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Remember when fixing a car meant you could actually see what you were doing?
I was under my 97 Civic last Saturday trying to swap out an O2 sensor. Pop the hood on that thing and there's room to get your hands in there, you know? My neighbor's new SUV has a plastic cover over everything and you basically have to remove the engine just to change a bulb. Has anyone else noticed how much harder newer cars are to work on compared to the old stuff?
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wrenh6526d ago
Hold on, you watched a guy swap an alternator on a 2018 Camry without taking the belt off? That just doesn't compute in my brain at all.
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king.stella27d ago
You say "you could actually see what you were doing" but I gotta be honest, I don't miss crawling under my old truck with a flashlight and a prayer. New cars have their own headaches, sure, but at least half the time the parts are designed to plug right in with a single connector. My buddy's 2018 Camry needed a new alternator and I watched him swap it without taking off the drive belt. Try that on a 97 Civic. You'd spend an hour just getting the tension right.
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piper_reed27d ago
The "flashlight and a prayer" thing is too real, I've got a scar on my knuckle from a tensioner that slipped on my old F-150. But pro tip on that Civic belt tension: you can use a 1/2 inch breaker bar with a hex bit socket on the tensioner pulley, it catches better than a standard wrench. Newer cars are easier for sure, but that old Honda taught me patience I still use when some plastic clip breaks on a modern bumper.
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