What's new
CK5
Register an account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members.

I am p.o.'ed at gm engineers......

My brother in law is a service manager at a local ford dealer. so one Friday afternoon I meet him at the dealership so we can drive up to our families cottage for a fishing trip, and as we are driving past one of the service bays, I see a new diesel Fsomething50 with the cab lifted up off the chassis... So I say to him, what are you guys doing to that??? He says they're fixing an oil leak on the motor!!! I ask him why did you lift the cab off of it, he says it's easier to work on them that way....
 
Man, this is nothing new.
What the heck was the GM product that you had to pull the engine to change the no.4 sparkplug?
Vega?
I should be able to remember, I helped cut the holes in the floorboard of several of them so that you did not have to pull it.

I remember that GM promised free spark plug changes on that car for life to stop the lawsuits.

But, sometimes somebody gets it right.
I remember one of the first transverse mounted engine cars.
We would get frantic/angry posts on Compuserve from people who wanted to change the back side spark plugs and they were hard up against the firewall.

The trick was simple. You changed out all the front side plugs, took loose a bolt from the brace that ran across the top of the engine.
Stick a prybar in a premade hole and gently rotate the engine on the axles. When the back side plugs were straight up, there was another bolt hole lined up on the brace.
Put the bolt back in, and it would hold the engine while you changed the plugs.

And how about the 1/2 drive hole in the belt tensioner so that you do not have to have a prybar to hold the spring back while you change the belt?
 
JDNobodi said:
Back to the later model GM stuff.
Have anyone replaced the Crank position sensor on a 8.1. It is behind the block and gm run the fuel lines damn near over the sensor.
I had to take a cheap wrench and heat it up to put a dog leg in it so I can remove the one bolt which holds the sensor.
And that was the easy part.
Click to expand...

I changed the crank sensor in my 01 8.1. Did it in my driveway on my back. It was not the easiest job I've ever done but it was not too bad. The worst part was not getting the bolt out but getting the sensor the come out of its hole once the bolt was removed. My problem is in that the sensor should not have failed once let alone twice. 140k primarily hard towing miles so far and besides a couple oil changes and a tranny service this has been the truck's only failure. I'm not complaining.​
 
Crank sensors SUCK to replace on many cars...they hide them in stupid places like the bellhousing,in the engine block,etc,and always where access is dam near impossible...I've seen my friend spend the better part of a day trying to remove one that is heat baked into the mounting surface and needed to be drilled or smashed into bits to be removed!...you wouldn't think a hunk of plastic with an o ring could be so difficult to get out,but in aluminum they practically weld in from electrolosis..

Rene..a 4.7 ?...Ewwwwwww.....!..my friend has replaced about ten of those engines in Dodge and Jeeps this year...they are almost as bad as the 2.7 V-6,Mopars worst engine yet..(he put THREE of those in one car before he got a "good" one..first two didn't make it two days,one had an oil pan full of jelly like sludge and the new oil he put in evidently flushed it loose--killed the main bearings in short order..second engine ran sweet,but the water pump,which is INSIDE the engine and driven off the cam belt ,decided to peuke prestone into the crankcase,and out of the "weep tube" that evidently couldn't drain off the leakage fast enough..that one died in 3 days ,started rapping like a woodpecker..its easier to put another engine in than replace the water pump,and the way they built it,once it leaks the engine is junk anyway..

I cant say I'm a big fan of ANY make of car or truck when it comes to piss poor engineering..ALL of them have stupid designs and hidden bolts or things you cant get at,or fail rapidly because THEY aren't the ones who have to FIX them!....I feel the "engineers" should have to be MECHANICS for 10 years before being allowed to design a new vehicle!..things would be a lot different if they had to work on what they design!..
 
diesel4me said:
Crank sensors SUCK to replace on many cars...they hide them in stupid places like the bellhousing,in the engine block,etc,and always where access is dam near impossible...I've seen my friend spend the better part of a day trying to remove one that is heat baked into the mounting surface and needed to be drilled or smashed into bits to be removed!...you wouldn't think a hunk of plastic with an o ring could be so difficult to get out,but in aluminum they practically weld in from electrolosis..

