Funny how car maintenance works

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by dsaundry

Have you determined if it is bottom end knock or top end? Bottom end might be the early indication of a rod starting to let go. You say that the timing does drop out when it is knocking which is normal as the knock sensor would cause it to drop. It might also be a valve issue as well. As big of a pain as it is, its time to pull the heads and inspect..I would really like to hear it first...

Sorry dont mean to hijack a thread here....

Ya, I thought it was the knock sensor so I wasn't to worried about that thought I would mention it though.
If I had to guess, I would say lower end, as it is slower than engine speed, I thought of a rod but it doesn't make sense, as it is not consistant enough. If it was a rod going under load then it would do it pretty much every time you loaded it up, not only once in a blue moon, oh and if you floor it when it is knocking it goes away (forgot to mention that) I have been avoiding the pulling the heads part as I am thinking that way myself, but it is a lot for a car we are getting rid of and isn't worth anything .

Steve

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by nats

Hi,
I work for a Import Car Dealership in Victoria.

which one you work at Nats?

Steve

[lorenz0]

Oh wow lol so much hate on a dealership. Personally i am an apprentice at mazda and trust me when i say this, depending on the car depends on what needs to be done.

But I am suprised about the transfercase. With only 50,000km's it should be under warrenty. But this is where a dealership can get you. If you do not have major services (in other works, the fancy oil changes that cost you $500) the dealership will void your warrenty. With some of the things I have seen in the trade I don't trust anyone with my personal car except 3 of my tech friends who help me out. Just seeing how much every thing costs is insane. But i have had my manager void a few warrenty's because of people actually not servicing their cars at all. for instance i had a cx-7 that never had its oil changed in 1 1/2 years. you can imagine how that was.

If you have had all your services done, i would go talk to the service manager cause that transfercase should be covered under your driveline warrenty.

Originally Posted by banditpowdercoat

HOLLY CRAP !!!!!! A good Synthetic 75w140 should be $12-16 If I remeber correctly. Thats outrageous. And they charged $371 for labour. Holly crap. How slow was that Mechanic???
Did I say Holly Crap???

Every job should have a paid rate. so what ever job those were thats how much they cost in labour. for all you know a job that pays out 3 hours could be done in 45min.

[banditpowdercoat]

Originally Posted by lorenz0

Oh wow lol so much hate on a dealership. Personally i am an apprentice at mazda and trust me when i say this, depending on the car depends on what needs to be done.

But I am suprised about the transfercase. With only 50,000km's it should be under warrenty. But this is where a dealership can get you. If you do not have major services (in other works, the fancy oil changes that cost you $500) the dealership will void your warrenty. With some of the things I have seen in the trade I don't trust anyone with my personal car except 3 of my tech friends who help me out. Just seeing how much every thing costs is insane. But i have had my manager void a few warrenty's because of people actually not servicing their cars at all. for instance i had a cx-7 that never had its oil changed in 1 1/2 years. you can imagine how that was.

If you have had all your services done, i would go talk to the service manager cause that transfercase should be covered under your driveline warrenty.



Every job should have a paid rate. so what ever job those were thats how much they cost in labour. for all you know a job that pays out 3 hours could be done in 45min.

Soo, It's OK to charge 3 hrs for a job that takes 45 min because Some BOOK says thats the price??? Thats Freakin BS right there. one of the reasons I hate Stealerships.

[lorenz0]

I don't think its ok at times but thats how flat rate works. All depends on how good you are at the job. Like for me i can replace a auto transmission in 8 hours (and thats being slow) when another apprentice takes 2 days. Trust me would you rather take the chance and pay hourly and either get someone who is fast or someone who is slow or pay the fixed rate.

Also depending on the job sometimes diagnose is in the fixed rate

I think the OP got ripped off

[fishoholic]

Originally Posted by lorenz0

If you have had all your services done, i would go talk to the service manager cause that transfercase should be covered under your driveline warrenty.



Every job should have a paid rate. so what ever job those were thats how much they cost in labour. for all you know a job that pays out 3 hours could be done in 45min.

My warranty isn't void and I have had all my regular maintenance (oil changes etc.) done and up to date. My 5 year warranty (whatever that covers) isn't up until July 2009. I asked the dealership if the transfer case was covered under my warranty and they said no. However the dealership I brought my jeep to is the one close to where I live, it's not the dealership I bought my jeep from.

I agree with the idea of fixed rates for services. It would of been nice to know that this costs this much to fix and that's it. Not this costs this much plus however long it takes to do it.

[Reefhawk1]

Originally Posted by tgoeujon

i dont like to argue but the coolant flush is important even at low kms. especially on chevys, the pink coolant causes electrolysis really quickly and can cost alot of money in repairs if not flushed fairly often.

True about pink coolant since it is more acidic compared to green coolant. Pink coolant is usually extended life coolant and in my opinion a pain in the ass.

I see this stuff come in most new heavy truck engines and it is pricey when you need to replace it. I will give the customer the option to change over to regular coolant when replacement is required.

