What Places Are Notoriously Hard to Reach on Your Car?
We all have to dig into our vehicles to repair, replace or simply retrieve something at some point. Be it addressing a bad exhaust manifold gasket, failed starter, or your cell phone that slid between the seat and the console, some places are notoriously hard to reach. Sometimes it feels like this was created by design, especially when you need to get something done quickly.
This week’s question should generate many unique stories and relatable tales of painfully difficult things to reach in your vehicle. There are just some places that are so much harder than others, especially on some vehicles. For me, it’s the ritual of doing an oil change on my Lincoln Mark VIII, because I truly hate the filter location.
See the Mobil 1 oil filter nestled deep within the engine cradle, further obscured by the anti-roll bar underneath? Granted, I’ve made this job harder for myself, as said bar is a much larger piece from Addco. While access to spin the oil filter off from the block is straightforward, the oil pours down the engine cradle (all around the pictured metal/rubber hose) and collects at the divot in the cradle’s sheetmetal. It’s a mess, especially since there’s another divot which requires careful placement of your oil pan to ensure it catches used oil from both locations.
It’s a hot mess (literally), but I haven’t even discussed the real chore: getting the oil filter between the engine and that Addco bar. The trick is to stick your pointer finger in the oil filter, clamp down with said finger, and pull down hard so it slides past the bar.
I’ve owned this car for over two decades and can change the oil without frustration, but this filter is still “notoriously hard” to reach. So now I shall kick the question back to you:
What places are notoriously hard to reach on your car?
***
Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don’t miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it. To get our best stories delivered right to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletters.
2nd gen Acura Integra when you have to replace the alternator. Unbolting the thing is easy enough, but once it’s removed you have to drop the suspension and drive axle on the driver’s side in order to physically remove it from the engine bay and insert the new one. A lot of cursing once into the job and I discovered that.
Heater Core- 2008 Ford F 150. You have to take the whole dash off to get it out.
The author’s oil filter issue also exists on the Ford Thunderbird 4.6L V8’s of the same era, since the Thunderbird & Mark were platform/drivetrain sisters (MN12 & FN10), with some differences, much like they’ve been since the 70’s. Under the skin, both cars are very much the same, with some engineering differences to give the Mark extra goodies. Same with the interiors. Also, many of the hard parts are identical/interchangeable. Do a side-by-side of both car’s profiles and you’ll be stunned at how similar their designs & lines are, much like the ’74 Thunderbird & Mark IV, etc.
Anywho…that oil filter is such a PITA to get off/on, no matter if you try getting it from the top or bottom of the block. And for taller, beefier-armed guys, it’s even harder to get that filter off/on without tearing up your arms to get to it. A filter strap wrench helps a bit, but not much. I’m in a Bird group in my city and the shorter, less-beefy-armed guys have much less problem getting their arms in there. And the author’s description of how the oil drains from the filter mount from two locations had me nodding agreeably. It’s a mess you have to be prepared for.
Why Ford couldn’t have done this better has been a mystery to us for decades; almost like it was an inside joke for them to make it a messy torture to do an oil change.
Oh…and the spark plug on cylinder #4…another scar-inducing PITA, unless you’ve got a 6-8″ extension & spark plug socket with a universal joint…then it’s cake. But have fun pulling/reinserting the plug wire boot on that sucker, though curved-nose long needle-nose pliers make it much easier.
There’s some other tough spots that are typical of many cars…but overall, both platforms & drivetrains were some of Ford’s best design & engineering work that has stood the test of time; very high quality, easy & economical to maintain, built tough, and just keeps going. They’re much like the similar drivetrain in the iconic Crown Vics that served 24/7 duty as cabs & patrol cars…and still are in many cities.
And I wouldn’t trade my ’97 Thunderbird Sport for any other car in the world.
Jaguar XJS V-12 spark plugs. I started. Never finished.
Considering it’s modest nature, worst so far has been an inaccessible lousy leaky oil pan gasket on a 96 Chevy Blazer V6 4.3 with a 4WD automatic – sorry but just couldn’t replace it myself at that time, so had to get help from the dealer, who must have had to take most of the front half of the vehicle apart just to get to it, over more than a work day, and at a cost of more than $2000 – yikes! That was nearly the value of the then 21 year old but low mileage daily driver truck. Such simple basic things oughta be better designed to allow easier repairs, seems to be a frequent problem with Chevys.
