boostin97talon
20+ Year Contributor
- 87
- 0
- May 20, 2002
-
Oregon,
Wisconsin
I can't help but notice the huge number of posts on this site asking for help on topics such as 'I replaced the head gasket or intake gasket or did a 6 bolt swap or replaced my clutch and now "insert problem here" is wrong with my car, HELP!' The #1 HELP that I can give to all of you is to check your own work. If your car ran good before you replaced part X with Super High performance part X, and now your car runs like a$$, 99.9% of the time it has to do with your workmanship, and nothing else. It is very (politely to say) disturbing when someone posts 'I put a head gasket on this car, and now it doesn't run, since, I replaced the coil pack, transistor, injectors, fuel pump, maf, cam sensor, tires, and steering wheel and it still doesn't run!' I swear, you'll see the same guy a week earlier flaming dealer techs or independant shops for 'trying to rip them off and not knowing what they are talking about'. For some reason 'that guy' feels he's saving money by doing the work himself and replacing every part under the hood he could think of to fix his problem, and still not have it fixed.
If you couldn't tell by now, I am an auto tech by trade, and have been for 12 years. Okay, so yeah I'm 30. I feel it too. I worked at a Chrysler/Mitsu dealership for 4 years and have been working at an independant shop for the last 8. Which by the way, if there are any aspiring auto techs out there, if you work at a dealer you will learn some aspects of a specific car and that's it, work at an independant shop (depending on the shop) you will learn all aspects of every car. Example : Every week I'll work on from a 98 Civic to a $50 92 F-150 to a $200k modded 996.
Two DSM examples of customer arrogance come to mind. One is a DSM High Perf enthusiast who had recently installed a FMIC on his car, and then quickly after 'broke his transmission' and wanted us to replace it. It was a 2g FWD. Before I go any further, I must state how adamant this guy was in is 'knowledge of DSMs' toward our service writer. I went to pull the car in noticing that his shifter was broken, which he was aware of and said that the trans was so hard to shift that the shifter broke. After a minute of looking at the car trying to figure out why a shifter would break I found that Einstein, during his FMIC install, had managed to route his lower radiator hose around the back side of the trans shift linkage. Therefore once the operating temp had been reached and pressure was built up in the cooling system, it was nearly impossible to shift into 1st 3rd or reverse, which in turn led to him breaking his shifter. Lucky for him, I cought this early and his repair bill was minimal.
Einstein #2 brought his car to our shop (94 Turbo Talon) claiming he has blown up his engine, and wanted it replaced with a JDM 6 bolt that he bought over the internet. The engine had shown up at the shop so I towed his car in, yanked his engine per his request and after a little screwing around with fitment and placement of parts, got his 'new 6 bolt' in and along he went. Being a curious DSM enthusiast, after the fact I wondered how 'toast' his engine really was and investigated. It turns out the guys timing belt tensioner failed, allowing the belt to skip a few teeth to make the car not run, but not enough to bend any valves. He could have been down the road with a repair bill of a fewhundred dollars, but decided to himself that he knew what was what, and simply stated 'replace my engine with this one', and ended up spending thousands more than what was needed.
That incident is not on me. The sad part is that if he would have brought the car in and said 'The car died on me going down the road, see what happened and if it needs a new engine I want this 6 bolt installed', he would of had the option to spend a few hundred compared to a few thousand on the car.
Point is, if you are over your head in trying to fix your, or someone elses car, taking it to a good shop and telling them the truth about everything you know could and probably will be cheaper than replacing parts that do not need to be replaced. If you are not confident in the shop that your car is at, don't be afraid to take it somewhere else. But remember, the WORST thing you can do if you take your car somewhere because you can't fix it is to say, 'This is what is wrong with my car, this is what I want replced.' Let them figure it out if it is over your head. That is why shops get paid and are in business.
