I was over at the dealer the other day to pick up my sun visor arm, cuz it was worn out and every time I took off it would slap me in the face lol. As I was leaving the service manager caught me and said my diesel was knocking real bad in his opinion (It was running while i was in the place while I was getting the part) I said ok, well he went and got his fresh out of diesel school tech quote quote, well he came out he was barely 20, he said man your injectors are bad, I said no i put them in about 4K miles ago,he said no they are bad so I said ok whatever go get the other diesel tech he said ok well 5 min later another tech come out he was about 25 yrs old looked at it said I should put a chip in it to make it act right and that it would have more power (this truck is a 86 6.9 idi diesel no computer no place to put a chip) and by the way at this point I am in tears trying not to laugh, so I decided to have a little fun. I told him go get your book and show me what kind of options I had on different kind of chips they made for these things, so 30 minutes of him looking he figured out that this truck has no computer (I am on the ground laughing my butt off at this point). So he said i know what is making your truck miss I said what, he said "your glow plugs are not firing at the right time and your injectors are not set at the right height" I told him there aint nothin wrong with this truck and left it at that. My friends and I have had a good laugh over this hope yall do too

Sam

 

You gotta be kiddin..............That'll scare ya away for the stealerships!! LMFAO

 

I had a conflict with a dealership once before. My father has a 1996 F250, 4wd, 5spd manual with all the fixins. Neway, it was wintertime about 2 years ago and around mid January we heard a "sucking" noise from under the hood. My father tore in and checked all the fluids. After finding everything to be normal, we took it to the dealership. They ran test after test and could not find anything wrong. A Mechanic at the shop told us he would have to keep it a few days. Because it was our only transportation at the time, we had to take the loaner home. Two weeks later and a few calls to the dealership, we had not heard back about the truck.
One night while driving the loaner home from town we spotted a truck simmilar to ours driving around. I knew right away it was our truck...We soon followed it when I told my father what I had seen. I looked at the plates...it was ours. The dam mechanic that was supposed to be working on our truck was using it as his daily driver! My father called the dealership the next day and alerted them of what was going on and what we had seen. OF course they were moving slugishly dealing with the mechanic...until we phoned Ford Headquarters. They got on the ball, fired the mechanic and gave us our truck back the same day. All in all they had burned two tanks of fuel and put around 100 miles on the rig. As if this wasn't enough, a week later the sucking noise returned. After my father went through the engine he discovered that the air filter was dirty...for gods sake JUST the air filter! Replaced the filter and it ran just fine. Had a good laugh about that one...

 

glow plugs aren't firing... did this guy even go to tech school for diesels? Either that or he was really working you, but I doubt it... It's been a while sice I touched a stroker, but they had glow plugs too, didn't they, at least the first ones... I recall the wiring being under the valve cover when I worked for a dealer... the strokers hadn't been out that long at that time, but this poor truck was so tore up from being a ranch truck, I don't think there was a straight panel on it. Looked new when the body shop got done with it, but it needed a LOT of work, both under the hood and out on the visual, it was handled that rough. Anyway, it still goes back to my major complaint these days, the tech's seem to forget there is a motor underneath the computer controls, and not everything is computer related. Not to mention, diesels are not spark ignited...

 

I tried to explain that the glow plugs only come on when you first turn the key on. He looked at me like i was some kind of freakin idiot and said your wrong the fire just like spark plugs

 

Two tanks of fuel for 100 miles?! I'd hate to have that truck!!!

 

It ain't the truck - it's the driver!! Think of the abuse it would take to go thru 40 gallons of fuel in 100 miles!!

 

I was talking to my father about that. He says it was almost 400 miles on those tanks. Sorry for the confusion lol. I thought it sounded a little off...He also mentioned that the mechanic was using it to haul gravel as well.

Because of that incident, I always go out to the shop and watch them work on my rig. If they have to hold it overnight I make sure that my buddy that works at the dealership keeps an eye on it.

 

That's just sad. What would posess someone to use another's vehicle like that?

And a mechanic not knowing what glow plugs do? Pathetic. I know next to nothing about diesels (slowly changing thanks to the friendly folks here) but I knew what glow plugs do. sheesh.

 

Now you know why I am rebuilding my engine myself this time.

The parts changers that work at a lot of garages are lost if the vehicle does not have a computer to give them a list of possible parts failures to work from.

There are a lot of good mechanics out there.
But there are also a lot that do not have a clue.

 

on a similar line, i took my 65 falcon to the local ford dealer for an oil change one very cold january a few years ago. about 10 minutes later, the "tech" comes into the waiting room to tell me they do not have an oil filter for anything that old, and it will cost $15 to get one from the parts house. i walked over to the parts dept and asked for an oil filter for a 80 mustang with a 302. signed for it and handed it to the "tech". he proceded to tell me it would not work, there was a 15 year difference in the age of the motors. i told him to put it on, he might learn something. 20 minutes later, the same "tech" comes walking back into the waiting room, and procedes to tell me that the car will not start, he thinks the computer took a dump. i politely explained to him it had points, not a computer, and with the service writers permission, i went into the service bays, put the gas to the floor, started it up, and smoked the tires out of the building. (and i lied. it has a pertronix unit in it, not points)

 

Those people I call moroffs.......because they just aren't quite bright enough to be morons.

 

it is amazin how many people actually think diesels run off the glow plugs... lol

 

Yeah,
I have a good friend who is a mechanic and has been to auto/diesel tech school. I get into conversations with him and play dumb just to see what he will say. Things like, since a diesel don't have a carb how does it accelerate? Well it injects the fuel sooner(advances). Don't it need MORE fuel? No. it injects the same amount every time, that's why they're so efficient. Hmmm.
I told about how my glowplug controller went out on my '84 and swapped out the plugs and used a manual swith to heat them. He tells me I really should replace the controller and it won't work right without it. Oh really.
What if I want more power from my diesel and use Nitrous instead of propane, he says, No because Nitrous is FLAMMABLE and the engine will preignite because I'm compressing a fuel instead of having it injected at the right moment. Oh, I see. What if I use Oxygen instead. OH NO WAY, your motor will probably explode since Oxy. is way more flammable than nitrous.
Anyway I don't think your mechanic was trying to screw ya, I just think these new mechanics aren't taught 'Common Sense 101'.

 

The guys coming out of those tech schools are only as good as the instructors who taught them.
I went to one of them many years ago for a combined automotive and diesel technology assoc degree. I had a few really good teachers that were really smart, took the time to share what they knew and actually seemed to care that you learned enough to start out.
Then there were the others. Had a 9 week class on automotive fuel and igniton systems, engine management and driveability. Out of that 9 weeks, we spent about 2 hours on carburetors and points ignition. I asked the instructor why we weren't going more in depth to the different circuits, air bleeds and vacuum control systems. His reply was that carbs were being phased out and that I wouldn't see them much anymore.
So the first job I had out of school, I worked for a guy that specialized in driveability and carb setup and diagnostics. So I got to rebuild all of the carbs that my teacher said I'd never see. Luckily, I had a boss that was patient and took the time to show me the details beyond taking one apart, cleaning it and putting it back together.

Jason