SORRY MECHANIC

[Jwasnewski]

I have to post this.
I have been chasing a weird over heating problem for two months.89 Suburban TBI water temperature would climb to or greater than 230. Shut the engine off for 15-20 seconds and it would run around 205-210. It might run 10 minutes at that temperature or 1000 miles. New Radiator, sensor, and I installed a mechanical gauge. The only thing not new was the water pump so even though I didn’t believe it was a water pump I tore it out anyway. What else is there?
What did I find? Sabotage!!
A freeze plug in the lower radiator hose. Now that’s between the radiator and the pump so it didn’t fall in there. My truck has been to two shops in my town for unrelated issues so I can’t prove who did it or why. Backtracking timelines, I have an idea. Any way, some mechanics are plain sorry.

 

[Paladin]

some mechanics are plain sorry.

Amen!!!

 

[Octane]

Mechanics can be sloppy like that

 

[Termite_Delight]

I have to post this.
I have been chasing a weird over heating problem for two months.89 Suburban TBI water temperature would climb to or greater than 230. Shut the engine off for 15-20 seconds and it would run around 205-210. It might run 10 minutes at that temperature or 1000 miles. New Radiator, sensor, and I installed a mechanical gauge. The only thing not new was the water pump so even though I didn’t believe it was a water pump I tore it out anyway. What else is there?
What did I find? Sabotage!!
A freeze plug in the lower radiator hose. Now that’s between the radiator and the pump so it didn’t fall in there. My truck has been to two shops in my town for unrelated issues so I can’t prove who did it or why. Backtracking timelines, I have an idea. Any way, some mechanics are plain sorry.

Glad you found it! I don't trust anyone to work on anything I own.

 

[idahovette]

Please don't lump ALL mechanics together. There are/were some of us that tried to be very careful in what we do/did. I was in the business for 52 years (21 as a shop owner)and always tried to do right by all. Sure, I had a few "problem" customers, but usually got things resolved and didn't work on their stuff again. If I were you I would take the freeze plug to them and ask them if they knew where this came from, unless you left under less than ideal conditions. Any way, just my view. I know there are a lot of crooks out there, just sorry you found one!!!

 

[1987 GMC Jimmy]

I agree, but those good mechanics are in the minority, and you’ll pay a decent amount for their services. Most of them are between mediocre and bad. There might be 1 in 10 that are fairly solid, and 1 in 100 might be true pros at their trade. I’m talking independents. I just assume dealer techs, even if they’re good, have to play a certain amount of games mandated by their bosses/the company.

 

[idahovette]

WOW, sorry you guys live in a **** world as far as decent mechanics go!!! I guess living in a smaller town (6000) has it's better moments. If a mechanic screws up around here, they are NOT in business for long. Word really travels fast,especially the bad news part.

 

[Doppleganger]

UFB to the original post. About as bad as the bag of bolts or pop can welded inside of new cars doors or fuel tanks.

I used to go into places with an issue I knew what was wrong. See what they say and almost set myself up. If they said something stupid or expensive, I never went back. But a couple were straight up and either told me what was truly wrong and offered a fair solution, or would talk me out of an expensive repair.

Those are the fellas I went to religiously and spread their business cards around. I'm sentenced in a town of 400,000 at the moment and there are 3 guys who wrench I trust. And we have talks about the 'others' in town.

Most of the time its a guy who's run his own place for 30+ yrs, maybe was a family business, and well known....sells out to a clown that cant find his ass with a Thomas Guide and a team of dogs and rips everyone off. People go there for the 'reputation' of a guy thats no longer there.

 

[Paladin]

All of the so called mechanics I have ever dealt with, with the exception of one gentleman, have only been good at wrenching money out of my wallet. Most of them did more harm than good. That's the main reason I began doing all my own work myself, no need to pay someone to do it wrong, I can do that myself for free, but most of the time I get it right through research. To this day the one mechanic I mentioned although he is over 300 miles away, I can call him, explain my problem and he can and will give me a diagnosis as best he can and he is pretty much spot on even at that distance, sight unseen! I gave him a lot of business before I moved and he shows his appreciation of that in his continued support of me irregardless of the distance between us! Thank you Don Slater , at ABC Alignment in Odessa, Texas!!!!!

 

[Termite_Delight]

WOW, sorry you guys live in a **** world as far as decent mechanics go!!! I guess living in a smaller town (6000) has it's better moments. If a mechanic screws up around here, they are NOT in business for long. Word really travels fast,especially the bad news part.

I live in a town of 900, I don't have much of a choice. It's take your chances or do it yourself...

 

[idahovette]

UFB to the original post. About as bad as the bag of bolts or pop can welded inside of new cars doors or fuel tanks.

I used to go into places with an issue I knew what was wrong. See what they say and almost set myself up. If they said something stupid or expensive, I never went back. But a couple were straight up and either told me what was truly wrong and offered a fair solution, or would talk me out of an expensive repair.

Those are the fellas I went to religiously and spread their business cards around. I'm sentenced in a town of 400,000 at the moment and there are 3 guys who wrench I trust. And we have talks about the 'others' in town.

Most of the time its a guy who's run his own place for 30+ yrs, maybe was a family business, and well known....sells out to a clown that cant find his ass with a Thomas Guide and a team of dogs and rips everyone off. People go there for the 'reputation' of a guy thats no longer there.

I had that chance to sell out to a guy that I knew was gonna run the business into the ground. He wanted to keep the store in the name I had for 18 years and I didn't want that to happen. I held on for another 6 months and then my Bride sold the building to a young couple that needed a storage facility for their Excavation business. one call is all she made and SOLD!!! Really lucked out with the sale and my Bride!!!

 

[vintovka]

Since Pot was made legal its been nothing but problems around here. SHops cannot keep good ones and when they flunk drug test workmans comp won't cover them. Also those who fail get names shared nationwide and they become unemployable. Sadly one kid spent thousands on tech school and certs all for nothing. Left pins loose in disc brakes resulted in near fatal accident.

 

[Old77]

Please don't lump ALL mechanics together. There are/were some of us that tried to be very careful in what we do/did. I was in the business for 52 years (21 as a shop owner)and always tried to do right by all. Sure, I had a few "problem" customers, but usually got things resolved and didn't work on their stuff again. If I were you I would take the freeze plug to them and ask them if they knew where this came from, unless you left under less than ideal conditions. Any way, just my view. I know there are a lot of crooks out there, just sorry you found one!!!

I agree here. Not ALL mechanics are lowsy. Like any profession, there are good and bad. Just gotta find the good and hang on to them and not go anywhere else. I do about 90% of my own work but when I need a mechanic I have a shop in town that i go to for all my needs and I won't go anywhere else because I've been to shops that do shoddy work and I don't want to go down that road LOL I don't even care if I have pay a little bit more. The piece of mind is worth it.

@idahovette glad that you are/were one of the good ones

 

[82sbshortbed]

I've got a good shop near me that I've taken both my SS and square to. He's very honest and fair prices. When I took my SS yo him for inspection he told me right up front that once he hooks the machine up to it he has yo charge me if the check engine light came on. I told him to turned it off with my scanner. So he hooked up his scanner to see if everything was saying ready and would pass before hooking it up to the shop one. Everything was good and it passed.

He's always been upfront with me. So I let him do the **** I don't feel like ******* with.

 

[Ricko1966]

Wow.Ive worked at good shops with honest people. I never did anything to sabatoge anyone's stuff, never knew anyone who did.Most problems we had were people that just didn't know all they needed to, or already had the all mechanics are out to get me attitude instigated by the press.