Okay, one more thing. Please, for Christ sake, DO NOT take your car to a 'Tunr'? shop for a no start / drivabilty problem. Although there may be some capable 'Tuna' shops out there, most are some BS shop that some rich kid straight out of high school, whose parents gave hime the money to open up his 'dream shop' because he was able to bolt on an exaust and intake and read a pile of SCC issues and really knew his stuff and was ready to dial your sh*t in.. OK enough.
Final word on my rant. There are definetly some guys on this site that are kings of DSM knowledge, especially when it comes to building a fast car. There are unfortunately an infinte number more teenage to early twenty kids that like to spew any BS that they heard that they think makes them smarter. Choose Wisely.
Good Night Now!!!
If you couldn't tell by now, I am an auto tech by trade, and have been for 12 years. Okay, so yeah I'm 30. I feel it too. I worked at a Chrysler/Mitsu dealership for 4 years and have been working at an independant shop for the last 8. Which by the way, if there are any aspiring auto techs out there, if you work at a dealer you will learn some aspects of a specific car and that's it, work at an independant shop (depending on the shop) you will learn all aspects of every car. Example : Every week I'll work on from a 98 Civic to a $50 92 F-150 to a $200k modded 996.
Two DSM examples of customer arrogance come to mind. One is a DSM High Perf enthusiast who had recently installed a FMIC on his car, and then quickly after 'broke his transmission' and wanted us to replace it. It was a 2g FWD. Before I go any further, I must state how adamant this guy was in is 'knowledge of DSMs' toward our service writer. I went to pull the car in noticing that his shifter was broken, which he was aware of and said that the trans was so hard to shift that the shifter broke. After a minute of looking at the car trying to figure out why a shifter would break I found that Einstein, during his FMIC install, had managed to route his lower radiator hose around the back side of the trans shift linkage. Therefore once the operating temp had been reached and pressure was built up in the cooling system, it was nearly impossible to shift into 1st 3rd or reverse, which in turn led to him breaking his shifter. Lucky for him, I cought this early and his repair bill was minimal.
Einstein #2 brought his car to our shop (94 Turbo Talon) claiming he has blown up his engine, and wanted it replaced with a JDM 6 bolt that he bought over the internet. The engine had shown up at the shop so I towed his car in, yanked his engine per his request and after a little screwing around with fitment and placement of parts, got his 'new 6 bolt' in and along he went. Being a curious DSM enthusiast, after the fact I wondered how 'toast' his engine really was and investigated. It turns out the guys timing belt tensioner failed, allowing the belt to skip a few teeth to make the car not run, but not enough to bend any valves. He could have been down the road with a repair bill of a fewhundred dollars, but decided to himself that he knew what was what, and simply stated 'replace my engine with this one', and ended up spending thousands more than what was needed.
That incident is not on me. The sad part is that if he would have brought the car in and said 'The car died on me going down the road, see what happened and if it needs a new engine I want this 6 bolt installed', he would of had the option to spend a few hundred compared to a few thousand on the car.
Point is, if you are over your head in trying to fix your, or someone elses car, taking it to a good shop and telling them the truth about everything you know could and probably will be cheaper than replacing parts that do not need to be replaced. If you are not confident in the shop that your car is at, don't be afraid to take it somewhere else. But remember, the WORST thing you can do if you take your car somewhere because you can't fix it is to say, 'This is what is wrong with my car, this is what I want replced.' Let them figure it out if it is over your head. That is why shops get paid and are in business.
Okay, one more thing. Please, for Christ sake, DO NOT take your car to a 'Tunr'? shop for a no start / drivabilty problem. Although there may be some capable 'Tuna' shops out there, most are some BS shop that some rich kid straight out of high school, whose parents gave hime the money to open up his 'dream shop' because he was able to bolt on an exaust and intake and read a pile of SCC issues and really knew his stuff and was ready to dial your sh*t in.. OK enough.
Final word on my rant. There are definetly some guys on this site that are kings of DSM knowledge, especially when it comes to building a fast car. There are unfortunately an infinte number more teenage to early twenty kids that like to spew any BS that they heard that they think makes them smarter. Choose Wisely.
Good Night Now!!!
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