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Those days are gone...

Goose

Goose

Well-known Member
I replaced the alternator on my wife's Chrysler T&C yesterday, against my written policy of not working under the hood of a minivan. It took me about 4 hours, working from both above and below, although I'll admit I spent half that time figuring out what wrenches worked and finding out which ones didn't. Had to improvise on the serpentine belt tensioner.

I think the days are gone when you could pop the hood, unplug a wiring connector, pull a couple of bolts, and have the alternator in your hand.
 
A few years ago, I drove a '69 Chevy II/Nova to work with the factory 4 cylinder, 153 ci engine.
During lunch hour one day, I had a bet that I could change the fuel pump in 5 minutes or less, using just common tools, sockets and a hand ratchet.
I won, easily. You can't do any kind of work on a modern car and if you can, you now need specialty tools.
 
I can remember my dad climbing under the hood of a 54 chevy pick up with the six in it. Standing beside the engine and working on it. Can't do that anymore.
 
Newer model GM trucks and suburbans are just that easy, surprised me on my Wifes 2012 suburban, changed the alternator in about 15 minutes, hood up to hood down.
 
(quoted from post at 08:48:33 04/30/17) Newer model GM trucks and suburbans are just that easy, surprised me on my Wifes 2012 suburban, changed the alternator in about 15 minutes, hood up to hood down.
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Have you tried changing the spark plugs?
 
I worked on the ford 500 a week or two ago. I decided with 150k on the clock it was probably time for plugs. I also changed the trans oil.

It really wasn't that bad to work on in spite of having to remove the intake plenum to get to the back plugs. Most time was spent figuring which things to pull and what order as I haven't yet bought the manuals for it.

With the intake off you can see right into the ports. It's a very steep shot right into the cylinder, siamesed port that diverges into two intake valves. It was rather impressive. Now if it just had some headers......
 
Yeah, my wife got a 2014 caravan a year or two back. The salesman asked if u wanted to look under the hood, I said sure but it doesn't matter since I won't be doing anything except maybe changing the oil once in a great while. He opened the hood and it was all plastic shields and holes too small to get my hands in.
 
I wouldn't say those days are gone, just different tools and skill set required. Technology moves forward and those that won't/can't adapt get left behind.
 
Depends on the vehicle. I was on I75 coming home from FL when the alt on my 01 F250 died without me knowing it. Batts went down and the truck wouldn't even run. There I was stuck on the side of the superslab. Fortunately I was towing another car and had all my tools. I took the batts out of the truck and charged them with the Dodge van I was towing. Got the truck running again. Went and found an Oreillys and changed the alt right in the parking lot. Unplug the one connector, unbolt the big wire, three hold down bolts, reverse for reinstall, put belt back on, and done
 
Just as with the tractors the new rule of order is to make them as complex as possible so that you can not work on them or even understand what went wrong to start with and of course use all the cheap made sensors that they can so failure is guaranteed..We had a couple old Chevy farm trucks back in the old days with in line 6's in them, and yes you could change the oil and filter, starter and fuel pump with out getting under them,,you could darn near shut the hood with a couple bales of hay in there with the engine...and the old Gal's would run for ever...
 
(reply to post at 08:35:18 04/30/17)
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aint nothing on my Super C or M that i cant fix; however, on my truck, i don't even change the oil. had a '73 mach I mustang with a 351C that i kept running....coil, points , 4 barrel carb, mech. fule pump. real simple to maintain. today, i wont touch my truck.

ya, those days are gone.
bass
 
Older pickups are not too bad for me. Anything front wheel drive have always been tough for me to work on.
 
Yeah.

On Y2K New Years Day (January 1, 2000) I replaced the water pump on a Ford Aerostar minivan in the parking lot of an Autozone parts store in Bloomington, IL.

Being both New Year's Day and a Saturday, I figured we'd be stuck until Monday, but I mentioned my problem to a gal at the register at a truck stop. She got on the phone and found this Autozone a mile down the road open and doing a good business. I limped down there, bought a water pump and a few tools I didn't have with me, borrowed a corner of their parking lot, and a couple of hours later we were on the road again. Those 3.0 Aerostars weren't that hard to work on.
 
I just put a new alternator in my Dodge Grand Caravan. Took 1/2 an hour. 3.3 V6 in a 2001. I thought it was surprisingly easy as far as newer vehicles go (newer on my scale of relativity). Maybe newer ones are more difficult? This is the 2nd alternator in 120K miles but on mine - it is the odd-ball overrunning clutch on the alternator pulley that keeps going bad. I think that was only used for a few years.
 
I have several Dodge Grand Caravans with V6s. On the 1998 it is near impossible to get to the rear spark-
plugs. I did them once with the entire exhaust system removed from underneath and behind. NEVER again. That
said, on my 2001 it is much easier. The sheet-metal comes off where the windshield wipers are and then it is
easy to reach the plugs.
 
I was thinking my wife's 2007 mini van with a 140,000 was about due for a new alternator last summer. I figured it was a good time to upgrade her to a 2014 with 20,000 miles on it. I did replace the plugs and wires at 120,000 and that was more work than I wanted to do on it.
 
