This time on a 2013 Taurus, 3.5L V6. (This is not the same engine as the truck Ecoboost.) The water pump is inside the engine, driven by the timing chain, so you have to disassemble the valve covers, front cover (22 bolts) and the entire timing chain assembly. Unlike a 2009 Edge I did last year, this engine at least has an external weep hole (on the side of the engine behind the alternator) to let coolant escape from the block, instead of dumping straight into the oil pan. Although the old timing chain and components still looked good on this car, the only sure way to re-time the chain and camshafts is to replace the chain, as the old painted timing marks had faded off. It was about an $1100 bill to the client.

A water pump, because it can't be lubricated internally by engine oil, has a finite service life, IOW, it is guaranteed to fail at some point. (The car had 144,000 miles on it.) Why do the car makers make some of them so damned unnecessarily difficult? Partially mitigating it is that this car had the cleanest inside of an engine I have ever seen, not even a hint of discoloration on the metal parts.

Same engineer that located the Northstar starter under the intake manifold?

same dickhead that designed the STS front end to be removed along with the inner wheel wells in order to change a light bulb.

I swear to God, it is to the point where you need to look up basic maintenance and common repairs online before you buy a car so you know what kind of ass pain you are about to buy into

Bad design is nothing new. Thirty years ago the Pontiac Lumina minivan was shipping from GM. You have to pull the engine a few inches to change the spark plugs.

I will agree that Ford has made difficult maintenance a company tradition. My 1974 F250 has an oil filter that is difficult to access, and as a bonus, dumps its contents on the suspension I beams. Ford doesn’t seem to care for the mechanics as if it was a basic shibboleth of their corporate culture.

It sucks, but that's just the way it works out a lot of times. At least you're getting paid by the hour. They probably did that to shorten the motor so it fit into one of the models they made at the time. The timing chain is overdue at 144k miles anyways.

quote:

Originally posted by HRK:
same dickhead that designed the STS front end to be removed along with the inner wheel wells in order to change a light bulb.

Don't forget the CTS also.

quote:

Originally posted by egregore:
Why do the car makers make some of them so damned unnecessarily difficult?

Making money for the dealerships, they sure don't want you working on it. I swear designers do stuff just to do it. "It's a bad idea, but it's my original bad idea." lol

I’ll never buy a new car again. I’ll wait 5 or so years until I can find out what shit parts they filled it with and where they put them.

My 2008 Ford Explorer is filled with cheaply made parts never designed to last 100,000 miles. I’m at 100,000 and have had to replace more crap than on my 1999 Trooper and 1998 Sonoma combined.

I think my "favorite" is still the second generation Toyota Tundra steering rack. You have to remove the engine to get it out.

right side exhaust manifold on my 2007 ford f 150 is an 8 hour 900 dollar job for labor only looks dam near impossible to get to the bolts. mine has been leaking 3 years now tons of trucks have this issue.

quote:

Originally posted by shovelhead:
Same engineer that located the Northstar starter under the intake manifold?

Yup, but you made out like a bandit when the water pump went bad!

Same guy who put the Nissan Titan starter between the V of the engine, under the fuel injector and intake manifold.

You have to drain the coolant and pull the injector and manifold to get to it. It's a $100 dollar part, and 5 hours of labor.

5.4 Triton spark plugs anybody?

quote:

Originally posted by shovelhead:
5.4 Triton spark plugs anybody?

Been there. Still waiting on my refund.

Probably the son of the engineer that designed the V8 Pontiac Nylon/Aluminum camshaft drive sprocket. A true case of it's not an if it will fail but when. Still remember all the GM part numbers needed to replace it, cam sprocket, timing chain, timing cover gasket set and oil pan gasket set. Learned those in 1971.

I swear all first year engineering students take a class entitled "how to be a sadistic bastard 101" to get them prepped for the workforce. Some of these designs are mind-bogglingly idiotic. Sure, it might be fine for initial assembly, but when you don't take into account that your design makes wear items unserviceable, that makes you an asshole. If I ever become king of the world, there are a number of automotive engineers who will be publically flogged.

Nothing beats having to do a safety recall twice for the same problem on the same cars:https://www.carcomplaints.com/news/2015/cadillac-ats-recalled-sunroof-switches.shtml

I used to call this stuff job security.

And my co-workers wondered why I no longer drove GM products. One said to me "You're going to have problems with Chryslers too" to which I replied "Yep, but I don't have to deal with their stupidity each and every day."

quote:

Sure, it might be fine for initial assembly, but when you don't take into account that your design makes wear items unserviceable, that makes you an asshole.

That's damn straight.

quote:

Originally posted by jimmy123x:
It sucks, but that's just the way it works out a lot of times. At least you're getting paid by the hour. They probably did that to shorten the motor so it fit into one of the models they made at the time. The timing chain is overdue at 144k miles anyways.

A timing belt maybe, not a chain.