Keith Browning Posted October 2, 2016 Share Posted October 2, 2016 My dealer has all of the ford trucks and diesels run through my team - now this. Our Dodge service department is struggling to get the bigger trucks in and finish them in a timely manner. So the idea struck somebody to begin combining the two and guess who has to deal with it? So now, since I am the only guy willing to make the effort, I now get to train for Chrysler and take on this extra work. It's either really smart or really fucking stupid on my part but I have never been one to turn down a challenge. So here I am. But I really just wanted to share that it seems the Dodge trucks suffer from similar problems the Fords are. Aftertreatment issues, EGR problems and extended idling, turbochargers. At least I have Cummins training and experience with the medium duty Ford trucks. Two weeks ago I limped in a 5500 from PSE&G that was smoking badly. Turbo came apart and dumped 10 of the 14 quarts of oil into the exhaust. One turbo, DPF and SCR I have an EPA compliant truck that is driveable... except the engine is making rattling noises. One of the codes I pulled from the PCM was for "low oil pressure." I am in deep now! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyanG Posted October 3, 2016 Share Posted October 3, 2016 Your only one guy and there going to have to understand you can only work so fast and do so much. If they don't have enough people to put the work out faster that's on them. My dealer does this kind of stuff too, they cant get anybody with experience so the work load is constantly increasing and still expected to be done in a timely manner. Like you said though, it might suck in the beginning but eventually it could turn out to be better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyanG Posted October 3, 2016 Share Posted October 3, 2016 It also sounds like a good time to ask for a raise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Saunoras Posted October 3, 2016 Share Posted October 3, 2016 This is the same story all across the board now. Experienced techs are leaving so the additional workload gets jammed onto whoever else is remaining. They can try and give it a positive twist, maybe give some more money but in the end it's not going to even out. My shop is doing that right now too. I'm doing diesel, gas and transmissions. It would be fine if it was all truck work but it isn't. Anymore I really want to get out of a dealer, I keep trying to tell myself it's going to get better but it isn't. Every month it gets a little worse here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyanG Posted October 3, 2016 Share Posted October 3, 2016 The other truck guy quit again so have double the work load again. I don't mind having the work load, its when everybody wants it right now. If I let them run me ragged doing diag and trying to do everything at once that's when my paycheck suffers. Don't see it getting any better right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmorris Posted October 3, 2016 Share Posted October 3, 2016 The other truck guy quit again so have double the work load again. I don't mind having the work load, its when everybody wants it right now. If I let them run me ragged doing diag and trying to do everything at once that's when my paycheck suffers. Don't see it getting any better right now. You're not alone. I have resorted to working at my own pace. When they ask for a "quick diagnosis" I reply with "Holy shit, they finally cane out with a diesel engine that can be quickly diagnosed, well isn't this the best day ever!" It varies from day to day. Sometimes my responses go from condescending to down right nasty. The stupid thing is, we have this kick ass work distribution system at our disposal, but none of the yahoo's up front will use it, and none of them work together. They say shit runs downhill, I have designed a system where it gets thrown back uphill before it hits me. I also use phrases like "unrealistic expectations" and "not my concern" when they try to throw too much at me. Plus I am not ashamed to use the phrase "I don't know". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Saunoras Posted October 5, 2016 Share Posted October 5, 2016 This year so far we've had our oldest standing tech retire, our tranny guy quit, the tech who was hired after him quit already, another younger guy is getting out of the business altogether and this is his last week AND finally our asset kid is going back to school next week. That will leave me, our one other SMT and a guy who just started last month who has exactly one months experience remaining in the shop. I find out we aren't hiring either, we have no adds out, nothing. I wouldn't call this growing pains, the ship is sinking and I'm ready to jump off Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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