mchan68 Posted June 16, 2009 Share Posted June 16, 2009 Got on in this afternoon. An '07 E-450 with 145,000 kms. brought in by an area "garage" with a complaint of no power. After being dropped off, and an RO written, I go for a little rodeo with it, that became immediately evident that this thing just falls flat on its face as I try to acclerate. Ren and Stympy (the two guys that dropped it off) "diag" it as a faulty turbo. I check the airflow restrictor, and sure enough it's bottomed out. Removed the air filter, and although it didn't look like it was overly dirty, took it for a drive without the air filter. And voila, instant power!!! I would've thought this would be one of the FIRST things these guys would've checked. An appointment was made for this other truck to be brought in to diagnose a no-start on an '04. Apparently, the CAA tow truck driver redirected this guy to HIS "garage" to fix, because we are "stealerships". Said garage replaces the FICM (that they bought off our parts department this morning). Unbeknownest to the "garage" that it needs to be programmed. So, in it rolls on the hook at 6:00PM today (after we were already closed at 5:00PM), I get paged to program the FICM to help this guy out, so he can at least have his truck back. Programmed the new FICM (that they installed), and go to start the truck, and what do you know? We have this thing not firing on cylinders #1, 6 and 7. And they charged this guy $995.00 parts and labour, that didn't fix his truck. That's it. rant over. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blown99 Posted June 16, 2009 Share Posted June 16, 2009 This type of stuff really gets me going. We have a local truck repair shop that has picked up one of our long time customers. The customers truck would stall randomly and not restart. The repair shop has replaced every sensor, hpop, injectors, and an ecm for this problem. After the ecm R&R the truck stalled again and cam in on the hook. These monkeys then told the customer that the engine had failed and would need to replace the entire engine. The truck sat for a month or so until the owner of my shop got wind of this BS. He then sent me over there to fix the chaffed wire. We did it free of charge and in less than one hour the blown up engine was up and running. These people think they are getting a great deal because they save $10-15/hr on a labor charge. They don't realize that many of these guys don't have the experience that the dealers have to efficiently diagnose a modern vehicle. They also get lesser quality parts in many cases. (Autozone, napa etc) What do these customers save in the long run?? Nothing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Warman Posted June 16, 2009 Share Posted June 16, 2009 Many don't realize that even some dealers lack knowl;edge and wisdom.... It doesn't boil down to "our shop versus their shop". It is about charlatans pretending to be techs versus techs that apply their talents and vest time in the acquisition of knowledge. We get into these rants.... "independent shops are shit".... and wee have gotten into these rants "I had a truck that was just at <X Ford> and the work they did was atrocious - missing bolts, stripped fasteners, poor diag...". It all boils down to shitty mechanics pretending to be the same as talented mechanics - AND WE LET THEM!!!! Look at it this way.... even though this is your CAREER, are you willing to invest any of your own personal time in improving it? Do you need to be paid to make yourself better (worth more)? Or - can you wake up one morning and decide that today is the day "I make my career into my CAREER". But.... I am preaching to the choir - any one of us, with little or no effort, could easily misdiagnose a concern. With little or no effort we can avoid purchasing the manuals we need... with little or no effort we can avoid reading those manuals.... with little or no effort we can avoid seeking out and spending money at places like TurboTraining. It isn't hard to be a shitty tech.... and that is the road far too many take.... If you are reading this, you are better than those guys. Being <here> shows your desire to be the best at what you do.... It isn't dealerships against independents.... it is professionals against turds..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Mutter Posted June 16, 2009 Share Posted June 16, 2009 good perspective! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Amacker Posted June 16, 2009 Share Posted June 16, 2009 It isn't dealerships against independents. It is professionals against turds. Very well put. Some dealer guys have a slanted perspective of indy's, but I try to see things from an even keel. I could write a book about bad indy's, but I could write an equally large book about bad dealer techs. Remember, I specialize in Ford and IH, so my students tell me all of their horror stories about their dealer experiences. Some have even documented it with paper RO's, which is even more frightening. I will say that there are many more FMC horror stories than IH horror stories because of the forgiving nature of IH's warranty process. Believe me, there are PLENTY of FMC horror stories...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mchan68 Posted June 16, 2009 Author Share Posted June 16, 2009 Believe me, there are PLENTY of FMC horror stories...... I couldn't agree more. Last week a 2005 E-350 rolled into my store complaining about a lack of power. This vehicle had well over 200,000 and change on the clock. Apparently, he had already been to TWO other dealerships (in the greater Toronto area that I won't post) before rolling in to my store. Dealer #1 replaced a MAP sensor. Dealer #2 replaced the turbo and VGT RETAIL and didn't fix the problem. When I get it, I notice that EBP readings are way out to lunch to start. The thing would barely run past 2,000 RPM. And yes, sure enough, it looked like the turbo was replaced yesterday. It took me all of 20 minutes to determine that the cat was plugged. It's amazing how fast guys jump the gun. Let's get one thing straight. I don't and WON'T proclaim to be the best tech, or even a good tech (at least I probably won't ever get anywhere even close to as good as Keith, Jim and Dwayne anyways). But at the very least, if I'm going to make a call on a $1500 dollar part RETAIL, I sure as hell would like to be 100% before I make that call. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Amacker Posted June 16, 2009 Share Posted June 16, 2009 with little or no effort we can avoid seeking out and spending money at places like TurboTraining. Hey! Is this some kind of stab in the back? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fordracer Posted June 16, 2009 Share Posted June 16, 2009 Jim made a sale for you Bruce. I didn't know you wrote any books so I finally checked out your web sight and bought some from you this morning. I'm sorry Keith I should be checking out your sponsors and doing business with them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.