Really Getting Tired of the BS With the Multiple Screwheads

davidmcbeth3 · Post by **davidmcbeth3** » Wed. May. 06, 2015 10:07 pm

Seems like they are not that tamper proof ... just a pain.

Post by **Richard S.** » Thu. May. 07, 2015 3:08 am

davidmcbeth3 wrote:Seems like they are not that tamper proof ... just a pain.

I think the point is they hard to take off without the right bit. If you're a prisoner manufacturing a tool to remove them is going to be a little difficult.

hank2 · Post by **hank2** » Sat. May. 09, 2015 1:09 am

I ran into a new to me strange fitting that I hadn't seen before. Although probably more common than the security torx screw that Richard found. I wanted to adjust the headlights on my '01 Olds Intrigue. Turns out that you need a torx socket. I've seen many torx head bolts and have most of the bits, but never a torx post that needs a socket type. I forget the size but I could only find single sockets online and didn't want to spend for a whole set. Now that I think of it, the weird socket you needed for the old side post GM battery terminals was probably a torx socket. Why a guy should be discouraged from properly aiming the headlights blows my mind.

I could complain forever about all the GM crapola engineering on that car. Especially all the rush added on (in idiotic ways) GM California emissions equipment for 2001 and later. PA. was one of, or THE first state to adapt California emission regulations on new cars for 2001 models. GM considered not selling some of their cars in CA., but then Pa. and maybe NY jumped on the bandwagon.
Having also owned another 2001 car, a Nissan since new in PA., I discovered that on certain parts you need to order the CA. version, not the so called "Federal" model. Pa. models often have extra Cat. converters, different exhaust, more O2 sensors, different AIR injection, differ ECMs, etc., etc. We have CA emissions equipment on new in PA. cars to this day. I think they now call them ULEV cars.

I read that there is renewed recent pressure on Congress to outlaw any owner performed work on a vehicle. GM and Ford are two of the proponents, can't remember the rest.

Flyer5 · Post by **Flyer5** » Sat. May. 09, 2015 9:04 am

hank2 wrote:I ran into a new to me strange fitting that I hadn't seen before. Although probably more common than the security torx screw that Richard found. I wanted to adjust the headlights on my '01 Olds Intrigue. Turns out that you need a torx socket. I've seen many torx head bolts and have most of the bits, but never a torx post that needs a socket type. I forget the size but I could only find single sockets online and didn't want to spend for a whole set. Now that I think of it, the weird socket you needed for the old side post GM battery terminals was probably a torx socket. Why a guy should be discouraged from properly aiming the headlights blows my mind.

I could complain forever about all the GM crapola engineering on that car. Especially all the rush added on (in idiotic ways) GM California emissions equipment for 2001 and later. PA. was one of, or THE first state to adapt California emission regulations on new cars for 2001 models. GM considered not selling some of their cars in CA., but then Pa. and maybe NY jumped on the bandwagon.
Having also owned another 2001 car, a Nissan since new in PA., I discovered that on certain parts you need to order the CA. version, not the so called "Federal" model. Pa. models often have extra Cat. converters, different exhaust, more O2 sensors, different AIR injection, differ ECMs, etc., etc. We have CA emissions equipment on new in PA. cars to this day. I think they now call them ULEV cars.

I read that there is renewed recent pressure on Congress to outlaw any owner performed work on a vehicle. GM and Ford are two of the proponents, can't remember the rest.

What I was told about torx when they first came out with them was they stay in the tooling better on the assembly line process.

McGiever · Post by **McGiever** » Sat. May. 09, 2015 10:09 am

It would seem that a 8 or 12 point standard socket of proper size could still work for the headlight adjustment since it is a head, unlike the opposite.

gaw · Post by **gaw** » Mon. May. 11, 2015 12:30 am

It must be the tool makers conspiring to make all these different styles. When you buy a set of lifetime guaranteed tools you have no need to buy anymore so why not plan in obsolescence? I have seen 12 point head bolts but not the torx yet. Looks like I have to go buy more sockets.

http://www.tooltopia.com/sk-hand-tool-42616.aspx? ... Hwodk1UA6Q

SWPaDon · Post by **SWPaDon** » Mon. May. 11, 2015 6:32 am

gaw wrote:It must be the tool makers conspiring to make all these different styles. When you buy a set of lifetime guaranteed tools you have no need to buy anymore so why not plan in obsolescence? I have seen 12 point head bolts but not the torx yet. Looks like I have to go buy more sockets.
http://www.tooltopia.com/sk-hand-tool-42616.aspx? ... Hwodk1UA6Q

I bought a 6 piece set of those torx sockets about 15 years ago. I needed one of them, and couldn't buy just a single socket at the time locally. Twice in those 15 years has the 2 of the 6 sockets been used

Flyer5 · Post by **Flyer5** » Mon. May. 11, 2015 7:28 am

SWPaDon wrote:
gaw wrote:It must be the tool makers conspiring to make all these different styles. When you buy a set of lifetime guaranteed tools you have no need to buy anymore so why not plan in obsolescence? I have seen 12 point head bolts but not the torx yet. Looks like I have to go buy more sockets.
http://www.tooltopia.com/sk-hand-tool-42616.aspx? ... Hwodk1UA6Q
I bought a 6 piece set of those torx sockets about 15 years ago. I needed one of them, and couldn't buy just a single socket at the time locally. Twice in those 15 years has the 2 of the 6 sockets been used

Buy a Seadoo jetski. You can use the whole set.

SWPaDon · Post by **SWPaDon** » Mon. May. 11, 2015 7:42 am

Flyer5 wrote: Buy a Seadoo jetski. You can use the whole set.

No thanks. I'll just let them sit in the tool box.

rberq · Post by **rberq** » Mon. May. 11, 2015 11:13 am

hank2 wrote:I read that there is renewed recent pressure on Congress to outlaw any owner performed work on a vehicle.

They probably have my mechanical talents in mind. I started early, fixed my bicycle brakes at age 12, and they failed on a steep hill. I was prevented from taking the 100 foot drop into the river, by first coming to a sidewalk excavation and going head first into a big hole with pointy concrete blocks and pipes at the bottom. Luck comes in unusual packages.

We had some remodel work done in the house last winter, and the carpenter used torx screws instead of nails to frame up a new wall. He said the star-shaped socket gives the bit a lot more surface area to work against so it is less likely to strip or to slip out. I told him some poor bastard will be cursing him a hundred years from now, when he tries to take that wall apart with a simple pry bar.

stovepipemike · Post by **stovepipemike** » Tue. May. 12, 2015 7:46 am

I have seen this "pay for my product but don't touch it's parts yourself" concept continue to grow. I expect soon they will have a master space age tamper resistant double lashed hood arresting and lockdown secretive system only to be opened by THEIR local smiling dealer using the Company satellite for access. It would of course record time, place and reason. After all our best interests are foremost, right? Mike

Post by **coaledsweat** » Tue. May. 12, 2015 8:14 am

stovepipemike wrote:I have seen this "pay for my product but don't touch it's parts yourself" concept continue to grow. I expect soon they will have a master space age tamper resistant double lashed hood arresting and lockdown secretive system only to be opened by THEIR local smiling dealer using the Company satellite for access. It would of course record time, place and reason. After all our best interests are foremost, right? Mike

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2015/04/automakers- ... n-your-car