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Home » Sponsored » Pi Speakers » OT, mechanical nightmares
| OT, mechanical nightmares [message #41131] |
Fri, 25 April 2003 15:01  |
Sam P.
Messages: 307
Registered: May 2009
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Grand Master |
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As you get older, and lazier, your wallet tells you, hey, let some other dude wrench your machines and enjoy those greasy skinned knuckles:) BAD MISTAKE FOR ME THIS WEEK. A simple power steering leak snowballs into a lesson in the realities of life...the other guy a)does not give a shit about your ride b)even if he cares, does he know how to fix it?
ARGG! Lower balljoints shot at 54k, I can live with that. The 95 Jimmy is not a porch poodle like 95% of SUV's, she's out there in the west texas dirt a couple of weekends a months, year round.
Then the moron puts a golf ball size glob of grease OUTSIDE one new ball joint, and doesn't get ANY grease actually in any of the other fittings. All other zerks were still dry. I had pulled all the skid plates MYSELF so the bastard would have an easier job. Front end alignment still out of spec, duh the camber effects whether you will stay in your lane or not! All they did was set toein.
Can't even swear the power steering pump was replaced, and all that dripping oil on the new lines...back to see the monkey, er mechanic.
The right front new ball joint grease fitting was turned towards the wheel, impossible to get the grease gun onto! No wonder it was dry! So we killed an hour watching the grease job get sort of re-done. The leaky power steering, who knows, the ahole admitted he got on them with a wrench an tightened the shit out of them when I asked about how he had torqued the tubing fittings onto the "new" pump. Said the drips were from filling the unit. I guess he never thought someone who had a leak would want it wiped off after being fixed, so at least it would look fixed.
The state inspector who started this fiasco said, hey, it's still dripping, when we took it back. The monkey said, he did not know they checked for powers steering leaks on the saftey inspection(nice to have reliable steering, don't you agree?).
So now, I get to recheck the torque specs this weekend, regrease the damn front end, wipe off all the stray oil, and hope I never have to use that shop again.
I will get another shop to correct the front end alignment, and send all the documents to the better business bureau...their alignment notes say the caster is way out, and they did not feel like adjusting it?!*
OH gee, better not make them angry before that great 6 months warranty runs out, CHRIST, these guys claim to be big time church goers, etc. How come NAPA and EVERYBODY offers warranties rebuilt/remanufactured stuff for "life", at half their price.
I feel a basic betrayal of trust, considering having a front end "shop rebuilt" is to preserve your tire wear in the first place, and not having them even grease the damn thing, or align corectly after the work...
All I want is my caster at 3 degrees:) One partial turn of an eccentric cam. Can't do it in the driveway, argg. Time for meds. Monday, look for a new alignment shop, cause I sure as hell don't let morons touch my ride twice.
Hell, it's not even the money, it just burns me that letting someone else earn a buck doing something I should have done myself blew back on me, and I hope the bastards starve, 'cause this is a small town, and my complaint with the better business bureau is a slam dunk against their competence and integrity. Time for meds, sorry Wayne but steam was about to pour out my ears, and I can't resolve this mess till Monday, meanwhile, I AM FINISHING the Hagerman Tech phono stage this weekend...so a quick rant here seemed appropriate somehow...OMMMMM..OMMMMM...calm and peaceful...time for the Roger Waters "trilogy" of "The Pros and Cons of Hitch hiking", "Radio Kaos", and "Amused to Death". And some 10 year old bourbon, comfortably numb till dawn, when I have a date with a hot solder iron, right after the damn grease job and retorking...argg...OMMM...OMMM...i better leave now, Sam
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| Mechanical nightmares [message #41132 is a reply to message #41131] |
Fri, 25 April 2003 19:02  |
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Wayne Parham
Messages: 18783
Registered: January 2001
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Illuminati (33rd Degree) |
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I know exactly how you feel. I'd love to be able to pay someone to build my machines. Trouble is there's nowhere in Tulsa that I trust to be able to do the job well. I know of guys that can do the job, but they are all B.S.M.E and M.S.M.E.'s. They can't be spending time wrenching during their days anymore. But one of 'em does at the local Harley Davidson shop on Saturdays. Probably not many degreed mechanical engineers working on Harley's but one of my best friends is at Route 66 on Saturdays. Pretty cool that they have him on the payroll.Still, the point is that I know how you feel. That's why I've learned from the masters how to do my own wrenching. Whether I pay a shop to do it or I do it myself, ultimately, I'll be the one doing the work on the big block 'cause there just aren't any good shops in town. Maybe we should open up a specialty/custom shop in the Southwest.
