Mechanic rants at me when I question his methods

"CCC (formerly CyclistCarCoexist)" (ccpbb) 06/13/2016 at 23:58 • Filed to: None

0

33

Today I went with my mom to pick up my dad’s minivan at this new repair place ( !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! ) because the minivan (a 04 Sienna) needed an alternator changed out (the car would die out at low rpms). So when I went there, he explained that there was a crappy “Kragen/O’Reilley’s/Pep Boys” (quote) alternator which he has experience with them crapping out. So he gives a long explanation on that how Kragen/O’Rei...Boys were awful and the remanufactured unit (a !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! unit) was installed. He explained this was the best and was better than a AC Delco, Bosch, and even Denso unit. He also said these units were made in USA compared to the other manufactorors that were made in China. I also questioned whether a China one would be quality wise on par with one made in the US. He insisted the US ones were better.

A bit sketchy to me, and also annoyingly started referring himself in the 3rd person when he recited back customer testimonials that were directed at him. (i.e. You know my customers say, oh _name_, you help me out with the best components and tell me which one is best!).

As we walked out, my mom mentioned the van had a check engine light again (back story my dad had him fix the van to pass CA smog. The van passed, then a week later had a warning light). He mentioned he replaced the 800 dollar cat on this van and said it had failed. He said it needed to be replaced. This occurrence seemed very surprising to him when my mom mentioned it and he did not seem to notice it prior. An engine light could mean a lot of things, from a light blown out to an airbag harness failure to an O2 sensor gone out. I explained this logic to him.

He insisted it was the cat without a intention of checking the codes. So I questioned whether was it was in his professional opinion that the cat needed to be replaced because a warning light was on and that he did not even check the codes to see whether the cat had failed or not. He got very angry at this and started ranting nonstop about catalytic converters, smog, and his opinion for a minute and a half. He insisted that he would he would have checked if we had told him prior. I did not talk back to him except for acknowledgements that I trust his opinion. He ended up so angry he just turned on his heel and walked away from us. Along the way, he even kicked the pile of parts that was lying in front of his office (I mean in a literal sense...) to presumably make a point.

Mechanics of Oppo and other opponauts.....this is really confusing whether he could judge a cat failure without any sort of visual inspection...and he said he cleared the codes the last time (smog test work) he worked on it. Anyone can validate or debunk his statements?

V8Demon - Prefers Autos for drag racing. Fite me! > CCC (formerly CyclistCarCoexist) 06/14/2016 at 00:07

0

Find another shop. Juuuuuuust saying...

CCC (formerly CyclistCarCoexist) > V8Demon - Prefers Autos for drag racing. Fite me! 06/14/2016 at 00:08

0

My parents feel that vibe very strongly.

Textured Soy Protein > CCC (formerly CyclistCarCoexist) 06/14/2016 at 00:10

1

So this guy randomly replaced a bunch of parts on the van without checking the check engine light code, without calling you to inform you what he’d be doing before he did it, charged you for it anyway, and then have you the car back with the check engine light back on?

That’s like, not how it’s supposed to work at all. But secondly, instead of sorta arguing with him, you should’ve responded in some way that would’ve accomplished solving the problem, like,

“We brought you this van with the check engine light on, you said you’d fix it, the light’s still on, and you haven’t even checked the codes. We’ll pay you when you check the code, diagnose what needs to be fixed, inform us how much that’ll cost, and we agree to have that done."

Tapas > CCC (formerly CyclistCarCoexist) 06/14/2016 at 00:13

1

Yeah thats bullshit.

Didn’t checks code, just knows its the catalytic converter? Lol

You can get the code checked out for free at most auto part stores now.

DutchieDC2R > CCC (formerly CyclistCarCoexist) 06/14/2016 at 00:15

1

You are completely correct regarding the CEL being anything, from the CAT to the O2 sensors. On my dads Audi, the CEL has been on forever. I think weve nearly had every part replaced that the code showed. Itll dissappear for a week or 2 and come back on. Thats Audi for ya I guess...anyways, the mech sounds like a childish knob...get a second opinion...

CCC (formerly CyclistCarCoexist) > Textured Soy Protein 06/14/2016 at 00:17

0

The specific task at hand today was the alternator needing replacement. I’m not exactly sure about the extent to the labor done on the previous smog test pass service, but my dad said that the “component between the muffler and engine was washed” and the AC was repaired. The mechanic also got referred my dad to a smog station which it passed. I also should have gone with that approach...