Rene..a 4.7 ?...Ewwwwwww.....!..my friend has replaced about ten of those engines in Dodge and Jeeps this year...they are almost as bad as the 2.7 V-6,Mopars worst engine yet..(he put THREE of those in one car before he got a "good" one..first two didn't make it two days,one had an oil pan full of jelly like sludge and the new oil he put in evidently flushed it loose--killed the main bearings in short order..second engine ran sweet,but the water pump,which is INSIDE the engine and driven off the cam belt ,decided to peuke prestone into the crankcase,and out of the "weep tube" that evidently couldn't drain off the leakage fast enough..that one died in 3 days ,started rapping like a woodpecker..its easier to put another engine in than replace the water pump,and the way they built it,once it leaks the engine is junk anyway..

I cant say I'm a big fan of ANY make of car or truck when it comes to piss poor engineering..ALL of them have stupid designs and hidden bolts or things you cant get at,or fail rapidly because THEY aren't the ones who have to FIX them!....I feel the "engineers" should have to be MECHANICS for 10 years before being allowed to design a new vehicle!..things would be a lot different if they had to work on what they design!..
Click to expand...

qoute of the day....I use to say that everyday when I worked on F-14's....
 
I am going to tell you all a little tip. They didn't make them for everyone to work on. The steady stream of shade tree mech into our shop proves that. Also the tranny pan job is Far easier that 99% of all things we currently do. My newest vehicle? It was my 84 k10 now a 96 park ave. I am tired of telling people that the reason the window won't go up on there car is because the bcm is bad or some other thing that makes me look like a crook or retarded. FYI my last day ever as a service manager is this Friday. There is not enough money on this earth to keep me doing this job.
 
Changing the trans filter is a waist of time for one thing.Any trans in good working order wont have anything in the filter and if it does the trans is on its way out.Also the amount of fluid drained makes it pointless.The heavy duty units with a secondary external filter need to be changed because they trap small particles and the most effective method is to use a trans flush machine which will remove all the old fluid not just whats in the pan.
 
1997 Dodge Grand caravan, my wife's. Won't touch it. She likes that. Outside of that, a 1985 is the newest thing I work on. Buy hey! I'm not a mechanic either.
 
Blue85 said:
2 showers in the same week is excessive for you?
Click to expand...


Must have forgot the smilies, I was joking....:doah::dunno::D

zombie1969 said:
Changing the trans filter is a waist of time for one thing.Any trans in good working order wont have anything in the filter and if it does the trans is on its way out.Also the amount of fluid drained makes it pointless.The heavy duty units with a secondary external filter need to be changed because they trap small particles and the most effective method is to use a trans flush machine which will remove all the old fluid not just whats in the pan.
Click to expand...

I agree. I have 217k miles on it, and it is working much better today after I had it changed. I've had it since 07, and it had 186k on it. This is the first time I've had it changed.

I've heard waaay too many horror stories about having it flushed. I was afraid of knocking just enough gunk and varnish loose to clog up a passage or something....
 
62 fat guy said:
Must have forgot the smilies, I was joking....:doah::dunno::D



I agree. I have 217k miles on it, and it is working much better today after I had it changed. I've had it since 07, and it had 186k on it. This is the first time I've had it changed.

I've heard waaay too many horror stories about having it flushed. I was afraid of knocking just enough gunk and varnish loose to clog up a passage or something....
Click to expand...

I have flushed plenty of high mile trannys, if it goes out after if was already going out. My 90 k1500 had 210k and shifted way better after flushing.
 
wasted wages said:
Both !!!

Plus....Rear u-joint, steering sensor, water pump, fuel pump, misc interior flaws.....
all under 80K miles
Click to expand...

Idk what to say, right now I can tell you of 3 or 4 200k tahoes that get beat like rented mules. They have all had intakes (even plain old sbc will leak sometimes) and 2 have had a/c compressors. For the most part I will tell you most 06 and older stuff is pretty bullit proof. The Rail Road is HARD on stuff and other than some suspension pieces, brakes, and u joints they are mostly still running hard. We used to do a tranny a month. Not anymore, can bearly remember the last one.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest Posts

Top Bottom