Things shop owners say: your opinions!
 

I have been a Mercedes Tech for 30 years now and have heard some crazy things from shop owners. So please give your input.

1. Bad guide rod bushings warp brake rotors.
2. If the a/c doesn't work the car will run hot because the auxiliary fan won't come on.
3. a rear dome lamp without a bulb, if switched on, will run the battery down.
4. a/c system is weak, maybe the expansion valve is" flooding".
5. Customer service is a mentality people buy into.

Thanks for your thought's.

Brake rotors will crack with new pads if not turned or replaced.

lol, ive heard word for word 2 and 3.

The ones I can think of offhand was-

1. Your car isn't providing enough electronical activity for your alternator to charge
2. I connected the scanner to your car and its showing a bad O2 sensor. (not really crazy sounding, but this was said to me about a 1983 bronco with no such thing as OBD, so it was a blatant lie)

When things get REALLY bad between shop owner and paying customer:
 

The "classic" exchange between the shop owner and customer often goes something like this:


Customer:

"It's *MY* car and it's *MY* money, so you better fix it *MY* way!"


Auto repair shop owner:

"Well, it's *MY* shop and *YOU* are in here, so I am telling *YOU* to get the hell out of *MY* shop NOW!"

My last few years of college was mostly internships and a class or two. This kept me on the road a lot between work and college. I had a 1979 Cutlass with about 190k miles. It needed new drums and shoes. The prior owner had a pulled a camper with it and the back end did not set quite as high is it did new. I went to a Midas shop as for once I had the money but no real time to work on my car. I told them to replace the rear drums, shoes, springs, etc.

When I returned to the shop NOTHING had been done to the car. I was given an estimate for $738 of work (this is 1986) to be done on the car for new brakes all around and new rear coil springs. I was livid. The front brakes had been done about 4 months prior. I was told that they could not do the rear brakes because without replacing the coil springs the rear brakes would wear out right away. F**K Midas! I went out, made the time and replaced all rear brake parts for under $80. I suppose they thought I was some stupid kid that knew nothing about cars.

Vacuum leak

It’s normal. They all do that.

We made a mistake, but rather than a refund, how about if we salt it out for you?

When working at pep boys in high school I asked one of the technicians about his Formal training and or certifications (Pep boys made the parts counter take online tire courses from the SAE and basic automotive classes, I know most of you customers of pep boys will find that hard to believe lol)

And his response was, " you only need that if you're looking to make the big bucks"

Number 2 is correct, though might be better worded if "warmer" is used rather than "hot." If had a number of cars from various manufacturers (including MB) where the temp gauge sits in one spot with the a/c switched on but rises higher without the a/c switched on. Not hot in the sense of overheating, but warmer than without the a/c (and hence aux fan) running.

Most cars will still kick on the aux fan to prevent them from overheating without the AC on.

"you need new wipers"

When I worked at pepboys I we sold oil changes to people who had just had one done the previous month... by us! I didn't, personally.... but that's part of the reason I was fired for... the other reason was I wasn't selling tires to people who didn't need tires.

Seriously? I wasn't aware of that, but then we've never had to do pads before the rotors have also died. What's the reason for that?

Its a false. He is implying a shop told him that. Pad slaps are done a million times a day

To sell rotors and/or rotor grinding. No vibration while stopping, no major grooving, asked the guy to measure the thickness. Within spec. Told him to sand the rotors lightly and replace the pads.

A fellow former pep boys employee. They canned someone at my store because he wasn't upselling enough, and it just happened his customers genuinely only needed what the cars were there for. That place is a joke I haven't so much as bought oil from them since I left.