down the middle with a Stanley, life's been a lot easier that way. After I struggled with a neighbour's Uno, and ended up with the belt one tooth out...

The Mondy gets my vote every time - there's no easy jobs on that bastard. Even getting the oil filter out of its' place is a swine. Never mind the cambelt - I won't be doing that one. Is it any wonder so many end up scrapped for want of a clutch, or a steering rack?

And is it my driving style, or are the front wheelbearings on those things made of plastic? In 3 years with mine, over about 20,000 miles it's had them replaced, and needs them again!

 

...my stumpy fingers struggled to release things. Half an hour of swear-laden groping around and I was finally in.

If Autoshite did 'romantic' novels...

[oldford]

I had a Triumph Dolomite 1850 and had to replace the alternator. The book said 'first drain the cooling system'. If they'd designed it so that the long bolt went in from the other way, then I wouldn't have had to remove the radiator.

[Pete-M]

suspension bushes on an XJ40

I am so glad that previous keeper spent fortunes on my X300 replacing all the bushes. He paid £100 a side to his local specialist just to free off the bolts on the front wishbones.

[reallyloud]

The smell. I spilt a carton of milk in my Datsun 100A and its taken 3 years of neglect for the hum to finally disappear.

[Rusty Pelican]

Exhaust manifold gasket on a 5 pot Audi , nuts were reduced to tiny , round rusty inaccessable blobs .

Drivshaft coulpings on an Imp ,

[Futuramic]

The one and only job I have needed to do, so far, on my E36 was replacement of the heater control illumination bulb.

 

The job went as follows:

 

Remove radio

 

Remove clock

 

Remove casette storage compartment

 

Take off heater control knobs to expose screws

 

Unscrew screws and release clips

 

Take of front bit of heater control panel

 

Loosen and pull forward main heater control box

 

Remove control cables from back of box

 

Remove cigarette lighter, ashtray and loosen centre console trim finisher panel

 

Manoevre heater control box out through apeture

 

Dismantle heater control box

 

Pull out grain of wheat lightbulb

 

Drive to shops and buy new gain of wheat lightbulb for 40 pence

 

Reassembly is the reverse of removal.

 

Honestly modern cars! Well 15 years old is modern around here.

 

To the car's credit everything was superbly put together, re-assembled perfectly and nothing broke.

[Cavcraft]

Clutch cable on a Vespa worth a mention. To a giant handed, mechanical spaz like myself it seems almost impossible.

You have to feed the inner cable through and pull the old one out the other end, and as the outer goes through the frame/headstock thing it's a fucking nightmare.

 

That said my mate (who's a whizz with these things) can do one in no time at all.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Any job on an Alfa 75 sucks, but I would single out perhaps a clutch replacement as particularly unpleasant.

[Guest]

I'd like to join in, but I don't think there's anything less troublesome than an 80s-era Japanese car. Most things are simple, the things which aren't are at least logical. The hardest job is sourcing some parts, but I quite enjoy doing that. Soz!