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| Re: OT, mechanical nightmares [message #41133 is a reply to message #41131] |
Fri, 25 April 2003 19:34 |
wunhuanglo
Messages: 912
Registered: May 2009
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Illuminati (2nd Degree) |
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There's a simple reason for why this happens, and it happens everywhere, believe me. In this country we've decided that anyone who works with their hands is an idiot who can't get a desk job. 50 years ago, a trade was an aspiration and a way to make a solid middle class living. Today, only the worst students take "Industrial Arts" and go on to a minimum wage job at Pep Boys changing oil with a pair of channel locks to round off every drain plug and crush every filter taking it off. No apprenticeship, no wasting money on hand tools that could be better spent on beer. No pride in your work because you've been told only idiots do it anyway. No respect from your employer because you're just another idiot, and your replacement is a dime a dozen. We made the active or passive decision to become a nation of smart guys who don't get their hands dirty - we're a "knowledge based" economy now.
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| Re: OT, mechanical nightmares [message #41135 is a reply to message #41131] |
Sat, 26 April 2003 10:52 |
Matts
Messages: 359
Registered: May 2009
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Grand Master |
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AAAAAGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! You're reminding me of my slip right before Christmas when I had a thermostat fail in the Accord family car. Got it home, and it was at the end of the bottom hose, with a zillion vacuum connections, etc. Got lazy, decided that rather than take an hour to disconnect and reconnect all of them, I would take it to the nearby PepBoys, breaking one of my own cardinal rules. Got a call later that they had broke the housing the thermostat fits in... and couldn't find another one. I got on the phone with Honda dealers, found one, they went out to pick it up, and forgot the gaskets. Then said they couldn't do it before Christmas cause they couldn't get the gaskets. Few other new problems followed, the manager and I agreed it would be best if they towed it, at their expense, to my regular mechanic. Turned out they also had the wrong thermostat they were trying to install! Was a royal pain finishing Christmas shopping and doing holiday activities with 3 teens in a 911! Every once in a while we get a good life lesson...
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| i could comment but....................... [message #41137 is a reply to message #41131] |
Sat, 26 April 2003 18:18 |
replay
Messages: 284
Registered: May 2009
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Grand Master |
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i own a 1987 xj-12 jag. when you expect the worst you become conditioned. so far nothing major, just little idiosyncrasies that drive me nuts. i belong to the local AAA club ( CAA ) in canada. shit it sounds like i'm an alcoholic! anyways tows are free and the problem is always something minor.................so far.
the car has become my second child, hang in there!
george
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| Re: OT, mechanical nightmares [message #41147 is a reply to message #41136] |
Sun, 27 April 2003 17:03 |
Matts
Messages: 359
Registered: May 2009
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Grand Master |
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Actually, having 4 people, lots of shopping & places to go was one of those good experiences that force us to plan everything better and cooperate a lot more than normal. Everyone made a little sacrifice and it all worked out for the better. Kids don't think I'm weird anymore, either, for doing a lot of my own work! Wayne, a German friend told me once that those little seats in the back of the Porsches are for German insurance rates. As long as they're in it, it qualifies as a four seater for their insurance rates and they get a break on the premiums. Good engineering, huh?
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| scared straight [message #41154 is a reply to message #41131] |
Mon, 28 April 2003 15:10 |
Sam P.
Messages: 307
Registered: May 2009
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Grand Master |
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This last episode has convinced me not to trust my car to another again. On the new ball joints, 3 bolts on the driver side, and 2 bolts on the passenger side were so loose I had to hold the top nut before they would begin tightening...several 1/4 turns of the ratchet before the nice "click" of hitting 17 ft.lbs...so 5/8 of the bolts were loose. Reusing the old cotter pins, really shows the jerks care about your safety, huh. For the want of a nail, etc.
The grease fitting on the new ball joints were pointing at the wheels, no wonder no grease got into them. The wires for the ABS dangling against the tie rod linkage was an unexpected twist. 40psi in the rf tire, for no apparent reason?! So I spent more time fixing what they broke, then to have done it myself in the first place.
EXTREME satisfaction when the O'Reily dudes asked me Sun at 0900 how my day was going. Both were shocked, and prior to my talking to them, each said they had always heard the shop was great, "the best in town" by rep. Not anymore. Then at the inspection place, NEW STICKER. Again, shock, and a firm committment NOT to send other business their way. And I haven't even stopped in at Discount Tire yet..I feel a nice talk with the MANAGER, who orignally sent me to the ahole shop, is in order. LIABILITY. I doubt he will be advising any more customers to "GAMBLE WITH THEIR LIVES". Still need to do the BBB complaint deal, but personal contact with business owners who used to send them business, and are now as shocked and disappointed as me is MUCH MORE FUN.
I figure a nice 2 or 3 page writeup, with pictures and captions will be nice to "hand out" around town. I'll stop ragging their rep when A)cows fly b)the shop refunds the "labor" money to me.
They had bragged about all the insurance company front end alignment work the local body shops send them...oh really?! Where's the Yellow Pages, can't be THAT many. Those old 4 cent cotter pins are gonna cost them tens of thousands of dollars by the time I am done...hell, I may NEVER even bother going back a THIRD time to get in their face, the "poison pen" tactic is better than smacking the indifferent jerk anyway. Ain't capitalism great:) Sam
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