Whats the most difficult auto repair job you have ever done .

[porsche tech]

Wasn’t the most difficult but a weird one. Customer had a Midas muffler shop replace the clutch in his 944. He brought it to us afterward complaining of “stiff shifting”. The repair shop had bent the shift rod and torched the crash tabs off the torque tube to ease removal. To their credit, Midas paid for a new shift rod and torque tube and labor.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Originally Posted by Bill Douglas

Not difficult, but innovative.

I was hitch hiking in Africa half a lifetime ago and I got a really good ride in a BMW. Suddenly the mounting bracket for the alternator broke so lose fan belt. I broke some wire off a farm fence and wrapped it around the alternator and broken bracket, then got a lump of wood and whacked that in with a rock to bring it up to the right tension LOL. That got us going again. The guy was very pleased as his car would have been stripped out if he had left it there. He had me to stay at his place and the next day carried on with the big drive south.

That is brilliant, great story!

I've been working on my own cars for over 40 years and only taken a car to a shop for a repair twice, the first when I was 16, bought a 240Z with a bad rear wheel bearing, which they couldn't fix so I bought a Haynes manual and the rest is history. Second was bring my Cayenne 2 years ago for new flex pipes which proved exactly why I have never taken my cars to shops, they charged for stainless pipes but installed pre-rusted ones that completely rusted out in 1 year and when I brought it back, they said stainless will do that. God I have so many stories from friends for things exactly like that. Sorry for the rant.

My worst job was putting an engine & trans into a 240Z on a slight decline in the sand when I was probably 17. It was absolute hell with random pieces of plywood for the hoist and jacks.

[p911dad]

Rebuilt a Triumph TR3A gearbox with my brother in my parent's driveway at age 16 (busted 1st gear). We were so unschooled in mechanical things we didn't know what a split ring was.

[berettafan]

Well on the '70 911 I did front pan all by myself. Also rebuilt entire motor on BMW R25/3 in what is now my daughter's room.

[bob deluke]

Broke a spark plug in my 2010 Cayman. P.O. had not changed plugs at the 40K mile maintenance. The plug body was still in the case. Broke my ass for almost 2 months trying to get it out. Local machinest who is a wizz with a lathe and milling machine, turned me a “plug” to fit the spark plug hole with the center drilled out. Used a variety of drills to finally drill out the plug body without damaging the threads. The advise I got here was to pull the engine, remove the head, blah,blah,blah. F*#k that. Lots of patience, grease, bore camera, vacuum cleaner. New plug went in just fine. Car ran great, no problems. Sold the Cayman in the fall, swore off Porsches from that moment on. I’ve had 4 of them, did all the mechanical work. Most were fun to work on except for the Cayman At 78, I’m done with all that crap. Bought a 2014 Audi TT S line from the original owner. Better build quality than the Porsche. Quiet, no squeeks, rattles, paint coming off interior parts. Plugs on top of the engine as well as the oil filter. A pleasure to own and drive. So long Porsche!

[oldE]

Did you know that even if the previous owner (dumb arse) fills in the access holes in the rear fenders which allow the torsion bars to be removed, you can still re-index the torsion bars so the car isn't dragging the exhaust heat exchangers on road imperfections.
I do now.

Best
Les

[1990C4S]

Three come to mind:

1. Heater core in my Pontiac Ventura in a parking lot outside my apartment, -20F, and I only owned a few tools at the time.

2. Alternator on my Volvo in the scorching sun outside Harbor Freight. Four hours of buying tools and struggling.

3. Main rear leak on my 2.7 Porsche that dripped badly after a rebuild (it was not line bored). I pulled the engine, put it on a boring mill and opened up the seal OD by 0.005". Then I made a single piece 0.0025" shim and inserted it with the new seal. Never dripped after that.

All huge struggles. All very rewarding in the end. But not during...

Oh, and cramming the Mustang 5.0 into my Volvo 740 wagon. Complete with Ford ECU, and then making everything work, even the tach (which is difficult when the original engine was a diesel.

[Tim Hancock]

Hold my beer......
Oh wait.... I am forbidden to post in this thread.

[Captain Ahab Jr]

Do it Tim, do it!

[fastfredracing]

Originally Posted by Tim Hancock

Hold my beer......
Oh wait.... I am forbidden to post in this thread.

I was of course kidding , Im sure I speak for all of us, when I say, we would love to hear some of the ones you have tackled .
" I once replaced the landing gear of the lunar oribiter , blindfolded while re-entering the atmosphere "
I have always considered myself pretty crafty ,but love to see some of the true craftsmanship from the guys here. Tim , Zeke, Targa s, Shaun, Henry etc..
Some serious smart and resourceful dudes here

[rcooled]

Maybe not the most difficult, but surely one of the more frustrating repair jobs I've ever done.

