[djmcmath]

Ever try to pull off a fender? You've gotta take off the entire bumper first, and some of those babies are really hard to get to. While they're better than most cars, they're still ... challenging in their own ways.

I did a tune up with a friend on his Ford Taurus not too long ago. Simple task: replace spark plugs, change oil. How hard can this be?

Well, ok, the front 3 cylinders were easy to get to. The back 3 (it's a transverse mounted V-6) required removing the intake manifold. This is a routine maintenance, remember, not replacing some obscure part.

Ok, that was painful, and required purchasing a collection of gaskets that you wouldn't think would be necessary for spark plugs, but ... how about a quick oil change? Can't be that bad, right? Oh, except that there's no drain plug. The "engineers" at Ford decided they could save a few bucks and a possible oil leak by not installing one, apparently. So we had to remove the entire oil pan, which involves pulling a whole collection of itty-bitty metric bolts and replacing the oil pan gasket. I love replacing gaskets, which is good, because it seems like every routine operation on this car requires it.

But it gets better. The torque spec for the oil pan bolts isn't nearly low enough. Or high enough. See, at the torque spec, we still managed to strip 3 of the bolts. But it wasn't tight enough to keep the oil in, so it was still loose enough to dribble a little oil. Nice. Speaking of dribbling oil, the engineers also decided it was prudent not to put an oil-fill spout on the car, not entirely sure why. The only way to get oil in is through a LONG funnel down to the dipstick hole.

After going through that kind of nonsense on a couple of random non-Porsche cars, I'm just about sick of working on anything that isn't German. Even my 37 year old VW is better designed than that...