Worst day wrenchin on Studes

[studeluvr]

Worst day wrenchin' on Studes is profoundly better than just changin' valve cover gaskets on a Toyota Camry with a V6. I've used up all my swear words for the year but saved us $600 with TWO days work. Never Again!!!

[skyway]

Yes! Have been looking at that job on our 2000 Sienna and have just about decided to hire it done.

[studegary]

Have you tried the hold down bolts first? Not on a Toyota, but I have faced a multi-hundred dollar bill for valve cover gaskets that were leaking. I checked the hold down bolts. They weren't even finger tight. I don't know if the gaskets shrunk, the bolts loosened or both. In any event, I tightened the bolts down to a reasonable torque and the problem of oil leakage was solved.
I remember when my in-laws turned in a car because the gaskets were leaking oil onto the exhaust manifold and making a burning smell. I found out about this after they traded the low mileage car, rather than before. I would have fixed it for them. A mechanic in the dealership ended up with their low mileage car.

[53commander]

I feel your pain, I work in a Toyota dealership and dont like doing them.

[JimsLeadCommander]

It's all in the engineering. The engineers design things to fit under the shapely body panels - - - now if they only had to work ON what they design

[james.seagle]

It's all in the engineering. The engineers design things to fit under the shapely body panels

IMHO, I believe they (engineers), only care about how it looks on paper... After its tried and tested in the real world, they'll be on a complete different project.

now if they only had to work ON what they design[/B]

...and I couldn't agree more...

[R_David]

It's all in the engineering. The engineers design things to fit under the shapely body panels - - - now if they only had to work ON what they design

I have been an electrical engineer for the past 8 years working in the Aerospace industry, and I have to tell you that every single time I (or the team I work with) makes a 'hard to repair' decision it is cost based. I currently am one of the hundreds of engineers that work on keeping the F16 updated, maintained and flying and if we engineers had our way and unlimited funds it would be designed completely differently. But tradeoffs have to be made due to the budget and since the cornerstones of a design are considered to be Performance, Reliability, and Cost (not necessarily in that order) the 'maintainability' of the design always gets the short end of the stick. I am positive that the engineers that work on car design are no different.

In other words, blame the program managers who control the dollars! Not the engineers!

[50Ragtop]

Yup, most companies are run by bean counters, not engineers. A Honda salesman told me Honda was run by engineers and I would have bought one of their cars, but my wife liked the Toyota better. So you all know what we got... the Toyota.

[52 Ragtop]

We have found that the engineers design them for ease of assembly, NOT for repairs!

Jim

[Greenstude]

One of my friends has a late-model (2010?) Ford Diesel crew-cab pickup. When a pump failed on the rear of the engine, the cab of the truck had to be lifted to gain access. Nine hours labour was required to take it off, and nine hours labour to replace it, in addition to the labour required for the actual repair. Kinda makes one wish for a good ol' 2R5!!

[rockinhawk]

My worst day in recent history while working on a Studebaker was when my grandson(10 at the time) and I were changing a starter on a Lark 8 while it was on a trailer. I dropped the starter. It bounced off my sholder, hit Josh on the head, then landed with his hand between it and the concrete.

No serious damage was done but the worst part was having to take him to the ER to get his head stiched up and to face his MAMA who was working there!

Surpriseingly, She didn't get too upset about the injury, but scolded us for coming there all dirty and greasey.