I also have a 2000 S-10 pickup with the 4.3L and have never found it too hard to repair. I don’t think I could tell the difference from the front when looking under the hood of a similar Blazer or S-10 as they are essentially the same. The distributor is really the only thing I don’t like messing with as it is stuck up against the firewall.
As for the luxury cars, it seems like all of them are a pain. My neighbor has a Northstar Cadillac and that is also a pain.
Any V6 or V8 engine that is transversely mounted in a FWD or AWD vehicle can have some things that are a PITA to get to.
Quite a few years back, we had a couple of old mutant Subaru FF1s appear in need of a front brake job.
Those cars are front wheel drive and have inboard drum brakes mounted on the transaxle with the front halfshafts being bolted to the brake drums.
That setup also had a plethora of levers and springs like an older domestic car and access was through a hole barely big enough to get an arm through.
Doing a brake job on one of these things was similar to building a ship in a bottle and it seemed to me that flat rate labor time was about 8 hours; with 4 hours per side allotted. That gives a rough idea of what a pain in the neck it was.
Ford Aerostar vans can be a nightmare. A tuneup was best done on a lift with the front wheels removed. And resetting a distributor was a blind stab in the dark. And of course, to R&R the engine the entire drive train must be dropped.
@Barky Dog,the4.3 was based on the small block Chevy the 4.2 the inline modular “Atlas” engine
very different-Kevin
(oops BD my apologies-see you know the difference-can you tell me why they needed to option the 5.3 in, when the 4.2 was already so powerful?)
I think the answer will depend on whether you're talking to a DIY or professional.
As a DIYer I don’t have access to a lift. So that makes things a LOT harder to do on some vehicles. Like timing belts on transverse mounted engines.
But besides that I found that some vehicles have either purposely been designed difficult to work on…or they overlooked something obvious.
Example - My 84 GMC S-15.
. Known issues with the valve cover gaskets. I think I replaced them 4 times for the 6 years I owned the vehicle. The drivers side rear bolt (right next to the firewall) had a bracket attached to the bolt that held the spark-plug wires. This was a royal pain the first time I did it. When I finally was able to remove the bolt I moved the bracket so it didn’t interfere with that bolt.
. To remove the starter I had to remove one bolt of the engine mount. Actually all I had to do was remove the bolt and turn it around. Then I was able to get the starter out. All I needed was an extra 2" clearance.
With CAD systems these days it’s easy to eliminate some of these obvious oversights.
All I look for today is how easy it is to change the oil…and filters. Haven’t done too many repairs on any of our vehicles in years. They just haven’t needed any.
There have always been aspects of some makes of cars that made them more difficult to do servicing and repairs than other makes of cars. My 1954 Buick and 1965 Rambler Classic had enclosed drive shafts. To remove the transmission, the rear axle had to be dropped. Until 1952, every make of car that I remember had the brake master cylinder under the floor. You had to pull up the floor mat to check the reservoir. The car had to be raised to replace the master cylinder. Ford led the way in 1952 by putting the master cylinder under the hood. It took several more years for other manufacturers to follow suit.
My 1954 Buick V-8 and 1955 Pontiac V-8 had the distributor back against the firewall. This made it difficult to replace the ignition points. The Ford V-8s of this time period had the distributor at the front of the engine where it was easier to service.
My 1971 Ford Maverick 6 cylinder made it easy to change the oil. The drain plug was on the side of the oil pan. I could slide a pan under the engine, remove the drain plug and change the oil and filter without having to raise the car. The spark plugs were very easy to reach. However, there were “permanently lubricated” suspension bushings that were hidden under the fender liners. I had to have holes cut in the inner fenders and grease fittings installed to lubricate the bushings so they wouldn’t squeak.
I used to have a '79 Dodge full size pickup. I could sit in the engine compartment (slant six) and everything was easy to work on. It was a beater-go to Lowes type truck which I fixed tons of stuff on. Exhaust pipes were generic and wired to the hangers, painted it with a roller and house paint, ran great and easy to work on. Oil filter was right there, no crawling around. Oil and filter was literally 5 -10 minutes. I LOVED parking it next to $35,000 pickups at Home Depot, loved getting mulch from the lumberyard dumped in while guys with new pickups towed little trailers to get their mulch, so they wouldn’t get their new toys dirty. Rocketman
@ Triedaq,not so the old Y-block V-8,jammed against the firewall at a slant.
@Rocketman,very good old pickups(done right)-Kevin
“So that makes things a LOT harder to do on some vehicles. Like timing belts on transverse mounted engines.”
Oh, I don’t know @MikeInNH, on a trans 4cyl like an Accord or Camry, jack up the front, pull the wheel and fender liner and you can sit on your creeper and reach what you need to. Many–if not most–front facing engines require removal of the radiator etc. to get to the timing belt. With transmission cooler lines, A/C etc that’s usually a lot more work. See all those Jettas, Passats, A4s and the like out there? They require moving the front bumper, grill, headlights, fascia, etc, to get to the timing cover. Give me an Accord any day. Well, since I do this for a living I guess I’m happy to do the VW/Audi ones too.
“All I look for today is how easy it is to change the oil…and filters.”
Oh, that’s easy. Drop it off in the morning on your way in the office and it will be ready by lunch.
