Thank those engineers !
Just when you thought they couldn’t design something any stupider
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I still grouse about the Montana van we had where you had to take the fender apart to change the thermostat.
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In my 1997 Chrysler JXi convertible, I have to take the front driver side wheel off and remove the front inner fender well covers just to access or replace the battery. Royal pain in the butt, and a big engineering FAIL. Such is life…
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That’s the kind of idiocy that would make me want a new car.
My 92 ranger is the epitome of utilitarian. Until you try to replace 2 of the 6 spark plugs.
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I remeber the good ole days (1978) when I drove a 1964 Chevy II Nova at college. It was an inline 6 cylinder motor. One Christmas holiday the car froze and the freeze plug popped. I called my dad and he said he’d come bring me a new engine. He stopped at the junk yard, pulled a replacement motor, drove to Waco where I was going to Baylor, and we swapped the motors. We rented an A-frame and pulled the old engine out. You had to unhook the battery, carburator linkage, and a few other odds and ends then loosen the motor mounts to pull it. You then reveresed the process to put in the replacement motor. Took all of an afternoon. Dad and I drove it to the local pizza joint for dinner.
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My first car was a 1966 Chevy Impala. It was more like working on a lawn mower engine. I’d actually lift a leg over the front and basically step into the engine area to get to the back hoses.
Those were the days!
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One of the recent Fords, you have to take the dashboard out to change the HVAC block. And they don’t sell the heater core, or evaporator core separately. And to take the dashboard out, you have to take the front seats out, and take both front doors off.
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You can still get that experience in the engine bay of my 1978 Bronco…you just need a short step ladder to get up there first but there is more than enough leg room even with the 460.
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Replacing any of the spark plugs in my WRX will be significant shop bill … or some serious wrenching time involving an engine hoist.
More casually, swapping the low beam headlight bulbs necessitates removal of both the air box and the battery.
Surprisingly, the oil filter is practically front and center so oil changes are easy.
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This was exactly my experience with my Toyota Gen4 4Runner (although the fix was for a more more trivial part that controlled the blend doors). What a nightmare…glad I paid someone or I’d still be riding my unicycle around:
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