NorthShoreBuck
True Madness Requires Significant Intelligence
We have had a few car threads on here before. Recently we had one on what you drive. In that thread I mentioned that I just took my truck in for the 90,000 mile service. I imagine many of you rely on your local mechanic or perhaps a national chain to service your vehicle. Do you trust them? Here is my story.
I will normally try to work on my truck but today you need a computer, special tools and and place to dispose of the fluids. The check engine light and anti lock brake lights were on at the dash in my truck. I knew the ABS did not work as I have felt it go out one day at low speed driving.
At the 90K service the garage, Tire Kingdom, put the vehicle through a battery of computer tests. They came back and told me the check engine light had codes 171 and 174 which meant I needed new oxygen sensors. They told me the ABS light was due to my front and back wheel speed sensors being out and possibly a sending unit on the brake system.
They wanted $450 to swap out the O2 sensors and $380 for rear and $400 for the front ABS system. Rather than pay I thought I would check out how bad these troubles were and see how much they affected my trucks operation.
I googled the error codes and on the first page I had found my answer. A check engine light has about 30 possible causes but the most likely are a dirty mass air flow sensor and a cracked elbow where the PVC system goes into the intake manifold. I bought some cable cleaner for the MAF and a $2.00 elbow for another make and model vehicle. Total cost $8.00. Total time to swap out the elbow and spray down the MAF 30 minutes.
I went to the local O'Reilly's part store and asked about the ABS codes. The young lady, who looked very much like a young man, did some searching and told me I only had rear ABS on my truck and that the sending unit would probably stop my brakes from working completely. So I bought the rear speed sensor unit for $6.99.
This weekend I crawled under my truck and swapped out the rear speed sensor unit which was very easy. I also swapped out my fuel filter which the garage wanted $24 for the filter and $45 for labor. I will not lie to you, changing the filter was a bitch. It was in a frame side rail and the retainer for the filter would not let go of the thing. I ended up taking the retainer off and ripping the old filter out. Going back together was easy. Total cost $6.99 for the fuel filter and $4.99 for the special tool. Time was about an hour and half although if I would have taken the damn retainer out earlier it would have been less than an hour.
You can do the math but I figure I easily saved myself over $1000 and actually found two incorrect problems that did not need fixed and that I may have been billed for anyway.
Now do you trust your mechanic? I know todays vehicles are very complex and that most of the people I see working on them are young. That still does not excuse the fact that they are selling high cost and possibly unnecessary service. They mark up their part anywhere from 300-500%.
I am very knowledagable about my company's P&L. We mark up hardware 20-30%.
I will end this with two other examples. On my 90K service they were supposed to rotate the tires and balance the wheels. My tires were very dirty and dusty and I could tell that the had not been touched. When I questioned then no one could say they had done the service. They hadn't and I made them enter into the computer that I would get a free one whenever I wanted. It is also on my receipt. I checked all the fluids and filters to make sure they had done what the said they were supposed to do.
The other story is on my wife's truck. Most Fords have a long serpentine belt that drives all the pulleys. Every time she would take her truck in for service they would tell her her serpentine belt had cracks and that she needed to replace it. I would look at it and see the small cracks and it did not look bad. Finally after about half of dozen of these episodes she had them change it. I do not remember the charge but the belt was marked up 300-400% and there was a one hour charge to change it.
The second time she took it in to get the oil changed they told her she needed to change out the serpentine belt. This all occurred at Firestone.
Sorry for the length but I sat there and listened to every customer at Tire Kingdom be told they needed new brakes. It is a racket and should be illegal.
Caveat Emptor!
I will normally try to work on my truck but today you need a computer, special tools and and place to dispose of the fluids. The check engine light and anti lock brake lights were on at the dash in my truck. I knew the ABS did not work as I have felt it go out one day at low speed driving.
At the 90K service the garage, Tire Kingdom, put the vehicle through a battery of computer tests. They came back and told me the check engine light had codes 171 and 174 which meant I needed new oxygen sensors. They told me the ABS light was due to my front and back wheel speed sensors being out and possibly a sending unit on the brake system.
They wanted $450 to swap out the O2 sensors and $380 for rear and $400 for the front ABS system. Rather than pay I thought I would check out how bad these troubles were and see how much they affected my trucks operation.
I googled the error codes and on the first page I had found my answer. A check engine light has about 30 possible causes but the most likely are a dirty mass air flow sensor and a cracked elbow where the PVC system goes into the intake manifold. I bought some cable cleaner for the MAF and a $2.00 elbow for another make and model vehicle. Total cost $8.00. Total time to swap out the elbow and spray down the MAF 30 minutes.
I went to the local O'Reilly's part store and asked about the ABS codes. The young lady, who looked very much like a young man, did some searching and told me I only had rear ABS on my truck and that the sending unit would probably stop my brakes from working completely. So I bought the rear speed sensor unit for $6.99.
This weekend I crawled under my truck and swapped out the rear speed sensor unit which was very easy. I also swapped out my fuel filter which the garage wanted $24 for the filter and $45 for labor. I will not lie to you, changing the filter was a bitch. It was in a frame side rail and the retainer for the filter would not let go of the thing. I ended up taking the retainer off and ripping the old filter out. Going back together was easy. Total cost $6.99 for the fuel filter and $4.99 for the special tool. Time was about an hour and half although if I would have taken the damn retainer out earlier it would have been less than an hour.
You can do the math but I figure I easily saved myself over $1000 and actually found two incorrect problems that did not need fixed and that I may have been billed for anyway.
Now do you trust your mechanic? I know todays vehicles are very complex and that most of the people I see working on them are young. That still does not excuse the fact that they are selling high cost and possibly unnecessary service. They mark up their part anywhere from 300-500%.
I am very knowledagable about my company's P&L. We mark up hardware 20-30%.
I will end this with two other examples. On my 90K service they were supposed to rotate the tires and balance the wheels. My tires were very dirty and dusty and I could tell that the had not been touched. When I questioned then no one could say they had done the service. They hadn't and I made them enter into the computer that I would get a free one whenever I wanted. It is also on my receipt. I checked all the fluids and filters to make sure they had done what the said they were supposed to do.
The other story is on my wife's truck. Most Fords have a long serpentine belt that drives all the pulleys. Every time she would take her truck in for service they would tell her her serpentine belt had cracks and that she needed to replace it. I would look at it and see the small cracks and it did not look bad. Finally after about half of dozen of these episodes she had them change it. I do not remember the charge but the belt was marked up 300-400% and there was a one hour charge to change it.
The second time she took it in to get the oil changed they told her she needed to change out the serpentine belt. This all occurred at Firestone.
Sorry for the length but I sat there and listened to every customer at Tire Kingdom be told they needed new brakes. It is a racket and should be illegal.
Caveat Emptor!
