Most miserable vehicle repair to date...

[tanman_2006]

Water Pump on my Dmax! Takes pulling the harmonic balancer and locking the crank in place. Problem is one of the starter bolts rounded off, the pump has a short hard line going to the block that has to be unbolted from the block side and those 2 bolts rounded off. Turned into a 1 week job, the local dealer charges 2500 for this job, now I see why they don't want to screw with that job!

 

[Dieselcrawler]

Or the 6.5 that I helicoiled every headbolt hole.... That was a fun day.

 

[Fordsandguns]

Up pipe on a 6.0

I have never been that frustrated (couldn't bend over enough to get bolts from top, could barely get them from the bottom.)

Anyone else throw wrenches in frustration?

Just don't do like my uncle did once and throw a wrench through the windshield!

 

[trackspeeder]

Anyone else throw wrenches in frustration?

Never.

I found it takes to long to roundup the lost wrenches.

 

[The Warden]

Anyone else throw wrenches in frustration?

I've thrown a wrench (actually, a ratchet) exactly once.

I was working on installing my water pump when I was putting my 6.9l back together as part of the '04 head gasket/turbo project. I had removed it after pressurizing the cooling system and finding a leak; needed to redo the gasket/RTV...but, unlike the first time I had installed it, the radiator was in place and I didn't want to remove it, and didn't think to cover the backside with cardboard. I got two bolts started, then went to get two more bolts and my ratchet. I got back to the engine just as the water pump fell to the ground, hitting the radiator on its way down. Well, I THOUGHT I had gotten those two bolts started

I thought that the damage was minimal...then, after looking at the radiator for about two seconds, I saw a trickle of red ELC start to come out of the spot where the water pump had hit the radiator. Yep, $300 down the drain...it took a minute for that to sink in, then I got frustrated/mad at myself to the point where I yelled at the top of my lungs and threw the ratchet away. The ratchet ended up sailing across the sidewalk and into the street...good thing there weren't any cars driving by or pedestrians walking down the sidewalk

No damage to the ratchet, though...I still use it

Just don't do like my uncle did once and throw a wrench through the windshield!

You remind me of a story...one of my colleagues was driving a client to the airport in a Town Car sedan, and he was following a contractor's pickup truck. I guess the contractor had a bunch of tools in a bucket in the bed...well, he hit a nasty bump on the freeway and a wrench came out of the bucket and ended up hitting the Town Car's windshield, right in front of my colleague's face, with enough force to embed itself in the windshield...and sent a few glass shards in to cut my colleague's hand that was holding the steering wheel I got to the office that afternoon, saw the car parked in the lot right next to the office, and couldn't figure out how in Hades a wrench was sticking out of the car's windshield until someone told me the story...

 

[Greg5OH]

theae trucks seem like way more pf a bish than regular cars lol.
oil cooler for me and the auto to manual swap.

 

[Blind Driver2]

I thought I mixed my wmo too thick. The engine dies after running for a few minutes.

After pulling fuel from the tank, thinning the mix, and filling the fuel filter with diesel, the engine would start then die after 4 minutes. I thought thicker fuel had gotten into the filter and stopped it up. After R&Ring the fuel filter several more times, with the batteries on the charger, it still wouldn't stay running for more then a few minutes

Then I used air pressure to push the fuel out of the line and into the tank. I let air pressure mix the fuel for 5 minutes. Refilled the filter again, and again the engine died after 3 minutes.

I was ready to fooking give up. I jumped on top and looked down at the engine. That's when I saw it. I slight dribble of fuel coming from the injector pump inlet. There was only one thing that could do that. I removed the fuel line and noticed the olive was shredded. Installing a new olive solved my problem.

I think my too thick wmo on a cold day probably sealed the olives' death. It only took me 7 hours to figure out the problem.

I'm going to make a flexible line for the injector pump. I'm not using the factory filter housing anyway. That olive was the only one left under the hood. It won't be there for long

 

[Maverick1701]

What do you guys use the HMMWV for at work?

