Is it just me.......

[mp3deviant721]

Or does Chrysler does things weird sometimes. Like today for instance, one of the full-size Dodge vans comes into the shop with a dead battery. I go to jump it thinking I will drive it in to the shop and put it on the charger. I go to start it and it doesn't want to run. So then I learn later that when that vehicle lost power, it lost its idle settings. I don't know why they do it that way. Or how Mitsubishi likes to use 2 ball joints on lower control arms or how GM fuel pumps ALWAYS go out. Is it just me or are any of you mechanics experiencing things like this? Go easy on me though, I only have about one year of experience.

 

[martin]

All the manufacturers do the same thing. It's to deliberately piss people off and to deter the average person from fixing it themselves.

 

[88rangerboy]

That's why I buy older trucks.

 

['99 EB Explorer]

^ +1

 

[Ranger44]

Just started 2 weeks ago at a shop. Haven't noticed too many strange things yet.

I will say though......75% of the vehicles I've worked on in the past 2 weeks have been chryselrs and chevy's. Good for business.

 

[Original_Ranger84]

Yeah I know your right about the GM fuel pumps... About 50% of the mechanical work at the shop I worked at was for replacing bad chevy fuel pumps. (they even made a coupon for it... lol

I know the tranny connected to the GM 3.4L motor with a front wheel drive auto tranny was designed to be drivin into the ground and then replaced pretty much. It says it is an non service part ( doesn't even have a dip stick. You fill it by a cap thats inches away from a hot manifold, and you check it by pulling the passanger tire off and leveling the car and pull the sensor while its running.) Also it says it has like 100,000mi service intervals.

 

[mp3deviant721]

Yeah I know your right about the GM fuel pumps... About 50% of the mechanical work at the shop I worked at was for replacing bad chevy fuel pumps. (they even made a coupon for it... lol

I know the tranny connected to the GM 3.4L motor with a front wheel drive auto tranny was designed to be drivin into the ground and then replaced pretty much. It says it is an non service part ( doesn't even have a dip stick. You fill it by a cap thats inches away from a hot manifold, and you check it by pulling the passanger tire off and leveling the car and pull the sensor while its running.) Also it says it has like 100,000mi service intervals.

Yeah. I've been seeing alot of those transmissions. Yesterday I had to do a trans flush on a Honda Odyssey. There is a fill plug that that has a return line from the trans cooler sticking in it. You have to unbolt the bracket to be able to access the filler hole to get fluid in it. It's pretty much the same idea as GM's transmissions on the 3400s and what not. It can be frustrating some times being the new guy. They always give you the bullshit stuff to work on.

 

[mwood1985]

Just started 2 weeks ago at a shop. Haven't noticed too many strange things yet.

I will say though......75% of the vehicles I've worked on in the past 2 weeks have been chryselrs and chevy's. Good for business.

yeah in the last 2.5 years i probably havent had to work on but like 8 to 12 rangers and about 45 fullsize ford trucks. not bad considering i work at a 8 bay shop that turns over at least 30 a day...as much as i hate to admit it...i know WAY more than i ever wanted to know about a Heavy Chevy now....damn garbage...

 

[holyford86]

Yeah I know your right about the GM fuel pumps... About 50% of the mechanical work at the shop I worked at was for replacing bad chevy fuel pumps. (they even made a coupon for it... lol

I know the tranny connected to the GM 3.4L motor with a front wheel drive auto tranny was designed to be drivin into the ground and then replaced pretty much. It says it is an non service part ( doesn't even have a dip stick. You fill it by a cap thats inches away from a hot manifold, and you check it by pulling the passanger tire off and leveling the car and pull the sensor while its running.) Also it says it has like 100,000mi service intervals.

Every one I've ever worked on has had a small plug towards the front passenger side of the transmission that you can pull out to check the fluid. We have some of them in our fleet, we change the fluid every 50k, Kind of gotten used to it... It's not every trans connected to the 3.4 it's just the 4T45 used in the N bodies and such. The 4T65 used in the minivans and implalas have a dipstick.

 

[cammeddrz]

doesn't even have a dip stick

uh nope, you check it by pulling the 11mm plug underneath. its a check plug like a diff or a manual transmission has. if fluid comes out while the engine is running its full.

where'd you get the whole "lift the car up......pull sensor" thing?

 

[adsm08]

The conclusion that I have come to after about 5 years of wrenching is this:

All of them do crazy, stupid, retarded, WHY IN THE WORLD WOULD THEY DO THAT stuff.

Its just all about how you look at it though. Every manufacturer has a group of engineers working on designs. They all have a culture and an atmosphere and a way of thinking that influence how the cars are designed. Its just all about what you are used to working on.

I have worked for Ford my whole career and I feel the same way you do about GM and Chrysler. I work with two other guys, one who worked for GM and one who worked for Chrysler for a number of years and they both feel the same way about the other two.

 

[ranger_mclaren]

GM makes it a pain in the ass to change something that is soppose to be changed often like spark plugs. On the chevy blazer with a 4.3, on the driverside the steering shaft is in the way of the middle plug and on the passenger side the shock tower is in the way of the front plug, plus you half to go though the wheel well as well as on the 5.0 cadillac motor. Don't even get me started on the rear mounted distributers. and my moms lumina you have to unbolt the top engine mount the rotate the motor forward to get to the back spark plugs.

 

[adsm08]

And the oil pan on the Impala. The first 5 steps read like you are getting ready to pull the trans.

 

[mp3deviant721]

I've seen the GM 4.3 spark plug problem on the S-10s and Blazers. But I've never actually had to replace them but I know I will have to do it eventually.

 

[Hopman]

GM makes it a pain in the ass to change something that is soppose to be changed often like spark plugs.

I ran into the same problem with my mom's '04 Impalla. Changing the air filter should be a simple sub-five minute job, not a knuckle buster! They have a good location for the damn thing (driver's side front), but they don't leave enough room to get the cover off or the filter out!!!

Contrast this to my '94 2.3: Zip out two 10 mm bolts, pop the cover off, replace filter, and zip back in the bolts!