Modern designs that drive you nuts

[wotnot]

Changing the battery in a Cadillac ATS .... any old school mechanic here will truly appreciate this one;

[lsemmens]

Faaaaaark that for a joke! Time for a trade in!!!! Just 'cause of a flat battery!!!! Remind me NEVER to buy a Cadillac

[george65]

Seen many things Similar.

Mate had a Mitsubishi Delica.
To change the battery on that, as I did once and said I would never work on the thing again, You had to remove the intercooler pipe, remove the intercooler, some other thing then you could reach right up under what was the dashboard from under the tiny bonnet and pull out the 2 N70 batteries though the gap with about 5mm clearance total around all sides. Fitting was the reverse of removal only with a shit load more frustration because now your arms were tired and your fingers cut and bruised from pulling the old 20 Kg batteries out.

Daughter's Friend has a Mitsubishi..... whatever. Asked me to change the headlight Bulbs. Sure, no problem!
About 40 Min later and reassembling duct work, replacing the battery and other things, Job done. Of course leaning over the low arsed thing for so long I couldn't stand up straight for a week.

Parking lights on some ford Territory's is also fun. Remove a front wheel, the gaurd liner and if you have hands the size of 2 YO and arms made of Bungy cord, it's not too bad at all. If not, just removing the bumper is a viable option.

Of course who could Forget things like the old porche 911's that required the ENGINE be removed to change the spark plugs, a trick repeated by a number of Manufacturers these days.
Friend complained to me the mechanic wanted to rip her off by charging her half a Days Labour to change the plugs on her Suzuki Vitara. When I looked up that the engine was supposed to be removed but if you unbolt one engine mount and jack the thing up under said mount till the car starts to lift you can juuuust get at them then repeat procedure on the other side, I said book the thing in fast as you can, he obviously hasn't done them before and half a day is a bargain.

Tail lights on one of the Foresters is similar to the battery in the vid. Requires pulling out half the boot lining and then a bunch of bolts to remove the tail light off the body and then get to the bulb holders. The previous Model you lifted the tail gate, undid 2x 10mm bolts and pulled the thing out of a couple of rubber grommets.
Of course they improved that design by making it much more complex so the service dept could charge $50 for changing a tail light... and $18 for the " Genuine" globe.



One a different note, a modern design that drives me insane is Blister packaging.
Half the time it's impossible to remove the product without destroying it or slicing your hand open.
I once bought something I had to take back and they said because the packaging was damaged they couldn't exchange it. I think quietly suggesting to the manager I might ram the whole package up his backside if they didn't exchange it might have made him see things my way.

As well as Impossible to open, they also have this tendency to put a product about 5x5CM on a blister wrapped cards about 50 Cm long and 20 Cm wide. Packaging must cost and weight more than the product it contains.

And maybe my " Favourite" piss off....
Why the Fk does every modern Kettle on the market Put the tiny narrow water level window Right behind the Effing handle therefore making it as difficult to read as earthly possible?
Of course over time the Cheap shit plastic yellows with the minerals in the water and you can't see it at all even with the usual 30 sec of trying to turn the thing to the light at the precise angle where you can see the water meniscus against the background colour that makes it hard as possible to see. Even if they put a little red floating ball in there it would be fine, but no, we have to make the level window completely useless!

And every single Kettle I have looked at, all copy the same moronic, brain dead design!

I'm no engineer but given the task, I have no doubts I could design a Kettle that you could easily see how much water was in the thing and the spout was better for getting the water into a cup than sprinkling the water over your petunias like a shower head and didn't run down the side all over the bench. Oh, and I'd make it so you could fill the thing through the spout from the tap, not have to open the lid every time.... Which on the designer one the wife wanted, isn't push button, has to be manually taken off.
Of course you would have to do that even if you could fill through the spout because you can't see Shit through the stupid water level window that your hand is now covering as you hold the moronic thing!!!

Once upon a time you could tell how much water was in them by lifting them. Now they are so heavy you can barely tell between empty and full and if you boil them dry, there is another $100 for the pretty white ones to match the kitchen Decor.
Best one we bought was a Clear glass kettle with pretty blue LED Lights for about $27 From Kmart. No problem seeing the level on that one and poured straight and didn't leak. But no, that thing was too practical so had to replace it with an impractical POS 5x the price.

[VroomVroom]

Seen many things Similar.

