When I first started working as a mechanic, I used to think that dealerships were one of the best ways to go as far as figuring out what was actually wrong with the car. Prices, not so much, but at least diagnosing the car. I came to that conclusion because it seemed logical: They work on the same cars all day every day, and they don’t have to worry about learning every make and every model and every generation like the rest of us do who work on all cars.
They’re going to be Uber familiar with problems of their cars, and should be able to figure them out super quickly.
That was my thinking, at least. Logically, it makes great sense. In practice, though, what I find is that the dealer doesn’t seem to be any better at diagnosing cars than anyone else.
Case in point, I have a lady tell me about her 2015 Ford escape that I believe the dealer told her needed a brake booster. I quoted a price, And they liked the price, so I tentatively put it on the schedule.
Honestly, though, I wasn’t really keen on that particular job. It’s kind of the pain in the butt, and I I’m not doing emotionally well enough right now to be handing myself jobs that are going to tax me more than what I’m able to handle right now.
Gratefully, when I made the appointment, I said that it might be done mobile or it might be done at the shop, referring to Miguel’s shop.
So I had given myself an out from the beginning, and I decided to take the out and send them to Miguel’s shop.
Boy am I glad I did!
So it used to be that break boosters were run off of simple vacuum lines from the engine. They worked that way just fine for who knows how many years–decades and decades and decades and decades and decades.
Anyway, as anyone should do, even when the customer isn’t paying for it, it’s good to double check the diagnosis of another shop.
So Miguel had his new technician diagnosed the car, and What did he find? The brake booster was fine. It… was a lot worse than that.
I guess by the looks of things, they had run the engine low on oil, which oil starved the vacuum pump, which was run off of the camshaft, and the vacuum pump had seized up, and when it sees up, it cracked the camshaft to the engine!!! 😬😬😬
So at best, they’re going to need a timing job along with a new camshaft. And quite possibly, they are going to need a whole new engine. 😕
I’m grateful I didn’t take the job.
It’s also been nice to be able to help me go. Since hiring his new mechanic, he’s needed a lot of work, and I’ve been able to send him enough to keep his guys busy, I think.
So that’s nice.
I started off today going to diagnose a Toyota with some brake issues. Looks like he has some worked rotors. Pads are just fine, but the rotors apparently are warped.
The rain was coming in shortly, and I already had a full schedule, so we decided to do the job another day.
The next job up was doing the rear brake pads on that Toyota RAV4. Gratefully, I managed to get it done just as the rain was starting.
The third car was a GMC Yukon that she said was making a belt noise. I went out there and diagnosed it as having a bad water pump. The water pump bearing was completely shot.
Again, there wasn’t time to do that job, as that’s a bit bigger of a job. Fortunately, though, The SUV was in her garage, so I didn’t get wet from the rain.
The next job was a 1999 Toyota Land cruiser that had the brakes go out on it while he was driving. This is where I’m grateful for identifying. I wouldn’t have been able to figure out the issue in anywhere near As quickly as I did it hadn’t been for the mechanics who post online in the database I have access to.
One of the mechanics described the situation exactly, describes step by step how to diagnose it, and bada bing bada boom, It was diagnosed.
This time it was an issue with the brake booster system, but it was the brake booster vacuum pump that was the problem.
Once again, I miss The old style of cars where things were simple. All that was necessary for power brakes was a hose from the valve cover to the brake booster. Why did people decide that wasn’t a good idea? Why did they decide to add all sorts of complicated parts and systems to do something that was functioning so beautifully so simply?
I really like the Elon musk mentality when it comes to engineering: “The best part is no part.”
I’ve watched videos of people tearing down Teslas who are just odd by how brilliantly they are engineered. Would be nice if everyone else took a lesson. 🙃
Anyway, that was another job that I didn’t want to do the repair for, and that was okay because the part wasn’t going to be easy to get. So I sent them up to Miguel’s shop as well.
The last car was when I was dreading. I already didn’t want to do the job, but it was raining, so that made it triply or quadruply annoying.
It was a struts and CV axle job on a 2006 Hyundai sonata.
I went out there, set up my canopy in the rain, and got going. Grateful, the struts weren’t that big of an issue to replace, and neither was the CV axle. It wasn’t super quick, but it wasn’t bad either. I managed to get done a decent bit before dark, with minimal soaking of my clothes.
What wasn’t so great, is that the person who diagnosed his car, once again got the diagnosis wrong. After replacing the parts for him that he asked me to replace, I took it for a test drive around the parking lot, I didn’t get 10 ft before I heard awful noises. So I did a free diagnosis for him and found that the upper control arms were completely blown out.
So now he needs control arms as well. I gave him a quote, and I guess we’ll see what he decides to do.
From there, it was home and dinner and bed.
Love and hugs. 😊
Lift the World
~ stephen
Lift the World 