(quoted from post at 09:19:45 04/30/17) I wouldn't say those days are gone, just different tools and skill set required. Technology moves forward and those that won't/can't adapt get left behind.
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Not exactly, unless you want to include a vehicle lift in the different tools list. Quite a few of the repair and maintainence jobs of yesteryear could be done with a simple floor jack. Today's vehicles have no place to put that jack where it won't do damage.
 
I have found Youtube to be a useful tool when working on cars and trucks anymore.
I stumbled on fixit videos when the rear brakes were bad on my wife's 02 Suburban.
The backing plates were rusted and I did a search to find prices on them and found
"How To" video that showed a two piece backing plate that you didn't have to remove
the axles.
Since then I check Youtube to see if the procedure is something I can handle.
And as far as alternators go, my 03 Suburban with 350 v8 was the easiest one I've
ever done! It takes as long to get the plastic out of the way as the actual alternator.
And when it comes to oil changes, As long as I can afford to have it done, I'll pay.

Steve A W
 
Those kind of problems can not only be found in the engine but in other parts of the car too. Add more luxury do-dads to a vehicle and the repair expenses go up. The power side doors started acting up on our Sienna van. The other day I had to muscle the driver side door with all my might to get it shut. The passenger side door has been finicky for the past year. It has 157,000 miles and runs like a top but those doors are a problem with this model. Right now it's at the Toyota dealer all apart waiting for parts. They quoted me 6 hours labor per door @ $100 per hour plus $600 per door for parts. Do the math! If it would not have had the power doors we wouldn't be having this problem. This morning someone told me the Town and Country power doors have problems too. The only bright spot with this whole deal is the dealer gave me a free rental car with unlimited miles to drive till the van is fixed.
 
Wife bought a dodge journey last fall. Oil change is not bad, can reach the drain plug from the side in front of the tire. Oil filter is a cartridge type on TOP of the engine. Took me a while to find that laying underneath LOL.
 
Chrysler mini vans are the easiest to work on that's why I have bought a few of them. Chrysler FWD transmission issues and electrical gremlins are a story :x
 
My brother's daughter has some sort of Ford something or other. It's not an SUV but sort of is, and newer being a few years old. Maybe about 5 years or so old. I saw it a couple of times. She had a water pump issue and they put it up on a rack, undid the bolts that held the carriage to the frame that the engine was attached to, lowered the whole thing removing the entire engine. Having the water pump replaced cost her a fortune as I understand, and when I say fortune, I recall hearing well over $2,000. I don't recall the number, but over $2,000 jumps out at me from the time and conversation.

Mark
 
(quoted from post at 09:47:53 04/30/17) I can remember my dad climbing under the hood of a 54 chevy pick up with the six in it. Standing beside the engine and working on it. Can't do that anymore.
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Yep, I can do the same with my '69 K20. I changed the starter with the 4" Crescent wrench that I carry with me as it opens to 9/16", while sitting on the left fender liner. Ezee Pezee!
 
On the wife's PT Cruiser, the steps to remove the alternator start with jacking up the front end and removing the right front tire. From there you remove a panel on the inner fender, move the power steering cooler, etc, etc. Then you can get in between the engine and the firewall to get the alternator out.

I'll take one where you can pop the hood, and have it out in a few minutes, any day of the week.
 
Awwwhhh, come on fellows..all you need is a lift....just raise it up, drop the engine out the bottom, fix the problem, raise it back up and you are done. Simple, huh? :twisted: Not as much bull in that as some of you think.
 
(quoted from post at 22:18:29 04/30/17) Awwwhhh, come on fellows..all you need is a lift....just raise it up, drop the engine out the bottom, fix the problem, raise it back up and you are done. Simple, huh? :twisted: Not as much bull in that as some of you think.
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Kind of like replacing the spark plugs on a VW beetle? Easiest way is to drop the engine out.
 
I did an alt. on a 2005 Ford Escape V6 the other day, now that is an awful job ! The labor guide says 8.2 hours to replace the alternator only ! There are some tricks and short cuts to drop it to about 3 hours worth of pure misery.
 

Some of this stuff is not new. I remember back around 1970 or so, replacing the heater/A.C. blower fan on a G.M. car required complete removal of the right front fender AND inner fender. A shortcut was to cut a hole in the inner fender with a torch and then find a chunk of suitable sheet metal and some sheet metal screws to patch it all back together. Quite a few of that era of GM vehicles have a patch in that area.
 
Co-worker used to twist wrenches at Ford. He says the procedure for some of the diesel pickups to do head gaskets is to lift the entire cab off the frame- takes only 45 minutes, then the engine is easy to get to.
 
I know what you went through. Busted my knuckles keeping an '03 T&C going for years. Replaced alt, ps pump, water pump, ac compressor, radiator, etc. It's tight in there!
 
Changed an alternator on our 2007 Grand Caravan with the 3.8 a few years ago. I didn't think it was to bad. I'd rather do the Dodge twice than our Accord once, but then the Accord didn't need it's first alternator until it hit 200,000 miles but that alternator only lasted about 80,000 miles.
 

Stop by a dealer and look under the hood of a DODGE JOURNEY every thing is easily to get at. I bet you could pull the steering rack out from under the hood and all the coolant and AC lines can be removed nothing is in the way... Its as clean and accessible as I have ever seen a engine bay be...
 
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