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#1
12-31-2008, 04:20 PM
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Last edited by dsaundry; 12-31-2008 at 04:23 PM. Reason: spelling 
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#2
01-01-2009, 03:58 AM
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 ) for.It was myself that fixed my truck, I do my own stuff, and yes I did know what caused to to gum up, bad design, it was common in early truck 4.6 motors, and the easy fix would bypass some of the pollution junk so I just cleaned it when it needed it. I did do the decarbarization, I had an injector service. I did these every year asnormal maintance, I am kinda anal when it comes to my cars. I am also a heavy duty diesel mechanic, and qualified by solar Saturn to work on there gas turbines. I have spent the last 19 years on courses and practical learning for these and several other mechanical systems. I am also as you put it a backyard mechanic for normal cars, although I like to think I have a leg up on most because of my training. I know the companies make you buy the big 10K reader, I have played with the snap-on one and it is neat even tells you the most common faults that cause the problem. I hate how they have you over their barrel for buying what they say when you can buy software and adapters for a laptop that will do the same thing for 1/10 of the cost. I know nowdays with the readers and newer sensors they tell you if you have a gound fault and let you know where to look, yes there is a learning curve to get good at electronics, but between the readers (good ones) and knowing how to do drop voltage tests and a little understanding of the computer workings it is actualy more simple than working on a old carburated motor that has a no start. alot of the repairs used to be trial and error and hours of trouble shooting, where nowdays you do a scan and where you have to look is narrowed down for you. Heck the Vodia tool for Volvo Penta will tell me which sensor is giving me the problem, weather it is a true reading or false, weather the power to the sensor is shorted or if the signal wire is shorted. I have several friends who are mechanics, and several of my family are also, I am not knocking the mechanic, but rather the system. the big shops make it very hard for a self employed guy to get a good business going so they have to have lower prices, and I know what happens when he puts a part in that was defective, he eats it and replaces it so he can keep the customers. anyways aside from that, I have all the respect in the world for honest shops, but they don't seam to be the norm lately. oh if you want a challenge I got one for you, no one can figure it out, not me, not ford, not and of the other shops I have talked to as it is a real weird one. how familiar are you with 1996 3L Vulcan V6 in the Taurus? Steve
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 *everything said above is just my opinion, and may or may not reflect the views of this BBS, its Operators, and its Members. If cornered on any “opinion” I post I will totally deny having ever said this in a Court of Law…Unless I am the right one*Some strive to be perfect.... I just strive.
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#3
12-31-2008, 03:24 PM
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as for what dealerships charge and anyone who uses book value, you are going to get ripped off in >85% of the cases. A good example of this is when my truck got ripped off I got it back in less than good shape, I had two injectors gone (diesel truck) and I was on a course so I didn't have time to do them myself so I sent it to ford. Well they charged 1400.00 for two re manufactured injectors (who said they don't make money off parts) and 1000.00 for labor. well a week later I had another injector go, so instead of playing chase the injectors I decided to replace them all. I bought 8 injectors out of the US for 1300.00 for remans (less than the price of two from ford) and it took me a grand total of 3 hours start to finish to do the removal and installation, hmm ford is charging over 300/hour now? I have a friend who has a shop here in town, just him as he can't find a deicent mechanic to hire. he charges 60 bucks an hour and doesn't charge if he is not actually working on the car, where dealers will charge even if they can't fix the problem. this is the biggest complaint I have as I took my old truck in about 3 years ago, it would shut off when you try start it intermittently. they charged me 2 hours labor because every 15 min they sent a guy out to start it and see what it did and they couldn't get it to do it. More than a little upset I took it home, looked on the Internet for 5 min and found the problem and fixed it in 10 min (cleaning the IAC) you would think a dealership or a mechanic would be able to figure out a very common problem in that year of vehicle. I usually work on a lot older stuff myself, but I look forward to new stuff as with all the computers and stuff it is so much simpler to find out what is wrong, and only have a few extra wires to unplug to get at anything. Heck with the computer programs out there now you can do anything at home a shop can do, if you have the tools to do it and like getting scraped knuckles and such Steve
__________________
*everything said above is just my opinion, and may or may not reflect the views of this BBS, its Operators, and its Members. If cornered on any “opinion” I post I will totally deny having ever said this in a Court of Law…Unless I am the right one*Some strive to be perfect.... I just strive.
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