Daily Annoyances

[Piwoslaw]

Replacing the bulb of the rear fog light in an Opel Corsa C requires the rear bumper to be taken off

Replacing the air filter (either the cabin, or the engine) in my P307 requires taking apart half of the engine bay, including taking the windshield wipers off And in order to check the amount of windshield fluid in the reservoir you have to get under the car and remove the bellypan under the engine. To replace the timing belt the engine has to be unbolted and lifted. The glow plugs are easier to break than to remove, so replacing them often ends with the head being removed and drilled. The wheel bearings and brake discs are one piece, so if only one needs replacing, you pay twice as much. I could go on...

[Piwoslaw]

Annoying: Climbing the hills you just coasted down.

Even more annoying: Climbing the hills you didn't coast down

[Arragonis]

Originally Posted by Piwoslaw

Annoying: Climbing the hills you just coasted down.

Even more annoying: Climbing the hills you didn't coast down

"Oh the grand old duke of york..."

[euromodder]

Originally Posted by Piwoslaw

Replacing the air filter (either the cabin, or the engine) in my P307 requires taking apart half of the engine bay, including taking the windshield wipers off

On my Volvo, the interior filter is behind / besides the accelerator.

[Frank Lee]

Having worked in an engineering dept. I can verify that end-user serviceability is not even on the radar- all they care about is part cost and how do we slap it together on the assembly line. Well, most so-called engineers don't even change their own oil or work on their own cars, so they figure nobody besides mechanics work on anything, and mechanics enjoy awful, tough jobs because then they can charge more.

[usergone]

Another reason to like Asian cars... serviceability.

Once I changed the oil on a Hundai, and was surprised to find the oil filter right next to the drain plug - on the front of the engine. Not sure if the rest is put together with such forethought, but I found that impressive.

A person I know with a Tacoma claims that to drain the oil, there is a valve on top of the engine so he doesn't even have to climb underneath.

[Joenavy85]

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

Well, most so-called engineers don't even change their own oil or work on their own cars, so they figure nobody besides mechanics work on anything, and mechanics enjoy awful, tough jobs because then they can charge more.

heck, the only reason i didn't change my Jeep's oil myself (initially that is) was to maintain the warranty. once the warranty expired, i quit taking it places for oil changes and have done it myself ever since then, my girlfriends dad works for the city where he lives, so i take the used oil to him and it gets disposed of properly (as far as i can tell)

[Frank Lee]

Good one. I changed my F150's oil from new; all you have to do is record it in the log.

[Joenavy85]

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

Good one. I changed my F150's oil from new; all you have to do is record it in the log.

i always did that until my buddy had his engine go out and the dealer tried to say that since he didn't have definitive documentation of the changes actually being done that the warranty was void. In the end he took them to court and won, but still...

[Frank Lee]

I ended up collecting on the extended warranty I bought (I know! x warranties are the devil! I don't know why I bought it but at least it did pay for itself this time) and there was no questioning of oil changes.

Anyway, the point was, these engineering teams are largely composed of people that never get any dirt under their fingernails, especially when it comes to working on cars. I thought that was somewhat amusing, seeing as how our company was in the vehicle design and manufacturing bidness.