A special hell

Rich_L

Rich_L

Rich_L

Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
18,175
Location
Santa Barbara, Californee
is designed for car designers who fail to consider the implications of their design choices for n00b wannabe mechanics trying to save a few $$$ :p

Background:

Cadillac (2002 Deville) started to develop a little misfire, slightly rough idle and would throw up a P0300 general misfire error code intermittently. Figured it was probably the spark plugs as they are listed to last 100k and it's done 90k now. Read up a bit on CaddilacForums (which is ridiculously helpful) and got the parts ordered, $50 for 8 spark plugs - nice.

Now the 'cool' thing about the Caddy is it's a transverse-mounted engine, so you have a front bank of 4 plugs - a doddle, and a rear back of 4 plugs hich are right up against the back of the engine bay - not so doddle.

Pic:

2e0rz45.jpg


Now - the designer hell part - so it's a slight PITA to do the rear bank but I'm ok with that, it's a big engine jammed in to a not huge engine bay and transverse mounted - cool. However the kicker is (presumably an afterthought due to emmissions) they just stuck a second air injection pump right on top of the rear bank - and the bolts to undo it are about 8 inches down the back of the engine bay, where of course it's all really dark, and no room :p

That said, after about 4 hours of 30% skill, 10% luck, 20% knuckle skin and 40% expletives I managed to get it all done - \o/ Local mechanic quoted it as 3-4 hours plus $100 in parts so around $500 so a nice little saving there - though I'm sure changing spark plugs shouldn't be quite so hard :D

So, to make this more than just a self-congratulatory/frustration-releasing thread - what are your experiences with cars where you just scratch your head and wonder whether the designers actually thought things through when putting consumable parts in ridiculous locations :p
 
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V8, FWD? Lol

Apparently you have to remove the inlet manifold in order to change the plugs on the rear cylinder bank in my Mondeo
 
Nice use of Paint there... :D 16 spark plugs on a V8? Sounds a little strange but it goes to show that a 10 minute job on 1 car can take much longer on another with a cramped engine bay... Still at least they only have to be changed every 100k.
 
It'd better have :D Yeah it did, running totally smooth which I was chuffed (and relieved) about - it's the first time I've done any work on a car myself (hell of a way to start lol) but learnt a ton of little things that would make it way easier if I did it again..only 90k miles to go! :)

*edit*

Yup it FWD, and sorry 8 plugs, 4 front 4 rear in total dunno why I put that :p
 
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pfft cavalier/vectra V6's are just as bad if not worse for doing the rear bank :)

mondeo V6's are also a complete bout of sweary words to do :)
 
Luckily the MX5 is relatively simple to work on. I did the CAS O-Ring which is probably the tightest spot in the bay right against the firewall and there's also the oil filter which is underneath the inlet manifold, but easily go to by taking off a wheel.

The worst job was however, a front wheel bearing:

raceo.jpg


That is the inner race of the bearing that had fused to the spindle. There was no room behind to get a puller in there and I didn't want to try and start trying to prise against the spindle... so a day later I got the angle grinder out and cut a nice gash in it. Then out came a chisel and BFOH. Job done. Never again will I be so naive. Hammer every time!
 
ha I feel your pain doing anything when I had my Cadillac Seville was an utter nightmare it looked nearly Identical to yours. Mechanic friend of mine winced everytime I brought it in for the simplest of jobs.


[TW]Fox;18955548 said:
Does this mean this car is FWD?!
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Mine was 305hp V8 into the front wheels was fun when accelerating hard in the rain think most caddys are fwd :D
 
peterattheboro said:
I had to check you were actually in America as I see absolutley no reason why anyone from the UK would drive one of these :p
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They're actually not a bad buy if you value comfort over performance - the newer ones can be had cheaply, and I believe that some, such as the BLS are pretty much identical mechanically to the saab 9-3.
 
I think i was about 18 or 19 and i travelled to Florida, my first trip to the states and i rented a cadillac DTS as it was the biggest most obtuse american car i could find with a 4.6l v8... i tried to do a burn out and promptly found out it was front wheel drive :(... next time i'll get a mustang
 
Didnt have a problem at all, rented out a Ford SUV for about 3/4 weeks in Canada and drove it through to USA when i was about 20ish. only had a 3.2 v6 though :(.. althought that wasnt the point was a rant at FWD v8's... fun they are not!
 
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