Forum Replies Created
-
Replies
-
I have had some guys with shared interest in video games, R/C cars, hunting, guns, offroading, heck even ham radio stuff. Yeah, I have a geek side as well as desire of pain with shooting big guns. Most times, you can find some common ground, because there is only a few types of people who do this and stay with it. As a result, you’re bound to find similar interests.
Don’t worry about being fast. I’m not a fast person, I’m too lazy. I’m efficient, and believe in smarter, not harder. Fast people make mistakes. Slow people don’t get anything done. Efficient people get things done with the least, or no mistakes in a timely manner. Stupidest question is the one you never ask. If you don’t know something, ask, or look it up. You’ll learn and always remember it.
I have had my share of horrible managers in the last 20+ years. Some were clueless, some were stealing from the shop, some from the customers, some were busy snorting stuff up their nose even, lol. Even a couple who were down right degrading and verbally abusive, even by auto repair shop standards. As was said, this industry changes, and changes often. The technology in the industry constantly evolves, with big leaps in technology about every 5-7 years. The shop side of things must adapt to this as well, for it to survive and succeed. If management doesn’t stay on it, they fall behind and so does the shop. There is money to be made, good money at the shops that stay towards the edge of the curve, when it is implemented correctly.
I have had my share of horrible managers in the last 20+ years. Some were clueless, some were stealing from the shop, some from the customers, some were busy snorting stuff up their nose even, lol. Even a couple who were down right degrading and verbally abusive, even by auto repair shop standards. As was said, this industry changes, and changes often. The technology in the industry constantly evolves, with big leaps in technology about every 5-7 years. The shop side of things must adapt to this as well, for it to survive and succeed. If management doesn’t stay on it, they fall behind and so does the shop. There is money to be made, good money at the shops that stay towards the edge of the curve, when it is implemented correctly.
Everyone gets a little cocky sometimes. Sometimes its a matter of being arrogant, sometimes it’s reactionary to someone around you. The pesky entitlement kid that works beside me tends to bring it out of me from time to time. You just have to judge what the situation is. Difference is, if you’re going to be a lil cocky, you better be right, or you’re gonna look like the village idiot.
Everyone gets a little cocky sometimes. Sometimes its a matter of being arrogant, sometimes it’s reactionary to someone around you. The pesky entitlement kid that works beside me tends to bring it out of me from time to time. You just have to judge what the situation is. Difference is, if you’re going to be a lil cocky, you better be right, or you’re gonna look like the village idiot.
Been on both sides of the coin on this one. I’ve had to deal with some old farts that were dead wrong about something, usually diagnostic work on modern vehicles, and I have been the older sage that tried to teach and help some young punk fresh out of school. Either case, I just go on and ignore them. It is a hard pill to swallow for the older guys when you don’t agree with how they have done it for the last 500 years, right or wrong. Lots of testosterone in a shop, no way about it, so it happens. Just remember, he might not offer to advise you down the road, but on the flip side, you may not want that advice either. Best thing to do, is find something you both like in common and bring it up one day so that he doesn’t think your a total jerk(in his eyes).
Been on both sides of the coin on this one. I’ve had to deal with some old farts that were dead wrong about something, usually diagnostic work on modern vehicles, and I have been the older sage that tried to teach and help some young punk fresh out of school. Either case, I just go on and ignore them. It is a hard pill to swallow for the older guys when you don’t agree with how they have done it for the last 500 years, right or wrong. Lots of testosterone in a shop, no way about it, so it happens. Just remember, he might not offer to advise you down the road, but on the flip side, you may not want that advice either. Best thing to do, is find something you both like in common and bring it up one day so that he doesn’t think your a total jerk(in his eyes).
Always drama in shops. With New Years falling in the first week of our pay cycle, two of three techs in our shop are low on hours, me and another guy. The third tech wasn’t, and his dad is a service writer. Another service writer casually mentioned it yesterday am to us. So, is she stirring the pot, or just bringing something to our attention? I’m not jumping to conclusions here yet at least. I know there is some drama up front, 20yrs of experience has taught me how to sniff it out, so we’ll see how things play out. Doesn’t help I’ve had two shops inquire about trying to steal me lately. Talk to management, and if things don’t change, go shopping while you’re still working.
Always drama in shops. With New Years falling in the first week of our pay cycle, two of three techs in our shop are low on hours, me and another guy. The third tech wasn’t, and his dad is a service writer. Another service writer casually mentioned it yesterday am to us. So, is she stirring the pot, or just bringing something to our attention? I’m not jumping to conclusions here yet at least. I know there is some drama up front, 20yrs of experience has taught me how to sniff it out, so we’ll see how things play out. Doesn’t help I’ve had two shops inquire about trying to steal me lately. Talk to management, and if things don’t change, go shopping while you’re still working.
