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?
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2003 S2000, anything under the intake manifold, such as the small coolant hoses that feed the breather warmer, throttle body and iac. 1999 SVT Lightning, spark plugs… the blower and all the EGR piping, etc and vacuum lines just bury access to the top of the engine
it’s a Ford, designed to be assembled on the assembly line. the Ford factory boys told me that when I called to see why you couldn’t work on them. they also said the transmission engineer doesn’t talk to the motor engineer ect. so I said to the guy, oh I see just remove the cab to work on the motor…now I get it.no big deal.
The center header bolt on a Buick 455. It is only accessibly with skinny hands and an open 7/16″ wrench that must be moved 30°, the wrench turned over to move another 30° ad nauseum until you are thoroughly worn out.
A close second is the power brake vacuum check valve on a 2021 Honda Ridgeline/Pilot/Passport.
I have a 1991 Toyota MR2 Turbo. EVERYTHING is hard to reach! But there is one particular item that is so notoriously hard to reach that it has been named “The Hose From Hell.” It is a coolant hose on the block, behind the turbo and underneath the exhaust manifold – essentially buried in the center of the engine. Some people say that it can be changed by removing the turbo and manifold. Ant Anstead replaces The Hose From Hell in the Season 16 Episode 2 of Wheeler Dealers – he removed the entire engine to get to it.
One of mine was the clutch master cylinder on my 240z. Normally an easy job but this is a race car and requires you going head first into the floorboard with your feet caught in the upper roll cage. If my dad wasn’t there I probably would still be stuck in that car.
The other that got me was a starter on a backhoe, there was no way to reach one of the bolts and it took two days to remove it.
The last I have no first hand knowledge of, but when a MR2 hose is dubbed the hose from hell, it can’t be easy.
The cabin air filter on my 2017 M2. I spent an hour trying to remove the old one, lying on my back with my legs in the passenger seat. I gave up and took it to my local BMW dealer. Charged me about $40. Best $40 I ever spent. As a senior citizen I think I’m no longer equipped with the physique to do much maint on my M2.
Anything behind the dashboard on my ’74 MG B. I’ve owned this thing since ’74 and have had to get in there only twice in all those years. An old-timer (old-timerer than me) gave me two solutions, one good, the other somewhat questionable.
The first idea was to ask your wife to do it, since a woman’s hands might be slightly smaller than a man’s.
The second idea made sense at first, until I thought about it. His advice? Get your hand under there as far as possible, then EXHALE as violently as you can. He insisted that when you do that your hands will shrink just enough to get the job done.
Yeah, right.
2006 LTI TX2 London Taxi Cab=removing starter to access solenoid
The oil filter on my Dodge Dakota and the center spark plugs on my Chevy Corvair
EVERY CAR I OWNED…The Back Seat driver was IMPOSSIBLE to reach
You got that right!!! ;))))
When you drop a bolt or a nut or a washer and it simply disappears this also includes any particular handle you can think of! It’s an awful lot like putting two socks in the washing machine and getting one out you know it went in, but it’s not there to be found later time
My 1993 Pontiac Sunbird that I bought new as a young man also had a miserable oil filter setup. Mounted on a 45 degree angle off the passenger side of the block, directly above the control arm. Oil would run down the control arm and around the lower ball joint and right onto the backside of the brake rotor. There wasn’t much room due to the axle half shaft, but I managed to trim an old windshield washer fluid jug to a shape that could catch “most” of the oil, and then I would let the filter drop into it.
One difficult task is getting the horizontally mounted oil filter on my ’69 Dodge Charger with a 383 cu” engine out without spilling oil all over the place. I try and put shop towels on the K-member to catch some of the oil. The filter has to be carefully moved past the lower radiator hose and then angled downward. Installing the new filter is also very tight. Other difficult areas on the Charger was replacing the foam seals that go around the windshield wiper drive shafts. The glove box, radio, and instrument cluster had to be removed to gain access. Not fun. I’m now faced with a leaking heater core. That involves removing the passenger seat, console, glove box, radio, and the nuts that go through the firewall in addition to the a/c hoses and heater hoses. Luckily, with the heater control valve in the off position, there are no leaks. I think I may forego this job and let the next owner deal with this. At least the a/c works great and it is still on R-12 refrigerant.
On my 2002 Ford F150 a 5.4 Triton, anything at the back of the engine, the cowl is basically shrink wrapped around it so cylinder head work is horrendous. On the bright side you can still reach in there, later F150s are engine out or cab off.
The manifolds on a VW Scirocco, and any other A1 platform are also a sore trial, when my 78 Scirocco snapped the manifold to downpipe studs, as they all do I had to remove the head and take it to a machine shop.
I have a Sunbeam Tiger and everything is hard to get to. left rear spark plug need to be loosened through a hole in the firewall.And, that a just the start of it.
The location of the battery behind the drivers seat in a C3 Corvette is a knuckle buster – especially getting a socket on the side terminals to remove. Thank goodness I have a convertible. No telling how one has to contort within a coupe.