Mate had a Mitsubishi Delica.
To change the battery on that, as I did once and said I would never work on the thing again, You had to remove the intercooler pipe, remove the intercooler, some other thing then you could reach right up under what was the dashboard from under the tiny bonnet and pull out the 2 N70 batteries though the gap with about 5mm clearance total around all sides. Fitting was the reverse of removal only with a shit load more frustration because now your arms were tired and your fingers cut and bruised from pulling the old 20 Kg batteries out.

ive worked on a couple of those Delicas for my neighbours. The diesel version is the one you describe , absolute bitch of a job to get the batteries out and they ran 2 batteries because you couldn't start them with just one battery in winter. The same 4M40 dog of an engine is well known for developing ovality in its thin walled non sleeved blocks. and to top that off they enjoy cracking cylinder heads. Besides that the bodywork was assembled at the factory with corrosive sealant which soon started a bad rusting nightmare.
the petrol V6 engine models in that range were a much better car , all Pajero and very reliable. complete contrast.

For that reason I would never consider buying a diesel Mitsu , they still run that shitty 4M engine nowadays with the added bonus of dropping timing chains.

[SS Dave]

VW toe rag and some others the battery is under the front seat some jeeps you remove the front wheel to gain access to the battery
Falcoon you remove the entire dash for a plastic rod in the the heater box and same with some WRX's

[wotnot]

Iirc it was a Prado ; complaint was long crank/no start, vehicle would clutch start just fine -- OBD2 tosses a crank angle sensor fault code ; they have 2, replace both, fault persists -- turned out to be the starter motor was creating noise in the circuit paths, making the signal from the sensors full of noise. Replacement starter was $700+ genuine ...

Talking about VW, Tsi cold idle misfire... a good examination of the fault condition

[lsemmens]

I had an old Tojo back in the day, so everything was fairly accessible. except..... I had a 289 V8 in it and to change the plug on cyl #8 I eneded up making a hole in the firewall so I could access it from inside the cab.

[Godzilla]

I miss the old days when you use to be able to open a bonnet and actually stand in the engine bay next to the motor.

These days you can barely see a bolt that needs to be worked on....

[enf]

I miss the old days when you use to be able to open a bonnet and actually stand in the engine bay next to the motor.

These days you can barely see a bolt that needs to be worked on....

Aaah...memories. In the 70's I had a Triumph Spitfire. Lift the large bonnet, tilt it forward and just sit on the front wheel and work away....

And back then you could stick just about ANY battery in any car and the leads would actually reach. Fancy that.....

[george65]

I remember having a HQ Holden.
Used to just unbolt the entire front Bodywork in one single piece (except the Bumper bar) and sit it on the lawn when doing engine work. My brother and I could literally do it in 5 Min.
Had a 6 and then put a small block in it and just having it sit there on the chassis rails made doing anything so easy.

Now you open a Bonnet and all you see is plastic covers and badge work.

[hinekadon]

ENF did you just admitt to owning a oil leaker ????

[enf]

ENF did you just admitt to owning a oil leaker ????

Hahaha...yeah, I had a couple of Triumphs. A Herald and a TR4 as well....

Then I discovered VWs, and what excellent handling was REALLY like.

[wotnot]

ENF did you just admitt to owning a oil leaker ????

That was an undocumented feature - the 'visual dipstick'. Any time you parked up...pommy bike, car, truck... you'd always take a visual glance on the ground under the engine, to ensure the 'appropriate' amount of oil had leaked out - too much oil, meant something had come loose ; too little or no oil, meant it was time to add oil =)

If I entertain examples of 'civilized' design, iirc it was the the series 5 Humber Super Snipe - they had a little plate on the firewall that you could remove from the inside under the dash, so you could service/replace the welch plug in the back of the cylinder head ...the Lucas dizzy with graduated knurled adjustment so it was easy to advance/retard your timing, depending on fuel type and whether you were open road cruising or not...an automatic gearbox that would clutch start, and they had torque converter clutch direct drive in '65, took 20years or more for the rest of the world to catch up on that idea.

Those are the sort of things we've lost.... what do we have now?

The use of piece assembled camshafts in interference engine designs with belt/chain camshaft drives...gear drives as less problematic here. These camshafts are a hollow steel tube, which are cooled right down, and the heated, preformed cam lobes are slipped over the tube and held in the correct position, until the temperatures equalize and the lobes stay put under interference fit. If you throw or break a cambelt or drive chain, the valves -will- hit the pistons, because it's an interference type engine design. When this happens, the forces incurred can knock the camshaft lobes out of timing position on the camshaft. Guess what happens next if you're not aware of this, and go to start the thing after getting the head repaired etc...

[george65]

That was an undocumented feature - the 'visual dipstick'.

My first car was a Mitsubishi GA Gallant. Not a panel that didn't have bog in it. I mean in the middle of the panel not just rust.
That thing leaked so much Oil I got a deep metal tray and poured lead in the bottom of it so it wouldn't blow away when I put it under the car. I would get about 150 ml over the course of a day at work and more over night. I'd go back to the car, pull the tin out with the correct positioning length rod I made, tip the oil back in the engine, stow tin and rod in the boot and proceed on the journey.

