Management out of touch with reality

Brad Clayton · December 15, 2009

I have been trying to bring my dealership managers and higher ups around to the reality of what's involved with todays auto repairs. I must say that this has been dificult to say the least. I think that the whole lot of them live in fantasy land. Some of the managers are ex techs and they relate every job in the shop to a broken down Ford Tempo. Jeez, I'll here them say to someone, did you check this? And I'm thinking, they quit making "this", that you want checked, 10 years ago.

Well, the opportunity finally came up and it could not have worked out any better. I guess the only thing that would have made it perfect is if I was a fly on the wall to witness the preceeding events. I currently have a cab off 6.4 short block in my bay and it looks like a train wreck to say the least. The powers that be see this as a quick job and always take the attitude of what's taking so long. The DP was driving a used 6.4 and brought it in Saturday to get the fuel filters replaced. They truck was worked on beside my bay and when the job was completed, it would not start.

It was the end of the day and the tech working on it needed to get out of there. The DP was ok with it after all it was just a used vehicle and he would jump in another one. So now the truck is dead in the water and the service manager is thinking he can get it running. He fricks with it with no luck. The head service advisor comes out and puts his two cents in <rolls eyes>. They call our third string diesel tech over, and he is clueless when they actually run, nevermind a no start. The DP comes back in and jumps on also.

So now we have 4 equally clueless guys huddled around a 14,000 dollar engine trying to get it to run. Now keep in mind it came in for a fuel filter replacement. What's the best idea they came up with? Let's put the old filters back in it and see what happens. ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?

By now the filters have been stewing in the garbage and are grimey. They put the old filters in and it still wont start. I found out about this today and went off on the whole lot. I have never seen so much finger pointing in my entire life. It was "he did not me, no it was his idea not mine" and so on and on. Mike pulled the old filters out and there was some nasty dirt in the housings. He put the new filters back in and then we found out that the truck is actually broken and when the filters were removed, it allowed the fuel system to lose what little "prime" it had to begin with.

It's outside now and waiting to be looked at. I sincerely hope that these fellows that think they run the show have a small inkling as to what we deal with now. I think they will probably forget very quickly, but I will be there to remind them in a heartbeat. You can bet your boots on that partner.

Mbl35 · December 16, 2009

Daily situation in a Brooklyn or Queens dealer. I once had a 05 f150 5.4l in my stall(dealer closed down after 1 1/2 year).The engine was siezed. I removed the oil pan to find a twisted connecting rod-yes twisted that prevented the crankshaft from fully turning. The service manager was not around at the time and the idiot parts manager who was assumiming the role of the service manager insisted that i remove the piston from the bottom without removing the cylinderhead-yes i shit you not. After playing through the whole sharade he the then came to the realization that it can't be done. I then removed the engine-was'nt easy by removing the connecting rod from the crankshaft freed the twisted piston up a bit to give me just enough movement to get the converter nuts off. After removing the cyl. head there wasd a deep enough gouge in that cyl wall to warrenty an engine. But anyway this was just one too many assenined situation i had to deal with when working flat rate, just too much extra bullshit. And thats not to mention svc. writers and such wanting there palms greased. Sorry for the rant but your post sparked some memories.

Fredsvt · December 16, 2009

Kind of sounds like my boss. His knowledge is from about 25 years ago.

Any diesel that won't start, he grabs several cans of ether.

I recently did a PM and fuel filters on a 6.4. He's asking me why I put my fuel pressure gauge on it, I tell him so I can bleed it.

I get weird looks.

I told him, I'll won't bleed it then, and walk away, let him try and start it once it gets air bound. He says ether will start it.

I'd be sure to be out of the building on that one.

I can say I'm glad I'm not on flat rate, as he only charged the customer .5. I had to crawl around under the pos as it can't be lifted due to its weight. I love diesel fuel on my arms.