what is the hardest car brand to work on?

[Bolly47]

What is the hardest car brand to work on?
10.) Dodge Stratus -Even changing the battery is a nightmare since it's hidden behind the bumper on the driver's side.

9.) AMC Pacer - The worst is the 2 spark plugs hidden in the firewall.

8.) LT1 Camaro -It's a V6 engine bay with a V8 inappropriately stuffed in there.

7.) Porsche 991 - It's pretty much rear-mid-engined, which means you will need a week to get to the engine.

6.) Toyota Celica Alltrac - Remove the engine to replace the clutch.

5.) Ford F-250 - If you want to do almost anything serious on your truck, you start by removing the entire cab from the frame. And that just step one.

4.) Audi Allroad - If your newish VAG car has a V6, prepare yourself because the front will have to come off for everything.

3.) Jaguar XJS V12 - look at the mayhem below:


Image source: Jalopnik.com

2.) Aston Martin Lagonda - wtf ???

1.) Mercedes-Benz 600 Grosser - Everything is hydraulically operated, from the sunroof to the windows to the suspension to the reclining rear seats is incredibly difficult to work on. The mineral oil it runs on is pressurized to 3200 psi. If a line breaks, the fluid can cut into you like a knife. If you put the wrong fluid in, the entire system will leak like a sieve. If you try to close the hydraulically operated trunk with your hands, you'll break it.
Also in 1972 i was employee for Robert Lane Motor Mercedes Benz South Melbourne I remember doing some door repaired for late Bob Jane's Mercedes Benz 600 Crosser and keeping me wondering if Bob's family still got the Mercedes-Benz 600 Grosser and also I had 1970 300SEL 6.3 but sold it 20 years ago and was most difficult to repair was air suspension
The car chosen most by dictators.

[lumen8]

Porsches are up there.

LT1 Camaros aren't that bad, I disagree it was a V6 engine bay, that entire car was always made for a V8 and it is a reasonably wide engine bay. I have 325 rear tires on mine for example, untubbed...not very V6 like LOL... corvette Z06 12" wide rear wheels bolt on. They will fit big block chevys in them, albeit its a bit of a squeeze with the headers, but doable. Even seen one with a BBF. Upside is they have a long front, so a lot of room for turbos and intercoolers.

They do have the windscreen cowl overhanging the engine which I guess is what some complain about, but its not such a big deal, some people cut it off.

[marty351]

Anything post 2010.

Lift the bonnet and it's telling you to get ffed.

[Pis-ton broke]

ha,ha. i hear you. i,m not a pro machinic, but I've done enough mechanical, and seen enough to understand the issues real mechanics face. i used to joke about boilermakers needing to have a lobotomy to do there trade, i think that goes double for modern day mechanics.

to bad for me, ive got a thing for post 2007 Boxster Porsches, but the mid engine thing is could be the deal breaker.

[prktkljokr]

I find that if you know the right procedure, most cars are quite simple to work on, I do understand from someone's point of view that does not work on cars as a living, that it can be a pain to figure some of the new cars out.

I remember when front wheel drive cars became popular back in the early 80s and people were dreading to do a clutch change, they were putting the price up because it was a front wheel drive, I found them no more difficult than a rear wheel drive car and have probably done thousands of them over the years, agreed some more difficult than others, but when you figure out the routine way to do it, it becomes simple and they are all very similar .

[roKWiz]

Originally Posted by Bolly47

What is the hardest car brand to work on?

3.) Jaguar XJS V12 - look at the mayhem below:

Oh yeah, took two of us all weekend to get the starter motor out. Maybe for a pro with a hoist and the right tools, who knows.

[CyberWasp]

As a person who does not work on Cars I would say all of them.
I am the sort that would get stuck taking the first nut off as it would be seized or something.

[roKWiz]

Originally Posted by CyberWasp

As a person who does not work on Cars I would say all of them.
I am the sort that would get stuck taking the first nut off as it would be seized or something.

I've watched a few pro tyre guys almost breaking their backs trying to undo truck left hand side wheel nuts so don't write yourself off yet.

[pcman]

all ford inline 6, 200, 250, sohc, barra, top starter bolt has to be my most hated thing, why o why didn't they make it bolt from the transmission side there is plenty of room

[lumen8]

Originally Posted by roKWiz

I've watched a few pro tyre guys almost breaking their backs trying to undo truck left hand side wheel nuts so don't write yourself off yet.

leverage is your friend here... long lengths of thick wall tube to slip over 3/4" breaker bars... 1.5m long pipe extension is usually a good start.

[roKWiz]

Originally Posted by lumen8

leverage is your friend here... long lengths of thick wall tube to slip over 3/4" breaker bars... 1.5m long pipe extension is usually a good start.

Yes well aware of that. Ah.....Lefthanded thread I was getting at, seems quite a few dummies out there trying to tightened the wheel nuts instead of loosening them.

[roKWiz]

Originally Posted by pcman

all ford inline 6, 200, 250, sohc, barra, top starter bolt has to be my most hated thing, why o why didn't they make it bolt from the transmission side there is plenty of room

I replaced mine (crossflow) in about 10 minutes.

[lumen8]

Originally Posted by roKWiz

Yes well aware of that. Ah.....Lefthanded thread I was getting at, seems quite a few dummies out there trying to tightened the wheel nuts instead of loosening them.

Probably the same reason Chrysler gave up on the idea of LH wheel nuts in the 60's.. it was worse with the cars because people could snap the studs off and did.

