Gonzo

Dealing with the DIY’r I find it harder and harder to deal with some of these DIY’rs anymore. It’s not that there are more of them or that I’m getting older and find I have less tolerance of their half-wit ideas, it’s more of the way they go about things these days. I still get calls from somebody wanting me to test some component off the car, but with the ever changing technology there are very few parts that can be tested that way anymore. It used to be nothing to take your ignition module or alternator down to the local parts store and have it tested although, that’s not the case these days. I don’t know of any parts store still testing ECM’s or doing in house programming either. But, there are a lot of DIY’rs under the impression that swapping parts is the best method of repair. The time when there were only a few parts controlling various systems and they weren’t very expensive has faded into the history books. Although, I can sympathize with the DIY’rs plight as far as trying to save a buck on car repairs, the level of expertise in doing so has changed dramatically. I’ve heard comments from a few, that the “Cash for Clunkers” program caused some issues in the repair business. As far as I see it, yes it did, and as for the DIY’r it most certainly did too. Most of these home garage tinkerers learn through experience and since many of that era’s cars have already gone to the scrap yard there’s less chance of understanding the complexity of the next generation of cars. It’s like a complete decade of technology was skipped over. Now, the advancement in technology is light years ahead of them, but their repair procedures are still (for the most part) a few decades behind. I had a call just the other day from a guy who asked if I could check his coil off the car because he didn’t want to buy a new one and then find out it wasn’t the problem. He definitely was your typical, “Swap parts until I get it” kind of guy. However, some of these newer coils can run well over a hundred dollars for a replacement and merely swapping one out isn’t as easy as it used to be. I tried my best to get him to bring the car in but, he wasn’t going to pay somebody to tell him what was wrong with the car because he was capable of fixing it himself. He was determined to fix it even though his only options were to change parts he was familiar with from years of tinkering under the hood. (Not a good diagnostic strategy at all.) Then there are the “macho” DIY phone calls that refuse to talk to a girl. Now really, in this day and age? Talking to a girl about car stuff upsets you? I for one, know a lot of gals out there that could wipe you off the map with the knowledge and expertise they have about cars. My daughter for example, she has worked around the shop for so many years that she can diagnose most problems just by what the customer is telling her. The other day she had one of those typical, “I want to talk to a mechanic” calls. She answered with her usual response, “Yes, and what can I do for you?” Of course, the caller kept insisting on talking to a “mechanic”, but we all know what he really wanted was to talk to a man and not some girl on the phone. My daughter, (A chip off the same stubborn block) kept up her side of the conversation with, “Yes you are, and so what do ya need bud?” Finally, out of frustration he relented and spilled his dilemma to a girl. It went something like this. “I was changing out my blower motor because it didn’t work. You know what a blower motor is right?” “Yes,” she answered sarcastically. “Well, I changed it and it still doesn’t work. I think I dropped a dowel pin through my schematic and that’s why it doesn’t work. Can you fix that?” (I am not kidding… that’s what he said.) I don’t care if you’re a guy or a gal, but if you have any common sense at all you’d know something wasn’t right with this phone call. My daughter did her best to keep her composer and told the guy his best bet of getting things solved was to bring the car in. Which, of course, he wasn’t about to do, because he could fix it his macho self. But, that’s just the tip of the iceberg as to what some these DIY’rs will ask. A lot of times they will call and tell you that they have already done all the research and know it’s “just a wire” or “it’s just a ground problem” and then ask how much to fix it. As if anyone could give an estimate for “just a wire” without knowing the where or what the problem is or if their research is even correct. But, it happens every day. If they do show up, you’ll know which ones they are. There the ones that leave their wiring diagram or manual on the passenger seat opened to the appropriate page, or they already have the car torn apart for you. You know, so it’s “easier” for the mechanic. A little advice to the DIY’rs… don’t help, and when the service writer asks you, “What’s wrong with the car?” don’t answer with “Well, I changed this, and changed that”… etc. etc. You’re lucky the service writer doesn’t come back with a sarcastic reply like; “So, you’re telling me that what is wrong with the car is that… you worked on it?!” Seriously, just tell them what’s wrong, not what you’ve done. If they ask you, “Did you do anything?” That’s when you can tell them all about your weekend adventures back and forth to the parts store. It’s a fact of life that we all tend to try and repair things ourselves. The DIY’rs that are successful, I tip my hat to you. But the ones that fails miserably, and says, “Since I can’t fix it, it’s beyond fixing by anybody. I’m just better off to selling the car.” They are the ones that twist my wrenches. Today’s cars are not the kind of commodity that can be just randomly torn apart in the home garage anymore. It really has become a professional field that should be left to the professionals. DIY’rs, ya gotta love em’. They’re the best and worst customer’s for the professional mechanic. View full article

