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A Mechanic's Life - Tales From Under the Hood

3504 messages,  Last post on Jun 17, 2013 at 11:07 AM

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     This topic is primarily for professional mechanics, current or retired, or ardent amateurs who would like to share the suprises, victories, tricks and challenges of working on the modern automobile. All Forums members are invited, of course, to ask technicians about their work, or comment on your own experiences dealing with mechanics.
 
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Messages Page 84 of 351

#830 of 3504 Re: Pressured to not do your best [Mr_Shiftright] by thecardoc3

Jan 16, 2013 (5:25 am)

Replying to: Mr_Shiftright (Jan 15, 2013 5:44 pm)
This could all be "scientific" JU-JU...in other words, the marketing department takes some very credible sounding "fact", like...oh, I don't know...something like "our filter will screen out particles down to X microns".
 
Nice! You're on the right track.
 
The problem is that your engine doesn't CARE, nor is affected, by particles the size of neutrons....really, it doesn't.......
 
But there is a particle size that getting larger than it can cause significant issues. That size is widley accepted to be 20 microns.
 
So these filters advertise that they are almost 100% effective at particles 1/3rd larger than the permissible size. How effective are they at the 20 micron size, and how many grams of debris can they hold before they are forced to bypass?
 
I wonder who's filter sheet I should link next? You really need to look at the specs for some of the $1.99 filters out there.

#831 of 3504 Re: Pressured to not do your best [explorerx4] by thecardoc3

Jan 16, 2013 (5:27 am)

Replying to: explorerx4 (Jan 15, 2013 7:11 pm)
If I admitted to my mistakes, CarDoc03 would sent me to the wood shed for a whuppin
 
LOL. You should see what it takes to do a head gasket on some of today's engines.

#832 of 3504 Another tech posted this link by thecardoc3

Jan 16, 2013 (7:22 am)

This is hard for me to read and I'm not talking about the writing skills of the technicians.
 
http://www.indeed.com/forum/job/automotive-technician/AUTOMOTIVE-TECHNICAINS-DON- T-GET-PAID-WELL/t32112
 
I know first hand that the complaints you see them voicing there are not exaggerations.

#833 of 3504 Re: Another tech posted this link [thecardoc3] by Mr_Shiftright HOST

Jan 16, 2013 (8:44 am)

Replying to: thecardoc3 (Jan 16, 2013 7:22 am)
A sad tale indeed---although I do take issue with the one tech who blames the PUBLIC for his low wages! SAY WHAT?!!! The logic of that escapes me.
 
I did an interesting experiment the other day---I made a list of my favorite repair shops in San Rafael, California (the ones I respect). They are all doing well, which is one reason they are my favorites---they 've been around a long time so I've gotten to know them.
 
Anyway, I then matched the list with reviews on YELP, and guess what? All 4 and 5 star raves.
 
Then I made a list of shops that I would never bring my car to, or recommend---and the YELP reviews were horrendous.
 
So it seems to me, that at least in part, the success and prosperity of the shop, especially in these days of the Internet, are very closely allied to customer satisfaction.
 
And I might add, these favorite shops of mine are NOT cheap!
 
CAVEAT: These are not general repair shops, but specialty shops.

#834 of 3504 Re: Pressured to not do your best [Mr_Shiftright] by isellhondas

Jan 16, 2013 (11:36 am)

Replying to: Mr_Shiftright (Jan 15, 2013 5:44 pm)
I think years ago in another forum we talked about the old Frantz filters that used a roll of toilet paper.
 
At the time they claimed you never had to change your oil again nor did you have to change your regular filter.
 
Just put a new roll of toilet paper every 2000 miles.
 
Anyone else remember those?

#835 of 3504 Re: Another tech posted this link [thecardoc3] by isellhondas

Jan 16, 2013 (11:45 am)

Replying to: thecardoc3 (Jan 16, 2013 7:22 am)
Yes, that was hard to read and sadly this reflects the way most techs still in the business feel.
 
