Do engineers have a sense of humor?

[crich]

Every time I fill up my washer fluid from completely empty, this is whats left. Drives me bonkers. Im convinced the engineer is still laughing until this day... Any of you engineers pulled some funny business intentionally?

 

[Maverick1]

It appears you purchased the wrong vehicle. You need to purchase a vehicle that has a one gallon reservoir for washer fluid.

 

[rtkbowhunter]

Ya, we do. I design high speed automation cells. Some things I keep in mind during concept and design, is robustness of the overall system, and replacement of what are considered wear or consumable parts or tooling.

So when I have to basically remove the intake manifold and all appropriate hardware and hoses to change the spark plugs on a 2018 Jeep Wrangler, or remove the front wheel, CV joint and a bunch of other sh!t to replace an alternator on a 2004 Mazda Tribute I curse the engineer that designed that Charlie Foxtrot. Or repalcing the rear shocks on my 2004 Wrangler. Let's take a commonly replaced item, solid mount it to a clevis, and then bury the clevis waaaaaaaaay up inside. 8 bolts on two clevises, 6 broke. Headlight bulbs is another one. Let's make the replacement snap out snap in, then put all kinds of crap right behind the wiring socket so as to require a hand the size of a three year olds. Oh the list goes on....

 

[Vaultman]

I am always amazed that I never have to add any windshield wiper fluid in my truck and I live in a very wet climate. I have often wondered if it is magical feat of engineering that I put one gallon in about every 10 years.

(I guess I never fill it from empty b/c I do not ever realize that it is 0.97 gallons.)

 

[mstei4]

If you’ve ever seen the water pump gasket for the 2.7 Toyota 4 cylinder you know we have some fun at times

 

[gbflyer]

Looks good on CAD. Send it.

 

[rtkbowhunter]

If you’ve ever seen the water pump gasket for the 2.7 Toyota 4 cylinder you know we have some fun at times

 

[Dos Perros]

The engineers that enjoy a good laugh get promoted into management roles. What you're seeing is inexperience and incompetence. Probably the designer of the reservoir got screwed out of mechanical envelope by the systems engineer because some other incompetent engineer couldn't design their component in the space allotted.

 

[BuckRut]

I'm sure the guy who designs the washer fluid reservoir is pretty low on the pecking order. If the engine team needs and inch or 2 for their parts they probably just shrink that thing to accommodate without even questioning it.

 

[Dos Perros]

Looks good on CAD. Send it.

We had parts that were itty bitty, like imagine a screw but with no threads about 0.2" long, obviously much smaller diameter. And the production folks bitch at the designers because of how small it is. And the designers are like "doesn't look small on my computer screen." LOL

 

[Burnsie]

I've had to change the headlight on my Mazda 6 a few times. What a cluster. You have to take the front wheel off, remove the inner wheel well liner, then come in from the back side in a space that you have to be a contortionist to get to. It's either that or remove half the front grill and fender assemble, or drop it off at the dealer and $300-400 bucks later - presto.

 

[packer58]

The engineers that enjoy a good laugh get promoted into management roles. What you're seeing is inexperience and incompetence. Probably the designer of the reservoir got screwed out of mechanical envelope by the systems engineer because some other incompetent engineer couldn't design their component in the space allotted.

Probably goes deeper, that engineer is in cahoots with a garage shelving manufacturer ....... gotta have some place to put all these half empty jugs / bottles / containers ...... lol ...

 

[GSPHUNTER]

Sense of humor yes, common sense, hell no. Two of my brothers and one nephew are engineers. Smart, yes, common sense, no.

 

[CorbLand]

I think the vast majority started out with a sense of humor and then lost it around calc 2.

 

[I Am Gunz]

Every time I fill up my washer fluid from completely empty, this is whats left. Drives me bonkers. Im convinced the engineer is still laughing until this day... Any of you engineers pulled some funny business intentionally?

View attachment 673402

If you save that little bit from every bottle and pour it into another, after 20 bottles it is like getting a free fill up!

 

[jmez]

Anyone else remember the good ole days when all that was under the hood was a motor? You could pop off the air cleaner and literally sit in there to work on anything!

Or the blend door actuator on a dual climate Ford. A $25 part prone to failure that is located behind the computer screen. Requires removal of the entire dash board to get to. A $1200 job to replace a $25 part.

Sent from my moto g power 5G - 2023 using Tapatalk

 

[CorbLand]

Anyone else remember the good ole days when all that was under the hood was a motor? You could pop off the air cleaner and literally sit in there to work on anything!

Or the blend door actuator on a dual climate Ford. A $25 part prone to failure that is located behind the computer screen. Requires removal of the entire dash board to get to. A $1200 job to replace a $25 part.

Sent from my moto g power 5G - 2023 using Tapatalk

My wife’s car had a gear in the steering column go out. 88 cent part that cost 2500 to replace. The reason it wasn’t more than 2500? It’s cheaper to replace the entire column than the part.

Glad that one was 4000 miles before the warranty was up.

 

[Pony Soldier]

As a mining engineer I have cussed mechanical enginners numerous times for designing equipment that you have to totally dismantle to replace a high wear item. Things that don't break until you forgot how you did it the first time.

 

[Laramie]

What you guys are seeing as engineering mistakes are intentional. Everything today is designed with service in mind. Not the service you can do yourself but the service you have to pay for down the road. Many of those things are frustrating to me in a sales engineer role because they make my job harder.

 

[Laramie]

As far as sense of humor, I would say it's 50/50 but it's almost always dry with those that do have it.