I've been saying this for decades. I specialize in electrical systems and never got into engine swaps and trannys. It's a never ending change, but I think the trend is to individually specialized repair shops and not so much the "general" repair shops, even though there maybe a few left in the future.

I know the feeling Frank. We're starting to sound a lot like our grandparents did when they would say, "Darn kids....!" Now I know how they felt about all the new hip stuff going on. Too funny, Oh... I meant LMAOROFL LOL

Abbreviations One of the techs came into the office some time ago to explain some crazy readings he was getting after hooking up to the DLC with the NGS. As he was explaining the problem, a very inquisitive customer was sitting at the counter waiting for an LOF. The mechanic and I discussed the test results and worked out a way to narrow down the problem even farther. The whole time the customer was intently listening to every word of the conversation about MAF’s, TPS’s, MAP’s, ACT’s, PCM’s, and CTS’s. Nothing out of the ordinary for two CMT’s to discuss, but it did get a bit on the “techy” side. When the tech went back out to the service bay to tackle the problem the customer asked me, “Were you guys talking about a car? I swear I didn’t understand a word you were saying. Sounded like some foreign language to me.” I guess it would sound like a foreign language to someone who didn’t understand the abbreviations and terms we were using to describe the various sensors and components. These days the whole world is full of abbreviations, acronyms, and slang words that weren’t part of our culture in years past. Growing up, about the only people who talked in abbreviations a lot were the police, the military, and doctors. Now, it’s everywhere. Abbreviations have crept into every facet of modern life. We seem to thrive on chopping up words and phrases into short staccato blips of the English language. For me, it’s especially noticeable in the various automotive components and procedures I deal with every day. Prior to the time when computers entered into the automotive world there were just a handful of shortened phrases or abbreviations I can recall that were common place in the automotive world, such as SS for “Super Sport”, or the name of a car was an acronym for something else. Like the 442 (Four on the floor, Four barrel, Dual exhaust). For the most part, a starter was called a starter, and an alternator was called an alternator. (Generator for you really old guys.) There were no abbreviations needed. But, now with all these various sensors and components in today’s cars, abbreviated phrases and acronyms have become a part of the modern mechanic’s vocabulary. Some of these shortened phrases have become such a common part of our normal conversation that their non-abbreviated form sounds more out of place than their abbreviated version. Take LED’s for example, who calls them “Light Emitting Diodes” these days? In fact, since LED is capitalized you probably read it as L-E-D and I doubt very seriously anyone said “led” by mistake. Pretty amazing, isn’t? There are a few abbreviations that haven’t quite taken on a life of their own like the LED’s have and still have a few variations to them. TPMS – TPS, or the SEL – CEL, or the ALDL - DLC are a few that come to mind. Even though the terms are understood, there is no “universally” accepted abbreviation for them. Sometimes it really comes down to which manufacturer you’re dealing with as far as which abbreviation is appropriate. These days it’s not hard to have a complete conversation with nothing more than a few abbreviations. It truly has become a language all to its own. Before texting and smart phones, writing a letter with these cryptic abbreviations just wasn’t the norm. “LOL” for example, wasn’t a word back then, and now, it’s so common place that it’s not only understood by everyone it’s also in the dictionary. Good old “Ma-Bell” still works, but having that smart phone in your pocket sure changes the concept of personal communication. There’s no doubt, the computer has changed our world forever. Something I’ve noticed is that a lot of my younger generation customers use the internet and texting as a great way to set up appointments or discuss their car problems with me. I do get an occasional one from the older crowd too, but those emails and texts I don’t have to sort through a lot of those abbreviated text gibberish to figure out what they wanted to tell me. Some of these “text savvy texter’s” they leave me scratching my head as to what they mean. Automotive abbreviations, now that I understand, but some of these text messages, well… let’s just say I’m a bit lost for words. Here’s one that came in the other day. “2morrow I’m sending my car 2 U. My car is 7K, AFAIK it’s the pwr strng pump, but IDK 4sure. My BF told my GF that you would know how to fix it. I will drop the keys off 2night. JIC it costs a bunch PCM or TMB with an estimate and LMK what you find. 10X L8R.” And I thought car abbreviations were getting out of hand. It took me a while to figure this one out, but I eventually did. So, I answered with what I thought was an “age appropriate” response. “XLNT, CID, TTYL” Cars are complicated enough; now communicating with the customer is getting complicated, too. All this new abbreviated texting stuff… IDK a lot of it. But, I am slowly learning more each day. It’s my latest challenge to tackle. I’m just wondering what the next generation’s communication media going to be like… Message videos? Gifs? Holograms? Your guess is as good as mine. TIAD, TTYL8R - TTFN View full article

