Gonzo

I don't think anything was free.... the nurse told me the Tylenol was 40 bucks a pill. How come we can't get away with these charges and they can??? And they say mechanics are rip offs. Pfft Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

If you look at the "V" of the shirt you can just see the start of the scar. There's a bump at the top of it. That bump is from what I've been told, is part of the zipper they pull your chest back together with. They insert some sort of key there and turn it until the chest is pulled back into place. It's supposed to go away in a few months. The scar runs about 8 inches and yes... everything hurts... but I smiled for the camera for you guys. Love ya ALL.

Can't do much else...but get better. This fruit basket will be a part of it. Thank you guys.

Harry....u made my day. Thank you for the fruit basket. Never a more proud moment to be associated with such a talented group of guys and gals. Ya made my day. Thank you.

I've got goals to concour. Walking distance is the main thing right now. And yes, the emotional side is a tough issue to deal with. Got it handled for now. ...just one more step...then another. Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

Today, I actually made all day with no pain pills. Who hoo! More walking and more activities is the key. Can't work, still can't stay upright that long. Probably weeks until I'm allowed to drive anyway. Slowly healing, keeping up with posts, and everybody's comments. Thanx for ur thoughts. It really makes my day to hear from u all.

3 months is the time table the doctor's give me until I healed up. Kind of a forced retirement. But, now is the best time to sell out...probably at a real bargain too. I'll still write and do the manuals might even do some radio and podcasts.. we'll see. In the mean time...easy does it, Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

Slowly getting back at it. Very sore and low energy... but getting better every day. Thanx for all your caring thoughts. U guys are the best. Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

Full report after Dr. Hacksaw and Nurse Hatchet remove the faulty plumbing and start the motor back up.... it's one of those things that what YOU thought was normal isn't even close to the real normal.. ........ know I know.... the hard way. BTW ... heart attacks hurt like a somofabitch.

I too pride myself on learning the science behind the technology. Which in turn, makes repairs a lot easier to understand. AND, like you said, I've had customers tell me that I'm the most expensive-best money they've spent-and wouldn't change a thing-repair shop. Still, I do get the oil change coupon jerks on occasion, and it's sad to say, but I chase them out the door with my usual sarcastic attitude....which usually ends up with me looking like the bad guy....which at this point in my career...I couldn't give a sh'''''t less about. It's quite simple, you want the best...pay for the best. You want the best training...pay for the best training. We can argue about cost all day, but it still comes down to who knows what they're doing and who doesn't.

Repairing by the Numbers Now and then, I’ll get a car in the shop that you can clearly tell some amateur has been fiddling around under the hood. Things are out of place, harnesses and lines are not strapped down, or they’ve come up with some concoction to seal an oil leak. Nothing surprises me these days, especially after all the years I’ve been at this. Whether it’s a homemade battery clamp or gobs of pepper poured into the radiator to seal a leak, I’ve probably seen it before… and then some. Once in a while, some of these in-the-ditch repairs truly are a road side emergency, but I tend to believe with proper maintenance even those repairs could be avoided. I’m not saying you won’t break down on the side of the road, I know I have, but we aren’t driving around with points and condensers or 2 ply tires anymore. Cars have far more reliability built into them than the cars back then. Even though the number of repairs has dropped considerably, the number on the bottom of the repair invoice rises with every new technology added. Like everything else in the modern world, it still comes down to the numbers. The dollar number that is. Car repair can be expensive, especially considering the amount of training, tools and equipment needed to perform the various diagnostics and repairs. However, there are still a number of people who take car repair and maintenance as something that can be taken care of with cheap off shore parts and a shade tree, no matter what the problem is. That number is soon to change. The number of sensors, cameras, and multiple layers of high speed computer data in the modern car changes the way a lot of repairs that once were simple, like a cracked windshield, or a piece of trim falling off into a calibrated control system service. A consumer, or for that matter a repair shop, who is unaware of the complexities of these new systems and tries to penny pinch a seemingly minor problem, may inadvertently be putting themselves, their passengers and the other motorist at risk. The days of bailing wire and homemade repairs has reached the end of the road. Cars are far too sophisticated and complex for shoddy repair work from either the unaware motorist or those repair shops with antiquated repair methods. This is where training the consumer about their car is just as important as training the technicians. Things like replacing an outside mirror after Junior clobbers it backing out of the garage, aren’t as simple as before. Now, they’ll need to be calibrated and realigned because of the cameras and sensors in them. Even minor fender benders can’t be taken as lightly as before. A few stray piece of duct tape might hold the bumper on, but cover up a radar sensor. However, with these systems in working order, the likelihood of getting in a fender bender or getting too close to the garage door has been diminished by those very same cameras. Cars aren’t built like the solid tanks of yesteryear either, and why should they be? The technology and the way the vehicles are built goes hand in hand, and it’s not just about fuel economy or creature comforts, it’s about the safety of the occupants as well. In short, the modern mechanic is going to have their hands full programming, calibrating, and setting up the modern car for those minor mishaps that the average motorist gets involved in. Even now, insurance companies offer better rates if your car is equipped with some of the latest radar and protective systems, such as crash avoidance and lane departure awareness systems. Keeping these rolling computers in working order isn’t going to get any cheaper, either. Someday you might even count the number of times the technology in your car made a difference to you and your family’s safety, and for those reasons the numbers don’t matter. Saving a dollar is a smart thing to do, cutting corners on repairs isn’t. Repairing the car by the numbers just doesn’t add up when it comes safety and reliability. View full article