Oh, I don't know @MikeInNH, on a trans 4cyl like an Accord or Camry, jack up the front, pull the wheel and fender liner and you can sit on your creeper and reach what you need to.
If you consider sitting on a creeper and bending over for 3-4 hours EASY…I surely don’t. My back can’t handle that much punishment.
Oh, that's easy. Drop it off in the morning on your way in the office and it will be ready by lunch.
The ONLY time I ever paid someone to a simple task like and oil change is when I had knee surgery. No thank you - I’d rather do it myself…that way I know it’s done-and done right.
“If you consider sitting on a creeper and bending over for 3-4 hours EASY”
Yes, I do. I wish that’s as hard as things got for a mechanic.
Well for all the time we spend on electronics and replacing modules auto service is still very much a physical job. Even without a hoist, a timing belt is probably among the least physically taxing things to do. Brakes, steering and chassis, all require lifting and torqueing things. We have to bend, stretch, twist, heave and lift all day long. I’m 44 years old, 6 foot and 250lbs. I can still lay under a dash for hours doing a heater core, sit and kneel on a brake job on a truck that’s too big to fit inside, and twist my arms to do rear spark plugs on a minivan. I don’t have any of the aches and pains that many colleagues do. I don’t say this to gloat, but rather I consider myself lucky.
I can’t imagine changing oil myself in the driveway anymore. If and when I don’t have a shop to do my oil changes, I’ll have it done. It’s not worth the $15 I would save to mess around hauling waste oil and cleaning up the mess. Or maybe I’m just sick of oil changes.
@asemaster,when I can afford it,I’m proud to help a good reasonable Mechanic make a living(they are equipped-I’m not,admittedly I do lot of this work by myself,but when I’m having something else done usually,I’ll get my mechanic to change the oil if its near due)I dont throw money away but I like to help the local economy-Kevin
@kmccune–You are right about the Y-block having the distributor against the firewall. I was thinking of the later small block V-8 that came along in the early 1960s.
One of the worst set-ups for servicing that I ever saw was a 1968 Mercury Cougar with the Ford 390 cubic inch V-8. The motor mounts had to be unbolted and the engine jacked up to change the spark plugs.
@Triedaq,couldnt have been worse then the Chevy MonzaV-8,could it?-Kevin
@kmccune–No, it probably was no worse than the Monza V-8.
Replacing an engine on a Ford Aerostar was no easy task. I had a 1990 Ford Aerostar with the 4.0 liter V-6 and the engine had to be replaced. Fortunately, the Aerostar was on warranty. Even the sealed beam headlights weren’t easy to change on that Aerostar.
The Metro here seems to get consistently good comments about reliability and easy to service. Same with the Toyota Echo, folks who own it seem to find it easy to service.
My early 90’s Corolla is fairly simple to service too, and reliable so not a lot of services is required besides routine stuff, but the parts are pretty packed in the engine compartment, and changing the timing belt, water pump, or the starter motor takes a good deal of patience to avoid emitting cuss words.
My 70’s Ford truck with the 302 V8 is also fairly easy to service. Not as much as the Corolla, but that’s because everything is bigger and heavier and it sits up higher off the ground so everything in the engine compartment is harder to reach. But it has the advantage of sitting so high off the ground I can crawl underneath it without needed to jack it up, so that’s a plus. Another advantage of 70’s cars is they are easier to diagnose for drivability problems. And they are immune to emissions testing requirements. Seems sort of odd, as these 70’s cars emit more, but for some reason they get a pass.
It was my first car, and my wrenching skills were in their infancy, but I seem to recall my 85 Camry was cavernous underhood with the 4 cyl, the oil filter was front and center, as were the spark plugs…like lawnmower easy.
If only it didn’t eat tie rods for breakfast!
Brakes, steering and chassis, all require lifting and torqueing things.
I find brakes MUCH MUCH MUCH easier to do then a timing belt. Mainly because it doesn’t take that long. I don’t have to be bent over hours at a time doing a brake job. I don’t find lifting a tire very taxing. But bending over for 3-4 hours is very tiresome.
Yup…mechanical work is physical…but not too physical. If it was…we wouldn’t have mechanics that are 200lbs overweight. It can be hard on the body though. Having things like a lift makes many many jobs a lot easier. There are many times I wish I had one at home. But the debate isn’t weather a mechanics jobs is physical…but if certain jobs are physically easier for a mechanic because they have things like a lift. And of course the answer is “They are”. If not mechanics wouldn’t have lifts. They wouldn’t want lifts. Working on brakes at eye level standing up or sitting on a stool is a lot easier then sitting on a small chair that’s 10" off the ground. It taxing on your knees and back. If I had to work like that all day long…I’d be in physical therapy after just a few weeks.
“mechanics that are 200lbs overweight”
huh . . . ?
We have plenty of guys 50lbs overweight in our fleet
We also have a few that MIGHT be 100lbs overweight
But I’ve never personally met any 200lbs overweight mechanics
At least anywhere I’ve worked
The power tools and the hoist do make things easier, my diet isn’t that great, I don’t exercise, I guzzle coffee and gorge myself on donuts, so I need to lose some weight, but it’s still within reason