Oh, man... I gotta work that one into the next article. too funny

After the latest magazine was in print my email, facebook, twitter, etc... has been flooded with funny pet peeves from all over the country. My editors wanted a follow up article for it. Well, here it is... rough draft, not finished, but an idea in concept. If you'd like to get one added, just leave a comment and I'll try to fit it in. I've only got so many words per page I can have and a limited page content. (depends on the amount of advertising each month) But, I'll try to squeeze yours in too. let me know. Gonzo

Pet Peeves 2 Pet peeves, how many are there? Well, enough of them that one article wouldn’t hold them all. I have received so many emails, texts, and phone calls about it that I thought; Why not put everyone’s pet peeve into a another article and give credit where credit is due. You know, to the guys and gals that not only read these stories, but live and work through these pet peeves as well. So here we go, in no particular order “Pet Peeves 2” Butch, Pittsburgh, Pa. – Doing a tire rotation and the owner has no idea where they’ve tossed the wheel lock socket. It’s somewhere in the car is the closest gps location you ever get. Jack K. - My biggest pet peeve is when the vehicle owner has to have it finished today or else, so we work extra hard to get it done putting other cars off and when we call them to pick it up they say, Oh I will get it tomorrow. Mark S. Wichita, Ks – People in unrelated professions that want to tell me how to do my job. Aircraft pilots for example, find enough time to talk about their car “woes” while they are in flight. These guys all get together and trouble-shoot their cars while maintaining a constant glide path. They arrive at a diagnosis, a systematic solution including which tools to use and of course, all of this without any tests or actual knowledge of the inner workings of the systems, just what they think they can surmise as to how the system must have evolved into today’s sophisticated electronic nightmare. Then they tell me what’s wrong, how to fix it, and just how much I should charge for it. For some reason, they get all upset when I tell them that I have no way of knowing what they have come up with is correct or not. “We know what’s wrong, can’t you go off that?” they’ll tell me. I might say, “Since you seem to know, why don’t you go ahead and fix it yourself?” I probably shouldn’t have said that, but after trying at length to explain the process to them, I figure they are going to be nothing but trouble, which is usually how things turn out with most of them. I wonder how they’d take it if a few of us got on a plane and then started making suggestions on how to fly it? John Z. Tulsa, Ok. – People who call competitors to get a quote on a repair while they’re still in my lobby. There’s always going to be somebody cheaper, always. There’s no balancing act between fair pricing and quality work, it is what it is. What tips the scales is people’s conception as to what it should cost and shops that don’t do their homework as to what it’s going to take to do that particular job. Someday I’d like to beat them at this game. You know, diagnose a job, then, get a quote from everybody you can think of. That way when the customer tells me, “I can get that done cheaper over there.” I can say, “Nope, done checked it out.” Not that I want to be the cheapest mind you, I just want to see them tell me that so and so is cheaper-faster-better when I’ve already checked it out or have a better idea who they are comparing me too. You