Triumphrat

R100Pilot

Before anyone graduates with a degree, they must put in a one-year apprenticeship servicing that which they plan to design.

I got a call at 5:30 this morning from The Redhead, whose car won't start. Of course, she lives a half hour away and the sun's not even up yet. So I shower and get over there and long story short it was a dead battery, wouldn't jump start, so got a new one and made it to work on time. No biggie, right? Here's the kicker...

She has a 90-something Chevy Lumina. To change the battery, you must first remove a frame brace. That's right - a FRAME BRACE, fer chrissakes (three bolts). You must then disconnect another bolt and two press-in fasteners to disconnect the washer fluid reservoir from the frame, and disconnect the hoses, etc., and remove the reservoir, BECAUSE IT SITS OVER AND IS MOLDED to go around the battery. Then, there is a bracket with one bolt into the fender, another holding the air box (mounted to the same bracket that goes over the battery), and finally, another bolt way down below, where there is not enough room to get a wrench, and which can only be reached with a 10" socket extension.

All this to change a freakin' BATTERY?

Y'know, I regularly curse the Germans while working on the ol' airhead, but I have NEVER seen such a simple task made so Monty Pythonesque-ly absurd. If I was the CEO of GM, I'd find the "genius" who decided a battery should go below a frame brace, beneath a water reservoir, and be held in by a contraption Rube Goldberg would be proud of, and have him brought to the assembly floor and flogged, after which he would be sentenced to a lifetime of working in the battery department of a Goodwrench repair shop somewhere in Alaska.

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"I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity to anyone, but they've always worked for me."
— HST

Sprint1050DA

Yeah, people really loved that design on all the lumina/grand prix/etc... body style cars. It was a good way for dealerships to make a little bit more money off of what should have been a relatively simple bit of work. I think there was a similar concept in the ZX-11 Ninjas. I went to test ride one, the battery was dead, and they had to pull off every piece of plastic and some other bits to get to the battery.

Wombat

Similar situation on one of the Chrysler models (Sebring?).
To get to the battery, you have to remove the left front wheel.

Now what about the guy that designed the airbox for the classic triples?
:hammer: :hammer:

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Bob

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LoVel

R100,

I had a GM van with the same set up. Since Wal-Mart would install the battery if I bought it there I figured what the heck. I learned a valuable lesson about figuring that day.

The guy was using adjustable pliers and a cresent wrench. They didn't have the proper tools for anything. I have a decent set of tools at home and as I'm watching this idiot I'm thinking never again. It took about two hours for this guy to replace my battery and he had no clue about what he was doing. When I got home I went back and double checked everything he did.

I think my dealer must have hired their people that work on motorcycles(not mechanics) away from Wal-Mart.

R100Pilot

Ha! You may be right about where your dealer gets his mechanics. Sure, they've got YEARS of experience.

Ironically enough, we got the new battery at Wally Mart. Hated to do it, but she lives a bit outta town and that was the closest place (and open before 7 a.m.). Also had to buy a socket extension as I'd left my tools at home and she didn't have one long enough.

Batteries, air filters, oil filters (and filler necks), hoses, belts, grease nipples - all these regular wear/regular maintenance items should be accessible or the designer must die.

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"I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity to anyone, but they've always worked for me."
— HST

omaz

"Also had to buy a socket extension as I'd left my tools at home and she didn't have one long enough. "

This woman has her own tools??!

Tbirdnz

Well I've had my CB1300 18 months now and I haven't seen the battery, it's hidden away deep somewhere that I keep meaning to have a look at the terminals to see if they need any vaseline on them. Fortunately according to the manual it's sealed and need no maintenance.

However many years ago when VW Beetles were popular my g/f had one and similar situation, car wouldn't start and I diagnosed it as a flat battery. Could I find it ? I just about had the car stripped before I found it under the rear seat !
Later I became an enthusiast for them and had a couple myself, love working on the air-cooled engines.

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Ride on !

seumas

Unfortunately it's not just automotive engineers. I spent 17 years in construction and I could tell you plenty of stories about architects too.
In all those kind of fields I think there's a lot to be said for practical experience to go along with the degree.

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fivehundo

In my experience, mechanical engineers typically are not capable of changing their own oil.

They can draw some cool stuff on autocad though... :roll:

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DuckMan001

Amen. I'm an Engineer and put myself thru school working construction. I walked up to this 30+ year Engineer one day that was replacing some A/C units below a bleacher and he couldnt figure out how to get the new units to mate up with the existing ductwork. After a few questions to figure out what he was trying to do, I sketched out a transition for him and even drew the template for the sheet metal guy. He looked at it for a few minutes and said "oh".

Education has no meaning without practical experience.

I don't think the designers should be killed, I think they should be given wrenches and forced to work on their own "creations". Maybe a few busted knuckles might drive the point home.

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