Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Not quite as labor intensive as some of the others but I recently had to change the oil filter housing gasket on an N55 engine and the location of a single bolt makes the job 3 times as long because it involved removing the intake manifold.
A 45 minutes job turned into 3+ hours. At the dealership, that's $60 parts turned into close to $1K for labor and parts.
Volvo 240s have the same issue. It's even recommended that the driver seat be removed so you can get down on the floor for relative comfort, because you're going to be there all day.
This is what's involved in removing the oil pan on my car ('05 Accord 4 cyl):
Remove battery and mount
Remove clutch slave cylinder and clutch line bracket mount
Remove transmission upper mount/bracket assembly
Remove front mount stop/bolt
Remove tires/wheels
Remove stabilizer links
Remove left side damper fork
Disconnect left side suspension lower arm ball joint
Remove left side driveshaft
Lift out transmission
Remove stiffener
Removing the oil pan is *almost* in line with doing a clutch replacement. It's a major repair. Crazy!
I have an '01 Nissan Xterra with a V-6. I did the spark plugs in it got 1-5 done in about 20 minutes plug 6 took over two hours. The plug is at about a 60* under the upper intake plenum leaving a couple of inches of space between the plenum, and the fire wall. I tried taking the upper plenum off but the amount of coolant hosing attached to the underside of the intake running to the throttle body seemed like it would have been more work.
Is there any vehicle brand that takes pride in making their vehicles easy to work on? Or do they all mostly have the same kinds of problems?
Not necessarily all models, but most Subaru that I have worked on were not so bad.
Older VW (80's) are not bad to work on.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.