98 3.0 DOHC Taurus..,alternator died... For once,I don't have the the tools,to do the job....This hurts?.. Anyone else been here? (Cheaper to sublet it out,than buy the tools....).. Surreal,post yours....
For once,farming out a wrench job...??
- Thread starter Abodybomber
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What's different about that then Kitty's 04 Escape? It has basically the same engine. I know I will have to remove the RF axle and lower the engine cradle in the rear, but all it takes is regular hand tools.
But as of now, the alternator is still kickin at 138K.
But as of now, the alternator is still kickin at 138K.
97 k,it died.. Rob, your correct..I don't know,if I have the patience anymore.....Thanks,for the answer,and well aware of the project.....Thanks....
I completely understand, believe me. I am going to let a friend who has a shop put the oil pan gasket on Kitty's car, because it is leaking. Front exhaust pipe has to come off. I don't have a lift and am too damn old to roll around on a creeper anymore. Screw that.
ScampMike
Despicable Damn Yankee
farmed out the front axle replacement on my truck last year - bought 2 new units from RockAuto - they sat here in a box for two weeks while I assed around with my car - finally decided it couldn't wait any longer and I was too fed up from the "2 steps forward one step back" thing with car - called a local shop and paid them to do it - drop it off, pick it up later - there, done. Sometimes ya just gotta say "ah, flick it"..
ramenth
Gratis persona
I don't know. Had a lot of cars come in on the rollback from guys who thought, "I got this," only to not got this.
Sometimes thinking a basic set of hand tools will get you through a job just to find out half way through that you need some special tool or the other and now the only car you have is ripped apart while the wife has the other car out shopping.
I've seen guys cuss the living out of the car, engineers, the manufacturer, themselves, and the wife while calling me a lifesaver.
Feel your pain, Tim. Working on the plans for the shop, now. In the meantime, the last thing I want to do is play yo-yo with the daily driver to put a timing belt on a DOHC V6 that you can't see half the bolts holding it together.
Sometimes thinking a basic set of hand tools will get you through a job just to find out half way through that you need some special tool or the other and now the only car you have is ripped apart while the wife has the other car out shopping.
I've seen guys cuss the living out of the car, engineers, the manufacturer, themselves, and the wife while calling me a lifesaver.
Feel your pain, Tim. Working on the plans for the shop, now. In the meantime, the last thing I want to do is play yo-yo with the daily driver to put a timing belt on a DOHC V6 that you can't see half the bolts holding it together.
Bulldozer
free ice cream sandwiches
I have a 93 Taurus, I will work on my charger day and night, I even work on my 2000 ram for fun , but I absolutely refuse to even pop the hood on that tortoise. I completely understand. it needs brakes, it needs a power steering pump, the alternator squeals, but I want nothing to do with it, so it sits
diymirage
HP@idle > hondaHP@redline
at some point i had a 04 VW Passat as a daily driver
the wifey had an 08 charger
one of the CV boots ripped on the Passat
so i took a close look at it, googled the issue and found out the only tool i didnt have for this job was a certain size triple square socket so i went out and bought a set and replaced the boot
nothing to it
two weeks later, the wifey tells me her car is making a clicking sound, so i check it out and sure enough, the charger ripped a CV boot aswell
only this time i didn't catch it in time and the joint got junk in it so it needed to be replaced
i took one look at how that axle was spagettied through the front suspension and said "nope, not happening"
so i brought that one in to have it replaced
the wifey had an 08 charger
one of the CV boots ripped on the Passat
so i took a close look at it, googled the issue and found out the only tool i didnt have for this job was a certain size triple square socket so i went out and bought a set and replaced the boot
nothing to it
two weeks later, the wifey tells me her car is making a clicking sound, so i check it out and sure enough, the charger ripped a CV boot aswell
only this time i didn't catch it in time and the joint got junk in it so it needed to be replaced
i took one look at how that axle was spagettied through the front suspension and said "nope, not happening"
so i brought that one in to have it replaced
inkjunkie
Well-Known Member
My 02 Duramax....the infamous"LB7"...have 1 injector that will occasionally fail the balance test. As long as I run a few cans of Diesel Purge thru it prior to its annual oil & filters change the injectors stay in range. $240×8, plus the lines and kit. Think book time is like 13 hours. Need a damn bottle jack to get the valve covers off. Several special tools...Ernestina stayed with my transmission buddy for a few days. Waited til he was good and drunk...when I decide to do the injectors he is going to donate the labor..
greymouser7
Vagrant Vagabond “Veni Vidi Vici”
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I read these posts & feel like a genius. I have two 1991 civics. 1.5 liter, manual transmissions, throttle body fuel injection, anyways there is ample room to wrench on them (under the hood even) but they just don't break.
The only thing I have noticed is that parts stores' parts like alternators, starters, etc. break more often than the OEM parts-and honestly these same previous posters helped me realize that fact from their posting on FABO.
