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Stercus Accidit

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Keith Browning

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Shit happens. But when it does, who pays for it? When it comes to "accidents" in the shop like a part gets broken by accident (legitimately) or when some debris or a bolt or nut accidentally fall into the intake of an engine undetected. These things happen and hopefully rarely. Now I am not talking about the guy that is constantly fucking jobs up For most of us who have been in the business an appreciable amount of time we learn that even the best of us, the cautious and the observant, eventually some type of disaster is bound to befall our career despite our best efforts to prevent them.

 

So when shit happens to you or around you, who has paid for it? You? The customer? Your company? Insurance? I am sure there are some good stories to come. Posted Image

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When accidents happen here parts usually go internal, labour to fix the accident depends on the circumstances. They are pretty fair here, and thankfully, we are usually not held accountable. Unless it was obvious carelessness that could have been prevented. Who pays the internal charges after the fact, I don't know. Thankfully we have a good crew here and the odd "accidents waiting to happen" are weeded out pretty quickly and "disposed of" in a timely manner.

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I believe the employee is covered under the labor act in Canada.

We can not be held financially responsible for those sorts of accidental things, it doesn't say a flat rate tech cant be starved out though......

I know there is a bit more to it then that but you get the meaning...

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The shop has been pretty good about covering my accidents. The layout of our shop/lot is absolutely stupid, it's pretty obvious that no one ever worked on trucks anywhere near this building. Naturally I've been known to occassionally (unintentionally) run customers vehicles into various obstactles around the shop and outside.

 

The first time I paid for half of the repair ($400) and it came out of my pay $50 a week. The next 2 or 3 times it happened I didn't pay for anything. It was implied that I would exit promptly if it was made otherwise. Not trying to be a jerk but I've had enough.

 

I've never killed an engine but that thought graces my mind every time I have a 6.0 intake manifold off, especially econolines. It seems like an unseen nut laying beside the manifold could easily drop into a runner.

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Exactly Brad. THAT happened to me not too long ago. I had replaced coolers on a 6.0L and released the truck... My guess is that the small bolt (I presume came from the heat shield by the turbo) had been dropped before removing the intake manifold. It bounced around atop the intake vales for 4,000 miles until it wore down enough to slip through and embed itself in the #8 piston. Fortunately the engine was coming out anyway but we had to eat a piston and two valves. That was the first such incident I have had in my entire career and I hope it is the last. Like the title says, shit happens but you feel like an ass when it happens. My company donated the parts and I donated the time which I thought was fair.

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Like this? :grin:

 

 Posted Image

 

That is why I clean and dry those areas, then inspect with a flash light. It's crazy the stuff that settles in there.

 

I dropped my 10mm 1/4 drive socket down the intake portion of the 6.7l valve cover once. It made all the way down to the valves. Thankfully it was on the engine I was removing for replacement. :whew:

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It goes internal... 100%.

 

The idea is that the tech or apprentice needs to come forward with "I fucked up" long before the customer gets involved in a bad way.

 

Yes, you may be chastised for doing something wrong... but be a man and let's get it out in the open so we can fix the fuck up and get back to making money.

 

To begin with, you need management that desires success - none of this "we have them for the next three years" bullshit that can be so prevalent.

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So when shit happens to you or around you, who has paid for it? You? The customer? Your company? Insurance? I am sure there are some good stories to come.

 

I have never been one to maliciously break a vehicle in the name of making time, but I have witnessed it. I just can't sleep at night if I don't try and do my best. This is why I am a break even flat rater. It gets very frustrating when a job goes south because there is usually no wiggle room on the ticket to make it up. The dealer has always covered any of my fuck ups. This is one of the reasons I like the dealer environment. They have deep pockets and can afford to undo something that I accidentally did.We all make a shit ton of money for the owners of these dealerships and they should have our backs.The most memorable incident was the day I wrecked a customers car.....I had just put in my two weeks notice. :facepalm: I got a ticket courtesy of the South Carolina state troopers and the dealer paid the claim to fix the car.

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It goes internal... 100%.

 

The idea is that the tech or apprentice needs to come forward with "I fucked up" long before the customer gets involved in a bad way.

 

Yes, you may be chastised for doing something wrong... but be a man and let's get it out in the open so we can fix the fuck up and get back to making money.

 

To begin with, you need management that desires success - none of this "we have them for the next three years" bullshit that can be so prevalent.

I agree 100% here. We all fuck it up sooner or later as its just human nature. I would always go to the boss and say I fucked up and what do we want to do to make it right. Typically I would eat the labor involved and they would cover the parts.

