Share Pics of People Hauling or Towing Something Wrong

[California]

They don't build them like they used to.

A friends then-new 1968 F-100 was stumbling at only 18 k miles. It needed new spark plugs.

 

[lilranch2001]

Not sure what year your truck is, but for a 2014 F150 5.0 the flat rate for spark plug change is 1.5 hours.
Do the math 1.5 x 150 = $225 + parts

2014, and I wouldn’t have a problem with $225. $700 sounded like Highway robbery to me.

 

[Jstpssng]

They don't build them like they used to.

A friends then-new 1968 F-100 was stumbling at only 18 k miles. It needed new spark plugs.

By then they likely had already set the timing at least once, if not replaced the points.

 

[1Mech]

If I'm reading the spark plug thing right, I don't get it. How can a major manufacturer that has built cars for 120 years and sold what, a hundred million, still build things that snap spark plugs on removal?

Those brilliant engineers must design the things to work according to how the even more brilliant designer designed it! It is amazing to me, some of the engineering we see. Some good, some not so much!

 

[masseyrider]

By then they likely had already set the timing at least once, if not replaced the points.

How old did you say you were?
That was normal back then.
Plugs about every 10-12000 miles.
Take them out and clean and gap them between.
Points every 10000 miles which required the timing to be checked and adjusted.
Carbs needed attention regularly.
When people tell you that the old cars were better, DON"T believe them.

 

[1Mech]

It's not always the removal that's the problem. If a plug breaks when trying to get it out is far better than them shooting out on their own and damaging the hood.

Either way, the real fight is getting the remains out.

I worked on a Ford Friday. Guy drives in, says it isn't running so hot. I hear the loud puff, puff, puff, I say, it sounds like your spark plug is missing. Look under the hood, #7 coil boot is laying on the manifold, coil still fastened to the intake. The screw holding the coil is directly under the fuel pressure regulator, making it a real pain to access. Finally get the coil out, find the spark plug, laying loose in the hole, threads in the head stripped out, either a heli coil or a good cylinder head time. Not a cheap job, but I didn't want to do it, so he took it someplace else I guess. I just work on the easier jobs now, too close to retiring to sweat too much!

 

[1Mech]

How old did you say you were?
That was normal back then.
Plugs about every 10-12000 miles.
Take them out and clean and gap them between.
Points every 10000 miles which required the timing to be checked and adjusted.
Carbs needed attention regularly.
When people tell you that the old cars were better, DON"T believe them.

I totally agree, the old cars were typically much harder to work on. I have been turning wrenches since the early 70s. The older vehicles generally had more room to work in, but for some reason, the designs were just more difficult to work with. The cars in the late 70s and early 80s I think were the worst. The common place adoption of fuel injection made things much better. Got rid of yards of vacuum hose! I sometimes think the newer cars are getting worse again, but still better than the old carbureted cars!

 

[WinterDeere]

I totally agree, the old cars were typically much harder to work on. I have been turning wrenches since the early 70s. The older vehicles generally had more room to work in, but for some reason, the designs were just more difficult to work with. The cars in the late 70s and early 80s I think were the worst. The common place adoption of fuel injection made things much better. Got rid of yards of vacuum hose! I sometimes think the newer cars are getting worse again, but still better than the old carbureted cars!

Totally agreed. The worst cars I have worked on have all been late-70's and early-80's. Much of the poor engineering and reliability of older cars, combined with the ridiculously-complicated emissions add-ons that automakers were struggling to engineer to meet then-new requirements. Things got so much better and simpler by the mid-1990's, and reliability is so vastly improved today.

What people remember more fondly is not that old cars didn't break, they broke all the time. It's that when they did break, they were easier to repair in your own driveway, without proprietary parts and diagnostic tools. Of course, the easiest repair of all, is the one you never need to make.

 

[Too many Kubotas]

Plugs about every 10-12000 miles.
Take them out and clean and gap them between.
Points every 10000 miles which required the timing to be checked and adjusted.
Carbs needed attention regularly.
When people tell you that the old cars were better, DON"T believe them.

All of which could be accomplished with ease, along the side of the road if need be, using very basic tools, and without the need for any scanners or computers.

I totally agree, the old cars were typically much harder to work on.

And I respectfully disagree. No mix of SAE and metric fasteners, for example. Also, simpler and easier to fake parts. Heck, you could keep driving with one of three fan belts still functional as only the water pump was really necessary.

One example that comes to mind is when a carb took a complete dump on a 10-mile long trail. It took a few tries, but we found the perfect size "metering rock" to stick into the fuel hose and make the fuel flow into the engine right to keep it at the desired rpm.

Later we discussed how tall of a mast would be needed to create enough pressure to keep EFI working. Not as simple as putting a can on the cowl if a normal fuel pump went out. As I recall, it would be some 60 feet tall - not practical on a rock trail in the pines.

I could keep adding to the list, but I'm sure you get the gist of it.

 

[Jstpssng]

How old did you say you were?
That was normal back then.
Plugs about every 10-12000 miles.
Take them out and clean and gap them between.
Points every 10000 miles which required the timing to be checked and adjusted.
Carbs needed attention regularly.
When people tell you that the old cars were better, DON"T believe them.

I understand this. Oil changes every 3000 miles, although at one time they recommended you only change the oil filter every other time. Valve guides at 60k or so, by then you would have changed belts at least once and probably also the starter and alternator.
In 1977 my father bought a 1974 Torino with 80k highway miles. Everybody marveled at how good it ran and that the body on that 3 year old car wasn't rusted out.
100,000 miles used to be high mileage; now it's barely broken in.