what haas been your worst vehicle wrenching nightmare?

[homersipes]

I figure this could be an interesting thread.  Yesterday I changed a starter in a 98 ford explorer that took almost 5 hours.  Man you cant get to ANYTHING on those things.  The bolts go horizontal on these instead of vertical like gm does, the bolts were so corroded I had all I could to turn the bottom on.  Then the top    I had almost 2 feet of extensions on and a floppy on the socket to get it out.  Oh and then the whole top of the starter housing had rotted off, wish I had taken pictures    So I get a new starter and go to put it in, cant get to the wires so I had to hook them up before I installed the starter, I get the starter up inand had the big wire on wrong so it wasnt allowing the starter to go up in.  What a PITA it was, it was a free vehicle to me, needed front and rear brakes, the main brake line to the rear and then the starter crapped out, so I have all of 200 into the rig.  it has 115k miles on it.  so lets hear some more nightmare stories

[smoe]

Explorer's are known for trouble. I had a neighbor that got a cheap or free Explorer. He has had it for 4+ years now and hasn't drove it out of his driveway once (at least not legally). He has sunk a thousand or more into fixing mechanical issues. This vehicle is now in a catch 22 of sort, since it fails the emission test.

[jeep00]

I had a 1975 Chevy Monza with the 4.3 liter v8. You couldn't get to two of the plugs because of the power steering. I mean couldn't. You had to pull a motor mount to get to them as I recall. Beyond that, like you I live in New England. That in itself makes auto repair bad but it is considerably exacerbated by the fact I also own a Jeep TJ.

[cobia38]

I had to pull engine/trans out of a 2010 Cadillac SRX in order to replaces the lower rails and aprons.
   The clincher is these engines are supposed to be removed through the bottom,but since the vehicle was clamped down to a frame rack and removing the engine though the bottom was impossible,I had to fabricate a harness to support the assembly with a engine crane for removal though the top.  

[rpm]

Worst nightmare I had was replacing the CV joint on a mid 80's Buick Skylark. I had changed them on an Audi so I thought this would be about the same. Boy was I wrong. I had to basically take the front end apart to get to it. Naturally I was doing this on a gravel driveway in the middle of July. A close second would be replacing the timing belt on a 89 Ford Escort. Wound up using a cutting torch to cut a hole in the frame so I could get a socket on. It was that or pull the engine.

[guncrasher]

jiffy lube installed the wrong type of oil.  they used 10w30 instead of 5w30, when I complained the gave me a free oil change.


semp

[smoe]

A close second would be replacing the timing belt on a 89 Ford Escort. Wound up using a cutting torch to cut a hole in the frame so I could get a socket on. It was that or pull the engine.

I had an 89 Escort (or 89-1/2 with new body type) with a broken timing belt to, they usually went around 70-80,000 miles. The secret to replacing timing their belts was to remove the water pump first. Replacing the water pump with a new or rebuilt one was recommended for the extra couple of bucks.

[Bizman]

I have a Mercedes 250D stw from 1995. Works like charm, only 375000 km driven.

Now to the nightmare part: Sometime last spring the infrared locking/start prevention system started having hiccups. There's two receivers, one in the driver's door and another in the trunk and if the former wouldn't work, the latter would. Mostly. And it's not the key, I have two and both either work or don't. Now, one evening after work I was planning to go home. Couldn't get the lock to open! I kept pressing the key for one hour and a half until I called my neighbour who towed me to the local dedicated MB service. Hoping some bump had fixed the issue I tried the key again to no avail, so I put the key in an envelope with a brief note and dropped it through the door mail slot. Next morning the repair chief called and asked if the error would be of the nature of fixing itself... I said yes, but this time it didn't. They spent most of the day searching for the culprit but couldn't find any. Not with their equipment nor by checking every joint and relay concerned. The spare part guys said they have never been asked for the components concerning this issue, and at least one of them was working there already when the car was new! Neither has my regular one man MB unofficial dedicated repairer heard of such. Even the Finnish MB bulletin board has been quiet after the first obvious question.

The components would cost about half of the value of the car and there's no guarantee that they would fix the issue. And since the components in question have to be ordered directly from the factory, being coded for my vehicle only, there'd be no possibility to return or resell them either...

[GScholz]

That's the first time I've seen 375 000 kilometers with the word "only" in front of it... 

[branch37]

1972 Ford flatbed 1 ton winch truck.  gone through 4 starters in the last 5 years, and the starters keep sheering the teeth off the flywheel. 

[Wolfala]

Replaced every lifter on a TCM io-360. Had a starter adapter drive go out on a C180 on floats running a IO550, had to get a fork lift to lift the engine to r&r the adapter. Had a Cessna 421 spring a dozen leaks frontage left engine upon landing at LaGuardia on a Saturday. Was there 2 days with 2 mechanics with oil pissing out the gearbox spline cover to discover the engine was put back together by RAM using old nuts for the crankcase thru bolts. One  fractured internally, the crankcase lost its bearing crush. But it ended happily.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0BUfNS59Iw&feature=youtube_gdata_player


Last one I was given a plane to grab down in DC at night around 10pm to get troubleshot and fixed. Had the other pilot drive my plane. Tookoff and discovered the controls had so much play in them it was extremely difficult to control. Bad time to discover when you are 50 feet from the other aircraft.

[uptown]

Oh this is a easy one.  My wife had a Tempo and I rebuilt the transaxle in it. Had it all done except install the axles, spindles and stuff and went to the tavern to get drunk. When I came home that night the driveway was icy and I slammed my old pickup into the arse end of her car because I couldn't stop in time. Next day, finished the Tempo went to tavern again. Came home that night and yep.......slammed into the damn car again, completely rolling the trunk up into the back seat. The old pickup never got a scratch 

Ended up selling the Tempo to the junkyard with brand new rebuilt transaxle still in it    Wife is still pissed about that and this happened 10 or 12 years ago 

[uptown]

I figure this could be an interesting thread.  Yesterday I changed a starter in a 98 ford explorer that took almost 5 hours.  Man you cant get to ANYTHING on those things.  The bolts go horizontal on these instead of vertical like gm does, the bolts were so corroded I had all I could to turn the bottom on.  Then the top    I had almost 2 feet of extensions on and a floppy on the socket to get it out.  Oh and then the whole top of the starter housing had rotted off, wish I had taken pictures    So I get a new starter and go to put it in, cant get to the wires so I had to hook them up before I installed the starter, I get the starter up inand had the big wire on wrong so it wasnt allowing the starter to go up in.  What a PITA it was, it was a free vehicle to me, needed front and rear brakes, the main brake line to the rear and then the starter crapped out, so I have all of 200 into the rig.  it has 115k miles on it.  so lets hear some more nightmare stories

Try replacing a starter on a Cadillac with a Northstar engine in it. The first time I did one it took me 30 minutes just to find the starter  It's tucked under the intake manifold on top of the block. 

[SIK1]

1972 Ford flatbed 1 ton winch truck.  gone through 4 starters in the last 5 years, and the starters keep sheering the teeth off the flywheel. 

Branch is this an FE powered truck? If so make sure that the spacer plate is in place between the block and bell housing.

[Zacherof]

My tonka truck's wheel came off. Super glue didnt work so i tossed iut. Didlying piese o crap