Memorial day weekend is for our veterans that didn't make it home and the ones that lived to tell the story. This is one of my all time favorite stories I like to tell every memorial day. Hope you enjoy it too.

I told the wife, "Hey, I'm a classic!" She said, "No, you're just an old fart."

Yep, that there is quality work.

another busy week, no time to put together this weeks new story.... so... pull one out of the grave yard. LOL still a good story.

REDNECK REPAIRS There’s some good ol’ boys out there who love to tinker on their cars every chance they get. They're not necessarily Harvard scholars, nor are they from back in the hills or down some dusty dirt road. They’re from every neck of the woods, and from every city street. They will tackle any problem out there, and usually have some really interesting ways of solving them. Give these guys, or gals a few tools, a cutting torch, and a welder, and you might find a redneck in the making. A little grinding with sparks a flying along with a few 2X4’s, and they'll soon have a new creation coming out of the garage. When it comes to every day repairs, they have their own unique way of taking care of them, to say the least. I'm not talking about the duct taped window with the split open garbage bag over it, or a pair of lock grip pliers for the blower switch. .. no, no, no... those kind of quick fixes are too common and don't even rate to be called a true redneck repair. I'm talking about the ingenious methods of taking care of their car without the aid of a manual, common sense, or good judgment. These are the true rednecks that blanket the country with the most hilarious methods of keeping their cars on the road that anyone could even imagine. I’ve got a few examples… let’s see if you agree. The other day I was making my way home when I spotted an old pickup a few cars ahead of me. It appeared to be hauling a load of scrap metal, but as I got closer it was clear this scrap metal was lashed onto the truck itself. This guy had an old aluminum screen door laid across the back of the cab horizontally, and had it silicone sealed in place as well as wire straps in several places. He was using it in place of the rear glass of the cab. Not only did he have the glass window pushed up, he was also using the screen window to allow the breeze to enter his cab. (It wasn’t hard to tell with the bits of paper getting blown up from the truck bed, and then sticking momentarily to the screen.) Yep, I’d say there's no doubt, this guy is officially ... a redneck. A few years ago I had an old car come in for some front end work... boy, was it a pile of junk. There wasn't a straight piece of metal on the car anywhere. Talk about clearing the barn out of bailing wire, this guy had it everywhere. The oddest thing was this piece of rope tied to each of the wiper blades which he had running through the open front windows. I had to stop what I was doing, and ask him what the rope was for... he was eager to show me. While sitting in the driver's seat he would pull the rope back and forth and his wipers would move accordingly. Cleaver ain’t he? … I guess so, his reasoning behind it seemed pretty sound…… the wiper motor froze up some time ago, and to avoid repairing it he came up with this little rig. Can’t deny it… that's a redneck repair if I ever saw one. Oh there's more...there’s always more redneck repairs out there. Just hard to keep from looking at some of them sometimes; just makes ya shake your head at what they have created. Of course, there are these guys that fall in the category of real redneck engineers out there. These suspender wearing-beer chuggin’ tool connoisseurs like to think of themselves as automotive structural