Holy bad engine design Batman!

  • Thread starter Thread starter Boz Mon
  • 31 comments
  • 1,559 views
Messages
1,478
So my father was going to change the timing belt/h20 pump on my mom's SC300 (formerly mine before the Lude came along) Apparently, he couldn't get the flywheel bolt off so he gave up. He then decided to wash the engine compartment down with superclean and water. After doing this, the car was running bad. He managed to get water into the plug holes.

He ordered a cap, rotor, plugs, and wires for the car. Thinking that it would be a 20-30 minute job, he dug in. I came outside to see what was going on. Well, needless to say, it wasnt a 30 minute job. It took us around 3 HOURS to change the plugs. you could get to the front and back 2 no problem. The middle 2, guess what? You have to take loose the intake manifold to get to them! Whoever designed this car is a moron. PLUS it took me at least 20 minutes to get just 1 of the bolts loose from the IM just because it was buried in wires, tubes, and caves. 👎
 
Well, we've always heard that the VW Beetle is one of the most versatile and easy to work on cars in the world... ever tried changing the spark plugs on one?
 
Ever worked on a (insert any american car)?

My plugs take like 30 sec each to change.

I've owned 3 Mustangs, and each one of them was a pleasure to change the plugs... it's almost as if they had a sign saying "change me! change me!"
 
So my father was going to change the timing belt/h20 pump on my mom's SC300 (formerly mine before the Lude came along) Apparently, he couldn't get the flywheel bolt off so he gave up. He then decided to wash the engine compartment down with superclean and water. After doing this, the car was running bad. He managed to get water into the plug holes.

LEFT HANDED THREADS LOL APRIL FOOLS. Oh, and it's not a flywheel. You talking about the crankshaft pulley?
 
So my father was going to change the timing belt/h20 pump on my mom's SC300 (formerly mine before the Lude came along) Apparently, he couldn't get the flywheel bolt off so he gave up. He then decided to wash the engine compartment down with superclean and water. After doing this, the car was running bad. He managed to get water into the plug holes.

He ordered a cap, rotor, plugs, and wires for the car. Thinking that it would be a 20-30 minute job, he dug in. I came outside to see what was going on. Well, needless to say, it wasnt a 30 minute job. It took us around 3 HOURS to change the plugs. you could get to the front and back 2 no problem. The middle 2, guess what? You have to take loose the intake manifold to get to them! Whoever designed this car is a moron. PLUS it took me at least 20 minutes to get just 1 of the bolts loose from the IM just because it was buried in wires, tubes, and caves. 👎

It didn't make any sense that the intake had to be disassembled to get to the spark plugs. If Toyota had the decency to sell the SC300 with a -GTE instead of a -GE, maybe things wouldn't be so bad. Turbo SCs seem to have far less cluttered engine compartments. I spent many hours on lexus forums to get a grasp as to what went wrong with mine. I wonder if the Supras have that same problem?
 
Well, we've always heard that the VW Beetle is one of the most versatile and easy to work on cars in the world... ever tried changing the spark plugs on one?
Actually, I had a 78 VW Bus. Same engine, more space to work.
We had a love/hate relationship.
I'm assuming that "exotic" materials (magnesium heads) caused the damn plugs to back out every 3-5000 miles.
I got in the habit of checking them about once a month to ensure that they were well seated.
V-Dubs do have a personality all their own.
 
if you guys had that much trouble changing plugs on a 2jz-ge something tells me you should be taking your car to a mechanic. no offense. all i own is supras and working on them compared to alot of other cars has always been easy and trouble free.
 
Well, needless to say, it wasnt a 30 minute job. It took us around 3 HOURS to change the plugs. you could get to the front and back 2 no problem. The middle 2, guess what? You have to take loose the intake manifold to get to them! Whoever designed this car is a moron. PLUS it took me at least 20 minutes to get just 1 of the bolts loose from the IM just because it was buried in wires, tubes, and caves. 👎
...Which is why I've charged $300 to change spark plugs on this car.
 
Ever worked on a (insert any american car)?

