|
InitialDave posted:Have good people dealing with the technical details, listen to them when they say something is impossible or just plain wrong (but make sure they can back it up), and balance that against the fact that it's not their business, and technical people are often not all that mindful of the realities of a business. I do, and I try to make it make sense to me before I go shooting my mouth off to a customer. Sound advice, thanks! Mr. Wiggles posted:I'm so not jealous that you guys have to deal with smog checks down there. That's simply not a thing here in the cow counties. I'm dreading it if I ever move back into civilization - I think I might have one car that would pass smog. Well the good news is you know where to find me should you ever require assistance.
|
#
?
Mar 12, 2014 00:59
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 7, 2024 17:15 |
|
|
The reason running this garage is hard is because you give a poo poo when a lot of people don't. Yeah, the stress might take a year or two off your life, but I work in medical and I know we'd all be better off missing those last years anyways. I enjoy your posts and I wish there were more businessmen (especially in the automotive repair field) like you. Make your business the best it can be, the word will get around, and gently caress the red tape bullshit.
|
|
#
?
Mar 12, 2014 01:46
|
|
|
Firing customers is the best business decision you can make as well. My G/Fs dad runs a muffler/small repair shop and as of a couple of years now, he just has been firing customers because hes sick of the bullshit. Surprisingly they come back and stop bitching and just do what tells them to do. Side note: He is a pretty honest businessman, hes in a small town so he can't rip people off, but at the same time, he is not going to deal with the bullshit.
|
|
#
?
Mar 12, 2014 01:53
|
|
|
BrokenKnucklez posted:Firing customers is the best business decision you can make as well. My G/Fs dad runs a muffler/small repair shop and as of a couple of years now, he just has been firing customers because hes sick of the bullshit. Surprisingly they come back and stop bitching and just do what tells them to do. It's seriously one of my sick joys in life to watch people deflate and start apologizing when I tell them "Hey, listen, maybe you should go find another shop to piss off, huh?". Mostly it'll be someone who roars into the shop and DEMANDS we install "ALL NEW PLUGS AND WIRES", without mentioning a complaint, then when they pick up the vehicle come at me with the "YOU SONS OF BITCHES THAT MISFIRE IS STILL THERE! YOU BASTARDS RIPPED ME OFF RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE". Sorry bro, I've got your authorization in writing on a work order which states "Customer request all new plugs and wires" not "Customer states misfire". Big difference. I hope the plus and wires you ordered us to install on your vehicle fix whatever it is you think is wrong.  That was the last customer I fired. I tried to get him to let us diagnose his problem, but 'what do you know you're just some dumbass mechanics' is the attitude I got from him. I've got a way with people and a real high tolerance for bullshit too, so it takes a special kind of rear end in a top hat to get fired from my shop, but it does happen maybe once or twice a year on average. DrPain fucked around with this message at 02:10 on Mar 12, 2014 |
|
#
?
Mar 12, 2014 02:07
|
|
|
god drat you remember that crapillac dude put like 3 cats on to pass emissions? then brought in a bunch of different O2s for us to put on?
|
|
#
?
Mar 12, 2014 02:32
|
|
|
You're just a dumbass mechanic what would you know! Why, I'd fit these plugs and wires myself if it weren't for *reasons*
|
|
#
?
Mar 12, 2014 07:04
|
|
|
Slavvy posted:You're just a dumbass mechanic what would you know! Why, I'd fit these plugs and wires myself if it weren't for *reasons* Bingo. This was of course his spare vehicle he allowed us to work on. His daily is some manner of PORSCHE and the word always fell so elegantly out of his big stupid mouth. He had to make sure everyone knew that beater was not his daily.
|
|
#
?
Mar 12, 2014 15:30
|
|
|
Was it a worn out old Boxster?
|
|
#
?
Mar 12, 2014 15:31
|
|
|
BrokenKnucklez posted:Was it a worn out old Boxster? Don't know, never got to work on it. But that would not surprise me.
|
|
#
?