know, apple to apples. Sheri, Castle Rock, CO. Customers who come in without an appointment for things like a discounted oil change offer or some other special priced deal we’re offering at the time. While you’re trying to moving heaven and earth to get them in they start complaining about how long it's taking when in real time it’s probably only been about 90 seconds since they walked in the door. Argh! Z. Drummer - A car brought in for diagnostics, repair and or a drive cycle verification for a state inspection....with the gas gauge on "E". Bob B. Akron, Ohio – The gas tank is always full when the fuel pump goes bad. Oh, it wasn’t full when they noticed it wouldn’t start, oh no… they thought it was just out of gas of course. But, adding a gallon or so won’t do. Oh no, let’s squeeze every ounce of fuel into the tank that we can by bringing the level up until it runs out the filler neck. Gary, Iowa – They tell you the hood doesn’t open easily, and there’s a trick to it. You tell them, “You mean go outside and tap on the hood once or twice and it will pop up enough to reach the safety latch?” It ain’t a trick; a lot of them do it, but to some of these aficionados of the car world they are completely shocked that I revealed their secret without the need of a demonstration. James, Rapid City, Iowa. – Customers that neglect to tell you that the window won’t roll back up or the hood release cable has been rerouted through the front grill with a couple of nuts tied to what’s left of the cable. Brian B. Ft. Lauderdale, Fl. It’s a giving rule, when a bolt or tool falls and makes it to the floor; it HAS to go to the exact center of the car where you can’t reach it without sliding under it. But, if it didn’t make it all the way through the maze of parts and hoses, it’s hidden in a crevice where even the beam from a flashlight can’t reach it. Oh the stories we all could tell. What’s really amazing is it doesn’t matter what part of the country you’re in, it’s the same thing everywhere you go. At the time when all this is occurring, it may not seem all that funny to you or the customer, but when you take a moment, step back, and then take that second look, you know, it actually is pretty hilarious after all. I enjoy the emails, keep them coming. We keep this up, I’m sure they’ll be a “Pet Peeves 3” in the making. Happy wrenchin’! View full article

One of my favorite shows was the original Star Trek. The intellect and ideas that were brought out through the characters and the story lines were amazing to a young lad like myself. Today, a lot of there concepts are real and are part of our daily lives. Mr. Spock and the rest of the rest of the cast not only showed us new ways of thinking about our future, but showed us a future where different species could work together. It always seemed to me that there was an underlining story in the story. Keep in mind this was Vietnam era, hippies, Nixon, etc... a very different time than today. There are very few TV shows that get the right cast, the right story lines, and the right time to be aired. This was one of them. On and Off the air Mr. Nimoy was a class act. Live long and prosper.

Anymore, these type of situations make me laugh. Usually before the customer even realizes I'm laughing at them. I guess after you've been around as long as I have nothing surprises you anymore. It's a good to find a fresh "arsehole" with a different perspective on car repair. I would have walked by and said the same thing, but more than likely would have been laughing all the way to my office. LOL too funny.