That car was rough as guts but it NEVER let me down...... Unlike the Ford LTD I bought years later that was only 2 years old and let me down about every 2 Months till I pissed it off. Just one thing after another with that. Fuel pump, Timing sensor, throttle body sensor, Trans issues, computer.... also had the least headroom of any car I ever had.

Bouncing valves off Pistons is Very common on Subarus. Pull the timing cover off and the belt is the factory one they put on 10 years earlier and has done double plus its normal service life and then the urban Myth goes around that timing belts are no good because they break. Yeah well Tyres blow if the tread wears off and you go through the canvas and don't change them when you should. Timing chains are far from infallible either.

My father can't figure out why I love my old GQ TD42 patrol so much. Even offered to buy me another car to update. Thing just suits me and anything goes wrong I can fix it.
Parts are cheap and you don't have to deconstruct the car to do a simple maintence procedure. Run it on veg oil for free and it pulls like a train with a bit of meth in the water injection. Lay the back seats down and you have the same floor area as a 6x4 Trailer.
Built like a tank and just don't stop. 400,000KM is a low mileage one these days and they will be on the original untouched engine.
Might be why the things are 25yo and still seem to be going up in value. The same generation landcruisers are Similar.

Built when things were made to last.
And they did.

[george65]

The use of piece assembled camshafts

Many small engines use PLASTIC camshafts these days. I would not have thought that was possible had I not seen numerous examples.

Neighbour took his 2 Month old Husquvarva ride on back last year after he stripped a PLASTIC main gear in the diff. Blew a fuse and they gave him full credit on it on a JD..... Which sits in the shed mainly because that is so full of " safety" features the thing is barely useable to him. Rebuilt the deck on the old one, had the seat recovered, gave the motor a bit of a freshen up with a hone and new rings, bearings and a valve job and still uses that..... About every 2 days!

The "Safety" design with many mowers now is you can't go backwards without the blades disengaging and then having to push a button to re engage them. Was driving my father insane on his so I jumped the switch and keeps it engaged. Lift the bonnet and the engine stops, engine stops if you get off the seat even if the deck isn't engaged, won't start if you are not in the seat, won't start if it detects the oil is dirty.... there are literally more switches to make the thing NOT go than there is to make it run.

His new Honda Push Mower has so many dam levers and handles that's a joke too. Stupidity is they are all easily overcome with a few Zip ties. 4 stroke Mowers are unAustralian anyway. The sound of Victa 2 stroke is what we all grew up with and part of our Culture. Something else I'll be hanging on to and have enough parts to rebuild 10X over.

I'll be keeping my 30 Yo Kubota All wheel steer 3 Cyl Diesel bullshit free ride on till the end of my days too. That is a design and build I like Only thing on that is the engine stops if you get off while the deck is engaged which is fair enough. Leaving that alone.
All the neighbours have Newish, prettier, single Cyl air-cooled petrol ride ons but my old girl is King of street when everyone seems to get out at the same time.
Turned a few heads the other month when I towed the 6x8 Covered trailer round the front with it and them proceeded to shovel out 1.5 Cubic meters of Compost and soil. :0)

Built like a tractor and shares components with them.

[VroomVroom]

I've got another one - the starter motor on any UZ equipped Toyota / Lexus. all induction manifolds have to come out for access to it

[ol' boy]

Toyota Kluger

[Johnno]

Fitted 308's in LC - LJ Tories. Very little room to do any repairs. You also had to strengthen the chassis rails or they would buckle and bend.. lol

If you've owned one you'll know that the Steering Column isn't centered.. lol Growing up, we would organise meets.. mainly Commercial Zones at night.

Many memories at Pipes Rd, Calder Park and Cherry Lane where I used to roar up and down the street testing the tune on the Carb.. lol
Where do I start with new cars.. I just don't like them..

[Godzilla]

Fitted 308's in LC - LJ Tories. Very little room to do any repairs. You also had to strengthen the chassis rails or they would buckle and bend.. lol

If you've owned one you'll know that the Steering Column isn't centered.. lol Growing up, we would organise meets.. mainly Commercial Zones at night.

Many memories at Pipes Rd, Calder Park and Cherry Lane where I used to roar up and down the street testing the tune on the Carb.. lol
Where do I start with new cars.. I just don't like them..

Yep Cherry lane.....thats where i got my wife to start dating me.......yep where else but at a illegal drag meet.

[hinekadon]

Yep Cherry lane.....thats where i got my wife to start dating me.......yep where else but at a illegal drag meet.
the smell of burning tyres, throbbing v8s , pole vaulting males, tight jeans , big boobs, and they ban, it disgusting , wish those days were back again