Had to change the oil in my Suburban.....MYSELF!

You are the only doctor I know that doesn't fly mechanics from Europe to work on their cars.

Good job, Doc Now time to get a 4.6HSE and get free maintenance.

 

Hey, anything to entertain the good Doctor

 

Ditto. None of our cars (5 right now) see the dealer... and each time we do (once each 4 or 5 years) we are so glad we do all the work ourselves. Every single time something is not done right. Bring a car in for a PPI, they can't tell the water pump was shot. Bring another for some ABS sensor/wheel bearing ... get charged 700$ (for a frickin GM!) to have the whole knuckle replaced ... and this is the only time I remember bringing a car to a dealer. Worthless fokkers.

Tough to think about those who don't even have a single clue that the guys are fokking their car ... and they have to pay for it!!

Just disgusting.

 

Unless you own a car dealership, or are a service writer that gets commission

 

Yep, at one of the major chains the manager and assistant manager both get monthly bonuses based on sales.

 

That's why I'm not quite sure I want to enter that business. I would kick any mechanic that cross threaded plugs so hard he'd fly past Mars! I guess I'm too honest for that kind of crap.

I'd be very curious, if there is one dealership that went from good mechs to bad mechs and manager to see how it affected their income.

 

This is the oldest one in the book. The next oldest is when they drop the pan and show you little bits of metal and tell you that you need the tranny rebuilt.

 

I have had similiar situations in my area as well. Its sickening the stuff you ask to have done and then find out later that its not done and you paid for it already! I cant trust anyone around here, things have happened at several places where they just don't do what I ask and then claim they did. Very annoying!

 

Guys fly me over,just need-
Beer
babe's
spanners
lots of time off

and your mercs,jags,scubys,bm's,range rovers,will give you fine service,

Oh,and nice big house with swiming pool,
waiting for the tickets,

cheers
Dale.

 

German mechanics, not Brits

 

The one time I took my miata to a quick-change place they broke the plug off of the oil pressure sending unit trying to get the filter off. After they paid the miata shop about $150 to get it all fixed they asked me not to come back, LOL i did not argue.

 

Forgot to mention the #1 event. Had my transmission in the truck blow up. So I took it off, and brought it to a tranny shop to see what was wrong, and if it was repairing or if I should just get a new one. Repair cost was outrageous, so I said "ok, I'll come pick it up, and go to a scrapyard get a core exchange" (BIG mistake). Crook answered "ah, right now, we're very busy, could you drop by a couple hours later?" "Sure" I said naively. Got there around 5 (had called at 2) took my tranny back (in boxes), asked what I owed him and to my great surprise he said "ah, nothing, it's ok". Days later got an exchange one, started putting it back in the truck ... and needed a bracket. Get back to the scrapyard ... and the guy there asks me "What fokkin car is that transmission off? Did you open it? So I just went with "the other guy, repair, too much, blah blah blah. Guy started laughing ... "good thing you didn't try to repair it yourself! There were just random crap parts from Caravans, Topaz, Bonneville and many others that couldn't be named, but sure did not belong to your truck".
Turns out tranny crook dumped all his broken parts in my core ... and everything would be fine!
Fokker.

 

naa brits are better tech's by far,

cheers
Dale.

 

I do all the work on my cars now too ( and for friends ). The quicky oil change places are very agressive selling snake oil and useless service. I always stood there to watch like a hawk to be sure everything was actually done, which helped I think. On my Miata they pulled a vacuum hose off on the last service - nothing worse than a check engine light on the way home. They checked the code (EGR valve), and promptly claimed no responsibility. Gurr.

Miata oil changes are a PITA, the filter is in the worst possible place. Will be getting a remote location kit before the next time.

Cheers,
Jon

 

I haaate having other people service any of my cars. There's always stupid things they do or forget to do and I can always tell exactly where they have been working just by popping the hood. I haaaaaaate that. I'm nothing more than a shadetree mechanic myself but I know how to work on equipment without causing it harm.