Mar 12, 2014 15:32
|
|
|
DrPain posted:Bingo. This was of course his spare vehicle he allowed us to work on. His daily is some manner of PORSCHE and the word always fell so elegantly out of his big stupid mouth. He had to make sure everyone knew that beater was not his daily. lol...whenever mine is brought up (usually friends checking to see if it's STILL running....yes, it is, thank you) and around other people I don't know in conversation I pause to let them know: "no, it's not what you think. I picked it up in someones backyard after it had been in all three river floods a few years back" to qualify that I'm not one of THOSE Porsche guys.
|
|
#
?
Mar 12, 2014 16:00
|
|
|
"No, it's not intentionally water-cooled."
|
|
#
?
Mar 12, 2014 18:22
|
|
|
We are rocking & rolling today, we have many fun things going on. First up is a 1991 Chevy pickup. Don't let the multitude of 454 SS stickers and badges fool you, it's only got a 305.  This is a referral from our friends the hispanic mechanics next door. They aren't a smog shop, and therefore cannot perform failed smog repair like we can, so their customers failed smog repairs are another big stream of income for our shop. It's kind of a funny relationship we have with the shop next door. We don't speak much Spanish, and they don't speak much English, yet we manage to communicate and get along just fine. I would describe it as Han-and-Chewie-esque. I'll be Chewie for all you social justice jerks out there.   Holy poo poo I take bad pictures. This truck came in with not one but TWO failed smog tickets. It failed on the machine Monday of this week at some drive by smog hut for 1.8% carbon monoxide (you're allowed 1.2% maximum). The owners took it home and 'tuned it up'. Some tune up they did, on Tuesday it failed again for 2.0% CO, AND 550 ppm hyrdro carbons (unspent fuel, you're allowed up to 220 ppm), AND visible smoke. Pre-1996 model year vehicles are subject to a tail pipe gas analysis and a visual inspection which checks for tampering and visible smoke. We repaired some vacuum lines, adjusted ignition timing, repaired the mickey mouse wiring to the O2 sensor, replaced the sensor itself, to get it passed smog. With that out of the way, we were able to add to the ticket replacing a leaky oil pressure switch, and leaky thermostat. About $450 out the door for all that including the smog. I'll give Juan (Han) a fair kickback for the referral, he's a super nice guy.  Next up is CSB's favorite 1990 Jeep Cherokee Wagoneer. This very stately single-owner jeep has been around the block a time or two, with the original 4.0 at something north of 270k miles. And when I say single-owner, I mean it. Check out his litany of registrations.  This jeep has been on it's last legs for quite some time, yet the owner refuses to let it finally die. It's in today for what I really hope does not turn into a headgasket job, but that's what all the symptoms are sounding like. Further diagnosis will be required, obviously, but we've got the approval to do whatever is necessary as the owner has been coming to us for a very, very long time.  One of my parts store sales reps was kind enough to bring a Seafoam rep by, so we got a ton of free Seafoam swag today. The rep wanted to demo their new aerosol product, so my 96 Ranger got the full Seafoam treatment. The aerosol product does not produce as big a smoke cloud as the stuff you pour in, and I was disappointed. I won't turn this into a shameless shill, but drat I love Seafoam, and free stuff owns.  After much mechanical convincing, we got the engine stabbed into the van yesterday. Further reassembly took place today.  Slowly we will entomb the new engine piece by piece and hopefully it will be running soon.
|
|
#
?
Mar 12, 2014 22:51
|
|
|
Always funny when someone tries to fix something and fucks it up worse. Fart Pipe has a sign something like this hanging in his shop, gives me a chuckle every time: (adjust rates to suit) Jeep poo poo: A '90 can only have a 4.0, a 2.5, or a 2.1/2.5 turbodiesel, and an AW4 auto or an AX15 manual, so good luck getting that thing to die, ever  and that's a hell of a stack of registration stickers.If it is a 4cyl manual there's a remote chance it will roach the gearbox if it's filled with mud instead of gear lube and then romped on mercilessly for four years.
|
|
#
?
