Worst ever jobs on cars..........................

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Worst ever jobs on cars..........................

Post by Guest »

In no particular order of nastiness, blood or time, these are the worst ever jobs I've attempted.
1) CX 25 Turbo 2 clutch. 2 days of hell.
2) Anything at all on a DS. Especially handbrake pads
3) Those pesky 3 braided hoses down the back of the block on a BX TD.
4) Ami Super front exhaust pipes.
5) GSA front arm fluidbloc bushes.Hell.
6) Repipe on a BX after the owner had "had a go himself" and got confused where they all came from and went. So he just took them all off. <img src=icon_smile_sad.gif border=0 align=middle>
arry_b
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Post by arry_b »

Power steering belt on an 87 Espace.
(Also qualifies for the "What a bl**dy stupid place to put that" award).
ZX D
XM V6 Sei
err... and a Vauxhall.
JohnD
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Post by JohnD »

The worst ever glowplugs I've had to change on a XUD engine are those on my 2.1 TD. Impossible even to touch until the upper part of the manifold has been removed and the EGR pipe joint broken. In the past, I've only ever replaced the faulty plug, but on this engine, I thought it worthwhile to do them all at the same time.
tomsheppard
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Post by tomsheppard »

Pug 304 fan belt. Remember it?
humpy
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Post by humpy »

First time I replaced a heater matrix on my ZX. I thought, "how on earth is this going to come back together!". The second time was a doddle!
Differential on my fathers XJ6 - everything was seized or bloody heavy!
FFX-DM
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Post by FFX-DM »

Putting new gearbox on my Polo, where the new one and clutch were fitted okay, but instead of engaging with the splines properly, the clutch chewed it's own grooves and jammed up. After much fannying about, we had to hire a hoist, take the engine out, jump up and down on the gearbox to break up the clutch friction plate so we could remove the gearbox. I had to go begging to G&S to open up as they had just closed to sell me a second new clutch of the day, which they did, lovely chaps! The first clutch lasted 10 yards... shortest life of a clutch perhaps, beat my friends 2 mile record where he got a new clutch and then instantly burned away doing mega wheel spins until the friction plate was reduced to fluff after a couple of miles!
That was silly, but the most miserable job was fitting an alternator to the Polo when it went. It was freezing cold, peeing it down and I had to lay about under the car fiddling about trying to hold the alternator in place and fit the bolt in. Not rocket science, just fiddly and frustrating.
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Post by arry_b »

Quote: "Pug 304 fan belt. Remember it?"
I had to change the alternator belt on my wife's Vauxhall over the new year. Only took 5 hours! (remove engine under tray, lots of access panels, support engine, remove engine mount, dismantle engine mount, rebuild mount WITH BELT RUNNING THROUGH IT (!), then put it all together again and fight with the auto-tensioner to get it back on.
Don't let anyone tell you having a Ford or Vauxhall is simpler.
ZX D
XM V6 Sei
err... and a Vauxhall.
tomsheppard
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Post by tomsheppard »

Actually, the Polo clutch story reminds me of the job I did on the clutch of Dad's Fiero. I spent a day trying to get the box to line up on my own but what it actually needed was two pairs of hands and thirty seconds. Which was incidentally about the life expectancy of a Fiero clutch - Dad went through quite a few in 5000 miles. Thank heaven somebody bought it in the end!
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AndersDK
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Post by AndersDK »

1) Removing the R/H side (long) driveaxle from an '86 CX22TRS. Support bearing was crap.
a) The special bolts were done by a previous owner/workshop job.
b) The support bearing was rust-stuck in the housing.
2) Removing swivel joints from a BX. (siiiiiigh.......)<img src=icon_smile_blackeye.gif border=0 align=middle>
C U
Anders(DK)
Danna987
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Post by Danna987 »

head gasket on a peugoet 306 turbo diesel, nightmare !! lol
DBAKER1980
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Post by DBAKER1980 »

Anyone done any work on the old XY laid back engines of 205's/AX?
Jesus. I remember having to undo the back engine mounts and jack it up a bit, just to tighten the rocker cover bolts!! Imagine my dismay when a few months later i realised the head gasket needed replacing. Every bolt i touched just sheared off. Turned out to be much quicker to just replace the whole bloody engine!!
And then there is those peugeot brake calipers, where any attempt to undo the bleed nipple just snaps it off!!
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C5 X7 2.0 HDi 160 which put me off French cars possibly forever
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Post by Homer »

Any routine stuff on my first 'car'..
A Reliant Regal Supervan III. (Same as the one in Only Fools and Horses.)
The engine sat between the driver and passenger footwells. Access to the plugs and points was through a small (8x12 inch) hatch in the side of the driver's footwell. The bonnet wasn't much bigger and wasn't even over the engine.
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Post by spanner-do »

Power Steering Pressure Pipe to the Rack on a 1990 VW Passat.
When VW make Right Hand Drive cars they simply reverse the steering Rack so the Steering column connector is at the correct side but this results in the pipe union connectors being tight up against the bulkhead facing rearwards.
The wonderful Haynes Manual shows a Left Hand Drive car where the pipe unions are in full show and the job would take 10 minutes tops.
The right hand drive job took 3 hours to remove the pipe (half a flat at a time on the union), naturally had to take off the return pipe first to gain access to the pressure pipe union, working blind too just for good measure. It only took about 1.5 hours to replace it. I don't think that having the use of ramps would have made it any easier
I had previously replaced the Pump because it became really noisy and the fluid was all frothy, a sure sign of air entering the system. Couldn't find a leak anywhere so did a pump change this worked OK for about 13 months then also went noisy. Found a damp patch on the pressure pipe where it transitioned from Metal to Rubber. It was sucking in air through the crimped joint, when you would have expected the pressurised oil to escape, confirmed it was this by putting some Hylomar around the crimp point then the pump noise level decreased and oil stopped being frothy.
Took the pipe assembly to a hydraulic pipe repair company they replaced the rubber hose part and recrimped the metal end fittings for about £20, and a couple of £ to the VW dealer for some new O ring seals. The new hose would have cost £130 inc VAT.
beemernut
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Post by beemernut »

Changing the clutch on an A-Reg Renault 5. Book time 8 hours. Actual time 2 weeks! Absolute nightmare. Bit of brute force and ignorance comes into play.
Or, replacing the head gasket on a BX in Scotland in February! Only 2" of snow to contend with (there wasn't any when we started).
Anything to do with XM electrics.
Replacing the clutch on a BMW K100 motorbike. You hang the bike from the garage roof struts, as the centre stand and side stand come off with the gearbox. Then you pray the bike doesn't fall over as it swings like a drunken sailor in a hurricane.
Dave Bamber
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Post by Dave Bamber »

CV boot on a BX. Got the CV off but PING when the circlip! Clatter clatter clatter went the inner CV, as it fell to bits with what looked like half a million needle roller bearing now lying in the dirt. Found them all bar one which I found 6 weeks later.........
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