I think my worst was changing a bad heater core in my 69 Ford that I used as a daily driver at the time.
Although an OT car, back in the 70's I had a VW bus we bought stripped and rebuilt as a camper. Every 3000 miles, the valves had to be readjusted. No access but lying on the ground, the valve covers were clamp on, always dislodging rust and grime onto your head and the whole thing was just as unpleasant as driving the thing in the winters of Iowa and West Virginia. Those were the good old days.
I park under a tree a lot. In the spring I keep forgetting about the sap dropping.It gets hard as epoxy.I hate that....but I am a tree hugger so I won't cut it down.
Cadillac dash wiring. Hydraulic windows. making your own brake line's. driveway exhaust jobs. And the biggest of them all, Audio. I friggin' hate installing radios and speakers.
thought of a few more: 1) loading (or trying to) a slammed/not running car onto a trailer. 2) Ran over a possium last week in a slammed dually. It managed to hit every single hot and sharp part under the truck, before getting stuck and shredded between the rear wheels.
DING DING DING!!!!! my wife has that syndrome! ive always pd cash for every car ive ever owned! but the wife seems to think payments are fun! course, most my stuff takes a certain amount of pre thought while driving, which makes me glad she has something a lil safer to drive! but damn the payments! and her newest one is worth 6k less then we owe already!
I hate wiring and wiring issues. I am installing a wiring harness in my truck right now and despise every wire. Should have never removed the original harness.
Doing any sort of work on a late model is a *****. I have had a lot since I live overseas and you can't get old tin here. I also refuse to take my vehicles to a shop but man that **** is f'd up.
Ther is an episode of Sienfeld where Jerry is buying a new volvo, and Putty the salesman is listing additional charges, he gets to under coating and Jerry asks him, what does that do and Putty replies....nobody really knows. Under coating is one of the worst but i found an easier way by accident. It was 29 degrees out and i was in the shop and started chipping at it and it snapped off in big chuncks as clean and complete as could be, i'm sure it would work in a little warmer temperature, but the colder seemed the best.
Yeah, late models. You CAN do anything to them... as long as you have the very specific computer code reader that downloads a program from outer ****ing space. Dealer quote: $1,450 Price for part on ebay:$150 Price for me to install: $0.00 Dealer quote to "press reset" now that I've fixed the part myself: $1,450.00 Self control required not to go over the counter and choke the life out of the dealership ***hole: Incalculable Actual cost to have the computer reset after some "choice words": $65 (labor?!) Driving away with wife's car fixed for $215 and NEVER EVER EVER buying a ****ing Toyota product ever again: Priceless
Yea I don't have that sort of dough as I am in high school. I just do everything else and worst comes to worst swap in a carbed motor which I am doing now with an O/T late model Camaro.
hahahaha thats funny. I need to send that statement to my wife. My wifes father was a 20+ year drag racer and if I ask her to do soemthign on my truck she gets all freaked out. I had her "bump" my engine so I can get the #1 cylinder up and had to use the thumb method. She freaked out saying I was going to get hurt with my hand in there. Everytime I said bump it she would make a noise and then hit it. And you know how you may have to p*** it up and look at the rotor well once I said Oh we msised it she thought she screwed up so she got an at***ude then I got an at***ude....oh yeah all of this in the rain since I dont have a damn garage. So then I started cursing about that and it was just awesome.....so...im rambling but anyway....good stuff.
Trying to get that mouse piss smell out of a car. Pulling everything out that can hold the smell. Even the insulation under the dash has to go.
This made me laugh so much because I've been there. I can't wait until my son is a few years older so he can help b/c the wife doesn't get it.
Not a chore you have to do often, but when the time comes... Replacing headgaskets, or engines on later Ford diesels (mainly the 6.0ls)... The cab has to come off... How in the hell do you explain that to a customer? Broken bolts are fun... broken easy outs are even more fun...