Textured Soy Protein > CCC (formerly CyclistCarCoexist) 06/14/2016 at 00:19

0

Did the mechanic give you any kind of invoice? Your dad, no offense, if he’s talking about parts of the exhaust being “washed” then I wouldn’t go off what he said.

HammerheadFistpunch > CCC (formerly CyclistCarCoexist) 06/14/2016 at 00:21

2

New mechanic time. This guy may or may not be competent but one thing you can be sure is that he's not going to do right by your family when push comes to shove.

CCC (formerly CyclistCarCoexist) > Textured Soy Protein 06/14/2016 at 00:29

0

I actually have the invoice here (I think my dad got a watered down version of what was worked on) I suspect a smog hookup was used to make things happen...

CCC (formerly CyclistCarCoexist) > HammerheadFistpunch 06/14/2016 at 00:30

3

My parents said they’ll be going back to their old mechanic..

Textured Soy Protein > CCC (formerly CyclistCarCoexist) 06/14/2016 at 00:41

0

Ok, so you got a P0420 code for the cat, which could indicate that the cat is bad, or otherwise that your oxygen sensors are bad and they’re causing a false “cat’s gone bad” reading to the ECU. Flushing the fuel system has nothing to do with this.

P0442 is the evaporative emissions code, most likely cause of this is an improperly tightened gas cap. Did he check the vacuum hose next to the gas tank to determine that it was leaking or just decide to replace it in response to the code?

The air conditioning at least looks like a straightforward fix.

I think you’re right that there was some kind of hookup to get past smog, and this mechanic is worthless, because shit, he can’t even fucking spell vacuum correctly.

CCC (formerly CyclistCarCoexist) > Textured Soy Protein 06/14/2016 at 00:44

0

This “mechanic” seems like he’s just full of shit. He’s not going to be touching any of my parents’ cars again, as we’re moving on to our old mechanic.

HammerheadFistpunch > CCC (formerly CyclistCarCoexist) 06/14/2016 at 00:44

1

Just looked up acs and my opinion is now double strong. The fact that he doesnt know that a remaned alternator is just a factory unit with similar internals from another supplier (usually cheaper than factory parts). I.e. An acs reman alternator for a sienna is just a denso rebuilt cheaper than denso could do it

Textured Soy Protein > CCC (formerly CyclistCarCoexist) 06/14/2016 at 00:48

2

Just remember, going forward,whenever you get work done that involves diagnosing a problem and then fixing it, whether it’s a check engine light or not, you always want the mechanic to diagnose it, tell you how they plan to fix it, and get your permission to follow that plan. Otherwise you could end up with some bigass bill for repairs that don’t even necessarily make sense.

CCC (formerly CyclistCarCoexist) > Textured Soy Protein 06/14/2016 at 00:52

0

Yeah...I’m definitely going to head down that plan along with my parents after learning that nasty lesson...

DipodomysDeserti > CCC (formerly CyclistCarCoexist) 06/14/2016 at 00:58

6

Real talk. If I was a mechanic, I’d be pretty short with a person who brought a car to me for a new alternator then started questioning me when I told them that chain store alternators are shit (which they are). That’s pretty basic shit, so if you can’t swap an alternator yourself in about ten minutes you really have no idea what you're talking about. As far as codes go, the ECU, especially on twelve year-old Toyota, don't tell you exactly what's wrong. If it's a decade old car on the original cat, the there's a good chance it is the cat. Reading codes won't tell you that's it's the cat as it could be a bad O2 sensor as well. Chances are it is the cat though. His customer service could have been better, but it sounds like he might have been having a rough day. I'd be pretty annoyed if I had people who couldn't even swap out an alternator questioning my mechanical acumen all day.

CCC (formerly CyclistCarCoexist) > DipodomysDeserti 06/14/2016 at 01:38

0

Could be right.

But he’s still a crooked POS.

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > CCC (formerly CyclistCarCoexist) 06/14/2016 at 02:03

0

The only way he could possibly know that the cat was causing the CEL is if he knew his previous diagnosis was incorrect.

DipodomysDeserti > CCC (formerly CyclistCarCoexist) 06/14/2016 at 02:35

0

Without knowing the guy, that's also a possibility.

CCC (formerly CyclistCarCoexist) > DipodomysDeserti 06/14/2016 at 04:07

0

He also charged for a fuel injector flush (BS alert) (85) and 29 dollars for “super cleaner” in the past service.