I Must Be Insane Insanity has been described as doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results. Well, I must be insane, because every morning, as I drive to the shop and unlock the doors, I’m expecting today to be different than it was the day before. I haven’t exactly had any professional evaluations as to whether or not I’ve actually lost my mind or not, but I’ve got proof I must be at least a few sockets short in the old tool box. At least I have an excuse for what I do. How else can I explain dealing with all this car stuff if I’m not just a bit touched in the head? I’ll try to explain it, or at least try to make some sense of this senseless occupation I’m in. Unlike a lot of trades where you learn the needed skills through college or trade schools, and then spend your career refining those skills, in this field nothing ever is the same. Just as soon as you master a system it becomes obsolete with something newer. Even though in a lot of professions the tools of the trade are improved from time to time the basic “product” doesn’t change. Now, you might find some people who will disagree, but let’s face it, a brick is a brick, wood is wood, dirt is dirt, and a doctor still only has two models to deal with. Even changing oil isn’t a simple task anymore. It’s enough to drive a first year lube tech nuts trying to remember how to reset the oil lights. There’s everything from stomping the gas pedal three times to running through an on-screen menu, while holding down two buttons, or using a scanner to clear them. I can’t think of one person out there who has memorized all the different ways to reset the various oil reminder lights on every car. But, if there is, I really feel sorry for ya, dude. You need to find a new hobby; you’re just a little touched in the head fella. Aside from your basic open end wrench and a screwdriver, there’s all these new-fangled tools and scanners and testing equipment you’ve got to learn. That alone can make a person dislodge a few marbles just trying to keep up with that stuff. Then, there are the various situations and interactions with the parts store, the other mechanics, busted knuckles, and of course, let’s not forget about the customer. I think I’m overdue for my trip to the sanitarium. If you put the time into this job, take advancement classes, and study the latest systems you might be referred to as “an expert”. But, even then, you’re going to run across somebody who will say to you, “I hear you’re pretty good.” Honestly, I never know how to answer that; is it an insult or a complement? Depends on their tone of voice I guess. Sometimes I feel like the old gun slinger at the bar in an old western movie, you know the scene were this young whippersnapper comes strolling in and asks the same question to the old gun slinger? Seriously, after three decades of doing this, I’m either completely crazy, or I must be pretty good at this car repair stuff. How should I answer that question? I’ll try anyway. I keep my piece, (peace) and answer with, “Sure am. What can I do for ya?” Even though, what I’d like to say is what that old gun slinger says to the young whippersnapper, “Ya come to find out? High noon, outside, be there.” It’s just nuts I tell you, every day there’s a new challenge to my sanity. Take used car salesmen, no really… take them. These guys can be a shop’s best customer or some of their worst. The last one was no exception to that rule. His first comment to me was, “My boss said I needed to take this car to a reputable shop.” (I’m experiencing a few uncontrollable ticks and odd eyebrow twinges right about now. I usually get them when the crazy is about to come out, and I’m going to say something stupid that I’ll regret later.) My first thought is they know of a “non-reputable” shop out there and that’s where they get their cars serviced? Makes me want to go buy a car off of their lot right now. I guess this particular problem couldn’t be solved with the “Let’s swap parts until it’s fixed” method, so they’ve resorted to actually getting it diagnosed. And, I’ll bet this repair is either going to be way out of their budget, or be so simple that no matter what I charge it’s going to be too much. (Those twitches are getting a little more noticeable now.) Get the straight jacket and the rubber room ready, I’ll be there in a bit. It turned out to be nothing major, just a faulty charging system. The computer picked up about a zillion codes for loss of communication due to low voltage. A new alternator and a bit of reflashing took care of the entire problem. Now, I had to deal with the boss. Time for the interrogation and badgering over everything I described about the repair. Now I have to listen to how this guy could have done the entire repair with a rubber band and a toothbrush. Ok, call me crazy; call me nuts, I must be, to listen to this balderdash. I’ve heard it all before. Seriously, trying to belittle me only makes you … be little. I’m already so close to certifiable that trying to make me feel even more nuts than I already am ain’t going to make a bit of difference. I know I’m not alone here; the line to the funny farm after too many years under the hood is quite long. Take this story another shop owner told me, “This guy wanted me to find a leak in his car. I checked it over but I didn’t find one. I thought I was losing my mind, he said there was a leak! I had to call him and tell him I couldn’t find it.” The customer answered, “That’s what I expected you to find.” Really? Now, if somebody tells me they have a leak in their car and I look for one and I don’t find it, I’m going to look again…, and again…, and again. But when the customer tells me there was never a leak and the only reason for all this fuss was to see how honest a mechanic I am, well crazy may not completely cover this one. He’s lucky to have kept his cool and not gone postal after that one! Whether it’s because of the different cars, the different tools, or the different people at the counter, my sanity is always questionable. So, until I get checked out by the shrink, I’m going to go with the insanity plea as to why I’ve stayed at this trade for so long. Now it’s your turn to fess up. So, what’s your excuse? View full article

