Like I mentioned before, I did something stupid and tried to flex the line out of the way to provide clearance for my winch. Which of course with the paper thin tank on the trans cooler resulted in a fractured tranny cooler. No big deal, good opportunity to upgrade to the towing package cooler right?

Picked up the line tool that was available at my local Advance Auto Supply, and crawled under the truck...

Not even close...

Son of a *&#$...

What's worse, the truck now being dead, means the gas sipper decides to take a vacation on me electrically speaking. Yep my little Saturn with 106K on the clock decided the alternator had had enough...

Now I am not sure about you folks, but something about remanufactured components and I have never gotten along. And I REALLY don't want to crawl under that front wheel drive sideways engined POS more than I have to, sooo order a factory NEW unit. Unfortunately NOBODY has an alternator in stock. Fine, special order the thing, and how the heck am I supposed to get to work?

Arrange for a coworker that lives reasonably close by to come pick me up on the way to work... He shows up a half hour late...

Oreilly Auto Parts allegedly has the proper tool to pop this stupid line loose.

I want to meet the engineer at Ford that designed these fittings for the various lines, and kick the living snot out of them...

 

I can't even tell you how many car repair projects have left me feeling that way over the years.....

The only car(s) that I've owned over the years that seemed to defy that problem were the series of Chevy Vega's I had back in my high school days. I guess the engineer's that designed the Vega knew they were going to be piles of crap so they figured they might as well make everything easy to get at......

 

Ill be honest Ford isnt that bad with its engineering. My wifes car is a VW...let me tell you about stupid *** ideas!

 

so how is it Ford's fault that you abused the transmission line and broke it???

and it definitely isn't ford's fault that your saturn broke and you can't find parts...

 

No it's not. It IS Ford's fault they intentionally designed a 4x4 truck with special fittings that require specialty tools on a component that would leave a driver stranded quite easily even if repair parts were available...

And it IS Ford's fault that the original transmission cooler was so stinking fragile in the first place...

This is just me fussing. I still love my Ford, and I can't fault any car with over 100K on the clock for tossing an alternator...

I just hate how things are designed intentionally to require specialty tools, thus driving the odds up that the vehicle owner will have the vehicle serviced by the dealership at an obscenely elevated price tag... Good for their business sure, bad for the consumer...

 

I think you hit the nail on the head about the special tools needed so an ordinary person would have to go crawling back to the dealer for service. It would stand to reason that the tool to remove the fuel line would also work on the trans line..but nooooo, that can't happen, that would make too much sense. I feel your pain though....best of luck !!

 

I have been fighting this crazy thing all evening... I have the Lisle tool now, and it just won't go into the fitting...

Tomorrow I get a rental car, and a tow truck. To hell with this, I am paying somebody MUCH younger to deal with this...

 

I have no idea how (young) you are, but at 65 I know how you feel. I used to do this for a living many years ago......getting so I hate to even change oil now, but I will. I WILL NOT even try to work on somebody's car or truck now...they are nuts with all the crap on them now...special tools for damn near everything !!. Best of luck to you !!

 

I'm a bit younger than you, but I have some physical issues caused by a wreck in my old Ranger back in 2000. An illegal immigrant in a 1985 Pontiac doing 70mph on the I45 North Freeway decided to not stop for the vehicles stopped in front of him (due to another accident).

By the time I knew what happened, I was looking up at the sky, still in my seat, but in the bed of the truck...

I walked away from that wreck, but have had back trouble ever since.

My first career was as a mechanic, I am getting to the point that I don't want to mess with my own wrenching half the time... In a way it's kind of depressing...

 

I also have some physical issues Bad Heart for one W/Pacemaker, Broke both wrists in the past, had my right one partially fused, so limited movement with that one (the right one at that)..those are some my shortcomings for not wanting to wrench any more than I have to anymore.

 

Got the truck done by Friday. The tech used the scissor type tool, that was made of metal. The plastic ones I kept picking up were just too fat to fit in the groove well...

Anyway the new cooler is mounted. and this thing is HUGE compared to the original. I'd say the heavy duty / towing package cooler is easily 2.5 to 3x the size of the standard one... This should really help on the long heavy hauls!

 

Glad to see you got it fixed and back on the road again, hopefully it will bring an end to that problem.

 

Yep, trans cooler fixed. Winch NOT going behind bumper any time soon... Next up will be the ball joint issue you already replied to, shocks, bushings, an alignment, new shoes, and THEN a proper winch mount. I am leaning HEAVILY toward a Tactical Armor Group wincher bumper... The install seems a bit, well needs to be hired out, but once done should be stout as all get out...