Early morning wrenching with ULY

"EL_ULY" (uly) 05/14/2016 at 09:22 • Filed to: Around worklopnik

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Good morning my fellow car nerds! We have a new tech here at our Volvo side that needs this transmission car out today. We got here super early so I could give him a hand and teach him along the way.

Feels good to get out from behind the parts desks and lend a hand. Lol I had to borrow the hydro lift from our Mercedes-Benz side to drop the sub-frame. Nah they won’t mind :].

The new tech dude is a young chap and like most young techs, he has the book smarts but heavily lacks how to actually do the jobs. Yeah he can tell me how things work, specs, construction, etc. but ok, replace it in the 0.5 hrs warranty pays PLUS all those other cars waiting to go today. Lol kids. He is the car enthusiast type like most young techs. I can guarantee that like me, being a car enthusiast pretty much disappears once you enter the field.... unless you do hardly anything and get paid chingos de money. I feel like my car enthusiasm went from a healthy 10 to a 2 after the first couple of month wrenching oh so long ago. It have never recovered yet lolz. I can comfortably say (i know my fellow OPPO techs will agree) that only like 5-10% of pro techs and mechanics out there are actual car enthusiasts. I know there are good examples and “that 1-2 mechanics you know”, but as a whole, fuck how much HP the brand new Audi R8 has, lets make some hours before the pay period ends. Fuck you extended warranty!!!

Rust and Dust - Oppositelock Forever > EL_ULY 05/14/2016 at 09:29

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...being a car enthusiast disappears once you enter the field.

Truer words have never been spoken. I loved cars with a passion as a kid. Still do, but after 18 years of dealing with other people’s cars, I’ll hardly wash mine, much less upgrade it.

EL_ULY > Rust and Dust - Oppositelock Forever 05/14/2016 at 09:36

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lol sooo true. I remember when I used to keep a car wash detail box in my trunk full of various cleaning items. Every couple days go out and give it a good run through and make the car all nice and shiny down to the A/C vents. LOL NOPE!!! Dude once the clock hits 6pm, I go straight home, park that mofo and try to get as much sleep so I could be as fresh as possible for the rest of the 6 day work week full of BS :] Mechanically, they are solid, but 18 year old me wouldn’t be too happy with how filthy my cars are.

Echo51 > EL_ULY 05/14/2016 at 09:38

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This is excactly the main reason im nope-ing out of the mechanics field, despite going to have a mostly easy time through the education. I do enough car work at home to know that i don’t want that 7-8 hours a day, every day just for the cash. I do ocassional on friends cars for favors or change at most.

EL_ULY > Echo51 05/14/2016 at 09:45

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If a friend has a project, it’s fun to help out wrenching on it. No big jobs, fuck that, but little random things is still super fun.

Pizza and project cars = fun :]

Doing shit like evaps, rattle noises, trans rebuilds, and electrical gremlins for BS warranty or extended warranty pay rates gets old real quick.

Not going to lie though, when the pay is good, I don’t mind. I did it for a long while because the shops payed really good. But for green techs, it could destroy your love for cars and mechanix

Echo51 > EL_ULY 05/14/2016 at 10:08

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Clonking noises from the front end and a completely rusted solid rear torsion bar subframe a friend wants done = pain in the ass. But it’s gonna get done eventually :)

EL_ULY > Echo51 05/14/2016 at 10:12

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hope he is patient lol

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > EL_ULY 05/14/2016 at 11:37

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There was a nail. But you hit it so hard right on the head it exploded.

EL_ULY > AMGtech - now with more recalls! 05/14/2016 at 12:04

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Wheelerguy > EL_ULY 05/14/2016 at 13:44

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Why? Because Vöv.

EL_ULY > Wheelerguy 05/14/2016 at 13:53

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Euro Ford :]

His Stigness > EL_ULY 05/14/2016 at 15:33

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Hey EL_ULY I need a favor. I can’t remember but do you do parts for all your brands, or just Volvo? I need a Mercedes guy right now. I need to try and find the air vents for the sunroof cover for my W202. I think I found them here , but on top of the crazy price, shipping is almost $20. I just need the part number for my car so I can call my local dealers and get my shop price. The VIN is WDBHA24G0YA854753.

