Mechanic Blunders

[jbsjunk]

Not to hyjack, but how about stupid mechanic tricks?

I had a newer Mitsu Eclipse come in with a rod knock, no biggie. Pulled the engine, got it on the stand, swapped the crank and checked everything. Pulled the head so the bad rod could be replaced. Everything was done, and running in the car for about 3 minutes when it locked up. It ran great. After checking everything over, I found that the cams were stuck. Ok. Pull the head again. I found the problem once I got the head off. I got the head gasket on backwards it fit both ways, but if you get in the wrong way, you block the oil passage going to the head, as was the case here. The head went to the machine shop to get the cam journals machined. Got that back and reassembled (I checked the head gasket about a dozen times to make sure it was on right THIS time).

All told, when it was done, it ran perfect. It did cost me alot of time (I was commission there) and the shop a few bucks. Did I learn from this? Damn right, and I've been doing this professionally for 20 years, and have been ASE Master certified for the last 12 of those. We all screw up, it just how you settle it.

Steps off the podium to a corous of boo's.

[trent]

As I walked thru the shop to the back lot I noticed lunch break had come and no one was inside. I passed a Plymouth Horizon that was in the middle of head work. I then stopped turned around, and jammed the half of the washers into the spark plug sockets and the other half got dropped into the exhaust manifold. .

Wow! And I thought I was a total fucking asshole. You take the fucking cake.

[Digitalwave]

I've never had a shop do any work on any of my cars, besides getting alignments done, so I don't have any bad stories.

[joshh]

I've never had a shop do any work on any of my cars, besides getting alignments done, so I don't have any bad stories.

That reminds me of a bad alignment story....lol.

With Hondas you can add washers to the upper rear arm as a cheap way to add/remove camber. I had the shop remove the wheels and add 2 skinny washers so the camber was not so high. I end up waiting for about 1.5 hours. Wondering why it's taking this guy so long. Finally the guy gets finished. He really had a hard time trying to get the toe corrected, which is weird because I've never heard anyone say that about this car before.
I thought the car felt a bit funny but I had an autocross the next day. So I went and the car really felt odd during the autocross but the only real change was the camber.
I ended up bringing the car back to another one of their shops to have the alignment checked.....LMFAO...the toe was set at -2* all the way around. The first guy added the washers to the rear suspension after he started the alignment and forgot to reset the machine. Bonehead move but I didn't bitch because it was only like that for the weekend.

[aaron.j]

"He handed them over, and I told him I had to get the money out of my car. As I walked thru the shop to the back lot I noticed lunch break had come and no one was inside. I passed a Plymouth Horizon that was in the middle of head work. I then stopped turned around, and jammed the half of the washers into the spark plug sockets and the other half got dropped into the exhaust manifold. I grabbed the 2.23 from my change b8in in the ashtray and threw it to the manager.

I wonder if that 2.23 was worth the labor of removing the washers from another customers car."



You are a waffleswaffleswaffleswaffles. The guy you fucked over probably had nothing to do with your car. The customer you fucked over definately had nothing to do. You are a low life sack of shit.


"His rims fit fine, the steelies, however, had a different hub bore. No fitty...The shop "manager" tried to explain to me how buying an inch or so's worth of washers for each lug bolt, behind the wheel, would give me the opportunity to get on the road and get home. I took him up on his offer as long as he purchased the washers. He reluctantly agreed and I headed off to the local hardware store. I returned, washers in hand, change too, to watch the idiocy begin. "

Who is the bigger fool. The fool or the fool who follows him?

[Dave]

I call bullshit on the washers in the Horizon head story. The shop would have had to have known you did it having been there that day. And I'd bet somehow they could have tracked you down and either had the Police visit you or more likely, the tech who you fucked would have given youa beat down.

[joshh]

I think what these guys are trying to say is that you crossed the line...and I agree.

[ptownTSI]

I passed a Plymouth Horizon that was in the middle of head work. I then stopped turned around, and jammed the half of the washers into the spark plug sockets and the other half got dropped into the exhaust manifold. I grabbed the 2.23 from my change b8in in the ashtray and threw it to the manager.

I wonder if that 2.23 was worth the labor of removing the washers from another customers car.

ibyoudidnotdothat. liar.

[DEV0 E30]

I think what these guys are trying to say is that you crossed the line...and I agree.

Underfuckingstatementofthefuckingyear.

There is a saying that has something to do with, not stooping to their level. I think dropping like a bomb past it is refuckingdiculous.

We've all been screwed by someone at sometime or another, how you deal with the situation defines who you are.

[jhower08]

not what a mechanic did but kinda along the lines. i took my blazer in for inspection this past spring. the guy gets done doing it and goes, "your oil cap was sitting on top of your aircleaner..." ive never felt any lower regarding something ive done mechanically.

