Meeting people as a mechanic.

[BP]

"hey you, that guy at the Ford place, whats this noise???"

Sounds like a cash register to me, kaching! People think I'm a dick so they've generally stopped asking me to help with their cars.

[LaserSVT]

Busy work day but was not without some amusement. One nice lady that's about to drop calf next week brought her car in for a few things but also asked "Is that rattle normal? The dealer I bought it at said all good cars rattle." ........... Took me a moment to compose myself enough to answer the question. Then she said where she bought it at, that particular dealer I work on most of the salesmans cars, the service writers car and a couple of their "mechanics" cars. LOL So I put the retaining clip on her air box to stop it from vibrating. Threw in a new air filter since hers looked like it was dropped in an old oil catch bucket. Dealer wanted $200+ to look at it. Runs like a champ now.
Saved the car I knew was going to piss me off for latter in the day as I did not wish to spend the entire day on a single car. Dude said he bought a performance chip for it but the car runs really bad. I pop the hood and see some box spliced into the intake air temperature sensor. LMFAO! I told him he paid $60 for a nickel resistor. Open up the fancy 5" square aluminum case and there is a 1/2" x 2" PCB board with a resistor on it and two wires. Don't see that adding any power so I threw it away. On the bright side his car runs well again.
So I know why I am broke. To make money in the car business you have to be an idiot that has no problem lying to people.

[kobuzz]

Reading all these makes me glad I got away from car repair as a living. Last couple places it was all about the "upsale". "Excuse me ma'am, I'd be glad to change your oil but also noticed that your belts, transmission, rearend, brakes are about to fail on you...

[appelingogt]

So I know why I am broke.

This is why I'm driving a 99 F150 with 250K LOL. I see what youre saying...Salesman a few weeks ago received an award from Ford on high sales volume...He didnt like it when I asked since when did Ford give awards for fucking people.....

[LaserSVT]

I get some interesting head scratchers in. We work with a few shops as it seems I have become known as the guy that will find out why its messed up. Its like a mission. It screws me as I charge $65 for a diagnostics and sometimes I will spend 4-5 hours chasing a problem because I just don't like not knowing what the problem is.
But the last one, man. V6 vehicle comes in. I don't even need to pop the hood, that's rod knock and its freakin loud. New motor. Reamnd one with 1 year warranty is $2600 installed. He takes it to a different shop and they slap it in but have two dead cylinders. Cant figure it out so they send it to me. I spend 3-4 hours compression check, injector balance check, coils, plugs, intake, vac lines.... I check it all and cant figure it out. Good fuel, hot spark, great compression but 4&6 don't contribute. Take a step back with my friend and we both say "Wonder if he wired it wrong?" and swap coil feeds on 4&6 and bada boom, perfect running. Mind you the other shop melted his cats chasing this problem so they had to replace them. So freakin simple and it took me 4 hours to see it. I almost felt bad charging 3 hours but I wasn't the one that installed the motor. Think customer spent over 3k, dunno as I only billed for what I fixed.


Incorrect:




Correct:

[appelingogt]

hahahahahahahaha...i did that shit one time....good ol 24V...Have alotta customers bitch about having to spend $$$ when coils 1,2, or 3 go out

[LaserSVT]

Yeah, they look at you all crazy when you explain the intake has to be removed and that means you should also replace the intake gaskets (like $8) and they think you are trying to rip them off.

[appelingogt]

or the reply "I only have 300k on it...just re-use them"....

[LaserSVT]

Yesterday dude comes in and asks me to add a can of Freon to his truck. I decide not to correct the name and move forward to why that's a bad idea and tell him how I need to properly do it. I hook my gauges to it and the low pressure pegs and the head pressure is pushing 400. I step back fearing for the bursting of hoses, gingerly shut the valves and remove my gauges before they explode. I show him where they should point as opposed to where they are pointing at. System is WAY overfilled and probably has moisture in it. Once again he asks if adding a can of Freon will fix it...... argh, I just explained three times why that is bad.
I reluctantly collect and evac the system. I catch an oz of water and 14 oz of oil and the rest was air.
Somehow he didn't flatten the lobes on the compressor because after I fixed the service port leaks it pulled down and took a proper charge and oil level. Compressor is a little damaged as I cant get better than 52* but he didn't want me to "Tear it all apart and charge me $2000 to fix it" even though I explained if I replaced EVERYTHING it would still be under a grand but really just needs a drier, compressor and orifice tube and that's under $400. For some reason he couldn't stop giggling at "orifice tube". I gave up and put my equipment away.
As I go to pull the truck out I see 11 empty R134 cans with oil in the bed of the truck. I grabbed one and said if he ever uses that crap again I am gonna bean him in the head with a full can.

[YALE]

So, I hate putting .22lr on the shelf. It's fucking eerie. It seems like the same people smurfing pseudo-ephedrine from pharmacies are the ones buying all the .22's. We put it on the shelf, and the same 20 extras from the set of Deliverance show up every time, and within the first hour of us putting it out. The shop always smells weird after they leave, too.

[03mustangdude]

I remember times where you had to actually know something to put ac into cars. Now its like ac hot lets throw in another can.

[appelingogt]

I remember times where you had to actually know something to put ac into cars. Now its like ac hot lets throw in another can.

"and MAKE SURE you get that shit that has stopleak in it"

[03mustangdude]

"and MAKE SURE you get that shit that has stopleak in it"

get the blue colored one its the coldest

[LaserSVT]

"and MAKE SURE you get that shit that has stopleak in it"

Winning!

get the blue colored one its the coldest

More winning!


Man if I had a dollar for every time people said that. "Here, I brought my own Freon (always irks me when people call it that) and its that synthetic stuff so it blows colder!"
Dude, I can get it to freeze. Anything more than frozen and the AC turns off.



Ah! Here was another one of yesterdays fixes! Dude had an AC condenser and a radiator leak from where the condenser hit it and this was another shops fix:




I replace the parts and noticed a little red in the lines.... damnit. I asked and he said he put stop leak in it too. I grab the AC compressor clutch and try to turn it. Frozen. Frozen solid. For shits and giggles I put 3 oz in so the switch would trip and sure enough, clutch sparks like crazy.

Hes lucky I found him one of those $450 condensers for only $100. Cant do so well on the AC comp, $450+ everywhere. Scion xA comps are ridiculous.

[mstng86]

Do people take there cars to mechanics for things like window motors going out? Or door lock not working? Just wondering.

I often wonder how lazy or ignorant people are about fixing cars.

My wife was in San Antonio last weekend and hit a burlap bag. It wrapped around the drive shaft and looked like the rear differential.( I was looking via FaceTime). The guy she took it to didn't even charge her. Tried to sell her some tires though.