Cars are way more difficult to fix now than when I was a kid 50 years ago. Not as many people fix things at home now. Not to mention most people don’t have the needed tools and diagnostic machines.
I agree that a blown fuse probably means there is something else that needs fixing.
I think that’s true for the shade tree mechanic, but I’ve heard real mechanics say they’re a lot easier now. Back in the day, if your car didn’t start, it could be the fuel pump or cracked vacuum hose or a bad coil or dirty distrubuter or a dozen other things. And yes, there are plenty of tests you can do to narrow it down. But nowadays, they can plug in their scanner, pull codes, and use the same scanner to look at individual sensors or even get the computer to activate certain things.
A cheap OBDII scanner will (may) give you some direction and with even a baseline bi-directional scanner, you can test a lot of components without getting out the driver’s seat.
They found codes in the car for an evaporator problem but they said it was OK as far as they could tell. I will take it back if the check engine light goes back on and they will run more tests.
Did they was it was an evaporative emissions leak? The most common cause of that is failing to tighten the gas cap. They may have tested the gas cap on a pressure tester but they probably just tightened it and sent you back out. If you send it back, they will look for another cause (bad gas cap, rust in the fuel filler neck, etc.)
Bijou_Drains took his F-150 to the Ford dealer. He asked them to fix his car. They told him they would, except he’d brought his F-150 truck instead of his car.
I did not see the codes but I was thinking it was related to AC issue. Hopefully this won’t show up again
To the best of my knowledge, the AC system doesn’t throw any codes. At least not ones that wouldn’t turn on a check engine light.
Do most car repairs require a part replacement that the mechanic doesn’t have in stock? Are mechanics able to order a part in a steady stream of parts coming daily or more on a truck, and are they able to return the part for a full refund if the customer then declines? Since people are often not able to take a call on a moment’s notice, it seems like some consideration like this would be important for streamlining the business.
How about the difficulty of moving vehicles into and out of a repair bay while waiting on the customer to return a call? It might be quite a lot of additional work if there is some reassembly required after the work to uncover a bad part, or to get the car in or out if it’s not drivable under its own power. Do mechanics often wait around a while for a customer reply, or are they quick to return the car to as-arrived condition and move some other vehicle into the repair bay?
When I’m in a meeting and see the call from the mechanic, maybe I can duck out and answer, or maybe it will be a couple hours before I can communicate in any way. I imagine this is creating a tactical problem for the mechanic and always wonder what is going on for them.
It depends on who the supplier is (and where you are).
I normally only deal with Volvo and Renault. Volvo has are very good at spare parts logistics and have a very generous return policy. We get three deliveries a day, if we place and order early enough we can have it within a few hours as long as it is in stock at the local distribution center. Worst case we get it over night.
Aside from oils and chemicals we can pretty much return anything as long the packaging isn’t damaged (mind you, 6 years olds on christmas are more careful than most mechanics when it comes to opening packages).
We do however get a bonus if we keep the returns below a certain level.
Renault is not as good, we get one delivery per day and they are much more restrictive when comes to returns, most notably we can’t parts below a certain value. If something has to be ordered from France it takes a week to get it, and most of the time it can’t be returned.
The proper procedure is to do the diagnostics, give the customer a quote, make a new appointment for the actual repair, and once that is done you order the parts you need.
This is not just about parts, but also time, you need run the diagostics before you know how much time is needed to do the repairs.
Does this mean we will sometimes have to push a car in and out of the repairbay more than once? Yes, but our mechanics’ schedules tend to be fairly full so even if the customer replies instantly there might not be enough time to do the repairs right away anyway.
Really? I’m not sure if I’ve ever done it that way; I usually just bring the car in once for diagnosis and repair. I take my Subaru to the dealer, but before that almost all the repairs have been at a non dealer repair shop who would call for permission if it was over some prearranged amount like $300. Now, occasionally we’ve had to leave it overnight or perhaps over two nights (I think our transmission replacement on the Jeep was like that). And I have occasionally planned ahead what work is to be done, like when I had a trailer hitch installed on the Subaru.
I figure the cost to me in scheduling, getting rides, and loss of transportation is probably worth around $100 for a car appointment, and I usually have to schedule them about a month in advance. The two visit approach sounds a lot more difficult.
I should’ve included a YMMV, since practices varies from shop to shop and it is hard to give an accurate general answer when it very much depends on the specifics of the situation*.
But the basic issue for the mechanic is that until he has had a chance to properly diagnose the problem he can’t be sure if it will require half an hour or two days of work to fix it. And that is before we get any insurance companies involved.
*There is a bit of a difference in approach when someone tells you their “car runs like a bag of nuts” versus they a warning light on telling them their tail light isn’t working.
Yes, I’m sure our mileage varies. I’ve always wondered how the mechanics deal with this, as it seems a difficult predicament. Worse still, there must be times when a good job of diagnosing the car still gets it wrong or misses something, and the system kind of makes that the mechanic’s fault, whereas it’s really just a feature of the process of figuring things out.
I’ve never done 2 visits for a repair. I don’t go to dealers. I went to a dealer for a recall and of course they gave me a long list of everything they wanted to do and I said no to all of it. Never been to a dealer except recalls or warranty work. I really don’t trust dealers at all.
I went back and forth between dealer repair shops and independent repair shops for years. Both have their pluses and minuses. The short version is that the independents are usually cheaper, but can’t always do the repair, and are generally not as familiar with your vehicle make.
In any event, for about 20 years now, I’ve pretty much settled on dealer repair shops. They at least are generally capable of actually being able to do the repair. I had a bad experience in which I paid an independent several hundred dollars for electrical diagnostic work, only to have them tell me they were unable to find the problem. 
I had another independent who I paid to fix a hesitation problem, and when I got it back, the problem was still there. They then refused to actually fix the problem or to refund my money.
I’ve had another independent simply refuse to take on a job (head gasket replacement).
The only really bad experience I had with a dealer shop was when they incorrectly replaced my shocks on a 2004 4Runner (which cost me about $2,500). They ended up doing all of the work again, and didn’t charge me again. Partly this was because they got all the parts again from Toyota for free, because the technical guidance they were given from Toyota was flawed. So it was good that I had the work done by an authorized dealer. They were honest with me when they told me they had screwed up the first time, too.
So long as you know the routine work that needs to be done on your vehicle and the maintenance schedule, and that things like throttle body cleaning and coolant and transmission flushes are generally unnecessary, I see no reason not to go to the dealer.
But whether dealer or independent, if I find that they have ripped me off, I never go there again.
Never had a problem that an indy car shop could not fix.
Heh, I’ve had more than one difficult to diagnose issue that both independents and dealerships had trouble diagnosing. The fixes are easy when the correct diagnosis is eventually made.
The worst was a fuel pump issue on a '94 Ranger. If it was hot, the transfer pump wouldn’t get power, and the truck wouldn’t start. No warning lights, just crank and no fire. Had it towed to several places, at least six, and it invariably worked for them. Fortunately this meant I was only out the money for the tow. Eventually it was stored in a place that kept that little black truck warm enough in the Texas sun to keep the internal connections on the fuel pump open at a dealership, and they correctly diagnosed it and replaced the fuel pump. It was an easy fix, as soon as it could be reproduced anywhere.
You drive an Indy car?
Hehehe, my dad knew a guy when he was in high school who had put an Offy in his model T. Does that count?
ETA: Nope, from what I understand, not an intake or heads for his flathead. A monobloc Offy installed in a T.
Another good thing about non dealer shops is they don’t try to sell me 10 other things besides what they are working on.