What was Pontiac thinking?
 

Wow, I've seen some pretty poor examples of engineering before but Pontiac has just topped it.

I was going to attempt to change the SC idler pulley that's tucked in behind the Torque Axis front engine on my Series II L67 - OMG is all I can say. Look at the picture below and then read the service proceedure below the photo;

http://whiteswebs.com/ssei/etc/SC_Pulleys.jpg

This is unbelievable. It would take many hours of work to perform what should be a simple procedure. What's more, this pulley is plastic so it's not like it's never going to fail. This has to be one of the dumbest things I've seen on a recent model car.

Cheers,

That's nothing... Look inside the steering column....

Both are common examples of how to "stuff" things under the hood! :lol: Look at the Transports, etc that have the WSW Fluid Rez sitting right above the battery! :shock: Last thing I remember in electronics was H2O & Electricity didn't mix too well together, or did I fall asleep through that lesson? :lol:

heh... during one of my stints at a dealership, i watched the service men argue over who had to work on a vette... you wanna see how to stuff things under a hood, look no further - on the 4th gen, you had to either remove a body panel or an engine compartment brace (didn't track down what it was actually bracing) to change the battery...

matt

What are you attempting to do?

I'm trying to change what's labled Idler Pulley #2 in the photo.

Cheers,

If you really want to see the "what were they thinking" effect take a look at a 3.4 DOHC motor. That thing was the ultimate example of stuffing an engine into its compartment. To change an alternator in my GTP I had to pull the front passenger wheel.

I'm a big fan of GM cars, but sometimes I have to wonder if the engineers ever use their own products. Center console cup holder, anyone? My roommate and I were discussing this once (my cupholder is broken, and the one on his dad's Olds 88 had broken also).

If any other car manufacturer discovered in the R&D process that the cupholders were prone to breaking, they would say, "oh, let's beef up the cupholders."

GM would say: "Looks like we need to manufacture another 50,000 cupholders."

My cupholer hasn't broken (yet, knock on wood), but if you put anything in it, it's right in the way of the shifter. And the ones in the door are worthles in my opinion. Any cup I have, that will fit, just tips over as soon as you move the car...

Actually...on the 3.4L cars...You have to pull the whole strut assembly out! :shock: Ever tried selling an Alternator job & tell the customer an alignment is needed as part of the repair? :lol: The Alternator on the 3.4 is located where most water pumps are. :?