[SEL] Honda oil plug OT

[bill at antique-engines.com]

What do you think the major reason I got out of the business was?
I couldn't stand to work with people doing sub-standard work,
trouble-shooting by replacing parts, sending folks back onto the highway
with faulty brakes or a job poorly done - or outright lying to the car
owner when it took 10 hours to do a 5 hour job because the mechanic didn't
know what they were doing.
Coming in in the AM and seeing a car sitting on the floor with a hole in
the floor, the windshield busted out - from the INSIDE and the dash all
torn up - the car was left on a hoist overnight with no safety set, and a
tall stand under it supporting an exhaust pipe - the hoist dropped, the
stand went up through the floor, dash and windshield.
Coming in and seeing the side of a car smashed in - and a truck tipped off
the front of a hoist, landing on the side of that car - some idiot put a
truck up on the hoist with the front WAAAY to far ahead. Lucky no one was
killed. Pretty well totalled that car that was sitting in the shop for a
tune-up.
Seeing guys in the shop trying to figure out a vibration in a Chevy engine
they had just replaced (using a short-block) Seems the car had a 350, the
short-block they used was a 400 - one is externally balanced via
flexplate, the other internally balanced. Compare engine numbers? Nope -
they, 2 of them, spent a full week trying to figure it out. Wonder what it
cost the shop and the customer..................
Seeing a family sent out in a stationwagon with no brakes because the shop
foreman insisted that all their car needed was the brakes bled (the MC was
shot)
I was nearly fired for arguing with the man but once he'd made up his
mind, he was right, period. Who was the trained tech there? Yup  -wasn't
him.
I DID walk out of that shop a few weeks later - I simply went in, backed
up my truck, loaded my tools, drove away and never looked back.

I rarely trust a vehicle of mine to anyone else.  I was sick of what I was
seeing.

Bill

> Hi Tom,
>
> There were a couple things that turned me against mechanics.  I know
> there are some that really care about the work they do but being that I
> have the ability to do most of the work myself -  I do.  People like JB,
> who instructed me on how to replace a timing gear on an 89 Pontiac via
> e-mail, are indispensable.
>
> But -
>
> One was when I got a car State Inspected and came home to find a wobbly
> left front wheel.  They loosened the
> front spindle ( I guess ) To check the brakes and reinstalled without a
> cotter pin.
>
> Two - Was when I bought my truck NEW.  1st State Inspection was at the
> dealer.  2 guys were sitting at the
> front wheel of my truck for the longest time.
>
> I was watching them and finally went over and said, "Something wrong?"
> They said they couldn't get the front
> hub back together.  My question was:  "Why did you take it apart?"   they
> said - To get at the brakes.  I said "See those 3 large screws on the
> drum?"  Again - "Why did you take it apart?"  No answer.
>
> Then I instructed them piece by piece on how to assemble a front driving
> hub.
>
> While this was going on I also observed a "mechanic" removing a rear end
> yoke with a BFH.  This is a FORD DEALERSHIP.  Where's the pullers ?
>
> Thanks for the opportunity,
>
> Joe "Pip" Betz said that.
> jlb94 at juno.com
>  ,-._,-.         "Conceit is an odd disease:
>  \/)"(\/        It makes everyone sick but the one who has it."
>  (_o_)          http://community.webshots.com/user/pipbetz
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