In regards to your post, though, I know exactly how you feel, and I’ve only been doing this for like three years. I’m that dude though with all the classroom experience, and certifications coming out of my ass (tools too, I have tools out the wazoo), but not as many hours hands on. I’m a quick learner, though, so once I do something I can do it quicker the next time. But I realized early on repair work isn’t my forte. I can diagnose pretty much anything, but when it comes to doing engines or transmissions, or any big job like that, I have a hard time clearing my head and thinking about the job and figuring how to do it efficiently.

So I decided a few months ago to get out of the bays and go into the office for now. I started writing and running my last shop about a year ago, and I realized I really enjoyed it. I found having that technical background really helped me to be a good writer. So next week I’ll be starting as a full-time writer.

It will be really nice to have my toolboxes at home because just as you said when it was time to go home, I bolted. I rarely wanted to stay and work on my cars, I just wanted to get home. I also never really wanted to go in on a weekend and work on them. Thankfully both my cars are pretty solid, and when I do need to do some repair work I do it right away. I pulled the head off my Mercedes after I found a coolant puddle smaller than my fist. Same goes for doing the evaporator. I never hesitated, and I was glad I did it, and that was my goal for getting into auto repair. I’ve had a fair amount of people in the industry question why I want to quit the repair side so quickly, but it’s pretty simple, I got into it to learn how to work on my own cars, and I’ve done that. I also don’t enjoy it, and I have the luxury of being able to find what I enjoy doing right now.

I don’t even plan on staying in automotive, though. Unless I can make a crap ton managing a shop, or owning my own, I’m going into Law as soon as I finish school. I’ll always be proud though that I learned such a useful skill.

Frenchlicker > EL_ULY 05/14/2016 at 16:26

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Trust me, this applies to the automotive industry as a whole. I am in driveline remanufacturing, I love the thought of turning a wrench in my downtime but despise actually doing it.

EL_ULY > His Stigness 05/14/2016 at 16:36

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Holy titties! My price on those is $26 each to your color code lols

yeah a lot of dudes get out of the shop around that time frame. As far as tools, they really stack up going into 5 specific brands lol. I never really struggled with the big jobs but also never made any money on them time wise. I’m glad you where able to go back to school while working. The only other thing I know is commercial A/C from my dad’s company but i’m not really into that. I just got to suck it up here in the car world even if it does include exotics and other radness. My wife is my focus right now and her being just barely 19, it’s like if i’m starting over at that age again with costs and all the troubles of that point in life. A lot better off though lolz!!

You are good peeps His Stigness. Viva la OPPO and la LaLD!

EL_ULY > Frenchlicker 05/14/2016 at 16:38

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lol crazy how that is right? I had so much trouble trying to explain that to my wife a couple nights ago lols

Frenchlicker > EL_ULY 05/14/2016 at 17:06

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My girlfriend somewhat understands it. It took me three or four months to finally put a new fender and light on her car.

His Stigness > EL_ULY 05/14/2016 at 18:19

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That’s it?!?! Awesome! Do they have different colors, because I may have to actually change the whole headliner color, and I want to do black, and I’d prefer to not have to paint crap lol.

And can I haz part number?

Maybe one day you can manage a shop? I’m sure dealer managers make a crap ton.

shop-teacher > EL_ULY 05/15/2016 at 03:39

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My dad was a mechanic for the bulk of the 70's, the last few as a front end man. He got so sick of dealing with busting his knuckles on rusty cars dropping salt and rust crud on him, that he quit and started a construction company, despite there being a major recession at the time and the fact that he had zero experience in the field. Nearly 40 years later, and he’s still in construction.

When I was a kid and into old cars, he could not understand why. “Those old cars were pieces of shit,” he would say. Of course, he’s not wrong. He rarely works on a car these days, but occasionally the mood will strike him and he’ll bust out the old tools. The last big job he did, I remember well. His work truck, an ‘88 K1500 had some weird electrical problems. Nobody could figure out what was wrong, so he spent 3 days in the driveway (in the cold ass winter!) chasing shorts until it was fixed. Being self employed, that really meant 3 days without making any money. He decided that was a stupid waste of his time, and traded it in for a new ‘95 K1500. Longest he’s kept a truck since was 6 years.