Following behind "Me and Joe" who tried to work on the car themselves on Saturday on Monday after they lost half the parts and damaged or got grease on the other half. That used to happen about one Monday out of the month when I worked in one shop or another. Right now, sorting out the modifications to the wiring on my ot truck that my Uncle and his cowboy cronies made 0 years ago. I've been playing the "what the hell does this do?" game for a month. As for bleeding brakes, my daughter has been pumping the brakes for me since she was four and is 30 now and still does it perfect every time. She also can handle a car being towed on a 12 ft chain at any speed and any distance you want to tow her.
taking something apart gain and again (redoing something you thought was done), and removing undercoating. Rebecca
Removing all traces of sand or soda after blasting. That stuff will hide and after you think your done a few grains will fall out somewhere and it's back to the air hose and vacuum
I hate doing a lot of stuff, but the most recent cussfest was a power steering hose on a front wheel drive.
I really hate getting under the hood sometimes these days. Replacing a head gasket on an installed engine ****s. From a SBC to a Jaguar, this is one of my least favorite things to do. Especially when you know damn well there WILL be one busted bolt, guaranteed, and it's usually the very last fastener that is going back ON. S****ing off undercoating is about as much fun as an oozing, pus-filled boil. Another tedious task is what a few of you also despise doing - draining out old gear lube from a transmission or diff. The smell drives me bat**** nuts. I'm not a big fan of doing wiring tasks. I'm reasonably good at it, but I can figure out other **** I'd rather be doing on a car. Of course, crawling under a car, beating a part senseless until it finally comes off, and usually with a dense covering of rust flakes to go along with that. Yay!
I've been there man... $1085 for a brake job that I did myself for $170 (parts retail). Wanted to kill the sum *****es.
-Old rear end fluid is a SMELL that will stay with you for weeks -Old ****** fluid is something that you'll FEEL on your skin for days -Old gasoline is a TASTE that will stay with you for hours -Throwing a rod is a SOUND that will stay with you forever ....as far as sight. If you've had to deal with all of these things with the same car, you'll never want to LOOK at that son of a ***** again!
Oh another fun one... Cleaning out the engine compartment of a saturn that blew a rod out the side of the block... along with all the oil and sludge that was in the pan, and some antifreeze... I bet you didn't know to if your customer is to cheap to buy an engine you can weld a up the hole in the side of the block, put in a sleeve, a piston, and a rod, and bearings, some oil, and a headgasket, timing chain, intake gasket, exhaust gasket, a few other gaskets, head bolts, plugs (just because the old ones were dirty) oh an oil pan, some bits and pieces went through there, and a pan gasket... then you'll have a cobbled engine block, with a bunch of cheap **** parts (because that's what they wanted) that cost more than a 15,000 mile engine did... That was a fun chore... 2 months later the ****** dropped out, my estimate was to high to rebuild it, they took it to a ****** shop who was desperate 5 times at $450 a pop... they never got it right, brought it to me, $975 and it was up and runnin'... That was a fun chore.... Oh has anyone had to replace a heater core in a durango, or most any late model? takin' the dash out is sure fun.... I always like fixing things from the people who think they can do the work themselves too, but really can't... Some people should just not be allowed to have tools... The ones that stick in my head are a half ***ed '54 Ford we have at the shop, a Camaro resto that's been to atleast 2 other shops, and quite a few others... I remember an 80's Chevy truck that had the heater box tore off the bolts to replace the core... that was fun... And so much more... All the people that are smart and take care of their cars and let me work on 'em I only see for oil changes, belts, and normal ware... The people who are to cheap to have me fix it I see 40 times a year.. 20 for an estimate..20 for me to fix what they tried too...and screwed up... Excuse the 'rant' but work sure feels like a chore..
Burnt hydraulic fluid is a smell that you will never get out of your clothes... My dad had a hydraulic line blow a few years ago on his JD 2010 Crawler and it soked him... he smelled soooo bad for days... even after multiple showers
i like the smell of hydraulic oil and gear oil. it reminds me of my grandfathers garage It totally ****s when a new seal or gasket wont seal and you have to repace it again. Also things always seem to break in the middle of winter when its too damn cold out to work on anything
If we're talking bad smells, try a whiff of Ford Posi Additive. I will NEVER open a bottle of that stuff again. Larry T
The Jalopy Journal