Mar 12, 2014 22:58
|
|
|
It's the 4.0 auto. I think it's ready for a rebuilt engine, but I got outvoted by the mechanical staff and we're doing a headgasket, I just got the word.
|
|
#
?
Mar 12, 2014 23:04
|
|
|
kastein posted:Always funny when someone tries to fix something and fucks it up worse. Fart Pipe has a sign something like this hanging in his shop, gives me a chuckle every time: Dang. I'm never going to have a GOOD excuse (like: the engine's dyin' honey. I've gotta replace it.) to drop a 4.0 or V8 in my '95, am I?
|
|
#
?
Mar 12, 2014 23:08
|
|
|
Symptoms? You're way more of a professional mechanic than I am, but my old 4.0 had been run for 100 miles (not consecutively, it leaked like a sieve and occasionally I forgot to fill it up, then just said gently caress it and drove another 5 miles home with zero oil pressure and rattling lifters) without oil, had a ring ridge probably 7-12 thou tall, horribly gooped up pistons and valves, sludge over a half inch thick everywhere in the head, copper showing on something like 2/3 of the surface area of the rod bearings, etc and that drat thing ran like a top and had good power with no bad noises... at over 250k miles. They're stupid hard to kill. It may be ready for one technically but I wouldn't be surprised to see it turn another 50k as-is, even without actually inspecting it.
|
|
#
?
Mar 12, 2014 23:10
|
|
|
Do you guys have a facebook page? I love your updates, and I'm sure potential customers might like to see what kind of work you're doing and how successful you seem.
|
|
#
?
Mar 12, 2014 23:19
|
|
|
ShittyPostmakerPro posted:Do you guys have a facebook page? I love your updates, and I'm sure potential customers might like to see what kind of work you're doing and how successful you seem. Um, yes? But I don't think my customers would appreciate every 3rd word being "gently caress" "drat" "rear end" etc... And I really, really, hate pandering.
|
|
#
?
Mar 12, 2014 23:23
|
|
|
kastein posted:Symptoms? You're way more of a professional mechanic than I am, but my old 4.0 had been run for 100 miles (not consecutively, it leaked like a sieve and occasionally I forgot to fill it up, then just said gently caress it and drove another 5 miles home with zero oil pressure and rattling lifters) without oil, had a ring ridge probably 7-12 thou tall, horribly gooped up pistons and valves, sludge over a half inch thick everywhere in the head, copper showing on something like 2/3 of the surface area of the rod bearings, etc and that drat thing ran like a top and had good power with no bad noises... at over 250k miles. They're stupid hard to kill. I've read your thread and are... are you talking to me when you say "professional mechanic"?  It's been leaking oil like a sieve, first we fixed the power steering reservoir and valve cover gasket and told him to steam clean it. He did, and oil is still leaking from the right hand side of the head itself, so uh, that was a pretty easy diag. "Professional mechanic" 
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2014 00:08
|
|
|
You run a shop, I work on jeeps in the goddamn woods, lying on a sheet of cardboard if I'm lucky so you're the professional. Oil leaking from the passenger side of a 4.0 means a few things. Could be the head gasket, but unlikely. If it is, it's just weeping, keep the fucker full and forget about it. It's a common issue and IIRC there are no pressurized oil passages to the head on a 4.0, rockers/valves are lubed by oil up through the pushrods, so it's simply weeping harmlessly and will never pose a problem if the oil is kept topped off. Could be the distributor gasket - somewhat likely. One bolt, mark where the rotor was pointing, pull it, new gasket, stab it back in, make sure it's still pointed the same place, done. Could be the oil filter adapter O-rings - drat near guarantee these are leaking. They suck, you want a T55 bit (or if you're lucky on that year it's a just a regular hex head), take it out of the socket so it clears the frame rail, stick a box wrench on it, put a jack handle on that, go hog wild. Could be the timing cover too but not likely. I am doing an almost-full reseal on my 4.0 while it's out of the crapcan Friday/Saturday/Sunday, I should probably take some pics for you. VC gasket, front and rear main seals, oil pan, distributor, oil filter adapter. Put your bets on me loving up the timing when I stab the distributor because it's got a helical drive gear and turns a bit as you insert it, and I am neither all that observant nor all that patient. 4.0s are like ferrets - if you wash them, they crank up the oil/musk leakage because they feel too clean.
