Mechanics these days....

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Therk

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#258629 13-Oct-2019 21:52

Cutting long story short, my car was having problems with very rough running/no power in the morning along with transmission shifting poorly/jerking etc - pretty much undriveable.

I took the car to 3 mechanics, including Toyota and got answers ranging from "No Idea" to "Transmission is going out"

Today I saw a video from Scotty Kilmer (if you are unaware of him, hes awesome) - this one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQGSkWEC_u4

Now I'm not mechanically inclined at all (I can change an air filter... lol) but the issues I was experiencing seemed to match up so I said **** it and went to get some CRC mass airflow sensor cleaner, opened it up, cleaned the sensor and put it back together, super easy.

The car now runs like new. Idle dropped a tonne, no jittering, no transmission issue, no nothing. Perfect.

I guess where I'm going with this is, how can 3 separate mechanics, including Toyota, not even think of this? Are most mechanics out there really so poor these days or is this an isolated case?

Does anybody know a mechanic in Auckland that actually knows what they are doing because I'm definitely looking for a new one now.

/Rant over

lNomNoml

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#2336476 13-Oct-2019 22:28

Unfortunately you need to really look hard for a decent one around it seems.

CutCutCut

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#2336480 13-Oct-2019 22:56

I did a similar thing a couple months back. I actually had a look around online first, and thought, this looks like an easy fix to try before I take it to a mechanic, and low and behold that mass airflow sensor did the trick. Actually I also gave the throttle body a clean too. Saved myself a bit of time and money there not having to take it in.

Bung

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#2336494 14-Oct-2019 06:44

Therk:
Cutting long story short, my car was having problems with very rough running/no power in the morning along with transmission shifting poorly/jerking etc - pretty much undriveable.

I took the car to 3 mechanics, including Toyota and got answers ranging from "No Idea" to "Transmission is going out"

Have you just asked what the likely problem is or were they paid to diagnose and fix? For my car I know of a forum where an NZ based dealer mechanic will heip out but I'm sure the dealership wouldn't be happy for him to be doing the same in work hours if you would then just fix it yourself. Most large workshops hide the answers behind a reception that does have no idea but can book you in.

xpd

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#2336497 14-Oct-2019 07:11

You didnt give them time to look up the issue on Youtube for a fix.

Seems to be hit and miss on them these days......

Gavin / xpd / FastRaccoon / Geek of Coastguard New Zealand

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ShinyChrome

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#2336511 14-Oct-2019 08:40

What sort of car are we talking here, new, old, imported etc?

And when you say you took your car to 3 mechanics, did you mean you booked in diagnosis time with 3 separate mechanics or did you just get the 5 minute drive and "there's a problem somewhere between the front and rear bumper" version?

networkn

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#2336552 14-Oct-2019 09:31

This reminds me of the time a client was complaining they were getting an error on the console of the server, we had a quick look at it (all they wanted), gave a list of remediation steps and quote for that. They sacked us because the general manager loaded a free registry cleaner and ran it on the server. Said it found 800 issues, and fixed them all. No more error. Accused us of all sorts of sculduggery.

/me facepalm

They callled us 3 weeks later in a panic because the server wouldn't boot and they couldn't work. We politely declined the opportunity to take them on as a client again.

tehgerbil

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#2336606 14-Oct-2019 10:26

Whilst it's not fair to tar all mechanics with the same brush their exists a pretty strong prejudice against mechanics for overcharging for a really good reason as many repairs/maintenance performed are their discretion and there's little in the way of consistency amongst garages.

There's also not much in the way of benchmarks or thresholds (beyond WOF standards and even that can be open to interpretation..) so what some mechanics would call un-roadworthy others would happily let drive for years I've found.

Are those who hold their repairs to a high standard and thus charge more ripping you off vs those who do the bare minimum and are cheaper?

And complicating those, is those who give the appearance of a high standard but cut corners where the end-result is invisible to the end user so get away with charging more..

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richms

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#2336676 14-Oct-2019 11:46

They probably looked at the codes and there was not any that indicated the MAF was the problem, if you took it in and just said that it was not changing smooth then that is where they would look. It seems that some cars are really reluctant to turn on the engine light and raise a code because that makes people think of them as being unreliable cars. Is it an older Japanese import with no requirement to meet the more normal emissions requirements for local cars?

Richard rich.ms

networkn

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#2336724 14-Oct-2019 11:57

On an unrelated but near topic, I hate having a puncture and going to a tyre shop. I never feel I am getting a "good deal". I feel like a captive audience and always wonder if the advise I am getting (which is always, without exception that the tyre must be replaced, and the other one which is getting close to worn and you want them to be even is correct, even though I know it's possibly true.

Ge0rge

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#2336752 14-Oct-2019 13:04

networkn:
On an unrelated but near topic, I hate having a puncture and going to a tyre shop. I never feel I am getting a "good deal". I feel like a captive audience and always wonder if the advise I am getting (which is always, without exception that the tyre must be replaced, and the other one which is getting close to worn and you want them to be even is correct, even though I know it's possibly true.

Interesting point, and quite different from my experiences. The last few times I can remember going to get a puncture repaired, I've never come across this. Last time was only a month or so ago, for someone else who was overseas - rocked into the shop with the tyre, they said 30mins, feel free to wait or come back. 30 mins later when I came back, it was done and they even put it on the back of my ute for me as I had nice clothes on. Repair was free too.

Perhaps it's where you go?

rayonline

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#2337229 15-Oct-2019 10:30

ShinyChrome:

What sort of car are we talking here, new, old, imported etc?

And when you say you took your car to 3 mechanics, did you mean you booked in diagnosis time with 3 separate mechanics or did you just get the 5 minute drive and "there's a problem somewhere between the front and rear bumper" version?

I would agree one would need to book it in for a assessment. Many of Scotty's videos would show he would go thru the car and check different things out. It is not always that your first hutch is the correct one.