The motor in my old 2.2L 911T was making a cyclical growling noise, and not knowing the motor's full history, I decided to do a full rebuild just to be safe. To save a few bucks, I replaced/rebuilt everything except the intermediate shaft that runs the cams...thought it looked OK. Got it all back together, fired it up, and that damn growling noise was still there!
Sure enough, the noise was coming from a worn drive gear on that shaft...the one thing I didn't replace. Had to drop the motor and take it completely apart again to make it right

[mistertate]

Rebuilt an ‘87 911 motor as well as many 944 and a dodge truck V-10.
Was going to replace the lash caps on a 993 RSR but the owner got wind of it and requested someone with 935/962 experience.
Built cages for 944, 911 and Boxster race cars.
928 custom exhaust and suspension was fun, ‘86 S was a ripper.
Supercharged a 996 with the TPC kit.
IMS on my Boxster with my own home made cam lockers and puller.
Tilton 3-puck 993 clutch at the track was fun.
Maserati front control arms and 1940 Buick Fuel Pump rebuild for my dad. I love doing stuff for my dad, all the stuff we couldn’t do when I was young and we didn’t get along.
Built a sick 914-6 for an automotive journalist.
I took a manual transmission class from a former New Process Gear engineer but rebuilding trans is the only thing I’ve never really done.
Work as an automotive engineer for the last 14 years, brake testing.

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by Captain Ahab Jr

Do it Tim, do it!

Tim who?

My little story concerns a Jaguar Mk II 3.6 (not sure of the year...trauma affects memory), our family car in the 1960's...which, even in California at the time, was a parts snipe hunt.

My Mother had finally had enough and we bought a 1969 Ford Country Squire station wagon: Baby Poo yellow with black seats. It was a real head turner

So, MK II: Intermittent stalling. Car would run great for 20 minutes and then cut out. Wait 20 minutes, drive ten minutes, stall, lather, rinse...

My Dad and I started all the Lucas wiring continuity checks but not before we hired a English Jaguar Shaman, a Lucas Smoke Whisperer and the Prince of Darkness.

We began the process of elimination.

Zippy...same failure mode.

A friend of my Dad's, another "British Car Aficionado" (on the CDC list of contagious diseases) comes over and says, there is a break in the ignition wiring system somewhere you can't see...you need to pull all ignition wiring (don't hold me to this fellas, I was 10) from both ends to see if it pulls apart.

His rationale was that cold, there was an electrical bridge in the wiring; with heat, the expansion would cause a gap in the wiring and the car would stall.

He was right...I spent yet another the day with my Dad we found it, exactly as his friend described.

I learned two things in the week chasing the Lucas Dragon: I liked working on cars and I learned how to cuss.

[fastfredracing]

[greglepore]

Putting rear glass back in a Targa after repaint is up there.

[HobieMarty]

Originally Posted by Bugsinrugs

Replacing the spark plugs on a 98 Expedition. My hands looked like I lost a knife fight.

Oh man, been there, done that. We had a 1998 Expedition, Eddie Bauer 4x4, and it had the 5.4 Triton. It was a pain in the butt getting to those back coils and plugs.

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[Shaun @ Tru6]

Originally Posted by Bugsinrugs

Replacing the spark plugs on a 98 Expedition. My hands looked like I lost a knife fight.

I wonder if oyster shucking gloves would be good for tight, sharp spaces.

[GH85Carrera]

Way back in my single days my 74 914 2.0 was my only car, and source of transportation. Over the 20 years of daily driving, and regular autocrosses I had to replace the clutch by myself, twice!

Drive home from work on Friday afternoon, put the car up on jack stands, disconnect the many things needed to drop the engine and transmission, and go to bed. On Saturday, drop the engine and transmission, replace the clutch, pressure plate, throw our bearing and every other parts that has wear. Put it all back together, get the lump back into the car and go to bed.

On Sunday hook up all the stuff and be driving by noon. Get all cleaned up and ready for work on Monday.

The big pressure was I was on my own, and no way to run to the store for parts. I had to have everything on hand. 100% on my own, and get it right on the first try.

I have long known I am a super slow mechanic, and ever so happy I did not think of doing that for a living. 90% self taught, and reading the manuals, long before the internet.

[HobieMarty]

I don't know, I think my automotive wrenching has been more of a time-consuming type of thing than difficult. I was 18 when I "helped" a mechanic perform a frame swap on my 1976 TR6. We had to take the 73 parts car apart, and I prepped the frame, sandblasted it primerd and painted. Then we took the 76 pretty much apart. The drive train was removed, as well as the interior.
Changing coils and plugs in a V8 SHO is kind of a pain. Changing valve covers in a 2006 Nissan Quest was a bit of a pain also. I guess the most difficult job has been replacing the O rings in a bypass pipe in a Lexus RX350. Lots of stuff had to be removed in order to gain access to the pipe, which is in the valley of the engine below the intake, which took a while. Yeah, nothing too difficult, just lots to keep up with and time-consuming.

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[1990C4S]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

Drive home from work on Friday afternoon, put the car up on jack stands, disconnect the many things needed to drop the engine and transmission, and go to bed. On Saturday, drop the engine and transmission, replace the clutch, pressure plate, throw our bearing and every other parts that has wear. Put it all back together, get the lump back into the car and go to bed.

That job is less fun when you get it all back together and the stater does nothing because you forgot to bolt the ring-gear back on...