I'll be there. Coming up on Thursday afternoon and staying until Saturday late. I'll be in the Babcox booth for part of the day. I'll stop by.

there are a lot of sounds I left out. like the ding of the bell to tell the gas station attendant somebody was at the pumps. I think there is only two states where you can't pump your own gas, so I'm sure they still have them. Or the clinking sound the gas pumps made as the numbers revolved. As a kid I remember a station we used to go to, that still had the kind of pumps that dinged at each half gallon. funny thing is, you took the whole experience for granted, not knowing that someday all these various sounds would be replaced by a computer tone. amazing ain't it.

Sounds, Gone but not Forgotten As the automobile strives to become a more perfect personal transportation device, we may not have noticed the subtle changes that have occurred regarding the various sounds that emanate from our cars. There are a lot of different sounds that aren’t part of our driving experiences anymore. It seems all the focus is on all the new technologies and how much better cars have become, but we’ve overlooked some of the characteristic squeaks and squawks that made the car such a unique part of our daily commutes. And some of those sounds are not just gone, but gone forever. Take for instance, the sound of an automotive horn. Years ago, each manufacturer had a unique sound all to their own, from a growling “grrr” sound, to the startling sound of an “Aoo-gah” horn. In today’s cars the horn tone is held to a perfect pitch; it’s practically the same tone in every car. Not too long ago it was common place to hear the sound of a 4 barrel kicking in as somebody tromped the gas pedal to the floor. Today, all you hear is the sound of the engine speeding up because the transmission dropped to a lower gear. But, it’s not the same gut wrenching roar of a big 4 barrel carburetor opening up. There are of course those various exhaust tones too. For the most part, those are manufactured sounds from somebody modifying the exhaust systems. People still modify the exhaust these days, although the sound isn’t anything like it used to be. Unless, we’re talking about spaghetti cars or some of the euro cars, or a few of our home grown muscle cars. They all have a different type of rumble from the tail end straight from the factory. What about the different sounds of the starter motors? For years a lot of cars had a unique sound to their starter. A good mechanic back then could tell you exactly what kind of car it was just by the sound of the starter motor. One in particular was on Mopar products. They had a distinct whirring over spin sound just as the engine started. Who remembers the sound of a 6 volt flat head engine cranking up? Especially the early foot operated starters. As you mashed the starter button, a slow methodic Rrr, rrr,rrr sound beckoned from the engine bay as the engine would lumbar to life. These days it’s a high torque, high spin rate starter that does its job to perfection. It’s a highlight of my day when I get the chance stomp on the starter button from one of those old cars and hear a sound from automotive history. From the engine bay to body parts, seems everything had some peculiar rattle or noise that made them not so perfect. Even some of the door handles had a peculiar clunk to them as you would open the door, while closing the door added even more unique clicks or ‘ka-chunks’. If you listen to today’s cars, there’s hardly a difference between them anymore. They all have a perfect “click” and close with about the same sound as every other car. Let’s not forget the column shift, the “three on the tree” with the non-synchronized first gear. They had an unmistakable grind as you slowly pulled it down into first gear, especially if you were backing out of the driveway and were in a hurry. There were even a few models that had an early form of a “key in the ignition” warning system. If you opened the driver’s door on one of these cars a loud obnoxious buzz could be heard from the engine compartment. There are so many sounds, creaks, clanks, and pops on yesterday's cars. At the time, nobody made a big deal out of them. Like the ‘thunk’ of the heater door as you moved the cable from hot to cold, or the sound the license plate bracket made as you lowered it down to fill up the gas tank. (For those too young to remember, yes that’s right, the filler neck was behind the license plate on some cars, and they made an eerie creaking sound when you opened it.) When the designs and styles changed nobody seemed to notice those creaks and groans had disappeared as well. It’s a shame in a way; I kind of liked all those little nuances. Who remembers the sound of the tail gate chains thrashing against the bed of the truck as you went over bumps? I do. And you know, I don’t remember anybody ever complaining about the paint getting scraped off because of it either. There’s the sound of sliding across a bucket seat covered in vinyl and the sound of a hood or trunk spring when you opened it. Where did all these sounds go? Most of those old sounds we associated with our cars have been replaced with soft, quiet, and non-intrusive noises. Cars are quiet now, and some are so quiet the manufacturers are actually adding sounds back into them. Nowadays, the soft ding you hear from leaving the key in the ignition is a perfect tone that doesn’t have that obnoxious buzzing like the older models. And, again, the tone is basically the same from car to car. It’s as if they’ve manufactured out the personality of the individual car. There for a while, I thought the talking car was going to be the next big trend. I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve laughed myself silly over hearing, “Your door is ajar”. I think it’s hilarious. I’m sorry, but a door is a door, and a jar is a jar. I’ve even run across one that spoke in Japanese. The message always started out with an annoying loud “Ding”, and then this soft spoken Japanese woman’s voice came on and she would repeat the message over and over. I don’t speak Japanese, but I’m pretty sure it was something about a door… being … a jar. It could get mind numbing if you’re working on the car with the door open. Soon, you’d start to believe a door was a jar after all. Maybe we just want things too perfect anymore. Could it be we are taking ourselves too seriously these days? I don’t think a few rattles or the unmistakable “thud” of the glove box door when it opened to sit your drinks on it while at the drive-in was all that bad. (Come to think of it, those were about the only cup holders back then too!) I guess it’s just the way things are these days. We live in a time when a squeaky seat spring isn’t acceptable. A lot of these old sounds have gone into the history books and will never return to the automotive world. For me, those sounds may be long gone, but they’re definitely not forgotten. Sounds like perfection is what the manufacturers are striving for, conformative, acceptable, and quiet cars. Maybe what we really need these days is a few squeaks or clunks to remind us … everything doesn’t need to be perfect after all. View full article