[roKWiz]

Originally Posted by lumen8

Probably the same reason Chrysler gave up on the idea of LH wheel nuts in the 60's.. it was worse with the cars because people could snap the studs off and did.

Believe me, some trucks need them. Problem is some lazy tyre guys just keep using impacts on them instead of using a proper torque wrench or breaker bar as previously mentioned. (in the right direction that is)

[lumen8]

Originally Posted by roKWiz

Believe me, some trucks need them. Problem is some lazy tyre guys just keep using impacts on them instead of using a proper torque wrench or breaker bar as previously mentioned. (in the right direction that is)

Sure, agreed. I dont have rides quite the size of yours but do have a 10 wheeler HR so I kinda get it.

Lazy and truck wheels is not a good mix, its a good recipe for the nuts to work their way loose.

[FERG_51]

Any thing Landrover is pretty crap to work on, body off chassis to do an engine swap is one of many backward fixes they come up with. Engineers have no regard for mechanics.

[fnp]

Hoovie's Bentley looks pretty damn bad. I guess that's what happens when you have a British car with an engine design going back to 1959 that's had so much stuff bolted to it over the years.

[Pis-ton broke]

Originally Posted by roKWiz

I replaced mine (crossflow) in about 10 minutes.

yeah, i reckon falcons are pretty easy, even the new one don,t look to hard.

[Citroënbender]

Loti, from ‘70s through ‘90s.

[davenl5l]

Stepson works on Alfa's and said they are a pain but Range Rover is worse

[FERG_51]

Most modern diesels have that much anti pollution stuff bolted to them it has made them so hard to work on and is the cause of most of the failures.

[happy1]

Hi,
Two brands has been mentioned above that matches what I have seen and heard:

Audi A6 with V6 engine: Timing belt change requires full front end strip-down.
This means remove gas from the AC-system, remove bumper, headlights, radiator support etc, so an incredibly large job to perform anything that should have been a small job on the engine. Shame on you Audi for designing it this way! (Or perhaps they did it purposely to get more workshop income from the owners).

Landrover Disco models with TDV6 engine: LR describes the body shell requires to be lifted off the frame, to repair the turbocharger cross pipe etc. behind the engine. That is a quite significant amount of extra work for some engine repairs that has shown to be needed on many of these in their life time.

And some other I have noticed: These are more design problem related, and therefore not permanently fixable by the owner,

Generally recent cars with direct petrol injection: There has been benefits of the high-pressure direct fuel injection with improved tailpipe emissions and higher performance, but there certainly has been the design problem with all these, by the soot clogging up on the back of the inlet valves. Expect to have to do some very costly repair work approx every 30k km, when the soot has built up!
Some manufacturers have admitted this, for example BMW and Mini now prescribes walnut shell blasting of the intake valves at regular intervals. Not a small job to have to remove the intake and clean the valves approx every 30k !
Anyway, just wanted to throw out a warning about Peugeot 308. Same engine as in the BMW and Mini, but Peugeot unfortunately put the engine so far under the windscreen that the engine unfortunately needs to be dropped out of the vehicle every 30k in order to access the intake manifold to do the walnut shell blasting. And of course, Peugeot Australia doesn't accept that they have sent this design fault to their customers, and charges the customer for this repair work. They should either have bought back the vehicles, or repaired them for free every time the check engine light comes on !

Ford, shame on you for the Fiesta / Focus dry clutch 'DSG' automatic trans saga.
Why not develop a retrofit kit for a conventional auto box, and fit this for free to all customers instead of the ongoing problems. It's impossible for a DIY mechanic or any other anyone professional to do anything with Ford's faulty design. Yes it may work for a few weeks or months to fit the latest new dry clutch etc, but it doesn't solve the problem.
Cheers,

[Franco Cozzo]

Surprised no mention for Z32 Nissan 300ZX

Have a look at an engine bay photo of one of those, interesting for a late 1980s car to be that way.

[Pis-ton broke]

i checked out a f350 2004, with the v8 diesel. its really jammed in under the window wiper cowling, and into the cabin space, just looked impossible to get the heads off.

[Vesper Martini]

Originally Posted by Bolly47

6.) Toyota Celica Alltrac - Remove the engine to replace the clutch.

.

I had a GT4 and yep learned the engine need to be pulled for a clutch change, was too big a job for me at home so got a friend mechanic.
don't think he was my friend anymore after that, he said worst car they have ever worked on. took over 2 weeks

later I changed the Stereo and had to re-wire everything. this car had wires everywhere.

the Nissan 300ZX of the same era wasn't popular with mechanics either

[XR Martin]

Anything ZD30

[kypez]

V6 Cougar. The East West setup makes changing plugs or anything else a pain in the neck.

Actually, almost any car with an East West V6/V8 setup!

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by kypez

V6 Cougar. The East West setup makes changing plugs or anything else a pain in the neck.

Actually, almost any car with an East West V6/V8 setup!

Valve clearances on Honda Accord V6 Luxury.

RIP lower spine every 40,000km interval.

[aussiblue]

Most mid engined cars. Fiat X 1/9 and De Tomaso Pantera are two I have worked on that particularly come to mind. I was flattered to be asked to have a look at a friend of a friends Pantera many, many years ago; I think they were hoping I was not going to say it needed new spark plugs but it did and even with access holes behind the seats it was no fun but still better than the Fiat as I recall (brake and clutch hydraulics). Having big fat arthritic hands doesn't help in confined spaces. But I have learnt the value of buying special tools for these sort of jobs.

[Vesper Martini]

Thou the mid engine W20 MR2 with the same engine as the Celica is apparently a lot easier to work on