[Dave]

This is what I do when I get a new car. After I agreed to the purchase which means I already have a list of repairs most likely. If it is high mileage I do all of this.
1. Check the brakes, if worn out to say 50% or more I go ahead and replace them. Now it is tempting to buy cheap pads, don’t , they are messy and frankly not as good as say a moderately priced pad. If I replace pads rotors or drums must get either replaced, or machined. Never will I do pads and not the rotors.
2. Check to see if the brake fluid is clear, or dirty. If dirty, I drain the entire system and replace with good brake fluids.
3. Coolant. Again checking for dirty or clean coolant. If dirty, I flush it and replace it with new coolant suitable for the area I live in.
4. Oil No matter what, I change it. By draining the oil you can see the condition of the oil and actually smell if it was burning up. I always use proper filters and oil for the engine. Many people do not know this but if your oil is to heavy it may not get into vital engine parts such as piston bearings. You need the right oil for your engine.
5. Check for any vacuum leaks throughout the engine. Fix them immediately.
6. Check throttle linkage and so on.
7. With checking for vacuum leaks, I also shoot carb clean around the intake manifold and any parts using vacuum. Carb clean works great for this.
8. Checking the radiator, and condenser for blockages. Clean out all of it. Testing the fan making sure it works.
9. Fix any and all lights that are not working. Including cleaning up dirty headlights.
10. Wipers. I replace them with good wipers. You go cheap, you will suffer for it in the end.
11. Suspension. Checking inner and outer tie rod ends, and ball joints, tears in rack and pinion sleeves, shocks, struts, springs, front and rear. Replace anything that is worn out. This is your life you are toying with.
12 Drive shafts and CV joints. Test them. Which is really easy to do. Replace u joints, and rebuild the CV joints if you need to.
13. Check fluid level on your rear wheel drive axle. Fill if needed.
14. Check for any leaks. Repair asap.
15. Take your seats out and vacuum the car like you have really bad OCD. People often do drugs and leave bits and pieces of their habit in their cars. Best to clean it out totally and make sure there is nothing in there to get you in trouble. Plus this is your ride now. SO if they left anything gross, which people often do, this will give you a chance to remove that 10 day old hamburger before you lose your cookies trying to make a right hand turn in traffic.
16. Wash her up. If you find chips, you might be able to run to the auto parts store and find that color match paint to touch it up.
There is so much to add, but these will help you greatly.
If you are shopping for a car. Have your wife turn it on while you are standing near the outlet for the exhaust. If you see some blue smoke, (head gasket, rings, valve seals and so on) look for another car. White smoke, again look for another car. (White is a clear indication of steam, which means water is getting into your cylinders) Brown, it is running rich and at start up, that is pretty common. Slight drippings of water in colder areas, no biggy. Just condensation and typically goes away when the car is warmed up enough.

Hope this helps. You might want to check the trunk for tire and tire removal tools. IF you find a dead person in there, you might want to get them out as well. Maybe call the police. 😛

[Dave]

Different types of Fishbowlers.
1. Life story tellers. Be it of the car, or of themselves.
2. Judgemental quiet hovering grumpy pants.
3. Mr. I want to learn what you are doing so I can do it myself later.
4. Mr. 500 questions.
5. Mr I can do it better, or I could of just done that myself.
6. Mr. Why didn’t you look at this or that first? I would of done this or that first.
7. Mr. Do you think you could fix this for me? I know I did not include it, but surely you would not mind fixing it for free for me.
8. Mr Mafia, I had this one, he bought cars for every member of his family. He would always oversee them being worked on with a couple thugs. Because he was such a valued customer, we all would get a heads up warning that he was coming like an hour or so before he showed up. He would stand back far enough, but always a serious scowl on his face.
I could go on and on and on. Rude people, I do not care for. As a rule, the shops I worked for would not allow customers beyond the service write up area. Painted lines telling them not to cross due to insurance or safety reasons.
9. The worse. Your spouse. Who does not understand a thing and why I need shop supplies. Or why I cannot just fix the broken part. However I had her pull a waterpump on her Jeep, and several other repairs. She questions less now. 🙂

[Dave]

In my first year I was doing everything but the heavier stuff. No head gaskets, engine overhauls, transmissions, and so on. Pay sucked. Bought most of my tools from Sears of course. Had to weigh income vs. survival. So cheaper tools was a must. We had a rule in the shop, if you have to borrow it more than twice, need to buy one of your own. Which worked well. Told me what tools were most important to have.
That being said, I started out in at a Ford dealer in Southgate, Michigan. I worked under another guy who basically did the light side or wrenching. He of course passed all the crappy work off on me. Instruction means a lot at this level. This guy would barely tell me what to do if he did at all. Eventually I was handed off to a ace who was always contacting Rotunda to tell them about new repairs to nightmare issues. Which I took part in writing a few myself.
First thing he taught me as I was wrestling hard with one of the first keyless entry systems, (keypad on the drivers door) he seen me getting frustrated. No one knew how to fix the issue, I was the first to dive into it as far as I know. So he told me to go stand at the wall. He stood there with me. We sat there in silence, I cooled down, and somehow the fix came right to me. I asked him of his thoughts, and he said it sounded good, give it a try. Told me next time, step back instead of getting worked up. Never got worked up again after that. I tried the repair, and bingo, fixed. Sent the repair to Rotunda.
I think for the most part I really wanted to learn, and I was highly ambitious. Other guys in my shoes did nothing but oil changes and prepping new cars. No real initiative for them. The service manager seen I wanted it and wanted more. I asked him what I can do to get to learn new things. He teased me a bit, and suddenly the doors were opening up. I started doing clutches and a bunch more heavier and harder things.
Get your certs and really work on getting them. Show that you really want it. Show you are willing to do what it takes to get to the top. Do not get attitudes, they just make you look bad and like you cannot handle what is in front of you. Top paying wrenches paid their dues like you. We all have or are. Be patient. Figure out what pays the best, and look for those types of jobs. I loved doing brakes. Easiest money ever. Recalls, bring them on.
You will have great, and bad days. Its all part of the game. Just keep focused on your dream.

[Dave]

WORSE EVER HANDS DOWN. 1985 ish Turbo coupe dash. I think the book quoted 22 hours either one way. It was a complete rebuild and reloom of the dash and engine. Hated it more than anything. It was an insurance deal and I had to replace everything new and the body shop had to paint some of the panels. Someone stole the radio out of the thing. Destroying the dash. Then I was honored a few days later doing a probe dash that was not quite as bad, but sucked pretty bad. I went from a Ford dealer and moved to a Dodge dealer. I felt like I was cheating at the Dodge dealer it was all so easy.

[Author]

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