When I was in the mobile tool business I often was able to recruit some quality people who were simply tired of making little money for working so hard.
 
Another factor to consider that it's a physically demending job. More so than most people realize and you don't see many guys working the line once they hit their mid 40's.
 
These same guys will often do their best to discourage the younger guys from going into the business.
 
I wonder what the Vo-Tech schools are doing enrollment wise.

#836 of 3504 Re: Another tech posted this link [Mr_Shiftright] by thecardoc3

Jan 16, 2013 (1:47 pm)

Replying to: Mr_Shiftright (Jan 16, 2013 8:44 am)
A sad tale indeed---although I do take issue with the one tech who blames the PUBLIC for his low wages! SAY WHAT?!!! The logic of that escapes me.
 
The fact that he is always free to quit being a technician and go do something else for a living his wages are his fault. Otherwise I do know what he is referring to.

#837 of 3504 Re: Another tech posted this link [isellhondas] by thecardoc3

Jan 17, 2013 (5:27 am)

Replying to: isellhondas (Jan 16, 2013 11:45 am)
I wonder what the Vo-Tech schools are doing enrollment wise
 
The school that I am teaching at last night and tonight isn't doing well at all. In fact the instructor there is planning on retiring at the end of this year and they don't even have a stong candidate to replace him. One of the other schools in the area is likely going to be giving up one of there instructors to fill the slot and their program is struggling so much that it can't place any of their kids into internships.
 
You can read the writing on the wall simply by looking at what is happening when it comes to maintaining the shops equipment, the superintendent won't spend any money on the shop, not a penny.
 
Heck come the end of the school year we might be looking for a location to hold our classes.

#838 of 3504 Diagnosing a misfire on a Jaguar by thecardoc3

Jan 17, 2013 (5:53 am)

If you go to my facebook page you will find a pressure transducer waveform from cylinder #2 on this car. Another shop sent it to me because it was setting misfire codes on all four cylinders on the RH bank, and they had already tested the compression, replaced all of the spark plugs and even swapped the coils and injectors side to side and nothing made a difference at all.
 
Using the pressure transducer it's very clear to see that the RH camshaft is retarded some 22 degrees causing in effect to much exhaust gasses to be trapped in the cylinders and that's killing combustion. In many ways it's like an EGR valve that is stuck open, which is why they misfired at idle, but under certain engine speeds and throttle openings, would start to contribute and the engine ran pretty strong. The diagnosis is the cam gear has come loose and is turning on the camshaft. Luckily this simply needs reset in time and hasn't done mechanical damage to the valve train.
 
I had another that car we diagnosed just before the end of the day tuesday. A 2005 Chevrolet Tahoe for the transmission stuck in first gear and the speedometer reading between 0 and maybe up to 6mph on occasion, but mostly just 0. Someone else had already been throwing speed sensors at it with no success. The testing was straight forwards, after confirming the reported issue and watching the scan data also showed no input (or at least incorrect input) from the VSS (Vehicle Speed Sensor) I disconnected the sensor and attached the oscilloscope and confirmed a good sensor output of some 12v AC peak to peak. When I re-connected the sensor I had 0v with the scope back probing the connection. That means that something is grounding the circuit and the voltage that the sensor is producing is simply not able to be seen by the PCM. To prove if it was the harness or not I disconnected the PCM and using channel B of my scope I connected to the VSS signal on pins 20 and 21 of the PCM's green connector. Now when I turned the wheels by hand I could see a signal from the VSS both at the sensor where it was back-probed and at the PCM's connector, and the two signals were identical. Reconnecting the connector to the PCM revealed no signal again. The grounding of the signal was confirmed to be occurring insde the PCM and it will need to be replaced to repair the vehicle.
 
The customer paid for the diagnostics and took his truck stating that he would be back later this month to have the repair done. I'll upload the VSS signal capture to my facebook page as well.
 
http://www.facebook.com/john.gillespie.127648

Messages Page 84 of 351

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