[Graham325]

I had a 01 camaro ss that engine shit its self 3 days after buying it (barely used, it was the owner of the dealerships son, who was a family friend), dad was pissed, I caught hell for a week before it was figured out to be a manufacturer's defect in the block, so chevy covered a whole new long block, somhow during the installation somthing was messed up and on the test drive the engine once again shit itsself, so in went a new 3rd engine, all on a car with less than 8k miles

[rede30]

Back in the day before i did much on my car myself i found oil in my coolant res. It wasnt mixing or anything but there was a fair amount. I flushed the system and found oil back in coolant so I took it to a nice euro car shop who has been great to my family in the past. All they did is flush the system for me and sent me on my way. I still cant belive they didnt suspect a head gasket leak in this situation, it makes me mad because i had to get a new engine shortly after. I didnt really piece together how stupid they were for not realizing my head gasket was leaking so after my engine swap I took it to them again because after i finished the engine swap my car wasnt idling well. They spent $1000 tring to figure out why the rpms would rise and fall after some gas was given. I dont know why this happens but i have now figured out that after unhooking the battery the car will do this and then stop after a few drives. Why the hell didnt they know this? I had to spend 1000 and all i got was a new idle air stabilizer. I am angry with myself for spending money at the machanic. Wheel bearings and maby a clutch if the tranny and engine is in the car, are the only thing i wont do. Oh and last year i took my car to a bulldog machanic who does only bmws to have my sunroof fixed, i didnt want to mess with it and it only cost me 40.

[JGood]

There was some guys ragging on quick service shops earlier.

Someone mentioned something about the shop not willing to check someones brakes for less then the cost of a brake job. And not price matching tires.

I was the store manager of a high end quick service shop (higher prices, higher quality service, it was a small chain in PA). I was so pushed from district managers to run the shop so that labor and profit numbers met a rather unreasonable goal that I quit. Only to find out that most quick service shops are run like this. While working in conditions like this, it is 100% impossible to give each car the full attention it deserves. If you want quick service, expect less quality overall then a garage that will make you drop off the car for a day and charge more. This should be obvious...

There is no allowances to make up special prices for things such as "checking someone's brakes" because then the liability can be on the shop if a good enough lawyer is had. I once turned down a customer who wanted a plug put in his tire, because I would effectively terminate my position if something were to happen to him, because our insurance did not cover plugs due to their bad reputation. Is it the shops fault for not catching a brake issue that you caused? Even if you wouldn't bring it back on the shop, alot of people in this world would. And if you want them to check the brakes thoroughly enough that they WOULD catch any issues, they would be doing an entire brake job basically and are correct for charging you for it.

Price matching? Since when did they become the expectation? Call the dealer and ask them why they won't price match BMA.

I never accepted neglect of duty or pure lack of caring from employees, but sometimes things happen and you'd be suprised how easy it is to blame it on a tech, when really they followed procedures. There's so many horror stories floating around, and alot of them are one-sided.

And for the record, I never take my car to a quick service shop, because I don't want a rushed tech touching my baby. I can wait the extra few hours at the garage for the mechanic who is being payed more for a better quality job and is allowed to take his time. Then again, I never take my car to a mechanic anymore, because I do all my work myself.

[JGood]

Back in the day before i did much on my car myself i found oil in my coolant res. It wasnt mixing or anything but there was a fair amount. I flushed the system and found oil back in coolant so I took it to a nice euro car shop who has been great to my family in the past. All they did is flush the system for me and sent me on my way. I still cant belive they didnt suspect a head gasket leak in this situation, it makes me mad because i had to get a new engine shortly after. I didnt really piece together how stupid they were for not realizing my head gasket was leaking so after my engine swap I took it to them again because after i finished the engine swap my car wasnt idling well. They spent $1000 tring to figure out why the rpms would rise and fall after some gas was given. I dont know why this happens but i have now figured out that after unhooking the battery the car will do this and then stop after a few drives. Why the hell didnt they know this? I had to spend 1000 and all i got was a new idle air stabilizer. I am angry with myself for spending money at the machanic. Wheel bearings and maby a clutch if the tranny and engine is in the car, are the only thing i wont do. Oh and last year i took my car to a bulldog machanic who does only bmws to have my sunroof fixed, i didnt want to mess with it and it only cost me 40.

Did you ask them to diagnose the problem or fix the situation? You wouldn't believe the stuff I've seen, most people have no idea what they are doing. People dump washer fluid in the coolant, coolant in the engine, oil in the coolant, trans fluid in the washer fluid, etc... I've never diagnosed a problem a customer had like that without first making sure there was no mistake like that made. The only way to be sure is clear the problem and see if it reoccurs. BUT, if you specifically told them your story and that you wanted them to fix what was causing this, they should have followed up on it.

As for the battery thing, most shops don't drive a customers cars for several trips. $1000 isn't that much considering it involved a ~200 part (with garage markup) and several hours of labor. Imagine someone brings a car to you that they just put a new engine into. There is no baseline for working conditions so EVERYTHING needs checked.

[uofom3]

a long time ago my mom took her volvo 740 turbo wagon in to be serviced. I am pretty sure it was the brakes. Anyway - dipshits only put 1 lug nut on the driver side rear wheel - it was almost completely off when my dad saw the wheel wobbling. good thing he caught that.