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A Mechanic's Life - Tales From Under the Hood

2906 messages,  Last post on May 23, 2013 at 11:39 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 173 of 291

#1719 of 2906 Re: Just to clarify... [xwesx] by thecardoc3

Feb 26, 2013 (6:42 pm)

Replying to: xwesx (Feb 26, 2013 1:43 pm)
I know a few techs who have lived through the nightmare of having their tools get stolen or lost in a shop fire and it isn't a pretty picture. Its rare for a shop to insure its employees tools. There are a few that do, but they are the exception. The average senior technician will easily have over $50,000 in his tools. Some might think that the techs home owners insurance will cover the tools and in fact with a rider to do so and an accurate inventory list on file with the agent, they do, provided the tools are at the techs home.
 
Insurance companies play games too. If I suffered a complete loss, they will cover about $160,000 for my tools but only if I am replacing them. My actual loss would be over $300K retail today.
 
The most ignorant of all of the stories would be about a technician who's tools were stolen while he worked at a dealership. The dealership of course required the techs to have their own tools, and they didn't provide any insurance for the techs tools. He didn't have the money to replace his tools and subsequently lost his job over it! A bunch of us got together and each chipped in with anything that we had duplicates of and we got him reasonably set up, and even helped him find another job but nothing was really going to ever erase the hurt he experienced.
 
There was an attempted break in at my shop last fall. The alarm system scared off who-ever was trying to break in, and since I work on all of the local policeman's personal cars, they responded to the call in a big hurry. Still, its always a concern.

#1721 of 2906 A properly labeled bottle of oil by thecardoc3

Feb 28, 2013 (6:04 am)

So we are on our way back home from the work that I did in Memphis. We stopped into a truck stop and took a short break from the road. While I was waiting for my wife I took a minute to check out some of the products on the shelf. The Kendall Liquid Titanium 5W30 bottle caught my eye, so I looked to see what it said on the back.
 
API SN, ILSAC GF5. OK, that's the current standards. Then it had Chrysler MS6395 (T). Now that's excellent, they specified the exact rating that they met and it is the newest Chrysler specification. They had the Ford WSS M2930-B. Then they showed "GM 4718M (obsolete)". I put the GM spec in quotations here because they are open about the fact that the specification is no longer in effect by listing it as obsolete. However, the fact that it meets the Chrysler MS6395 "T" actually means it really does exceed that obsolete GM spec. But at the same time, it did not say dexos1 anywhere on the bottle. There was nothing on that stores shelf that had the dexos1 label on the front of the bottle. There were other products that met the API 5W30 and they weren't even all SN.
 
If a GM vehicle owner that requires dexos1 had to add oil, that Kendall was the best choice, especially since it meets the newest Chrysler spec. But they made it very clear that it isn't approved for the dexos1 specification. So this morning I checked and guess what, there is a brand new list for dexos licensed products. (Feb 20th 2013) Kendall does not have one. Now the next time you are out at the store, compare what you see on the back of their bottle, to what you find on other products.
 
http://www.gmdexos.com/licensed brands/dexos1licensedbrands.html
 
When consumers, shops, and techs understand how to choose the correct products for given cars, they will find the correct products on the store shelves.
 
BTW, there were no products suitable for any of the European vehicles on that store's shelf.

#1722 of 2906 Doc, what's your opinion? by busiris

Feb 28, 2013 (9:48 am)

Doc,
 
This short video of a runaway acceleration event was on the CNN website yesterday. Being a mechanic that has a better understanding of the interaction between the many components on modern cars, I would like to get your opinion on what you think happened.
 
Personally, I find it difficult to believe so many sub-systems could fail simultaneously....
 
The family has secured the services of an attorney...
 
http://www.cnn.com/video/standard.html#/video/us/2013/02/27/dnt-teen-out-of-cont- - rol-car.wfaa

#1723 of 2906 Re: A properly labeled bottle of oil [thecardoc3] by isellhondas

Feb 28, 2013 (10:00 am)

Replying to: thecardoc3 (Feb 28, 2013 6:04 am)
Doc,
 
Do you REALLY think using an "incorrect" otherwaise quality oil would affect the life of a car's engine one twit over 200,000 miles?
 
Assuming it's changed on time of course.

#1724 of 2906 Re: Doc, what's your opinion? [busiris] by Mr_Shiftright HOST

Feb 28, 2013 (10:08 am)

Replying to: busiris (Feb 28, 2013 9:48 am)
I'd certainly take a 2-1 bet that it wouldn't matter at all. I'd ask for odds just to sting the purists a little harder when I win
 
Of course, the problem with such a scenario is that there are a lot of other things that can affect an engine over 200,000 miles.
 
I would take a bet, though, that I could put a premium oil, without regard to specification, in my car, and drive it for 30,000 miles without incident and without ever changing it--topping it off of course, and swapping out the filter.

#1725 of 2906 Re: Doc, what's your opinion? [Mr_Shiftright] by isellhondas

Feb 28, 2013 (10:15 am)

Replying to: Mr_Shiftright (Feb 28, 2013 10:08 am)
I totally agree with you but I couldn't bear to leave oil in a car for 30,000 miles!
 
I still remember the "Pennzoil" engines from the old days. After beating the valve covers off with a rubber mallet you couldn't even see the rocker arms!

#1726 of 2906 Re: Doc, what's your opinion? [busiris] by qbrozen

Feb 28, 2013 (10:24 am)

Replying to: busiris (Feb 28, 2013 9:48 am)
Just like the Toyota incidents, I don't buy it. Shifter locked out, brakes failing to respond, and accelerator broken at full throttle position ... all at once. And I assume, although not mentioned, e-brake cable broken, too.

#1727 of 2906 Re: Doc, what's your opinion? [busiris] by boomchek

Feb 28, 2013 (10:45 am)

Replying to: busiris (Feb 28, 2013 9:48 am)
I'm not a mechanic but I assume these systems are not connected to each other through one computer?
 
Worst case scenario he shold have been able to activate the e-brake although at those speeds it might have done very little and totally burnt the rear brakes.
 
What about just turning the key off?
 
And lastly he could have slowed down by gently scraping the middle divider until friction would cause him to stop?
 
On a somewhat related side note back in 1997 when I had my new 1997 Civic back then with a 5 speed manual an odd thing happened to me a few times.
 
I started the car in neutral, and suddenly my ABS and CEL lights came on and when I attempted to press the clutch it would not press, instead making a grinding noise. Transmission was in neutral, the clutch pedal would press in only about 1/2 inch before making the grinding noise (it was not like the gears were grinding, it was another weird noise), and nothing I could do to put the car in gear. I always thought the clutch was fully mechanical and independent of any components, mechanical or electronic so it was weird what caused it to be stuck. The dealer could never replicate the problem and it happened only twice or three times over the 4 years I had the car. After that incident in a way I believe that sometimes mechanical parts like brake pedals could "freeze up".
 
Anyways after I turned the car off and restarted it, no lights came on and everything worked fine.

#1728 of 2906 Re: Doc, what's your opinion? [isellhondas] by Mr_Shiftright HOST

Feb 28, 2013 (10:54 am)

Replying to: isellhondas (Feb 28, 2013 10:15 am)
yeah but we have synthetics now and way better oil filters---true, it might constitute a form of 'abuse' and I'm not recommending it, but I think a modern engine could survive a 30,000 mile oil change--changing out the filter should prevent sludge. I'd put certain limitations on the test of course: no towing, no extreme climates, no track racing, etc.

Messages Page 173 of 291

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