I have noticed that there are a few professional auto mechanics that post on this board, I like having the knowledge and the expertise. However, I have noticed that they make the same mistakes most pros do, that is that they almost always recomend replacing the most expensive parts first. Just an observation.

 

I think that what happens sometimes is that we recommend the more expensive things first based on past experiences. Sure sometimes fixing something cheap will help the problem but quite often it is just fixing the symptom and not the cause. At work if we always just did the simple, cheap things and sent the customer out the door they would be back a week later and not happy. It's one thing if it's your own vehicle and you dont mind fixing it over and over again but most customer's dont appreciate that and if we have a comeback we might not get paid to fix it the second time.
Sometimes though, everyone makes mistakes....the old "can't see the forest for the trees" thing. The simple things do sometimes get overlooked because people dont always start with the basics. I've seen numerous times where people have thrown hundreds of dollars worth of parts at a vehicle when all they really needed was something basic. For example I saw a transmission replaced because it shuddered and the owner diagnosed it himself. He replaced the torque convertor...still shuddered, changed the oil and filter in it...still shuddered, replaced the PCM....still shuddered. It turned out that it still shuddered after the new transmission was in so he finally gave up and brought it in to be checked. It had a bad sparkplug that was causing a miss that he thought was the transmission shuddering.
Professional mechanics arent always right but most of us have a lot of experience and that can be worth a lot.

 

who are you talking about ?

 

Also- please remember it is much more difficult to diagnose a problem over the computor than it is when you actually get to drive the vehicle.

 

I know all about it my father is a professional, it has just been my exp, that the guys at the shop replace the most expensive thing and then I'm back in there a week later and it was the cheapest part on the truck that needed replaced not the other.

 

the people being spoken of here are not professional mechanics. they are parts replacers. a pro technician will properly diagnose a concern before recommendiung a part replacment. to generalize mechanics as "they" and say they always recommend to replace the most expensive part first is not accurate. it is merely based on your experiences..and unfortunately it seems that your experiences have been with parts replacers and not professional technicians. pros are few and far between. and they are becomong a dying breed. unfortunately there are many more parts replacers out there than professionals. i consider myself a pro..and will test and exhaust every possibility before replacing a part. and unfortunately this separates me from some of the people i work with and many of the mechanics in the trade. the bottom line is that you have to find a tech you trust and stick with him. there are good ones out there. best of luck.

 

I have to agree with Lightning2Fast. I had a Chevy S10 4x4 and took it to a dealer to diagnose a check engine light. The shop foreman ran the test on a diagnostic machine. He said I had burned up the oxygen sensor by running no mufflers. I said "bull". I brought the truck home and looked under it and the oxygen sensor connector had come unplugged. Plugged it up and fixed the problem. The shop never even looked at the truck. From the on I have done all my own work and have never been back to a dealer for repairs. And, I bought a Ford. Sure, there are good ones out there, just not this dealer.

 

If you have a bad experience with a mechanic, keep looking, Don't start running down mechanics on this site, for those of us that appreciate there on line help, your going to ruin it for the rest of us, Its hard to solve a problem over the computer, but real mechanics can sure steer you in the right direction, I for one appreciate your help

 

Lightning2Fast has some good points but sometimes the guys that dont want to replace parts waste an awful lot of time. We've got one guy in our shop who honestly believes he is better than any of the rest of us and to prove it will try to fix things rather than replace them. I've seen him spend 2 hours fixing a $20 part just to show us "parts replacers" that he could fix it. That doesn't make any sense to me. Unfortunately though we have guys at the other end of the scale. I've seen guys replace parts because that was easier than cleaning the part. There is a fine line there.

 

we wouldnt talk about what you do for a living pfogle !

what gets me more then anything is when one of you backyard guys think you have fixed something , then a few weeks later it comes to the shop and wondering whats wrong with it.

 

I like it more when someone takes their vehicle to a umm national brand tire store and they spend hundreds of dollars on it without any idea what they are doing and dont fix it, then the customer brings it to us and wants it fixed for cheap because they spent all their money at the other place.

 

I like being hired to remodel a dealership and being in the shop when the techs can't figure something out, and I show the most experienced & trained tech how to fix it, only having seen it part of a day after he's been fighting it for 3 weeks.

 

I stay as far away from the dealerships as possible. The only time I go there is for warrenty work. Most of those guys are nothing but parts changers and some of them are not even good at that . The dealerships can't afford to keep the good guys. Most of them move on to start there own businesses. Keep looking the good guys are out there.

I have found that there is more Knowledge on this list than there is at my local Ford dealer. I went to 3 different Ford dealers and asked if I had to recalibrate my speedometer if I changed the gears on my 93 E-150 Van and how much it would cost to do it . I did not get the same answer from any of the dealerships and they all told me they wouldn't touch it. I got my answer from this list in about an hour Maybe because we are a little fanatical about our Ford trucks.

 

your my hero steve

this thread is going nowhere and should have been closed befor it was started

 

I remember tha time tha limb broke whilst we were pullin a big block. Now thats mechanikin.............jus my $.02