 

however on the flip side I had to rebuild a 6.0 engine for a failure that was not caused by my workmanship.(which I proved) I did not get paid a dime for that repair and was also not allowed to work on anything else until it was finished which even included the wait for parts. I may have not had to eat the parts involved but I bet it was cheaper then the wages I lost by getting fucked on not being allowed to pull any other jobs while I waited on parts. I just about packed my shit and left over that one.

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however on the flip side I had to rebuild a 6.0 engine for a failure that was not caused by my workmanship.(which I proved) I did not get paid a dime for that repair and was also not allowed to work on anything else until it was finished which even included the wait for parts. I may have not had to eat the parts involved but I bet it was cheaper then the wages I lost by getting fucked on not being allowed to pull any other jobs while I waited on parts. I just about packed my shit and left over that one.

If that had've been me, I would've been out the door faster than anything without even touching so much as one fastener on said vehicle that I'm being accused of causing failure to. And after that, I would make sure anyone else wanting to apply for said position to replace me clearly knows exactly what happened.
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I fucked up once. Admitted to it.

 

Fixed it on my time, and my dime.

 

As soon as the vehicle was released, I got laid off for "lack of work".

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I messed up one job, not intentionally or maliciously, but a case of too many things on the go, and a lapse in concentration. After road testing truck at the end the day after replacing the coolers, noticed a slight drip of coolant. Somehow I managed to cut the fat o ring that sits on top of the front cover. Told them of my mess up, we are hourly so I get paid regardless. Parts covered the necessary fluids/ gaskets to redo it. It was a very good customer who uses it to earn his living, so I stayed and worked during our night shift on my own time, rather than staying on the clock. Customer was very pleased, and ended up writing a nice letter to our Dealer Principal about the incident and how it was handled. The next week I even got a raise !

When I switched dealers years ago, the customer followed me, spends about $150,000 a year on his fleet in the shop.

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I fucked up saturday. Put the right bank of injectors in my truck and now the left bank is having sympathy pain. My power balance looks like a zigzag now from 4 contributing good and 4 contributing like 90k mile injectors.

 

Posted Image

 

I'm accepting donations for 4 more 6.0 injectors

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I was buying them from Larry at Superior Turbo (he is a member here) for REAL reasonable money.

 

They were Alliant power sticks, and if I recall, the warranty was pretty good as well.

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I messed up one job, not intentionally or maliciously, but a case of too many things on the go, and a lapse in concentration. After road testing truck at the end the day after replacing the coolers, noticed a slight drip of coolant. Somehow I managed to cut the fat o ring that sits on top of the front cover. Told them of my mess up, we are hourly so I get paid regardless. Parts covered the necessary fluids/ gaskets to redo it. It was a very good customer who uses it to earn his living, so I stayed and worked during our night shift on my own time, rather than staying on the clock. Customer was very pleased, and ended up writing a nice letter to our Dealer Principal about the incident and how it was handled. The next week I even got a raise !

When I switched dealers years ago, the customer followed me, spends about $150,000 a year on his fleet in the shop.

FWIW..and you may already know this. You can loosen off the fuel lines, belt, fan difuser and EGR cooler clamp, all the intake bolts and lift the intake high enoung to get at that big oring without removing the turbo. Saves a ton of time. I forgot to put that oring in once, thats how I know.

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Originally Posted By: Jeff Clyde
I messed up one job, not intentionally or maliciously, but a case of too many things on the go, and a lapse in concentration. After road testing truck at the end the day after replacing the coolers, noticed a slight drip of coolant. Somehow I managed to cut the fat o ring that sits on top of the front cover. Told them of my mess up, we are hourly so I get paid regardless. Parts covered the necessary fluids/ gaskets to redo it. It was a very good customer who uses it to earn his living, so I stayed and worked during our night shift on my own time, rather than staying on the clock. Customer was very pleased, and ended up writing a nice letter to our Dealer Principal about the incident and how it was handled. The next week I even got a raise !

When I switched dealers years ago, the customer followed me, spends about $150,000 a year on his fleet in the shop.

FWIW..and you may already know this. You can loosen off the fuel lines, belt, fan difuser and EGR cooler clamp, all the intake bolts and lift the intake high enoung to get at that big oring without removing the turbo. Saves a ton of time. I forgot to put that oring in once, thats how I know.

 

True. Usually for me, when I try to do a short cut like that when I am trying to remedy a shortfall, it usually ends up biting me again ! After doing so many of these, the intake can be off in a very short amount of time, and I start fresh on re assembly.

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