ASE Master Tech tunnel vision

[Bryan]

I think by now it is obvious I’m naught more than a shade-tree mechanic.
It’s safe to say that there are some things I know, and some things I don’t know.. and I try very hard to know the difference between the two.

Evidently being a shade-tree mechanic somehow qualifies me to diagnose a drivetrain shudder in a 2005 Ford Freestar minivan with just north of 300,000 on the clock… two states to the north of where I call home.

A relative called me and informed me that the minivan was trying to shake their fillings out under any acceleration at all. Take your foot off the gas and coast or simply maintain speed, everything was nice and smooth. But get anywhere near that accelerator, and it was all over but for the dying. The transmission shifted smoothly despite the shuddering, which pointed me in the direction of the CV joint.

So, I tell my relative to take the van over to the mechanic’s shop. All of the shops… -ALL- of them.. were all up in my relative’s business for a transmission re-build because -clearly- the transmission was failing. Relative calls me in a rather agitated mood.. and I calmly but firmly tell him to hit up a small local shop and tell them to replace the CV joint on the left side (as that was where the noise was originating from).

That ASE master mechanic tried for the trans rebuild too.. and said that he couldn’t guarantee the fix if we didn’t follow his advice. We refused, and in a snit, he huffily swapped out the CV joint.

Enter a very humbled ASE Master Mechanic that just got taken to school by a shade-tree mechanic. The most notable quote was “You know, I’ve never seen this before. If I hadn’t done the work myself, I’d not believe it. I’m STILL not sure I believe it.’

To all you ASE Masters out there… believe me, I respect the time and effort you put into your education. I really respect the breath of knowledge you have… you’ve -forgotten- more than I’ll know about cars and car repair.

But please don’t discount what your customers tell you… we’re not entirely stupid and while we might not know as much as you, we DO know a few things. And we might just be right.

My question to you all is what leads to tunnel vision? Why did I have to fight so hard (and get my relative kicked out of a Ford dealership for disagreeing with their service tech and Service Manager) to get anyone to hear us out? Why did the mechanics… to a one… go straight to the absolute worst case scenario without even considering the rest of the data?

Confused (but slightly vindicated-ly yours),

-Hinoki

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