re-engineers. I've seen everything from a Pinto four feet off the ground with a complete 4WD set up under the chassis, to SUV's with the tops cut off like a convertible. In fact one guy was using his revamped SUV as a way to haul his livestock around his farm. The only time he would get it out on the highway was to fill it up with gas at the local station. Once in a while he'd bring his pigs, goats, or whatever else he was hauling along for the ride. You guessed it, definitely... a redneck. So what constitutes a redneck? I suppose the best answer to that would be someone who dares to be different. Someone who has enough “moxie” to attempt the impossible without any concern or care what anyone else thinks about their remake of their horseless carriage. They're out to take care of a problem, or a need they have, with the tools and scrap metal they have at hand, and by golly, they’ll get it done for sure. I know I've done my share of redneck repairs in the past, and there's no doubt I've got a bit of that redneck in me too. I'm sure most of us do, just some of these good ol' boys just take it to the extreme. We've all probably seen the beer can strapped to the exhaust to keep it from leaking, the flashlights duct taped to the fenders, the chain and lock in place of the door locks, and of course the odd battery clamp. That’s just amateur stuff compared to some of the professional rednecks out there. These folks take care of business in their own special way. There's no end to their creativity, nor the ability to come up with something so weird or unique that you'll say, “Yep, that there is a redneck thru and thru.” (I would just stand clear if one of them says… “Hey now, watch this.”) Now, on occasion you'll spot some of the creations from these backwoods garages that will totally surprise you. At a VW car show many years ago I saw an old type III Volkswagen where this creative genius took a V6 Pontiac Fiero motor, suspension and drive train, and somehow shoehorned it into place where the original motor and backseat were. You could practically change the plugs from the driver's seat…… it was that close to his head. Did it work? You darn tootin' it worked. Work so well he could stand the front end up as it shifted into second gear. Ya gotta love these redneck creations. They make me smile; brings a chuckle out once in a while, too. As a mechanic I'm generally skeptical of these lofty ideas they have, but as a spectator at a mud bog...I just love this stuff. Give me some good old American ingenuity any day of the week. The one thing you can say for all those good old boys out there... these guys sure know how to have fun. Just keep trickin' out them there vehicles and show em' off, ya hear. I've heard of other countries claiming they have some good ol' boys of their own, but they can’t hold a socket wrench up against a couple of good old home grown U.S. of A. Rednecks, that's for sure. The heart and soul of us all... … … …Rednecks - a true American original, and dang proud to be one myself. View full article

This story was brought on by a shop hopper who told me they went to 5 different shops and got the same estimate for the repair, but when they called me I wouldn't nail down a cost because I didn't believe it was a bad component. So, I quoted the diagnostic fee along with the part R&R. Which was higher than everybody else. It wasn't the cost that mattered, it was the fact he didn't feel like I was hiding anything and I was more up front with the probably costs of the repair. Turned out to be a loose ground lead. Thus, giving prices over the phone may not be the best policy, but in this case it made the difference..... even though I was the highest price he was quoted.