It sounds like another one of my many stories.... been there, done that, seen the movie and bought the T shirt. ROFL Yea, people can be so unpredictable and ignorant to what a shop is telling them. What I've found over years of doing this, is that it comes down to what they've heard from a friend or watched on You Tube. I chalk it up to the old analogy, "Everybody is an expert except for the experts." It's crazy how this trade has to deal with this stuff day in and day out.

Growing up around repair shops I was always curious as to how the old guy took things apart and made them work again. I was too young to know whether or not he was doing it right or if he was just goofing around, but when I went back to the shop that job was gone and a new car was in its place, so he must have done something, somehow. As I grew older I noticed a trend to just replace the parts rather than repair them. This transition from repair to replace seem to me to be part of the evolution of car repair. By the time the 'swap til' ya got it' routine came along (which by my recollection would be early 80's) every DIY'r was in on it too. These days, we still have a few DIY'rs hanging onto the parts swap routine, and I still get a few used car lot mechanics and other repair shops that fall into the same category who bring cars in to my shop that they've slapped different modules or PCM's in and then ended up with a worse problem then they started with. I think the next evolution of automotive repair is definitely diagnostics with electronic devices such as a scanner or scope. I doubt it will knock the DIY'r or the slap it on mechanic out of the garage... yet....but it's coming to that. It's just another transition just waiting to evolve.

Indeed Joe. The evolution of the modern mechanic and ever accurring parts swapping was exactly what I was going for in this story.

I don't know why, but this was the only way the article would load. At least I got it here. Lol