I’m still waking up, so bear with me here. I guess I’m kind of lost here. So to get this straight, a trans flush was sold on a vehicle that happens to belong to the guy who signs your checks. You tell the lead lube guy, and he takes it from you, and instead of showing you how to flush it, he doesn’t even perform the job sold. He does a drain and fill, which is not the same job by any means. Something about not having the quantity of fluid on the ticket, and somehow that’s your fault? Bunch of Moes and Rons work there(put the names together).
First problem is, the job wasn’t done as sold. That’s the lead guy’s fault, as he assumed the job. Quantity of fluid on the ticket, I’m not sure how that goes back to you but I never enjoyed the “dealer experience” either. I don’t expect the service writers to know or to show me how much fluid something takes, personally. Burned too many times by someone with typically no auto experience, I look it up myself and write it on the ticket how much was used. If info is not available, then I put an initial fill in, run it thru the gears, and top off as needed. That’s going with the assumption it’s a drain and fill. Flushes, from my own experience, fill the machine to capacity and let it go.
From my own experience, the GS or lube guys are hourly rate. Eventually if they cut the mustard, they may get moved up. We have one guy who gets an hourly and flat rate bonus. I have him on one side of me, and an all out GS who has the standard answer of ” I know” when you tell him something on the other side. For something small, if they ask for advice or help, I’m happy to oblige. In the case of the GS, if it gets involved at all, he loses the job, period. He lacks common sense anyways(what happens when your parents do everything for you). The other guy, if he needs help or advice, and it’s not too much, then I have no issue. I’m busy with my own work normally, so no real time to take his jobs or do his work. Now if I find myself doing the job for him, then that’s another story. If it’s well over the guy’s head, same thing, he loses it. I haven’t done it yet at this shop, but I have in other shops. At least you want to learn and are willing to go elsewhere if need be. Our GS feels he is entitled to be allowed to do engine work because that’s what he studied a lot in school. This is the guy who left a wheel loose, misses water pumps leaking and belts cracked, and just recently locked the keys in a truck in the shop. If he can’t handle simple stuff, god forbid he works on an engine. He says he wants to learn, but his actions say otherwise. He sits on his bar stool when not doing oil changes, and tries to push my buttons over politics and his weed smoking. Only reason he is still onboard, we haven’t found a good replacement. Ok enough stealing your post. Talk to your boss and if you don’t like what you hear, etc, don’t use the big hammer yet. Go find a job that you want. Talk to the tool guys, they are sometimes a good info source. Pound the streets, etc, and when you find what you’re looking for, then slip your boss “the paper”. Not knowing what part of the country you’re in, there should be other shops in the area that want someone hungry.
I’m still waking up, so bear with me here. I guess I’m kind of lost here. So to get this straight, a trans flush was sold on a vehicle that happens to belong to the guy who signs your checks. You tell the lead lube guy, and he takes it from you, and instead of showing you how to flush it, he doesn’t even perform the job sold. He does a drain and fill, which is not the same job by any means. Something about not having the quantity of fluid on the ticket, and somehow that’s your fault? Bunch of Moes and Rons work there(put the names together).
First problem is, the job wasn’t done as sold. That’s the lead guy’s fault, as he assumed the job. Quantity of fluid on the ticket, I’m not sure how that goes back to you but I never enjoyed the “dealer experience” either. I don’t expect the service writers to know or to show me how much fluid something takes, personally. Burned too many times by someone with typically no auto experience, I look it up myself and write it on the ticket how much was used. If info is not available, then I put an initial fill in, run it thru the gears, and top off as needed. That’s going with the assumption it’s a drain and fill. Flushes, from my own experience, fill the machine to capacity and let it go.
From my own experience, the GS or lube guys are hourly rate. Eventually if they cut the mustard, they may get moved up. We have one guy who gets an hourly and flat rate bonus. I have him on one side of me, and an all out GS who has the standard answer of ” I know” when you tell him something on the other side. For something small, if they ask for advice or help, I’m happy to oblige. In the case of the GS, if it gets involved at all, he loses the job, period. He lacks common sense anyways(what happens when your parents do everything for you). The other guy, if he needs help or advice, and it’s not too much, then I have no issue. I’m busy with my own work normally, so no real time to take his jobs or do his work. Now if I find myself doing the job for him, then that’s another story. If it’s well over the guy’s head, same thing, he loses it. I haven’t done it yet at this shop, but I have in other shops. At least you want to learn and are willing to go elsewhere if need be. Our GS feels he is entitled to be allowed to do engine work because that’s what he studied a lot in school. This is the guy who left a wheel loose, misses water pumps leaking and belts cracked, and just recently locked the keys in a truck in the shop. If he can’t handle simple stuff, god forbid he works on an engine. He says he wants to learn, but his actions say otherwise. He sits on his bar stool when not doing oil changes, and tries to push my buttons over politics and his weed smoking. Only reason he is still onboard, we haven’t found a good replacement. Ok enough stealing your post. Talk to your boss and if you don’t like what you hear, etc, don’t use the big hammer yet. Go find a job that you want. Talk to the tool guys, they are sometimes a good info source. Pound the streets, etc, and when you find what you’re looking for, then slip your boss “the paper”. Not knowing what part of the country you’re in, there should be other shops in the area that want someone hungry.