How Long is a Labor Hour? Did you ever stop and wonder how long a labor hour actually is? I’m not talking about time ticking away on a clock. I’m talking about the actual time spent on a repair vs. the labor guide’s suggested time. Personally, I’ve never had a job that started and finished exactly to the second of the given labor time. It’s not like the labor guide’s hourly chart is set in stone, or that they’re wrong, but when it comes to getting paid it sure seems like they are. Any mechanic will tell you that a labor hour can stretch to half a day if a lot of research is involved, or it can last 15 minutes. Most labor guides typically don’t take into account how much research, diagnosis, equipment setup, or the time it takes recover your 10mm socket that just fell down into the motor. Time, as they say, is money. If you don’t think so, take your car to any bodyshop and read off the labor charges. You’ll find the labor time is divided into a 1/10th of an hour. However, in the mechanical repair shop, seldom are the labor costs scrutinized as they are when dealing with insurance companies. Even still, I’ve never once been asked to break down the mechanical repair labor into diagnostic time and the actual physical labor when giving an estimate. Estimates are usually quoted by the R&R labor time for a particular repair. Generally, that doesn’t include diagnostic time. Even though the book time has been calculated out, it’s still not a complete guide and certainly not the Holy Grail of the repair industries time clock. Try sticking with an estimate for changing a starter that’s listed as one hour job. More than likely the estimate is only going to be quoted straight from book of a one-hour labor charge and not any diagnostic time included. Even with all the technically advanced diagnostic tools a professional mechanic has at their disposal there are still people who can’t understand why diagnostic time should be included in the labor estimate, even though it’s not part of the R&R for the component. In their mind, (as I’ve been told numerous times), the mechanic should already know what’s wrong when they pull their car into the shop. What’s worse is the price shopper who calls from shop to shop looking for the cheapest repair. I’d bet to say the cheapest quote is probably nothing more than the R&R labor time for whatever part they’re concerned about. However, nobody mentioned anything about the crusted connections at the battery, or the leaking valve cover that’s coated the starter in oil, or whether you’ve installed aftermarket headers. Not to mention any diagnostic time, because the real problem isn’t the starter at all. On the other hand there are the stop watch aficionados. You know, the people who literally count the seconds of every minute and are bound to argue over any labor time discrepancies on their invoice. The mechanic’s entire career, (in their way of thinking), is strictly turning bolts and slapping on parts. These tick-tock-time-keepers, watch their timepieces with precision and inevitably use “time” as the only determining factor for the cost of a repair. For instance, let’s say the book time said an hour, and everyone involved agreed upon the charges, but the mechanic got it done in 25 minutes. The argument has always been that the cost of the job should be no more than the time it took to do it. Should the mechanic be penalized for doing his job proficiently and having completed it early? Where does it say he should give the job to the customer at some discounted rate because he can beat the book time? Doesn’t seem right at all. But, what if the same job that was quoted for an hour has taken four hours to complete? Who pays for the time difference now? So in a sense, a labor hour isn’t an hour at all. It’s an arbitrary amount of time that may or may not be exactly 60 minutes. If it was as accurate as some people believe, then theoretically you should get an estimate for that hour’s labor, pull up to the repair shop, and walk out in exactly 60 minutes with the job completed. Not a second sooner or a second later. Yea, good luck with that one. Like most trades mechanics get paid by the hour, however it’s not like you punch a time clock in the morning, work all day, then collect a 40-hour paycheck at the end of the week. Most mechanics work on flag time. Realistically, let’s call it what it really is… piece work, (the piece being the car). Very few mechanics are offered an hourly pay and a guaranteed 40-hour work week, (although there are some places that use a combination of both flag time and hourly pay). More times than not, a mechanic ends up eating a whole lot of labor time for problem solving. Whether there are rusted bolts, bad connections, illusive intermittent problems or poor information from the get-go, something is going to use up time which eventually won’t go towards a paycheck. Any time money and people are involved in the same situation, and you’re dealing with something that’s not widely understood, such as the modern car, it’s up to the mechanics and the repair shops to make sure they do. Customers also need to understand that this is a business based on suggested labor hours and not a time clock. There needs to be a reasonable amount of trust in the labor guide estimates from both sides of the counter. Because, it’s hard to say how long an hour of labor really is. View full article

Read this ...

Talking with customers can be a whole lot of fun, or headache. LOL. Talking directly to the car takes a lot of guess work out of the procedures.

