[AT] More on the water pump - now good local mechanics

[charlie hill]

Grant,  If you came to my town and asked around you would find folks that 
would say the same thing about some of the shops I've mentioned but here is 
the deal.  The shop owners, particularly the dealership shops, are very 
skilled at putting on a good show.  The dealer that couldn't fix our AC 
problem is one such as that.  Every customer that leaves there is asked if 
they are satisfied and ENCOURAGED to say yes.  They are asked to fill out a 
customer survey saying they were well taken care of.  Some of them really 
think they were but it is because they are gullible and have plenty of 
money.  The dealer folks sweet talk them, offer them coffee, smile at them 
and rip them off.  I have the "misfortune" I guess of knowing enough about 
the work I'm getting done to be able to weed through their BS.  That 
particular dealer claims to be the highest ranked Cadillac repair shops in 
the state.  A lot of these old retired folks that live here will take a car 
in and get a $1000 worth of work done, the problem doesn't go away, they go 
back, the dealer says "OH I'm SO SORRY" we will take care of it.  Then they 
find the leaking vacuum hose or maybe they find it on the 3rd or 4th try but 
the convince customer that that was just something else that was wrong that 
they didn't catch when they replaced the 1000 dollar part and by the way 
they charge them for every trip.  Then sometimes they do the old "you know, 
we can't find your problem.  It's one of those things with these computer 
cars but we can offer you a really good trade".   It apparently never occurs 
to them that they didn't need the $1000 part and there was nothing really 
wrong with their car.

I'm sure that doesn't apply in your case because you would catch on to that 
scam but these retired folks around here seldom do.

Remember the old 80's GM cars with the 5.7 liter diesels.  You know they 
were famous for blowing head gaskets and the proof that they were blown was 
air bubbles coming up into the radiator.  Well a friend of mine that grew up 
working in his fathers mechanic shop and then went to work for a dealer told 
me that most of them did NOT have a blown head gasket.  He said there was a 
hot spot in the water jacket of those cars and if any rust or scale got 
built up in the cooling system there wouldn't be enough water flow through 
that hot spot.  The water trapped in it would boil and cause bubbles to come 
out through the radiator.  He said the dealer would tell the folks those 
motors were no good and trade the folks out of their cars, basically giving 
nothing for their trade.  Then the guys in the shop would flush the cooling 
system and they'd sell those cars to their friends or employees cheap.  I'm 
not saying there weren't problems with those motors.  The early ones before 
they put the roller tappet cams in them were junk but a lot of them got 
traded off or junked when there really wasn't much wrong with them and the 
dealers knew it.

Charlie


--------------------------------------------------
From: "Grant Brians" <sales at heirloom-organic.com>
Sent: Wednesday, November 17, 2010 8:20 AM
To: "Antique tractor email discussion group" <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
Subject: Re: [AT] More on the water pump - now good local mechanics

> I feel lucky that there are several local repair shops that not only do 
> not
> fit in the model Charlie cites in his message, but that are just plain
> honest. They do not always find the problems immediately, but they back up
> their work and have solid and significant customer bases. On the few 
> things
> that either I or the fellow I have working for me either cannot repair or
> don't have the tool or time to repair, I go to one of this type of shop 
> and
> am confident that the work WILL be done right and at a fair price. Not
> always inexpensive, but it will be fair.
>           Grant Brians
>           Hollister,California
>           Vegetable, Nuts and Fruit farmer
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com
> [mailto:at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com]On Behalf Of charlie hill
> Sent: Monday, November 15, 2010 9:07 PM
> To: Antique tractor email discussion group
> Subject: Re: [AT] More on the water pump
>
>
> Larry no one is talking about "jerry-rigged".  I'm talking about mechanics
> that are too stupid to figure out the problem and replace oh let's say 3
> sensors, 4 fuel injectors and an intake plenum before they figure out that
> the problem was a hole in a vacuum line.  I'm also not talking about
> warranty work.  I personally don't care how many new parts they put on
> something they are fixing under warranty.  I'm talking about when you go 
> to
> a shop and the mechanic is too stupid or lazy to try and fix the problem 
> and
> just throws expensive parts at it until he gets lucky and fixes the 
> problem
> by accident.  All the while he has his mind on getting his drag car tuned 
> up
> for Saturday night and pads your bill to pay for the new part(s) he needs
> for the race car.  Maybe that doesn't happen where you are but it sure
> happens here.  I can tell you LOTS of war stories about it.  Here's one
> great example:
>
> <snip>
>
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