worst job you have done on any car

[101Volts]

It wasn't a pain to me, but the worst I can say so far is that I broke a drain-cock in a radiator for the 1990 Mercury and ended up buying a new radiator, thermostat and radiator cap. I was already in the process of cleaning out the old rusty antifreeze though.

[cowmeat]

I changed out the timing belt in my 1979 Civic on the side of I-275 in St Pete, Fl

I already knew the old timing belt was going bad, and I had planned on changing it after work in the parking lot, so I had the new timing belt and my tools in the back of the car, and the cover was already off. Unfortunately it broke before I made it to work.

Spoiler alert: It's not a fun job changing a timing belt out for the first time following directions in the Chilton's manual while up under the car and getting sand blasted the whole time by morning rush hour traffic! Did it in about an hour, though

[MJamson]

Thought that I would give new life to an old thread.

Mine would have to be the jobs around removing the fuel pump from a perkins phaser.

Said engine is on my truck.

Jobs :
*Bonnet off
*Grill off
*Coolant drain
*Radiator out
*Coolant pump off
*Wheel off
*Vaccume pump off
*Air intake pipes and filter off
*Belts off

Thats not to bad right ? . . . wrong, when using the gear puller I messed up and dropped a bolt into the timing case, so . . .

*Alternator and steering pump removal
*Crankshaft pulley off
*Timing case off

Luckly the bolt was happyily sitting in clear sight. Then the pump came off in seconds.

Took a month to have the pump refurbished, everything went back together over the course of a day or three, with a few hours making new gaskets.

[markweatherill]

Originally Posted by P-hack

While not the worst in terms of total effort, in terms of too much effort for the job, a starter on an older nissan, had to remove the intake manifold/etc to get at it.

I did one like that, sounds like 4wd Sunny.
I had to use a variety of socket extensions and universal joints to access most of the nuts and bolts holding it on, and then access them by feel because I couldn't see them...
And then to discover the manifold was mounted on studs, and a couple of them were so long that I couldn't slide the manifold off them without hitting the firewall. I recall (after some thought) I either cut them down or replaced them with bolts!
And of course there were several coolant pipes involved; getting the last little one fitted was a horrible experience.


I also recall once spending a day fitting the rare and sought after 'ACIS' manifold to my Toyota Sera, a little bulkier than the stock one, so it took a lot of wrestlng to get it in place. Only to discover the accelerator cable was just too short. Even though I had the stub of the old one, I just couldn't see how to reliably join it to the existing one. So I took it all off again.
Later I realised I could have used electrical connector blocks....

[Fingie]

Welded about a meter of my previous Celica's rocker panels with a crappy welder.

I am more of a bolt-on guy as a mech.

Car body repairing is a craftsmanship itself, so i prefer leaving it to the pros.

[kafer65]

Motor mount on my '83 Merc turbodiesel. I had to get the allen wrench on the mount from under the car with both arms buried in the all up in the oily bowels of this thing just to dig the dirt out and turn the screw quarter turns at a time in the middle of the night. At one point, after the swearing cloud dissipated and my will to live was all but spent, I though I might be found dead the next day because my hand, wrist and elbow had cramped up and I couldn't move. The vacuum pods make me apoplectic every time I think about them as well.

[mcrews]

1. 15 1/2 yrs old
2. 1st job
3. 1st day
(background: dad owned a flat head, pr of pliars and hammer from 5&10 store)
4. Mobil gas station
5. $1.50 an hour
6. boss asks me to change the water pump on a 60's Pontiac GTO
7. took me 7 hours.. ..but I did it!!!!
8. .....It leaked
9. to 6.5 hours the next day. but it worked!!!!!
10. Closed the station the next day......

11. made a great 'experience' for my next job at a Mobil station about 2 miles away

" No sir, I don't know how to pump gas.....BUT I CANGED THE WATER PUMP ON A GTO!!!!!!"