We usually use it for search/rescue in the riverbed, responding to calls on the riverbed, large grass fires, REALLY bad weather (VERY heavy snow, flooding, etc), natural disasters (tornados out here), and it also makes a pretty cool PR tool as well.

pretty much for everything we can. If we damage our patrol vehicles the county (insurance) has to pay to repair. If we damage the HMMWV, we can turn it in and request a new one for zero cost. I would much rather scratch up a free HMMWV while out at a grass fire vs scratching up my 09 expedition. Obviously there are times where that kind of stuff can't be avoided but if I can save the taxpayers some $$$ I am going to at least try.

 

[Goofyexponent]

Changing the back two spark plugs on teh passengerside of the 4.0 in my 01 Explorer Sport.

You can't jack it up high enough to get under it, so I had to take it to a buddies house and put it up on a lift. Even then you could get two clicks of the ratchet before having to reset.

Then, trying to get them started in by hand...two fingers. Not one finger and a thumb, two fingers was all you could get on them!!

 

[GOOSE]

I changed a starter in a '78 Bronco that had headers on it. I had the header disconnected, starter disconnected, engine lifted up off its mounts, 45 minutes later the old starter miraculously dropped out of its location. An hour and a half later, the new one found its sweet spot and slipped up between the header and the block. By that time, it looked like I drug it down the road for a 1/2 mile. Lucky I was young, my shoulder would have given out in this day and age.

Bar none the easiest truck I have ever worked on was my '74 F100 4x4, 4 speed with the most awesome gas pot ever built, the FE390. Nothing on that truck was hard, front end swaps, t case swaps, headers, intakes, to this day, its still one of the best trucks I have ever owned.

The IDI rigs are pretty easy to work on overall. The nuts on the underside of the ATS turbo pedestal can be frustrating at first but not too bad once you figure out the rights tools and the upper bolt on the starter could fluster a newbie but overall its a great platform to learn the mechanics of a diesel. To me, its the newest truck you can drive and still have the simplistic layout of a mid 60's big block gas engine.

 

[international]

The IDI rigs are pretty easy to work on overall. The nuts on the underside of the ATS turbo pedestal can be frustrating at first but not too bad once you figure out the rights tools and the upper bolt on the starter could fluster a newbie but overall its a great platform to learn the mechanics of a diesel. To me, its the newest truck you can drive and still have the simplistic layout of a mid 60's big block gas engine.

Please let me know what those correct tools are for the turbo bolts. I had NO luck. Slip joint didn't pull apart, exhaust bolts were going to snap and need tapped...just a miserable project. When I have time I'm going to mount my turbo on a custom mount higher up on the engine with ease of removal in mind. I replaced the head gaskets in my buddies minivan before I messed with my injectors and glow plugs. I'd rather do three of four head gasket jobs. All I have to show for messing with my turbo is a bad leak from the valley pan grommet.

 

[FordGuy100]

I think I used a ratchet wrench with swivel head for those ATS bolts.

 

[79jasper]

We usually use it for search/rescue in the riverbed, responding to calls on the riverbed, large grass fires, REALLY bad weather (VERY heavy snow, flooding, etc), natural disasters (tornados out here), and it also makes a pretty cool PR tool as well.

pretty much for everything we can. If we damage our patrol vehicles the county (insurance) has to pay to repair. If we damage the HMMWV, we can turn it in and request a new one for zero cost. I would much rather scratch up a free HMMWV while out at a grass fire vs scratching up my 09 expedition. Obviously there are times where that kind of stuff can't be avoided but if I can save the taxpayers some $$$ I am going to at least try.

That makes good sense. But what's PR?

 

[The Warden]

That makes good sense. But what's PR?

Generally, PR = Public Relations.

 

[79jasper]

Yeah I'm not up on all the lingo. What kind of stuff would that usually involve?