[dsaundry]

Ya, I thought it was the knock sensor so I wasn't to worried about that thought I would mention it though.
If I had to guess, I would say lower end, as it is slower than engine speed, I thought of a rod but it doesn't make sense, as it is not consistant enough. If it was a rod going under load then it would do it pretty much every time you loaded it up, not only once in a blue moon, oh and if you floor it when it is knocking it goes away (forgot to mention that) I have been avoiding the pulling the heads part as I am thinking that way myself, but it is a lot for a car we are getting rid of and isn't worth anything .

Steve

One other quick thought about the "noise" is a harmonic balancer starting to fail..common on some "fords" More so on sc t-birds though. Still think its in a rod or bearing ..Sounds like a good summer project..

[dsaundry]

Soo, It's OK to charge 3 hrs for a job that takes 45 min because Some BOOK says thats the price??? Thats Freakin BS right there. one of the reasons I hate Stealerships.

The guide works in 2 ways..the labour rate can be in your favour too. If an apprentice is working on your vehicle{we all start as apprentices} It may take him 5-6 hours to do a 3-4 hour job but you arent going to pay 5-6 hours labour. I have been in this business 35 years now and have seen a lot of good stuff and a lot of crap. It took a number of years before I considered myself to be a "Good Mechanic" and I have still made mistakes. Sure there are some jobs that I can do faster than the labour guide but I will also point out that you do pay for experience too. You can have 2 identical vehicles for the same type of work, one goes without any problems, the other one you might break a head-bolt or have a housing crack, so 2 similar jobs can take way different times. Does anybody complain when the young doctor takes 4-6 hours to do what the older experienced doctor does in 2-3 hours..Bill is the same, How about dentists..same idea. There is a severe shortage of automotive technicians right now, a lot of young people when they look at a profession see automotive as a very expensive career to get into. Why start a career that is going to cost you $5000.00-$15,000 just to get started when you can go into several other trades for much less. It is a common mindset for a lot of people starting out. Over the years I have seen the numbers drop severely. I figure I will only be doing this for another 5-10 years and with the aging population it will get much harder to find good skilled tradespeople. What do you think it will be like in 10 years when you have to book an appointment for a basic service 3-4 weeks in advance, as there arent enough techs to handle the load..The fast lube places will eventually be a thing of the past as they will have to evolve into something else as technology changes. an example is that vehicle specific oils are coming out..in a way they are already here. Try using any other transmission fluid in a newer Honda other than "Honda" fluid..Nothing but problems.VW is similar..The manufacturers arent stupid people.. They would like nothing better than see every independent shop other than dealerships disappear.That is why getting the technological data is always a few years behind for independants. That is why there is a "right to work" bill in front of the government right now. Most owners wont take their new vehicle to an independent shop untill it is off warranty..for any repair. Most owners think that if they get their oil changed or their brakes done at another shop it voids their warranty..It does not, so long as it is done at a shop with licenced mechanics. Are there cheap aftermarket parts out there??Sure there are, but there are some aftermarket parts that blow the doors off dealer parts as well. I work on R.C.M.P. vehicles as well as the Justice Institute and the Department of Fisheries, so I dont skimp on cheap parts. But I will use good parts and not all of them come from the dealers. Here is a question for all of you..As you all know anybody can walk into a Canadian Tire, Napa, Lordco etc and buy parts for their car..but who installs it? Is it someone who knows what they are doing or a back-yarder who thinks they do? Sure there are a lot of simple repairs that can be handled by a lot of people but what about the safety items, Brakes, Front end, Suspension etc. So Mr Smith tells Mr Jones that "he can save him a few buck and do his brakes at his place" Mr Jones says sure and lets him work on his car, now after Mr Jones picks up his car he drives away ands a few miles down the road his brakes fail and he crashes his car.maybe somebody gets hurt, maybe not, but this does happen on a regular basis. I have had vehicles towed to me because their "buddy" worked on it and something broke or fell off beause it wasn't torqued properly, or brakes failed as the rotors were too thin. There is no law that says you cant sell auto parts to idiots that don't have the brains to check their tire pressure let alone do their brakes or ball joints because they read a book or saw some pictures on how to do it. The majority of back-yarders are very ignorant of what it really takes to do a job properly, this includes torque spec's to bolt tightening sequences. How many people torque their spark plugs in?? Or torque their wheels on when they rotate them?? I am not trying to insult anybody its just that sometimes a little knowlege is dangerous. I may know where my tooth hurts but I am not going to let my "buddy" take a stab at fixing it unless he is a good dentist.
And for anybody who wants to say "fixing a tooth is way different than fixing a car" It isn't if you are trained to do that job. Ask your dentist if filling a cavity is a hard job for him to do, if he is honest he will tell you its not a difficult procedure. Whatever career you are trained for there are jobs that are easy for you to do but difficult if not impossible for someone in another line of work to do. So whats the bottom line?? Take your vehicle to someone you are comfortable with, ask around, if you arent happy, tell the service manager or owner and give them a chance to make it right. Mistakes will happen and as I said before it is how they are dealt with that makes any shop, dealership or otherwise good or bad.
"Happy New Year!"

[kari]

This is a Dodge thing. All the "Dodge" work trucks at my last work place would have the service engine light come on at 60,000km. Then you would get the $800+ bill for sheduled service (fluids change) from the dealer. Eventually we decided to get all the trucks serviced elsewhere for less then half the price. The work is still covered under warranty requirements. Toyota Rocks... so far.