Scenario – Cooling System

[drthrift035]

Here is a scenario for you. A customer brings in a vehicle that is has been over heating.

1) You pressure test the system and realize that the leak is a result of a faulty water pump.

2) To be proactive you change all of the hoses in the Cooling System as well as the radiator cap and check over the other components such as the reservoir.

3) You bleed the cooling system and take it for a test drive. Everything appears to be normal.

4) The customer takes the vehicle and goes on his way.

A few days later the customer calls stating that his engine is blown. Here is the part I need to help to understand.

A) If the mechanic does the job properly and the engine blows is this the fault of the mechanic ?

B) How would you determine the condition of the engine prior to working on the vehicle if there are adverse issues in order to say to the person. I can’t help you unless your engine is over hauled.

C) Is it worth it to do work on a weak engine?

Thanks in advance. ETCG community.

Topic

[Its me]

To be a bit flip….You can say “It worked before you broke it”

I know the feeling you have. I replaced an engine for a guy and 30 days later it had a blown headgasket. Not my fault, I did everything completely proper….
He wanted me to replace the engine for free (even though he had bought the engine I replaced it with)….

Assuming in your scenario that the tech did everything properly. Nobody can predict the future, and if an engine blows, it could have been customer misuse, abuse or god knows.

So in my opinion.

A. It is not the techs fault if everything was done right.

B. If doing just routine work you hear, see, smell or in someway find something that is not right, then your due dilligence is to find out what is wrong. If the vehicle gave you no reason to suspect anything, then you had no reason to do a leakdown/compression test, or block test, or tear apart and magniflux…

C. It depends on the customer about working on a weak engine. If you know it is weak, you can say “I will fix this” but you are just “re-arraging deck chairs on the Titanic”. (I.E. repairing a water pump on a car that the customer tells you burns 2 quarts of oil per month). If customer still wants you to do it… So be it… Forewarned is forearmed…

Just my two cents

[drthrift035]

Thanks Toyota Karl for the insight.

[drthrift035]

More and more I realize that Automotive is just not a job or a business it’s really a way of life. There are so many implications on so many levels based on the actions we take. From customers to employees to performance.

[MARK FELDSTEIN]

This is a great issue. I think the question comes down to “What would a reasonably prudent tech do under similar circumstances and occurrences given the same facts.”

Initially, I’d start with getting a really thorough engine history from the customer for things like overheating problems, how much, under what circumstances and for how often. Even a brief written questionaire might be really helpful because you get something from them in writing that you can point to later on and say, “I asked, but the customer never told me”.

In addition, do you think it would be prudent to analyze every engine that comes in the door with a cooling system complaint for things like compression tests and if so, who pays for the time to do that? IMO, it should be the customer and in similar cases to this one, I’d make the diagnostic eval mandatory with a written report as to what the findings are and a place for the customer to sign-off on knowing you can only guarantee the water pump fix and nothing else on the engine. In other words, something in writing to ensure you’re not going to be blamed if he has a damaged engine that you didn’t know about.

And if the customer chooses not to have that kind of analysis done, have them sign a waiver that says it was offered and refused. And your warranty applies strictly to parts and labor to the water pump. Replacing the hoses and the cap is professional and I think a great idea towards customer satisfaction, but how far do you go and where do you stop in the interest of customer service and satisfaction? Thermostat and gasket? Heater hoses? Cooling system flush?

We live in a litigious society. Sadly, small shops need to legally protect themselves like a large dealership. I think that starts in the work agreement and service order. It’s similar to when the cops are investigating a homicide and they go looking for the last guy who saw the victim alive. It seems that the last tech under the hood is the first one on the grill when another system fails. For how long? I don’t know. To a large extent I think it depends on the integrity or honesty of the customer which is also sadly lacking these days.

Sparks.

[drthrift035]

Thanks Sparks. The written waiver, diagnostic check and getting some history on the vehicle is a great way to protect yourself. In Ontario, Canada, there is a place called Brampton where you have a very sleazy set of characters that will lie about their cars and attempt to scam the mechanic and ultimately get work for free based on blame games.

Thanks again for your help.

[Author]

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