Do No Harm

[EricTheCarGuy]

You see a lot of BS in this business, unfortunately this is one of those times. The owner of this vehicle is a single mother. It really burns my biscuits when people like her are taken advantage of, or suffer at the hands of an ignorant mechanic. Either way, a good topic for discussion.

Topic

[Dylan]

Hello Eric! I would like to start off my response with a HUGE Thank You. You are the reason I really got into this field of work. You make the best videos I can find on the internet, and I have watched every video you’ve ever made, I keep up every week with it. What you do for people and for YouTube, It’s frieken awesome. I will always look up to you as a mechanic, Unfortunately I am up in Fort Drum NY as a mechanic, but if I lived close, you’re the only mechanic I’d let touch my vehicle. Moving on, It gets on my nerves when some mechanics say or think they know the work, then screw something up and don’t even tell the customer. When someone brings you their car, they are trusting your work and trusting you with their life. They have to drive that car away. I won’t do something I am not confident doing. And watching your videos, has definitely made my confidence go up. There are times where someone comes to me and says a garage messed up their car, I won’t talk down on ANY Mechanic, like you said, there are numerous reasons why someone may mess up, You never know what that reason was. My friend has a honda Civic, I think 2008. She came to my car last night in a panic, the dealership screwed her trunk release up and it wouldn’t close. She was going to see family 2 hours away and already wasted 65$ on the dealer. I messed with her inside trunk lever and the trunk was able to close. She was very shocked. She is now able to go see family. I take my job very seriously with pride in what I do. I wanted to thank you for everything you do. Keep up all the work. I LOVE your videos. They have never gotten boring. And hey, if I wasn’t working for the Army as a mechanic, I would offer to work under you. Don’t let anyone say your job is not helping. You taught me about 90% of what I know today. And I am Sincerely thankful for that! Sorry for the book I wrote! Stay Dirty!

[Dave Tidman]

That really sucks for her. From time to time where I live, the politicians talk about having some sort of licensing for technicians, casually involving an exam. I’m not sure how practical that is, and as Eric pointed out, book knowledge and being able to perform a repair are two different things. I saw people in my engineering class that were very sharp on the book stuff, but could not function in a lab. In this case, the tech should have edither said they could not do the job or found help when he was stumped by the tensioner.

I also thing there are a lot of price shoppers out there too, and they can be an easy mark for someone not knowledgeable about cars. When my wife and I were dating, she was in college and her car had a clutch ware out. She called a couple of places and picked the cheapest one. When I finally able to get out to see her after the repair I was horrified. Clutch was slipping, car wandered all over the road. I let her use my car and nursed hers home so I could figure out what they did. I visibly shook after I took the wheels off. Axle nuts were on like 2 threads, inner CV boots were all torn up from removal attempts and the rod ends had no cotter pins in them because they had cut the mounting stud and the nuts were already loose. They also cut the ends of the axles where the axle nuts were. When I took the clutch out, there was grease all over the flywheel side. I ended up fixing all the issues, got it aligned and it was fine. I took the parts in to confront the shop and try to get a refund for her. They admitted cutting all the stuff because they said they didn’t fit during reassembly. While this discussion was going on, I saw a tech using a 5 pound sledge to remove a rod end from a knuckle by pounding on the rod end. Well, that mystery was solved they probably did the same thing to the axle. I did manage to get 80% back, which covered the new job parts. It pissed me off that they would put a car in that state on the road, it was dangerous. Those are the shops that really worry me.