My gf's Honda was due for its timing belt service. I had the book and looked the car over but I couldn't get the crank pulley loose as I didn't have the special wrench needed. While getting her car inspected my gf asks if they could do the belt and they said "sure!". We dropped it off Saturday along with the new belt I had already bought and the mechanic tells me "oh yeah, I did one of these last week". We pick up the car that evening and then the next day she comes home with the car making a whirring sound that I find to be the timing belt rubbing the timing cover. So I remove the top cover and sure enough, the belt is loose; it wasn't tensioned properly. I also find that they never replaced the belt. The old one was still in there!

They apparently had the same trouble I did, put it back together and never actually performed the service. They did however take her $205 for the work. So I go in the next morning and get the mechanic, the asst. manager, the manager and the owner of the store. I explain that I tore the car down last night and found the belt was not replaced. The mechanic tells me he tore the car down, and must have accidently put the old belt back on. I tell him he's a nut. You spend all that time tearing a car down for a timing belt replacement and you FORGET TO PUT THE NEW ONE ON??? Later he says that the belt I provided didn't fit so he had to put the old one back on. I of course asked why didn't he call and tell me this and why did he charge me $200 in that case for work he didn't do? He says it was a mistake. I then explain that he didn't substitute a belt, he left the old one on. I'm sure of it because I had marked the old one and it's still on there. I explain that there is no other word to describe this ordeal other than "theft". The owner immediately agrees to refund my money and quickly leaves the room for his office, being sure that he won't have to speak with me anymore. The mechanic won't leave the room because he doesn't want to leave me alone with his bosses; he finally gets sent out and leaves me with the manager and asst manager. The manager believes the mechanic's story. I tell the manager he's a complete idiot. I've worked on cars for many years and have done some dumb things but its obvious the car wasn't torn down as the crank pulley has no marks on it from tools. You guys would make me happier by just being quiet and not trying to convince me the guy made an honest mistake. The only mistake made was stealing our money.

What pisses me off the most is everybody save the asst. manager acts like they believe the mechanic's story. God help me! What twits are these people! I can tell from looking the crank pulley was never even removed which means you can't have gotten the belt off! At some point the mechanic realized he couldn't do the work, put it back together and decided to screw us. In the end she got her money back, I retensioned the belt (the motor was fine thank god) and we went to someone who has serviced it before. I am still fuming; the only word for this was theft and you know damn well the "regular" guy has no friggin' idea if his timing belt was replaced or not. I should have lined up and shot every one of them. I like to think I can be understanding and I know I screw up too but I can't stand to have several grown adults stand in front of me and lie to my face.

 

Wow Damon, sounds like the typical run around. Your right about most people never knowing. I've always wondered why the 60k service is so expensive, when its mostly 'check x' (with eyeball).

Clifford, my daily driver Miata is a 97 NA (first body style), 1.8L. The filter is on the passenger side of the block, but tucked behind the intake support. Can't get at it easily from any direction:
http://www.miata.net/garage/trans/05.htm

Rest of the car was pretty well engineered. Oh well.

Cheers,
Jon
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

If you remove the two 14mm spanner size bolts from the intake and the two from the block the support bracket can now be moved, the oil filter is very easy to access now,

cheers
Dale.

 

Love the panasports.

 

Dale - Taking stuff apart to do it right is always an option for the driveway mechanic, but gets old after a while for routine stuff. I'll try your suggestion next time though.

Ike - I like the panasports too. The PO put them on, and they were key in my decision to get this one.

In the spirit on unhijacking this thread - are there any oil change places people have consistently had GOOD experiences with? Or does it just boil down to finding one run ethically?

Cheers,
Jon

 

I don't use oil change places anymore. On the Miata I started doing it myself or using the dealer when I didn't have any Mazda filters. (BTW if you have the HLA clatter the Mazda filters with the check valve can help.) The Mercedes I take to the Mercedes speacialist who does all the other maintenance, it only cost about $15 more than if I bought the oil and filter and they go through and check everything on the car for me. I really trust them and they have not tried to sell me any not needed parts.

I have heard so many horror stories about quickie oil change places I don't think I will ever go to one again.