One civic doesn't start, I drive the other. Not sure how I undid something on one civic, I look at the other one.
I totally get the out sourcing labor though. In my life, time is even more of a commodity than money quite often (deployed half the year) I am lucky enough to have asked everyone I know plus strangers to centralize on a local, honest, reliable shop that can take care of a clutch replacement on a front wheel driven vehicle while I am deployed. (Plus they check out everything on the vehicle, sometimes making adjustments without charging-ensuring safety, etc.)
These guys don't sell my wife muffler bearings, blinker fluid or cow piss either. Having a reliable alternative is a real blessing or asset. As great an asset as the support on FABO!
The only thing I have noticed is that parts stores' parts like alternators, starters, etc. break more often than the OEM parts-and honestly these same previous posters helped me realize that fact from their posting on FABO.
One civic doesn't start, I drive the other. Not sure how I undid something on one civic, I look at the other one.
I totally get the out sourcing labor though. In my life, time is even more of a commodity than money quite often (deployed half the year) I am lucky enough to have asked everyone I know plus strangers to centralize on a local, honest, reliable shop that can take care of a clutch replacement on a front wheel driven vehicle while I am deployed. (Plus they check out everything on the vehicle, sometimes making adjustments without charging-ensuring safety, etc.)
These guys don't sell my wife muffler bearings, blinker fluid or cow piss either. Having a reliable alternative is a real blessing or asset. As great an asset as the support on FABO!
For me, it's not about not being smart, it's about gettin old.
ramenth
Gratis persona
And you've been doing it for a lifetime, professionally, some times you loose your motivation on it.
I've got to tools, definitely have the skills.
And the chronic aches and pains of making a life of doing it for people who haven't.
So, disagree with my post all you want to (for the guy who did). Having to put the car on jack stands and then having to yo-yo myself up and down on bad knees, now dealing with a bad hip, plus pull myself up with a bad elbow and bad shoulder while still having to go to work and run 40-50 hours a week.
Nope. Like I tell Karli: I still have one good arm to hold you with. I wanna keep it that way.
pishta
I know I'm right....
Water pump on a Chrysler 3.8 minivan. 1/2 the job is by feel because there is no room to even see what bolts you are removing..and you got to work through a pulley that you already removed and is just flapping around on the shaft becasue there is no room to even pull it out. F that, I took a grinder to the snout and took off 2mm. Now if I ever have to do it again, the pulley can come off...oh wait. I sold it........it needed half shafts too and dreaded doing those. Its more about time now to me. You can never get that stuff back.
Newer cars to me are pretty easy, when i was in auto school, i was learning on OBD 2 and mostly newer front wheel drive cars only.
My instructor would laugh when i was asking about the old stuff on my own car.
Lucky for me, i had an old timer transmissions teacher who knew what an 833 is.
Newer cars seem like they require more patience because you often have to disassemble more to get a given job done as compared to an older and more simple built car.
Ford taurus is a great car. My mom has an 05 DOHC and the a/c compressor gave out so i unbolted the motor mounts and used the rachet strap trick and rotated the engine and i had a clean shot at it.
In newer cars there are always ways to make it easy but sometimes the easy way is like seeing the tree through the forest
My instructor would laugh when i was asking about the old stuff on my own car.
Lucky for me, i had an old timer transmissions teacher who knew what an 833 is.
Newer cars seem like they require more patience because you often have to disassemble more to get a given job done as compared to an older and more simple built car.
Ford taurus is a great car. My mom has an 05 DOHC and the a/c compressor gave out so i unbolted the motor mounts and used the rachet strap trick and rotated the engine and i had a clean shot at it.
In newer cars there are always ways to make it easy but sometimes the easy way is like seeing the tree through the forest
Dang, i wish i were close by .....i would shred this job for you.
IIRC .the 24v duratech had the alt. Right along the passenger frame rail so you would take the wheel well splash shield out and get the alt. In and out through the passenger wheel well.
I have even seen it done without removing the cv shaft. You would have to get rid of the crank pulley and maybe some sensors to get it in and out.
Hope it works out for you
I ended up farming out half of a spark plug change on my wife's '98 Olds Intrigue some years ago.
The front plugs stared back at you everytime you opened the hood and changed out in a breeze, but no matter what combo of tools I tried I couldn't get any setup on the back plugs on that transverse V6.
Finally took it in to have the back 3 plugs changed out.
Found out afterwards that you have to loosen the motor mounts and rock the engine forward in order to get enough room to get a socket on the plugs.
Absolutely outstanding engineering! NOT!!!
The front plugs stared back at you everytime you opened the hood and changed out in a breeze, but no matter what combo of tools I tried I couldn't get any setup on the back plugs on that transverse V6.
Finally took it in to have the back 3 plugs changed out.