kastein fucked around with this message at 00:16 on Mar 13, 2014 |
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2014 00:14
|
|
|
DrPain posted:
YOU. I. WILL. NEVER. FORGET. YOU. (and your loving start switch). It outlived 2 of my rovers. *shrug* btw, I have awesome gaskets for you to hang on the wall of shame.
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2014 05:49
|
|
|
DrPain posted:
 I had no idea they ever even made these in Wagoneer trim. I've seen the GCs and old Grand Wagoneers with it, but never thought the whole faux woodgrain paneling thing made it onto the XJ. I guess I learned something today.
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2014 05:55
|
|
|
It has special double-stacked headlights and trim too vs the normal cherokar.
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2014 05:57
|
|
|
cursedshitbox posted:It has special double-stacked headlights and trim too vs the normal cherokar. I saw one of these once, I wondered what it was.
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2014 17:24
|
|
|
Mmm, I want to live this life and not the dealer life. Hmu if you're interested in an Audi/vw guy from the rust coast! No ASEs but Audi and vw certified and that's what counts! Do you not have full height lifts?
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2014 17:40
|
|
|
interwhat posted:Mmm, I want to live this life and not the dealer life. Hmu if you're interested in an Audi/vw guy from the rust coast! No ASEs but Audi and vw certified and that's what counts! Yeah? Wanna trade? I'm not sure what you mean by full height, but we have the one 4 post drive up rack that we have the vans engine job on currently, and we also have a pair of two post rotary lifts.  Here is one of the two post lifts doing some work. We put a fuel pump in this '01 Expedition the day after Christmas, and I remember that because I thought to myself "Who the gently caress has this kind of money to spend, literally the day after Christmas?". Anyway, they called me shortly after new years to say that it has been stalling at 1/4th of a tank on the gauge ever since we put the fuel pump in. I told them return to the shop ASAP for warranty service. Clearly it must not be a very big priority for them, because they just showed up yesterday. We suspected either the float got damaged on install or something is wrong with the sending unit, so we warrantied it out. I'm a little concerned now though, because the float on the old pump seems to be operating normally, and the gauge is still reading 1/4th tank with the new module assembly installed.  The suspected defect pump in question. We're going to test drive it today and see if we can get it to stall. DrPain fucked around with this message at 18:23 on Mar 13, 2014 |
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2014 18:15
|
|
|
Is that an airtex pump?
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2014 18:16
|
|
|
Precision.
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2014 18:19
|
|
|
Never heard of it. chinesium I presume? Airtex was the big sore in my rear end and everybody was pushing em hard a few years ago. I had so many that would die before their second tank of fuel. Nothing like getting a call from your customer. "yeah I'm in the middle of the woods, 30 miles from the nearest city, I had to walk 5 miles to call you, truck died and wont start, I think its the fuel pump" Bosch pumps 4 lyfe.
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2014 18:22
|
|
|
Assuming that the fuel level sender shows more fuel as a higher resistance, you should check the black/olive green traced wire at connectors 415 (at the fuel pump), 148, and 160. Measure voltage to ground at each point, anything over say 100 millivolts is probably cause for concern. If it isn't that, I bet it's a corroded pin in the signal wiring from the sender to the instrument panel... which is a yellow wire with a white tracer and goes through all the same connectors. If the sender shows more fuel as a lower resistance, there's a short to ground somewhere on the yellow/white wire, or the overhead computer (which also gets a tap off that wire) is dragging the signal down. That's about all I can figure out looking at the wiring diagrams anyways. (it could also be a crap fuel sender, but it takes real manufacturer stupidity to gently caress up something as simple as a fuel level sender when the specs are published in the factory service manual )
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2014 18:23
|
|
|
kastein posted:Always funny when someone tries to fix something and fucks it up worse. Fart Pipe has a sign something like this hanging in his shop, gives me a chuckle every time: Ugh I did this recently, tried to replace a thermostat having never done it before because it looked easy on youtube. Turns out it's super easy - unless you over torque the bolts, snap them off so they have to be drilled out and unknowingly crack the intake manifold in the process. I lost about 1000 man points having to explain this to the mechanic, who then advised me never to work on my own car again. 
