Model Railway Forum

Strewth, that’s ridiculous. R-

What a joke Steve.

Walkingthedog wrote: ↑Tue Oct 22, 2024 7:01 pm What a joke Steve.

I'm not laughing.
Ford even mold a protrusion on the back of the light housing so you can't unclip the bulb holder should you have an arm long and thin enough to fit through the side of the wheel arch liner.
I dread to think how much a dealer would charge to do the work.

These things are sent to try us.
You should watch Mat Armstrong on YouTube (he is a bit of a character), he recently acquired an Aston Martin DB12 (73 Plate) with twenty nine miles on the clock - yes 29. He paid £60K for the wreck and AM charged him £62K for spare parts - he gave himself (and his team) twenty four hours to get the repairs done (serious front end damage and a lot of mud on the underside) - so what happened to the car is still to be revealed.

I did catch another video the other day of another modern Aston Martin resuscitation. This one was flood damaged - astounded by how much damage that had done.
Still, mine is finished now. Reassembly was quicker than yesterday's dismantling, with only one and a half panel clips left over, but should this job really have taken over seven hours? I believe Ford quote for about five hours labour so I don't think I did too badly.

Five hours to change a sidelight? How much an hour? I had a rear stop/tail bulb go on a Skoda Fabia. A 12 year old at the local garage [where I’d gone to buy a bulb and fit it myself] fitted it for me in about 6 minutes. Cost was just the bulb, about £2.80 I think. R-

That's what I would have expected as well. But then I remembered that the Ford Kuga is actually an American design but over there it's known as the Escape. (Escape from reality!!)
I appreciate that cars have for some time been designed to only allow servicing and repair by the manufacturer but this takes the prize.
One of my neighbours is Ford designer - I'm just off to put a brick through his front window.

Nah, what you needed was a Ford lamp extraction tool Part No 123456789C available to order on a 40 week back order and paid for by invoice from Ford direct at £4xx.00 per tool

Bloody daft on a lamp replacement IMO. Well done for resolving!