xrac

I do not think you were too hard on it. I agree with you.

One of the big ones that we run into all of the time is that it ain't the battery because all my lights work.

That is a good story Gonzo. It reminds be about the time that a woman's husband picked up their van and about 15 minutes later the woman was on the phone chewing me out because someone had been smoking in her van. I was apologetic and told her that our guys know they would be fired for doing that. I suggested it could be a little stray smoke from the window being down and door open and was very apologetic and promised to talk to the technician. She had no more than hung up when the phone rings and it was the woman's husband. He explained that none of my technicians had been smoking in the van. His wife thinks he has quit smoking and he had decided to slip a cigarette in on the ride home. I don't think he ever told her the truth.

I once got a man who dropped his Chevy S-10 off to find out why the AC didn't work. WE found out that the truck he bought during cold weather never had AC to start with.

On Saturday we installed a cooling fan assembly in a 2001 Honda Accord as a fix for an overheating problem. I received a call this morning from the young lady saying that on Sunday she noticed a strong smell of gasoline in her car. I told here I couldn't imagine that anything associated with the repair was the problem but to bring it in and we would check it out. She brought her car in and we found the problem. We found a can of gasoline in the trunk leaking. She is blonde!

It helps with unemployment claims if you terminate someone due to violating a shop rule.

I may have one I can email you. I'll have to check.

We have been dealing with a customer with an 04 Mazda 6. We gave her a price on installing a new engine some time back but must have been too high. Her busband found a guy back home (3 hours away) who was going to put an 09 used engine in it. He started on the job to only find out it wouldn't fit (didn't do his home work). He wound up rebuilding the engine (we don't rebuild because we believe it to be a losing proposition). I don't know the whole story but the woman told me that the engine has been in and out 4 times. She wasn't happy and had us check it out. We found a few things unrelate to the engine wrong: bad transmission mount, bad CV axle, exhaust all loose from being off and on multiple time, etc. Then she came back in out of oil (2 quarts low). Rear main seal is leaking badly. I don't know what the outcome will be but I have a feeling they got what they paid for. The problem with a lot of C techs is they don't know enough to know when to back away from a job and they don't know enough to do proper pricing.

Radio installation by the unqualified has created some of the biggest messes I have ever saw.

Good to have you on here, Russ!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=G7nRRykiOGc

Joe what makes of cars do you do with this tool?

Eventually there will not be an Auto Zone, Advance, O'Reilly because one of the players will disappear. My guess will be Advance.

Those credit card processor calls are the biggest nuisances of all.

That is so true. The problem is I have trouble paying the bills now. If I lower prices it would be harder. The problem with the places selling lower priced services is they are making up for it somewhere. We frequently get cars where the dealer told them they needed brakes NOW only to find they had 50% or more brake pad remaining. It happened just last week.

That is true. I see quite a bit of this.

Joe, it is definitely an issue but summer is the traditional time for vacations. At other times of the year it may not fit the spouse's or kids' schedules. We just work with everyone as best as we can. This will usually mean some of us working six (6) days. Last week my best diagnostician was off. Thankfully our diagnostic load was light and everything went well and we had a good week dollarwise. However, it doesn't always play out that way. I encourage people to take vacation at other times. However, are two busiest months of the year are February and March which is not a big vacation time.

Joe, every word you spoke is true and is good advice. No matter what the government or media says there are large portions of our nation that have never experienced a recovery from this recessiion.We also see it as well.

It was my privilege to know and talk to my great uncle who was wounded in the trench warfare in France during WWI. He had a steel plate in his head and the doctors told him he would not live beyond his 30's but he made it past 90. I remember several World War II veterans who were peers of my father. One was severely wounded by machine gun fire in the Pacific. Another served four years in Europe. During that time he had his first child born, a little girl. She grew to the age of 2 years and died and he never saw her. Then there was George who served 4 years in heavy fighting in Europe and the gentleman that I knew who was on a submarine at Pearl Harbor. Then there was one of my good friends severely wounded in Vietnam but surviving. My wife's brother was also wounded by a schrapnel mine in Nam. Then there are the boys I know. One is an Airforce Combat Controller who has saw heavy action in Afganistan. Our Eric the Navy Seal one of my best friends son who grow up with my kids and has been a Seal for over 15 years. Several in his unit have been killed and he has been in extreme danger many times. There there is the young man who is an elite Marine who has served tours in Afganistan on top secret missions. My hat is off to all of these fine people both living and deceased. I am honored to have known them and I honor and respect their bravery and sacrifice. God bless them and God bless their memories.

Thank you! I will check it out.

Had a fellow with his Jeep Cherokee in the shop this week showing us the conversion he is doing on it. He is turning it into something like a Ford Explorer Sport Trac. He has cut the back hatch compartment in two and created a small exposed bed. He has done a pretty impressive job.

I though you might like to see and advertisement we used recently. EV0612834_CarX.pdf

Don't you just hate getting a hold of this stuff after someone has butchered it. We had a Lexus this week from a small time dealer, mostly this guy buys cars with problems fixes them and sells them. This is a Lexus that was loaded with everything electronically: TV, climate control, security system, etc. you name it. He couldn't get the AC to work and had some backyard guy working on the wiring. We were reluctant to mess with it but Sam our Master Tech with 30 years experience is a pretty good electrical guy and he thought he could handle it. What Sam didn't realize was what a mess this guy had the wiring in all cut and taped up. Sam worked on it off and on over three days and than finally gave up. We called the guy and didn't charge him anything. It was in just too big a mess and would take to long to straigten out. It probably needed a whole new wiring harness. Sometimes you live and learn.