A Venting Thread!!!! FORD SUCKS!!!

[Rasputin]

Duh. Cant sell them so you have to make money servicing them. The whole issue is that the manufacturers have to make sure you and I can not service or rebuild them. They lose so much money that way!

[DGXSER]

Yeah even VW has gone off the deep end!!!

This is by far not my first problem like this. I had an 88 Toyota truck and it took me ten minutes to get the starter off the engine and then two hours to get it off the truck only after removing the solenoid from the starter. So, another 20 min job that took 3 hours.

I just have never hear do such insanity as needing to drain the flipping coolant from the engine to change starter. Especially when it is such a long repetitive process to refill the bloody thing. That turned into another 3 hour process of filling the overflow, getting the engine to temp to open the thermostat, let it cool, refill overflow....repeat......repeat....repeat.....repea t!! What ever happened to a radiator cap you can pull, fill the thing up. Run it once to let the thermostat open and then top it off and be done.

[dpotter58]

This is how a v-6 Passat looks when you change the alternator

[crazy steve]

The last decent ford engine was a flat head V8--------that is until you had to re-adjust the valve lash. I hate every bolt on a Ford.

Everybody has different 'luck' with different brands; in my case, every GM product except one that I owned suffered catastrophic engine failure, the exact opposite of my Ford experience. My current ride (a LT1-powered Jag) has me 'knocking wood' on a regular basis...

[rover]

%$#& Ford

The last decent ford engine was a flat head V8--------that is until you had to re-adjust the valve lash. I hate every bolt on a Ford.

[crazy steve]

Yeah... I'm not a fan of the Supers or the Buses. I DO like the Things though. That would be my ultimate fun car. Unfortunately, all I've ever found are rust buckets.

Well, I won't say I'm a huge fan of Beetles, but wanting an inexpensive convertible (yeah, like those words go together ) to drag around behind the motor home, I found that a bug was the only cheap small car that wouldn't fold in half if you cut off the top; the sedan and convert floorpans are basically indentical. And I did have to do some extensive rust repair; between that and the body mods, I used a 10lb roll of wire-feed wire on it. But the doors still work...

The '71 is more Beetle than Super, as it still has the flat windshield/dash. It does have that funky 'fresh air' intake, but I removed all that (had to fill something like 16 holes in the dash after removing!). The strut front suspension is an improvement over the torsion bar but more expensive to fix. Still have to rewire it for towing (VW used a left/right lighting setup instead of front/rear), but the weight is now low enough that I don't need to tie the brakes to the MH. With the added ground clearance from the weight loss and a set of snow tires, I figure it will have a bit of 'off-road' capabilty.

[motoman]

Not goin' there Steve.........HBT and all, but at times seems engineers and reality do clash......

[CatatonicBug]

Volkswagens.... yep, a nice, uncomplicated, cheap to fix car.

But those 'recommended' valve adjustments at every oil change could get old, as well as the Bus driving directions if traveling at speeds above 50 mph; 45 minutes of driving, then 15 minutes stopped for engine cooling (not kidding; that was in the owners manual for my ex's '68 bus). I'm sure that owners not paying attention to that was the reason you almost always saw used buses advertised with 'fresh rebuilt' motors... And they are a bit of a chinese puzzle; you VILL put it together in proper order, nein? Stuff won't fit if you don't....

Yeah... I'm not a fan of the Supers or the Buses. I DO like the Things though. That would be my ultimate fun car. Unfortunately, all I've ever found are rust buckets.

[crazy steve]

...motor is actually built by Yamaha(3.0 V-six)...

Oh, so it's Yamaha's fault!

[motoman]

DGXSER, have one of those ourselves.........no issues, plus motor is actually built by Yamaha(3.0 V-six). At 80+thousand on this '03, was going to change plugs.........key word, WAS.....anyway saw that the front ones would be easy enough after removing some plastic covers. Then asked neighbor(dealeship mechanic) how to access rear spark plugs. Said intake plenum had to be removed and nuts holding it torqued @ 7ft.lbs. and if tightened to much will crack the plenum. Plenum is made of carbon fiberand is way costly.......well since Ford doesn't reccomend a plug replacement untill 90K+, they can stay right where thier at......forever for all I care. Just took it on a long trip and it still averages 24mpg@80mph........good enough for me......Also neighbor changed fuel filter for me as I didn't have that special tool to remove fuel filter........what a PITA! Use the reccomended weight oil indicated on the cap too......clearances are tight enough that a heavier oil viscosity can gauld lifters causing a lifter noise permanetly amongst other issues. In other words, put gas in it, change oil reguarly, and drive till the wheels fall off......Oh, and ours is the fast color(red)..........

[crazy steve]

Volkswagens.... yep, a nice, uncomplicated, cheap to fix car.

But those 'recommended' valve adjustments at every oil change could get old, as well as the Bus driving directions if traveling at speeds above 50 mph; 45 minutes of driving, then 15 minutes stopped for engine cooling (not kidding; that was in the owners manual for my ex's '68 bus). I'm sure that owners not paying attention to that was the reason you almost always saw used buses advertised with 'fresh rebuilt' motors... And they are a bit of a chinese puzzle; you VILL put it together in proper order, nein? Stuff won't fit if you don't....

Got a '71 Super in the driveway converted into a 'roadster' (cut the top off), now known as the 'pervert bug' (going topless! ). One of these days I'll put it back together...

[CatatonicBug]

Had a 67 myself Bug. Very simple, just loosen the bolts and pick the car up off the engine. Then again, it had no cooling system and it took 4 wires, the throttle cable and the heater cables to prep the engine for removal IIRC. Then pull 4 bolts and slide the engine off the tranny. Then lift the car off the engine.....ok...no seriously, lift the car up and roll the engine out from under it.

Yep! BTDT! 6 bolts hold on a fender, 8 bolts hold on a bumper. The whole car can be lifted by 4 guys (3 if they all ate their wheaties that morning!). The '68 had one caveat though - it had the shortest clutch cable of all the years, so mine stretched out past usable length about once a year, and could not be replaced by a shorter version to allow for stetching. When I decide that I need another cage, I'll be looking for a restored bug. I miss that thing!

[DGXSER]

Had a 67 myself Bug. Very simple, just loosen the bolts and pick the car up off the engine. Then again, it had no cooling system and it took 4 wires, the throttle cable and the heater cables to prep the engine for removal IIRC. Then pull 4 bolts and slide the engine off the tranny. Then lift the car off the engine.....ok...no seriously, lift the car up and roll the engine out from under it.

[CatatonicBug]

Really makes me miss my old '68 VW Bug... Now THAT was an easy car to work on!

[natemoen]

My mom used to have a '96 Buick Riviera. To change one is the belts you had to unbolt a engine mount and tweek the engine because the belt ran around the mount. Her car also had a really slow, yet mess oil leak from the oil pan. Well the pan sat about a centimeters above a frame crossmember so you would have to unbolt and lift the engine to pull the pan off to reseal it. Never fixed it.