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2014 23:50
|
|
|
Huggable Bear King posted:I lost about 1000 man points having to explain this to the mechanic, who then advised me never to work on my own car again.
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2014 23:51
|
|
|
Huggable Bear King posted:I lost about 1000 man points having to explain this to the mechanic, who then advised me never to work on my own car again. If I could think of all the gently caress ups any shop does.... this is nothing new. Thats what happens when you first try things, you break poo poo, learn from it, then try again. Don't be a quitter. Look at all the odd ball/one of car/cars with notorious problems on here. If we had half a clue, we wouldn't be driving one.
|
|
#
?
Mar 14, 2014 00:12
|
|
|
InitialDave posted:Oh, like he's never done it himself. Doesn't everybody start their car maintenance career off by snapping some inconveniently located bolts by over tightening?. I snapped a couple of thermostat bolts, some exhaust studs and ripped the thread out of all the rocker cover bolts on one car before I learned about appropriate application of torque (and about helicoil kits)
|
|
#
?
Mar 14, 2014 00:26
|
|
|
I've never over-tightened a bolt and snapped it/hosed the thread (removal is a different story). Am I some kind of freak of nature for being able to feel the yield points of alloy/steel? I've never had a problem with it but I still get surprised when my friends manage to do it.
|
|
#
?
Mar 14, 2014 00:41
|
|
|
My first car needed new struts, and I figured I could probably handle that myself, because being 16 means you know everything, right? It was a very humbling experience, watching my car get loaded onto a flatbed, the one corner I had taken apart riding on the tire. I had managed to over-extend the halfshaft, causing the inner CV joint to come apart.  At least I didn't snap any bolts.Fortunately that was the only time I've had to do that.
|
|
#
?
Mar 14, 2014 01:06
|
|
|
DrPain posted:
Just sayin'.
|
|
#
?
Mar 14, 2014 01:41
|
|
|
BrokenKnucklez posted:If I could think of all the gently caress ups any shop does.... this is nothing new. Thats what happens when you first try things, you break poo poo, learn from it, then try again. This. I remember my first thermostat replacement I was lucky enough not to actually break anything, but the bare paper gasket I put in there with no sealant did not like my torquing those poor bolts down as hard as I loving could. The coolant sprayed out of there SO FAST.Slavvy posted:Am I some kind of freak of nature for being able to feel the yield points of alloy/steel? I've never had a problem with it but I still get surprised when my friends manage to do it. Steel is one thing - aluminum is VERY different. I've threaded more bolts into aluminum "by feel" than I care to admit when my torque wrench wasn't handy, or wouldn't fit. Ehh, just a little tighte....gently caress. I try not to do that anymore if I can help it.
|
|
#
?
Mar 14, 2014 03:18
|
|
|
I've snapped steel bolts before reaching their torque spec, most recently on a Camry subframe bolt.
|
|
#
?
Mar 14, 2014 16:52
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 7, 2024 17:15 |
|
|
Bicycles are a mine-field of easily strippable threads (grade 12.9 fasteners into cheese-grade alu heyoooo) and I've hosed it up more times than I'd like to admit. Never managed to gently caress up a steel -> steel fastening though.* *Except the time somebody told me the bolt was a left hand thread and I didn't know enough to actually look at the head and check. But I snapped the (M10!) bolt before the internal threads stripped so whatever.
|
|
#
?
Mar 14, 2014 17:13
|
|