[Scott Osborne]

Here’s a solution….Techs who don’t know how to do the job shouldn’t agree to do the job. If the job is specialized and requires very specific knowledge about one particular make and model, either seek out someone who knows to ask or don’t freaking touch it. I remember my brother in law bought a 03 Ford Focus SVT. He had all sorts of idle issues. He kept taking it back to the dealer (Who wasn’t a SVT dealer) They couldn’t diagnose it. The solution they came up with was to remove the SVT intake and replace it with a stock Focus intake. They also flashed the ECU with a stock tune. Car ran great. Unfortunately they removed all the reasons to buy an SVT . I took one look at it and told him to take it back and demand a refund for the car. It came down to the Ford dealer didn’t know about the vehicle specifics. Instead of seeking out another dealership..One with an SVT trained tech, the decided to just screw the customer. This stuff happens all the time. He did get a full refund from the dealer for the car…Which they put right back on the lot.

Techs need to know their limits and not take on stuff they don’t understand, B and C techs need to stay out of A tech work. If your going to be figuring the job out as you go, then you better be the type of tech who can do that and make it work. Parts changers have their place, but timing belt services are not it.

[Blazerguy1983]

Hello Eric!

Great video! I have something I would like to add about your video and also talk about a recent personal experience with a dealership that I need some advice on.

First of all, I don’t consider myself a automotive mechanic but, more of a Backyard DYI professional. I work on cars for friends and family all of the time and most of the time I am willing to accept a new challenge. Before I commit to a repair job, I research what is involved and make sure I have the knowledge and resources/tools available to properly complete the job. I know when to say, “No” to a job that I am not comfortable doing. I see a lot of technician get into these positions with a simple inspections license and think they know how to do anything. Their afraid to admit to not knowing how to do something and go ahead with a job and cause more damage than good. My friend wanted me to do a timing belt and tensioner, pull the upper head of his Volvo to fix and oil leak and I decided to decline the job after researching what was involved. “Getting in over you head” I think was one of your videos you made is a good example.

The second thing I wanted to talk about what my needed advice about an experience I had with a Nissan Dealership. I recently took my Nissan Altima to the dealer to have the coolant exchanged and flushed. This is a service I could have easily done myself at home but, prefer to have the flush machine back flush the system to get as much old coolant out as possible and to avoid having to bleed the air from the system. My vehicle has aprox. 50,000 miles and is a 2011 with the 2.5L. I have used one of these coolant exchange machines at my neighbors garage and I know how to hook it up and perform the service properly. When the mechanic took my car in the garage it was only in the garage for about 5-10 minutes and then I saw them do the courtesy inspection on the lift for about 2 minutes. I could’t see clearly into the garage to verify they actually did the coolant flush. The only possible evidence that anything at all was touch was a little dribble of coolant on the over-flow tank. There was no spillage of coolant that typically takes place when disconnecting the house to connect the bypass hoses form the machine and non of the hose clamps have any scratches/marks of signs of movement. The coolant looks clean but, then again it did when I took it in. I only had the service performed for preventive maintenance. Nobody came to me and said, “Sir, your coolant still looks good and tested good, do you still want us to perform the service?”. So one of two things happened. One, the technician is an OCD perfectionist and cleaned/dried up everything and made sure the hoses and clamps where put back on exactly the same without causing any marks on the clamps from the players or two, the service was never performed an they simply tested the coolant in the overflow tank or added some to the tank. I have had issues with this dealership before not wanting to replace defective parts under warranty. I only returned there because they have a high turn-over and there was mostly new people and I was hopping for a better experience. In addition they are local. I could have bought the Blue Asian coolant myself and waited for my neighbor to use his coolant exchange machine but, I was being impatient and I had received my tax return and figured let someone else deal with it. haha

What are your thoughts everyone? I felt my personal experience kind of tied into Eric’s video today.

[Michael Crumlett]

Had to fix a water pump that was installed in a Buick Regal with deck screws once. That was pretty awesome. Had to follow up on a timing belt and tensioner replacement on a Porsche 928 S4 that was the victim of a 2×4 and a large hammer. Super awesome, considering that it was a “professional” mechanic who was paid to do that damage. I have instituted a pricing structure to accommodate for such situations though. If somebody else has touched the car, I charge an additional hundred bucks up front. If they tried to fix it but failed, two hundred. If I’m going to throw my world into upheaval over somebody else’s mistakes, I’m not going to do it for free anymore.