Invinciblejets > CCC (formerly CyclistCarCoexist) 06/14/2016 at 07:59

1

Lemme get this straight your on a car website and took your moms car to a mechanic for an alternator..A few bolts and wires.....

Don’t wanna deal with mechanics do it yourself!!!!!

Aaron M - MasoFiST > CCC (formerly CyclistCarCoexist) 06/14/2016 at 08:09

1

I’ve now found my third mechanic (I change specialists whenever I change cars), and all have them have answered my questions, corrected me if need be, and generally been patient.

Out of all three, only one ran a more general garage (the other two were a Subaru tuner and a BMW specialist), and from what I saw, the way they were able to deal with these sorts of questions from the general public is build a good enough reputation that when a customer disagreed with them, they’d let them do what the customer wanted but record the interaction. Then, when the customer was inevitably proven wrong, they’d smile, fix the car correctly, charge for it, and very politely note “I told you so”.

Also explaining everything in plain English helped. I was in their shop getting tires mounted and overheard one of the head mechanics explaining to a very confused customer what a concentric slave cylinder was and why replacing the clutch on his Suzuki was going to be so expensive (short version: Suzuki decided to mount the clutch slave cylinder *inside* the transmission, so when it fails it sprays hydraulic fluid all over the clutch. Oy).

Party-vi > DipodomysDeserti 06/14/2016 at 08:41

0

“if you can’t swap an alternator yourself in about ten minutes you really have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Huh. Pelican Parts says swapping my alternator should take 3 hours. Guess they don’t know what they’re talking about. :3

Echo51 > Party-vi 06/14/2016 at 09:44

1

Well it *is* a german car, and you know what they say about germans and over-engineering...

sony1492 > CCC (formerly CyclistCarCoexist) 06/14/2016 at 09:49

1

As a mechanic I have to agree on the whole Chinese parts rant, but the rest of it sounds like is guy is too sensitive.

That being said mechanics have alot of inhearent knowledge, so theres a 70% hes right about the cat. From what Ive seen mechanics Do Not like customers who question everything because it brings their own work into question, either directly or nondirectly.

Party-vi > Echo51 06/14/2016 at 09:59

0

German: Oh you want to replace ze oil pan gasket? Well first you remove ze cooling fan, und ze air intake plumbing, und ze power shteering pump...

Me: Wait what?

DipodomysDeserti > Party-vi 06/14/2016 at 11:23

0

Sorry, meant to add “on a Toyota”. Weird that BMW would make swapping an alternator on a straight six so difficult. It was pretty easy on my old E30.

Party-vi > DipodomysDeserti 06/14/2016 at 11:28

0

I can swap the alternator in the Willys in no time at all, mostly because it’s held on by 2 bolts. I couldn’t tell you where the alternator was in my E46 because I’ve never needed to worry about it.

CCC (formerly CyclistCarCoexist) > Invinciblejets 06/14/2016 at 13:47

0

My dad took it to the mechanic. If I asked to do it myself, they wouldn’t let me. I would rather do it myself...

Echo51 > Party-vi 06/14/2016 at 15:40

0

It probably runs on happy thoughts, firm wishes and german cusswords. No alternator needed.

Wagon, semi manual, not brown, turbo because volvo > CCC (formerly CyclistCarCoexist) 06/14/2016 at 17:47

0

I would avoid like the plague a guy who cannot be bothered to spell vacuum correctly. That means he can’t index search if on a computer service manual. Also the guy is unwise if he assumes parts are faulty and provides an estimate without verification that the components have failed.

I dislike people taking advantage of those who know nothing or nearly so about cars. Inversely i dislike problem who know nothing about their car abusing and neglecting them.

There should be a general automotive maintainence course taught as part of the basic public education. Seeing as most of the children will be driving or payimg for the servicing of a car at some point.

I also dislike playing the list crap mechanics do and see what you had done game. Was it a transmission pan gasket, oil pan gasket, valve cover gasket, head gasket..... cars have many gaskets. I know you said you had “the” gasket done but that in and of itself tells me not much. Now I must struggle with a language barrier even though we are both speaking english conversantly.

CalzoneGolem > Invinciblejets 06/15/2016 at 10:34

0

Because everyone has the time, place and desire to replace an alternator on a minivan. GTFAC with your mechanic shaming.

Invinciblejets > CalzoneGolem 06/15/2016 at 12:20

0

Shameeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!