Tell a Mechanic to Telematic Telematics, the latest in automotive communication. Not a communication between systems and scanners, but a communication between the car and mechanics. All without driver intervention. For generations, when you have a problem with your car, you’d tell a mechanic. That’s all about to change as we head into the future with global positioning, drive by wire, and even more computer control in the modern car. Instead, your car will talk directly to the service center. The mechanics will know when the car needs serviced long before the owner decides whether or not it really needs to go to the shop. With telematics, a mechanic can even watch the car’s condition in real time, which could make the search for intermittent problems a thing of the past. Of course you could call it another form of “Big Brother” watching your every move, but it’s all in the name of creating a safer and more efficient vehicle for the consumer. The transition to a telematics system is inevitable. Change is part of progress, as they say. These new and ever changing technologies are what dictates the cars of the future. We might be driving a hybrid model, or a full electric, or perhaps a hydrogen vehicle by the time telematics is common place. But, for me, the mechanic who services these technical wonders, it’s going to change things in a way nobody ever expected. And that’s in the initial diagnostic work. There will be a lot less effort spent on trying to sort out the problem with the car when the mechanic asks, “So, what’s wrong with your car?” Think about it, we have such a sophisticated piece of machinery operated by the average consumer who has little to no knowledge of how it actually works. When a problem arises the only indication is this little yellow light on the dash. Then, with some sort of symptom in hand they’ll head to the repair shop. Their answers to the question of what’s wrong with their car can be far from being technically correct or even in the same ball park sometimes, which makes the mechanic’s job that much harder. The car and telematics, on the other hand, both speak “mechanic”. For example, take these encounters at the counter, and imagine how simplified it would be by telematics telling the mechanic, instead of the driver telling the mechanic. A lady called to tell me her computer was flashing. She told me that it would disappear and then reappear. I asked, “I’m sure you’re not talking about the little box mounted under the hood or under the dash disappearing and reappearing, are you?” Obviously not, she was talking about a light on her dash for the traction control. Rather than telling me it was the traction control light going on and off she kept insisting that it was the computer that was disappearing. Last week it was an intermittent problem. A repair shop tried the same part three times and it still didn’t fix it. The owner of the car was wondering if I thought it could be something else. Or, the guy who ran his truck out of gas and the repair shop told him the new pump they put in just a few months ago burnt up because he ran the tank dry. I told him that it’s virtually impossible to burn up an electric fuel pump by running the car out of gas, and that he must have a problem elsewhere. Turns out his truck has a dual tank setup and the transfer pump was faulty, but the repair shop only replaced the fuel pump, and filled the empty tank. (I seriously doubt they even know how to diagnose it.) So where does this all lead too? Simply put, less second hand information, and less likely to have parts-swapper repair shops slapping unneeded components on a customer’s car without properly testing. Half the battle of getting to the root of car problems is sorting through all the hearsay and gossip about what could be wrong from untrained and unskilled people, or people with a vague idea of how things work, who then mislead the consumer with some half-wit idea. Now everybody has an opinion about what’s wrong, but nobody knows how to fix it. Chances are even those free code checks at the parts stores will be a thing of the past, because the code, or problem, will have already been sent to the agency, repair shop, or dealership long before the owner has a chance to make that drive to the parts store. If there was ever anything, that changes the automotive repair industry in a big way, for both the independent and dealership repair facilities, it’s definitely a working telematics network of professional shops across the country. I know I need to keep in mind there are still a lot of mechanics and repair shops that won’t agree. Some shops are stuck in the 20th century and see cars as mechanical machines with a few wires and a couple of computers. I’m sure there will be these type of shops around for years to come that will still fix cars with a timing lights and dwell meters. True, but as I see things shaping up, more and more mechanics are likely to be using a scanner or scope to diagnose and repair a car rather than a socket and ratchet. Let’s face it, times are changing, and so will the type of work the mechanic will be doing in the future. Obviously, wearable items such as brake pads, timing chains, oil changes, and electrical components will all need to be serviced as they age, the big difference is how the mechanic finds out about those failures. The modern car can go a lot farther between scheduled maintenance than cars from just a decade ago, but very few people bring their cars in for periodic maintenance, and far fewer follow the recommended intervals for regular service. Telematics, will take care of that. It won’t be left up to the consumer or to a book crammed in the back of the glove box or that occasional email from the repair shop; the car will tell you when it needs to go in for service. It might even send you a text or email too! Chances are you’ll show up at the repair shop with not much more than a vague idea of why you’re there, but the car has already talked to the mechanic. No need trying to explain things, he already knows. All you have to do is deliver it to the shop. Of course, if we’re talking about a time far into the future and you own an automatous car, the car might take care of that all by itself, too. Just think, you won’t have to try and explain things to the mechanic by reenacting the sound and motion the car made just before it acted up, or how you watched a YouTube video that you’re certain is the solution to the problem. Don’t worry technology has taken care of it all. Telematics, will tell the mechanic. View full article