[Jason White]

The part where you said “I don’t know everything, I’ve been doing this for over 20 years and there is still a lot I don’t know, and new stuff is coming out every day”. (something on those lines) I CAN’T AGREE MORE!!!. I’ve been doing this professionally for almost 20 years, and lot’s I don’t know, lots I’d like to learn. and I learn something every day. Still amazes me how the guys who have been at it a fraction of the time I have, the DIY’s and shade tree guys know so much more than I do, or so they claim. Those are the guys that probably did that timing belt job. Why look up the proper technique, they already know it all, and they don’t need a book to tell them how to do it!

[Nicholas Clark]

I just want to say that Quick Lube places are not cool. Don’t use them.

[EricTheCarGuy]

A lot of strong opinions on this one. A lot of personal experiences too. As I said in the video, I think a lot of people that watch my show were victims or subject to a repair like this at some point which inspired them to start doing their own auto repair work. It’s a shame really.

Thanks to everyone for sharing their experiences and comments.

[Fernando cunha]

I just want to say in my days around 30 years ago when I started.
People had pride in there work not so much these days.
Reason there is a huge market in cheap aftermarket parts.
You can get anything online.
If you open shop these days you will only survive if your the cheapest quote.
im retired but I still work at home on all my family and friends cars.
Is not easy for me to give a quote to a neighbor of mine to do a job,
that is over a thousand dollars worth in smash repairs.
I given quote of materials +labor unfortunately labor I don’t
Charge by the hour so I can spend 2 days only charge 100 dollars.
So this is why I say everyone these days wants everything for nothing.
Mechanics deal with car dealers car yards etc
Smash repairs [bodyshops] deal with insurance company’s.
Believe me insurance company’s if they could squeeze the quote any harder
The quote would bleed.
Most people are just trying to survive I do feel for them.
These days cars is only an object gets you from a to b
As long as its safe on the roads
That’s all that matters I believe all this is from high taxes imports etc.
Here we buy a car for 30k in USA 15k same car and we are closer to Japan
How does that make sense but is not just cars is from anything mobile phones,tools
Eric premium membership etc

In my days we use to take pride cause we use the right brand of parts.
Also we were given the right amount time to finish jobs.
Most importantly we would repair not just remove and replace parts.
If I ask a young panelbeater what is lead wiping or file finish a panel.
He won’t have a clue but if I mention what is body filler and file bog down?
Same for mechanics these days is all about plug and play, remove and replace.
Pretty much ecu tells them how to fix problems at the end of day
You can go learn new skills on how to understand ecu how to plug and play cause
Is all new tech but you need the basics on how to fix things not jut remove
and replace from that you learn the most important thing.
How to use commonsense

[Wes]

Oh do I have stories, but I’ll stick to my favorite. This is the one that really cemented me deciding to be a mechanic, if only an amateur one. I was with my Mustang soon after I’d gotten it running. I had taken it to a mechanic that I’d used before to have them give it a preliminary tune up and they wanted to charge me around $80-90. I said okay, dropped it off and came back the next day to realize that I had just wasted my money. Not only did they not tune anything like I’d asked them to, they did a dumb “Safety Checklist” that my car failed when things on the list of critical components included the washer fluid level, and they had decided to “fix” the problem of my carburetor not opening all the way by removing the transmission kickdown rod (that actually wasn’t even the problem, my after market carb didn’t have a place for the accelerator linkage to attach in a way for it open completely, I had to make a custom one to fix it). I was taken for a ride behind the shop so they could show me how much faster it now could go, which is very ironic considering what they told me afterwards. When we got back to the shop the one thing that they told me that has stuck with me for all these years was that my car was so dangerously low on brake fluid that they would not let their family drive it anywhere, and they did not refill it. WHAT!?! I know I should have demanded my money back since they didn’t do what I paid them to do, took my car apart to “fix” a problem I didn’t ask about, and released and drove the car when they admitted it was unsafe, but I was in too much disbelief that I didn’t. When I got back to my house I checked the master cylinder (which I had to open with a pipe wrench because of how tight they screwed the lid on and it was the only thing I had big enough) and found it to be almost empty. Which is it’s own story since I had the entire brake system replaced before hand, and since there were no leaks, the master should have been full.