Found out afterwards that you have to loosen the motor mounts and rock the engine forward in order to get enough room to get a socket on the plugs.
Absolutely outstanding engineering! NOT!!!
fishy68
Tyr Fryr's Inc.
Sometimes you'd like to slap the designer who thunk up the ideas they came up with. My niece has a 96 Olds Aurora FWD with a 4.0 dual OHC aluminum V8. I recently had to replace the alternator and they have it buried down so low the only way to get it out is to take out the radiator. That's not a terrible job but it still isn't easy. Took me over 2 hrs. to swap it out where-as all the other FWD V6's I've had I could usually do it in 15-20 minutes. Can't wait till the starter dies and I get to take off the intake manifold
fishy68
Tyr Fryr's Inc.
Actually that's how most V6's are done
So newer cars are easy? How bout GM V8 engines with the starter under the intake manifold? What about Ford manual transmissions where the slave cylinder AND throwout bearing are ONE PIECE and you have to remove the transmission just to repair a leak?
Or an alternator on a Ford Escape where you have to remove a drive axle and lower the engine cradle just to replace the alternator?
Or RWAL and 4WAL ABS systems that require a troubleshooting flow chart literally as long as your arm.
It ain't all the rose garden you painted it out to be, I got news. You are in a very exact and particular situation. You work for no one but yourself. So, you get to pick and choose your jobs.
Go work for someone else where you have to do what they say, work on what they take in and work on every make. Every model and have to do it with a level of proficiency good enough that they don't come back.
I don't want to hear how easy you think newer cars are to work on when it simply isn't true. People go to school for years and spend thousands of dollars on education to work on modern cars. I'd love to see you in a dealership environment working on flat rate clock time and have to do literally everything thrown at you from automatic transmissions, to engines, to computer diagnosis and everything in between. With service writers constantly breathing down your neck wanting to know when every job will be ready. Plus, getting paid HALF the labor for factory warranty work.
.....but then, you might surprise me.
Or an alternator on a Ford Escape where you have to remove a drive axle and lower the engine cradle just to replace the alternator?
Or RWAL and 4WAL ABS systems that require a troubleshooting flow chart literally as long as your arm.
It ain't all the rose garden you painted it out to be, I got news. You are in a very exact and particular situation. You work for no one but yourself. So, you get to pick and choose your jobs.
Go work for someone else where you have to do what they say, work on what they take in and work on every make. Every model and have to do it with a level of proficiency good enough that they don't come back.
I don't want to hear how easy you think newer cars are to work on when it simply isn't true. People go to school for years and spend thousands of dollars on education to work on modern cars. I'd love to see you in a dealership environment working on flat rate clock time and have to do literally everything thrown at you from automatic transmissions, to engines, to computer diagnosis and everything in between. With service writers constantly breathing down your neck wanting to know when every job will be ready. Plus, getting paid HALF the labor for factory warranty work.
.....but then, you might surprise me.
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me, I refuse to work on even my '95 Ram, ok I did replace the fuel solenoid shutoff. ha
and I do not work on any modern car, period. I have NO metric tools, don't want any, have not the patience or desire, and I do not work on HER Jeep. add oil and antifreeze is it! ha
I do well to muster strength to work on my old Mopars!! ha
and I do not work on any modern car, period. I have NO metric tools, don't want any, have not the patience or desire, and I do not work on HER Jeep. add oil and antifreeze is it! ha
I do well to muster strength to work on my old Mopars!! ha
floivanus
Well-Known Member
RRR, minus the flow chart that stuff isn't that bad, work is work. Get in, take out part, put new one in. When the job calls for parts swapping, it's easy. I did 7 years as a mechanic in a shop that did ANYTHING. Quit in '13 to go work in a profession with actual retirement perks.
But leaning over a car all day or laying in the floor does take its toll on your body
That's right, because PARTS SWAPPIN is about all dealership mechanics do anymore. They are so tied to the maker now VIA the internet. I remember when it was coming into vogue. We had the GM "CAMS Machine" at the local Chevy dealer in the late 80s and early 90s. At least back then WE were still able to diagnose on our OWN. Now those poor boys HAVE to go through all that rigamoroe and do what the factory says.......which is often WRONG.
We still BUILT our automatic transmissions "back then". "THEY" don't let you do that "ANYMORE". Now you simply swap one out. Who caint do that? S'gittin so pretty much anybody can drag in and do the job. ........but that's how "THEY" want it, so "THEY" can pay low and keep most of the profit.
ramenth
Gratis persona
[QUOTE="floivanus, post: 1971326370, member:]
But leaning over a car all day or laying in the floor does take its toll on your body[/QUOTE]
So can working on a lift with you arms above your head most of the day. That's where my bad shoulder came from.
But leaning over a car all day or laying in the floor does take its toll on your body[/QUOTE]
So can working on a lift with you arms above your head most of the day. That's where my bad shoulder came from.
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