The Gun Counter

Proper vehicle maintenance:
Video clip of a woman adding a quart of oil to her car…

I guess maintaining a vehicle is a lot like like cooking?

Funny, but that's gotta be staged.

Netpackrat wrote:Funny, but that's gotta be staged.

WHY??? They didn't say what KIND of oil, so she just stopped by the local grocery store and picked up a bottle of cooking oil to spread over the engine. After all, it's probably like a salad.

I had an auto mechanic teacher who's son tried to add oil through the dipstick hole.

Wrenchbender1 wrote:I had an auto mechanic teacher who's son tried to add oil through the dipstick hole.

If you are patient enough, at least that will work.

And don't get me started on "sealed" transmissions.

+1 on that, brother.

I've said for years that I'd like to be in a position to take a brand-new car (pick your make) off the factory floor, get the engineering team out on the hot (or cold) parking lot in the sun (or the rain) and give them a standard hobbyists tool set and tell them "Change the starter." or Change the oil. Or Change the alternator. When they had trouble doing that, tell them to get their asses back into the shop and design a car that the average hobbyist can work with.

PawPaw, you seem to be assuming that the problem is one of ignorance on the part of the engineers. I would submit that the service portion of the dealer network is a very large revenue center. And the more difficult a repair is, the more likely the owner will be to just "take it to the dealer" rather than tackling it themselves. In fact, there are some things that a regular mechanic shop will advise the owner to do just that due to the difficulty of the diagnosis or repair. That's less common now as the industry as a whole becomes more sophisticated, but it is still the last resort advice of independent mechanics who can't or won't deal with something that is well and truly fucked.

Netpackrat wrote:PawPaw, you seem to be assuming that the problem is one of ignorance on the part of the engineers. I would submit that the service portion of the dealer network is a very large revenue center. And the more difficult a repair is, the more likely the owner will be to just "take it to the dealer" rather than tackling it themselves. In fact, there are some things that a regular mechanic shop will advise the owner to do just that due to the difficulty of the diagnosis or repair. That's less common now as the industry as a whole becomes more sophisticated, but it is still the last resort advice of independent mechanics who can't or won't deal with something that is well and truly fucked.

Yup, designed to increase maintenance revenue as the profit margins of unit sales plummet.

PawPaw wrote:

And don't get me started on "sealed" transmissions.

+1 on that, brother.

I've said for years that I'd like to be in a position to take a brand-new car (pick your make) off the factory floor, get the engineering team out on the hot (or cold) parking lot in the sun (or the rain) and give them a standard hobbyists tool set and tell them "Change the starter." or Change the oil. Or Change the alternator. When they had trouble doing that, tell them to get their asses back into the shop and design a car that the average hobbyist can work with.

When I was a kid my Dad had a 1968 AMC Rebel station wagon with a straight-six engine. He was doing something with it one day and had trouble reaching the back-center of the engine compartment, so he stepped over the fender and stood between the fender and the engine to get at whatever he was after. Dad was a big guy too, but there was plenty of air around that engine.

Drop a socket under a modern car's hood sometime, guarantee it won't hit the ground.

I think the worst example of automotive engineering I heard of was (IIRC) the 1980-something Chevy Celebrity where, in order to change one of the rear spark-plugs, you had to pull the engine out of the car.

I think the worst example of automotive engineering I heard of was (IIRC) the 1980-something Chevy Celebrity where, in order to change one of the rear spark-plugs, you had to pull the engine out of the car.

A couple months ago, one of the rear lights burned out, I couldn't figure out how to get at it, asked the dealer and I had to take it in so they could drop the rear bumper to get at the light. Dealer blamed it on bad engineering. Still charged me for it though.