[Fernando cunha]

I understand your troubles.
I also understand most of the time woman are victims.
I have many story’s too but we have a saying in this country
Regardless how wrong customers are they are always right.
Well lets say I’ll give you one small story.
I think it was around 84 to 1985 when jap cars came on market
With engine bay been different to outside car like no shine etc
Now when I paint car I do my best in getting the sealer and paint
Work to a perfect match to the original and I do take pride.
The car was hit in front and we got finished in 3 days panelpaint etc.
Car was only 3 week old customer comes to pick up car he was happy
To see car looking good and how fast we got it done.few days later
Insurance company contacts saying customer not happy with job
That will be contacted for organizing return and if we can’t fix the problem
Car will go to other shop and will get the bill.
Obviously my boss panic and we had a meeting about it.
I was curious what was the problem.
Next day car comes back the owner started insulting us saying how bad paint work is in engine bay.
He was happy with outside of the car.
I keep my cool about it I said to my boss look I need a few minutes with him I will show this guy that our job was done
right.
The only way was to drive the guy to the dealer show him what the new cars are like on inside engine bay.
Customer couldn’t believe it. He apologized never heard from him again.
As for this insurance company they were never same to us again every single job got checked after that.

[Chris]

To Hockeyclark
Check out videos on scams that have been pulled at places like this. some of them you wont believe and they are all so true…. personal experience of course.

[Chris]

I have had something happen to me but it was intentional. I did it to test those that I trusted as well only to see that I was wrong in doing so. I had taken my car to an alignment at National tire and battery (great place in my honest opinion) and they told me that my inner tie rod was loose and that I should not be driving the car around. I know it is not a hard thing to do but didn’t have the time to do it myself and didn’t want to pay $115 for the tightening of it (yes they are expensive but honest and trust them to do it right) so I went to a local shop that I have been going to for a while. They charged me $65 for the alignment and I thought they would have caught an inner tie rod that was loose. I saw him take a little while with my car and saw him messing with the side that was reported lose for a while so I assumed he tightened it down. He knew me already so he came back and said I have everything done for you. I paid him and left. I had been driving it for two days and noticed it started swerving to the left. I finally had time to check it and the inner tie rod was coming loose! I could move it with my hand! I wont go there again….

[Jason White]

Everyone, their dad, and brother thinks they are a mechanic. Don’t get me wrong, I know lots of guys that have never had any formal training or even worked in a shop who with a small craftsman box can do some pretty impressive work, and know a lot about cars. What I’ve learned is that it isn’t what you know, it’s what you don’t know, and that is what will bite you. If it’s your car, that’s your ass, and that’s on you. If you are taking someone’s money, that’s another thing. I guess if you are doing it real cheap, they should know, or as a favor, but to pose as a professional is borderline fraud.

I was on Craigslist, and there is this guy that advertises where he will come out anywhere and do your brakes for $40 if you provide the pads. He had a bunch of pictures of his work on his site, and well, a few of them he replaced the rotors, but a vast majority of them he just pad slapped them on a few of them where the surface was glazed, grooved, ect. Do you think he did a burnish proceedure? I really doubt it. I’m sure this guy would argue that machining rotors or replacing them isn’t really nessasary, but the proof will come out in a panic stop. Just like whoever did that timing belt, forcing that tensioner back worked, and they did do that timing belt, right?

[Larry Bible]

Thanks for the video and for opening the subject Eric.

I have three words to say on this one: “Attitude is everything.” With the right attitude, that person could have found a way to be successful with that timing belt job.

[Author]

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