Phone a Friend

[EricTheCarGuy]

I think everyone has someone they go to when they get stuck. It might even be a paid service. Feel free to share who your friends are and your experiences with them.

Topic

[jeffrey]

The key is getting information from several different knowledgable and experienced sources…on any issue. The best sources of info. are the ones who, if they can’t tell you the answer, can tell you the methodology to track down the answer.
The worst sources are the guys with self-esteem issues who know half the answer and, to come off looking like an expert, have no problem whatsoever pulling the rest of the information right out of their a$$. Had and Uncle like that, and a best friend, and a guy I work with…very smart, very knowledgable, but what they don’t know they’ll make up. You could never count on what they told you if the info. was mission critical and you were about to spend a lot of money or get heavily commited to a project. Don’t know why that’s such a common phenomenon. I wouldn’t think less of them if they would come out and say they didn’t know.
The other one you have to watch out for is “I’ve been doing this twenty years and…!!! When you hear that you know the person isn’t entirely confident with his opinion. Most of the time its what they’ve believed for 20 years and they’ve worked with it or around it, but there are better answers out there.

[Matt]

Identifix is good if you work in a independent shop and have to work on anything that comes through the door. I use google search more then phoning a friend or tech line. Sometimes being the only tech in the shop sucks, and I will never know everything about cars, so google and Identifix are my fellow technicians.

[Tom Sharples]

When I’m stuck at the dealership I ring toyota technical to which they often reply “we haven’t come across that, could you let us know what you did to fix it?”!!!
Asking workmates is fine but there may be an ego problem with some, embarrassed to admit defeat could be dangerous. The web is great, ETCG and ScannerDanner cover a lot.

[steven jacobsen]

I am lucky this way. Small town of 140 000 people, there are half dozen of us shop owners that get together sometimes and swap stories and we call each other for specialty tools and advice when it is their field of expertice.

[Author]

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