Knowing a little bit about that engine, I can tell you where I’d start. Time to perform a combustion leak test. 4.7L and 3.7L family of engines are notorious to not liking to overheat at all. Even once, and you could be dealing with a warped/cracked head and/or headgasket issue. Further that, the valve seats are notorious for coming loose once it has overheated. Did you make sure the air bleeder ball on the thermostat is at the 12 o’clock position? Did you use an air lift to fill the coolant system? Those could both be causing an over heat problem, especially if the wrong coolant has been ran as a mix in the system, however I would not waste another minute chasing anything until a combustion test has been performed.
Knowing a little bit about that engine, I can tell you where I’d start. Time to perform a combustion leak test. 4.7L and 3.7L family of engines are notorious to not liking to overheat at all. Even once, and you could be dealing with a warped/cracked head and/or headgasket issue. Further that, the valve seats are notorious for coming loose once it has overheated. Did you make sure the air bleeder ball on the thermostat is at the 12 o’clock position? Did you use an air lift to fill the coolant system? Those could both be causing an over heat problem, especially if the wrong coolant has been ran as a mix in the system, however I would not waste another minute chasing anything until a combustion test has been performed.
Building engines, in a general sense, doesn’t pay the bills. Engine shops usually have some cheap entry level paid guy do the work. Performance work would likely pay better, but you’re going to have to show some real experience and responsibility before they would risk $50k+ engines on you. What school in texas and where is it? Former manager I worked under until he was fired, went to work at a tech school in Longview or somewhere around there. I’d avoid going to that place solely due to him.
Figure making less than $30k the first working year, and going up after that if you put forth the effort. You could top out $60k or so, depending how good you become, and how efficient you are. One of the important things to learn, that many have a hard time grasping, is that working professionally at a shop is not anything like working on your own stuff at home. Things you might jerry rig to get by on your own stuff does not cut the mustard at a shop, or it better not! Doing the Xterra timing job is a decent test of skill for the inexperienced, so kudos for taking it on, and hopefully it’s running, lol.
Just remember, the office crowd are like elementary kids when compared to the repair shop crowd. You have to get some thick skin, not as bad as truck driving, but it’s pretty thick. Guys are pretty abrasive, and feelers can get hurt easily if you aren’t leather skinned. I’m not all that bad, but I’ve popped off some stuff around the new kids on the block, and had them get all whiney about it.
I’m a black sheep and am not convinced everyone needs to go thru school to do this. Some do, but some don’t, as they will not gain a single thing going thru the classes. Maybe I’m a maverick lol
Building engines, in a general sense, doesn’t pay the bills. Engine shops usually have some cheap entry level paid guy do the work. Performance work would likely pay better, but you’re going to have to show some real experience and responsibility before they would risk $50k+ engines on you. What school in texas and where is it? Former manager I worked under until he was fired, went to work at a tech school in Longview or somewhere around there. I’d avoid going to that place solely due to him.
Figure making less than $30k the first working year, and going up after that if you put forth the effort. You could top out $60k or so, depending how good you become, and how efficient you are. One of the important things to learn, that many have a hard time grasping, is that working professionally at a shop is not anything like working on your own stuff at home. Things you might jerry rig to get by on your own stuff does not cut the mustard at a shop, or it better not! Doing the Xterra timing job is a decent test of skill for the inexperienced, so kudos for taking it on, and hopefully it’s running, lol.
Just remember, the office crowd are like elementary kids when compared to the repair shop crowd. You have to get some thick skin, not as bad as truck driving, but it’s pretty thick. Guys are pretty abrasive, and feelers can get hurt easily if you aren’t leather skinned. I’m not all that bad, but I’ve popped off some stuff around the new kids on the block, and had them get all whiney about it.
I’m a black sheep and am not convinced everyone needs to go thru school to do this. Some do, but some don’t, as they will not gain a single thing going thru the classes. Maybe I’m a maverick lol