My plugs take like 30 sec each to change.
Honestly, if you can't change the plugs on ANY I-4 car in 30 seconds each, you're a moron or you have no thumbs. The fact that yours is a Honda is utterly irrelevant. Plugs on the Neons was a 5-minute job counting getting the ratchet and deep socket out and finding the anti-seize compound.

And let me tell you, changing the oil on my wifes K24-powered TSX ain't no picnic. The oil filter is in a terrible location to get to, there's little wrench clearance, and there's NO way to get it down without spilling dirty oil everywhere.
 
Changing the gasoline filter in the Mondeo is teh crap... you have to lift the car at least 1 metre off the floor!
 
The Blazer was probably one of the worst, you had to get under the truck and reach around the suspension to get at some of the plugs. Luckily I never had to do it on my truck but I did help others do it to theirs.
 
Takes seconds to change the plugs on my MR2 as well...

That's because they're right on top of everything all in a neat row. ;)

go diesel, guys..... no plugz to change.... life is easier :) :)

Give me a fast diesel hot hatch that's affordable and we'll talk diesel.

Oh and my Camaro is reletively easy to change 7 of the 8 spark plugs. The one that is on the bottom by the firewall is a bitch to get to so I haven't changed it in years because of my lack of patience.
 
And let me tell you, changing the oil on my wifes K24-powered TSX ain't no picnic. The oil filter is in a terrible location to get to, there's little wrench clearance, and there's NO way to get it down without spilling dirty oil everywhere.
It's like maintenance gets more difficult with every new generation of car. Everything was easy on my Sol. Even the clutch was only a two and a half hour job!
 
agreed, there is a big difference working on my friends '95 versus my '88, and they are basically the same car. Then I go work on my girlfriends '78 and all of a sudden my car seems difficult...
 
That sucks changing plugs on my RX-7 are easy as hell, you open the hood and they're staring right at you.
 
That sucks changing plugs on my RX-7 are easy as hell, you open the hood and they're staring right at you.
Really? Plugs on an RX8 are on the backside of the engine buried under...everything.
 
if you guys had that much trouble changing plugs on a 2jz-ge something tells me you should be taking your car to a mechanic. no offense. all i own is supras and working on them compared to alot of other cars has always been easy and trouble free.

Ill see if I can find a decent pic somewhere to show you what needed to be done Mr. mechanic man
 
I personally believe Boz Mon.

Because ma61 seems to be an "Enthusiast". The type of guy who does what he hears is best, believes nothing that anyone tells him that is different from his thinking, and feels that people are idiots if they have problems with something.
 
Plugs on my Talon take about five minutes each, but that's just because I work slowly and have a little disassembly & cleanup to do (Valve cover gasket seeps a collective few drops a month). Oil changes are pretty easy, but a vertically-oriented remote oil filter leaves a high probability of a mess to clean up.
The clutch, however is a much bigger job due to it being AWD. 6-8 Hours shop quote, probably more if it were me (Again, I work slowly and deliberately, and would probably spend a couple hours cleaning the trans, etc).

I've heard bad things about most minivans... The 4.3 Astro being the worst (apparently) of them all to service for things such as plugs.
 
I personally believe Boz Mon.

Because ma61 seems to be an "Enthusiast". The type of guy who does what he hears is best, believes nothing that anyone tells him that is different from his thinking, and feels that people are idiots if they have problems with something.

Not to mention the fact that the guy has 8 posts :rolleyes:

Vertical oil filter does not sound like fun at all. The one on my Lude is in the back mounted horizontal, and that causes oil to spill onto the exhaust. I usually use a rag to cover the exhaust to get as little as possible onto the exhaust.

As far as pics go, none tonight seeing as how I am being lazy at the present time. If my parents drive together tomorrow morning, I will snap a one then, if not then tomorrow night will be the time. And from what I have been seeing on the internet, the 2jz-gte has a space where the wrench can go to get to the plugs. But the traction control is mounted to the manifold on my moms 2jz-ge causing a blockage, as well as it being 1 solid piece after that. Its hard to explain without a picture
 
Pupik/Josh, I think was service manager at a Lexus dealership? And this is what he said:
...Which is why I've charged $300 to change spark plugs on this car.
How many hours is that Josh? Three hours?
 
Back