Car Repair - It's Always Something

[geonuc]

I don't work on my cars much anymore. I used to do practically everything that didn't require engine replacement and I've even done that a couple of times. But the headlights on the Toyota Corolla needed to be replaced due to frosted-over lenses. Back in the day, replacing a headlight, even a headlight assembly, was a piece of cake. Now, not so much. On the Corolla, you have to remove the front bumper. Actually the bumper cover - essentially the whole painted front of the car including the grill.

No problem. I bought the assemblies online and reviewed a YouTube video. Shouldn't take more than an hour. I really like how you can find a video on almost anything these days. This one was by an aftermarket parts vendor and was a pretty complete video on what is required. And it didn't take more than an hour. Everything went as advertised, except ...

While the front bumper cover is off, the inboard wheel well shrouds are left hanging. They're normally secured by a couple of screws with the bumper cover at the front. If they stay hanging, there's not a problem. But the attachments that are now holding the shrouds up are a few of those cheap, plastic push-in connectors. Several of them decided to pop out with the weight they were now carrying (not much but enough). Still no problem if I could just pop them back in after replacing the bumper. But nooo .... these puppies are one time use pieces of shit. If they come out, you need to replace them with new ones.

So, the car is drivable with the shrouds attached by the front screws but I'll need to replace those connectors before too long.

It's always something.

[SciFiFisher]

Yes. Yes it is.

[vendic]

Yep. Dealing with cars can be a total pita.

[Thumper]

Yes, there are some great Youtube videos that make you feel like you stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night.
Use them for the car, the truck, the washing machine, you name it.

I cannot believe that you have to take the cover off to replace the headlights. I think the engineers are just trying to top each other.

When we were rebuilding the CR-V I needed a party pack of those "fender connectors" or fender clips. You can get bags of them on Amazon, just find the right size. In a pinch, if you have something flapping and no clip, you can use a zip tie.

[SciFiFisher]

[quote="Thumper"]I cannot believe that you have to take the cover off to replace the headlights. I think the engineers are just trying to top each other.

[quote]

There are actually a couple of factors coming into play. One is the need to make everything smaller, lighter, streamlined, and cheaper. The other is a deliberate design flaw intended to strongly encourage you to use the service departments at your local dealers. Many of them make more money or most of their profit off the service department than they do selling the cars.

[Thumper]

The other is a deliberate design flaw intended to strongly encourage you to use the service departments at your local dealers. Many of them make more money or most of their profit off the service department than they do selling the cars.

Oh he|| yeah.

[geonuc]

The little connectors come in different sizes, so I had to do a little sleuthing to ensure I ordered the right ones, but Amazon had them.

[geonuc]

I cannot believe that you have to take the cover off to replace the headlights. I think the engineers are just trying to top each other.

Yep, but on the other hand, it's really easy to replace the cover if it gets damaged. Don't have to go to a body shop, really. Except for paint. Not sure if you can get them pre-painted but I wouldn't be surprised if you can.

[Thumper]

Mrs. T just had the rear cover replaced on her car, again (I can't remember if it's on it's 3rd or 4th). It had to be painted. But another party was paying the body shop bill...

Yeah you have to get the right size for the connectors, but they're readily available, and fairly easy to install/deinstall.

[vendic]

This thread reminds me of the time I had to remove the exhaust system to change the radio on the Ford Cortina I owned. True story.

[Thumper]

Of course it is.

[geonuc]

Good cars, the Cortina. Easy to hot rod and good rally racers. Dunno about the exhaust/radio thing.

Sounds a bit like the stress of being a sea captain has affected someone's mind and they've become delusional.

[vendic]

They are great cars. I used to own two and maintain about 5 because of friends or family owning them. The 6 cy 250's were phenomenal in performance beating many V8 muscle cars. They did make great rally cars. I used on as a 4wd when I was a poor student for many years much to the surprise of rangers and real 4wd'ers.

I wasn't kidding about the radio/exhaust thing.
The Ford engineers didn't cater to all the options the car came with. In my case, it had a center console.
The radio, unlike nowadays with their front mounts, was a rear mount screw/bold to hold it in place.
To remove the radio the console needed to be removed first as it covered the access to this nut/bolt.
This would be easy but no one really thought about it that much so when they put the console in they installed it first, then the front bucket seats. So to remove the console it was necessary to remove the front seats as the console had side bolts that were inaccessible due to them.
This would have been an easy job except that the drivers seat had one bolt that was completely covered by the muffler in a recessed area that the muffler sat in making access to the nut impossible without removing the muffler.
I had several people check before I did anything, including the owner of a large Auto chain. No one could come up with a solution other remove everything.
So I cracked it, pulled out an angle grinder and cut the crap out of the console and put in my new radio.
It ranks as my most "wft" story about car engineering to date.
The particular model was a 1975 TD Cortina with a 200cu 3 speed on the floor manual gearbox fitted with the original factory console option.

[SciFiFisher]

They are great cars. I used to own two and maintain about 5 because of friends or family owning them. The 6 cy 250's were phenomenal in performance beating many V8 muscle cars. They did make great rally cars. I used on as a 4wd when I was a poor student for many years much to the surprise of rangers and real 4wd'ers.

I had a 1964 Ford Fairlane 500 I drove just about everywhere on and off road. I even used it to pull fence posts. It had a standard 170 CID straight 6 engine. You could repair it with baling wire and duct tape for almost everything that went wrong.