Funny how car maintenance works

[tgoeujon]

just curious but what happened to warranty? 50,000 should be covered for anything other than regular servicing. pcv shouldnt be regular servicing and unless they were changing gears and bearing on your transfer case, which also should be warranty you just got f@#$ed by the shop. im a licensed mechanic and a really big transfer case only holds four litres of oil and takes at most 1 hour to service.
what kind of vehicle was it?

[fishoholic]

Originally Posted by tgoeujon

just curious but what happened to warranty? 50,000 should be covered for anything other than regular servicing. pcv shouldnt be regular servicing and unless they were changing gears and bearing on your transfer case, which also should be warranty you just got f@#$ed by the shop. im a licensed mechanic and a really big transfer case only holds four litres of oil and takes at most 1 hour to service.
what kind of vehicle was it?

No one I know does mechanic work or knows much about it unfortunately. I did ask if any of it was covered under my warranty (my 5 years is up July 2009) but they told me no. My jeep is a 2004 liberty.

[tgoeujon]

if warranty isnt covering anything you might want to think about changing shops. what is the hourly rate there out of curiousity?

[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.

[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!"

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by dsaundry

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..

I think the only summer project here will be washing the new car LOL

Steve

[Lance]

It is always a good idea to ask for the replaced parts, etc. before the work is done. This way they know they may be caught-in-the-act of replacing perfectly good parts. I, for one, have never trusted dealerships. The mark-up on new cars is not as good as it used to be, so they gouge you in other ways, such as for warranty service. I come from a smallish town that only has two dealerships. Any warranty work has to be taken to another city by ferry. (PITA!). My wife has an '06 Mitsubishi Eclipse, and they are the only dealership I have ever dealt with that allows us to have warranty service done by any licensed mechanic of our choice. The only stipulations are that approved oil, filters, etc. are used. This works out to large savings as our mechanic of choice charges about 25% less than most; no ferries; and I know I'm not getting ripped-off as our mechanic is a most trustworthy fellow.