EL_ULY > His Stigness 05/16/2016 at 10:16

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I’d just have to check the other color codes. I’m at our Aston/Lotus side this week but i’ll try to get it later. Should of wrote it down lol. I’l up for manager here on the Aston/Lotus side but that won’t be for a couple more years. I’m first in line doe :]

EL_ULY > Frenchlicker 05/16/2016 at 10:17

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that’ll do it :]

His Stigness > EL_ULY 05/16/2016 at 15:43

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No worries, I’m not going to do the headliner for a month or two.

Dude that would be awesome to be the manager of Aston/Lotus! Maybe you’d get to use “loaner” cars!!!

EL_ULY > His Stigness 05/16/2016 at 15:46

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I don’t really like being in this side (mostly because of the customers) but i’d do it. I’ve driven my fair share when I was the front end specialist here. Not Corvette Z06 fast but still pretty quick and solid for the most part. Lotus on the other hand are simply the best driving cars ever made PERIOD!!!!!!!!!

His Stigness > EL_ULY 05/16/2016 at 15:57

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Yeah I can see that. With German cars Porsche owners were the worst, which is sad considering the cars are amazing. Wouldn’t you make the most on the Aston side compared to Volvo or Mercedes?

EL_ULY > His Stigness 05/16/2016 at 16:30

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nah it’s the same now (non commission). There is only one parts guy there at Aston and Lotus running both full time. He is almost at the point of retiring so if they pick me, i’ll be the only one working there running both brands. I’ll for sure hire someone unlike this guy working in solitude most of the time.

His Stigness > EL_ULY 05/16/2016 at 17:00

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Ah well I’m sure the pay is still pretty nice. It seems like the dealer you work for is pretty good. I think I remember you telling AMGtech that your owner won’t bring the Mercedes side up to Mercedes standards. How come?

EL_ULY > His Stigness 05/16/2016 at 17:26

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Basically Mercedes-Benz can make all sorts of requests and rules while threatening our licensing but a combination of this dealer being the original importer of these brands in Texas and all the regulations our status with the state saves us from conforming with what they want in a lot of thing.

HERE is a view of what all other dealers look like

HERE is us lol :]

Heck, Aston Martin NA CEO is coming over here on Wednesday. They HATE how our place is set up but we are #1 in sales in N. America so...... they can threaten with fines all they want. Our owner is a chingon lawyer and has went straight to MB, Volvo, and Aston head on in Europe and has always comes back victorious who the hell knows how lol. Family owned dealers FTW!

His Stigness > EL_ULY 05/16/2016 at 18:06

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Holy shit that is HILARIOUS!!! That is the farthest thing from a Mercedes dealer I can’t even! But hey if your sales are great who really cares. It’s funny how your owner doesn’t give a shit and is a baller like that.

EL_ULY > His Stigness 05/16/2016 at 18:14

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DDs a 1983 Volvo 240DL and has a dealership fresh 1984 240DL in the same color upstairs for back up car. Also, 2 1970's SACHS scooters never used and a 1992 Aston Martin Vantage with 8 miles on it. Odd man but rather cool. He and his with used to race Lotus Europas in the 70's. She drives a brown 2002 XC70 with dealer plates (technically a new car, it’s still a “demo”)

His Stigness > EL_ULY 05/16/2016 at 18:21

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Haha that’s pretty cool. Based off that he seems like a down to earth dude. I applied at a Santa Barbara group dealer which was owned by one guy and he had all the Germans (except VW, not the “right” clientele), JLR, and Acura. I think he had a Carrera GT in the basement of the dealer and he was getting a 918 (this was right when they announced it). Santa Barbara is also a VERY rich place; Mercedes are the official car of SB.

EL_ULY > His Stigness 05/16/2016 at 18:25

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Owners are usually like that. At my old dealer group, the guy got delivered the first LFA in the US. After PDI, he took it around the block really quick.... 20 min later, he arrives with a speeding ticket lol.

I am headed to Santa Barbra right now on Google maps!

His Stigness > EL_ULY 05/16/2016 at 19:04

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Well when you own a profitable dealer then that seems like a perk of the job. I know I’d do the same thing if I owned a dealer. But I’d hope I paid my employees well because honestly you don’t do much as an owner. It’s not like you can start up a modern dealer by yourself. Unlike say a repair shop you have to be involved.

It’s really nice, but the people are just kind of stuck up assholes.