Starter motor on any Honda or Acura with a 2.4 litre 4 cylinder engine. Two long bolts that you can only turn 10 degrees at a time almost always are galled with aluminum. Takes half an hour each bolt.
Heater Core on almost ANY vehicle; and the oil filter on my 1968 Mopar B-body with a small block (318) which is directly over the torsion bar… it is not possible to get leverage when these are over-tightened. The last owner over-tightened it so much that the filter was two decades old, and I had to have my neighbor (who is a machinist) weld a 1/2” socket to a machined block with two pins sticking out, that stick into to back-plate of the filter… gave him a $200 gift card to HD for that one!
Anything contained in the Subframe for a 1997 Mercury Cougar, exhaust manifolds, oil pan, steering rack and lines, anything to do with the front suspension.
I own a Mini, so everything is hard to reach!
My lowly DD ’02 Buick Regal has something in common with the mighty BMW325is – an inaccessible power steering pump. It’s in the rear, way down below some usually hot areas so it’s almost impossible to see and I have to stick most of my arm down there between a couple hoses to get the cap off. Need a long funnel which has to be lined up by feel to pour in the fluid, and guess if it’s enough. Usually it isn’t, so repeat the process – and I’m really dreading the day when I manage to drop the cap before lining it up. I guess GM must have had some issues stuffing a 3.8 V6 in that car; I don’t even want to imagine what it would be like with the factory supercharger! My previous 3.1 liter ’98 Buick Century (same body) had easy access to the pump, at least.
The crankshaft position sensor on 8.1L GMC’S is quite a challenge to replace.
I’ve owned a 1977 German Ford Capri Mark II since it was new. It’s been “breathed on a bit, especially from the viewpoint of handling and cornering, the 2.8-litre V6 engine now produces horsepower something akin to this engine in the European market version. It’s still a fun car and I smile every single time I drive it, (aside from being in heavy traffic as the clutch is more reminiscent of a old 10-ton truck). I’ve done a lot of work on this car, but the worst thing has been the replacement of the Heater Fan! One has to remove about one-half of everything in and behind the dashboard to get to it, a 2-hour job. Changing the fan itself takes not even 10-minutes. It requires about one hour to re-assemble the dashboard. This wouldn’t be so bad aside from the fact that I’ve had to do this 4 times! I believe that the first three fans were made in the UK, each of which failed within 30,000 miles. The last one was made by Bosch in Germany and (thankfully) has now worked flawlessly for 80,000 miles. Why the fan had to be placed on the interior side of the firewall is a mystery to me; I can almost hear some original German design engineer saying “Ach! We put on the inside. It will NEVER fail!” Of course, it could have also been a Brit, in which instance it would be “Not my problem mate!”
Headlight bulbs on a 2015 Fusion (and any in that body style). You have to remove or loosen at least half of the front facia jusrt to get the headlight unit out. There’s a bracket directly behind the unit so you can’t get access to the bulb with the unit in place. Even the owner’s manual takes two pages to describe the procedure. The Ford dealer charges $200 to replace the bulb.
2009 Buick Enclave or LaCrosse or similar with 3.6 V-6. Have to remove the intake manifold to get at the plugs.
2009 Buick Enclave or similar; to replace the front daytime running light bulbs I have to jack it up and remove the inner fender and lower front fascia panel. Problem is, in the Canadian climate, the Philips screws holding the inner fender are badly corroded and seized and must be modifies by cutting a slot into the screw head with a Dremel tool to take a large slot screwdriver for enough leverage to remove them. 8 hr job to do both bulbs.
2012 Buick LaCrosse – to replace the high-brake light assembly at the bottom of the rear windshield, I had to remove the trunk liner, the rear seats, the rear sail panels, and finally the rear deck. Wow!!! Wow!!!! Wow!!!
Another one – 2009 Buick Enclave; to replace the water pump, have to jack it up, remove passenger side tire, remove passenger side inner fender. And then it’s still super tight with limited access to operate a wrench.