Crazy Stories #5: Not all repairs are costly. The CAR WIZARD shares 6 surprise ending stories.
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- čas přidán 29. 12. 2021
- So many times when we take our vehicle to the mechanic we know we will have a huge repair bill, but not always. The CAR WIZARD 🧙♂️ shares 6 stories where the customer was wrong and the repair was actually something easy.
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The definition of integrity is doing the right thing even if nobody is watching.
The Wizard has lots of integrity.
If only others had it too.
He has but unlike a lot of other shops that do, wizard has CZcams to demonstrate it. Thats why he has people coming from far away.
"Character is what you are in the dark." -Dwight L. Moody (although a lot of people will recognize the quote from Buckaroo Banzai)
Thanks, i think that right now everybody is watching
Scotty Kilmer and Car Wizard are trustworthy mechanics :)
'tegridy.
One of the few guys that run a shop the way it should be run.
There has been some reports of water in gas around here.
I know a mechanic who is also like this. He's a great mechanic.
You KNOW that’s right, the Wizard suffers no fools gladly.
What ways that ?👁👀👁🤔🤔🤔🌶🌶🌶
They're not as rare as you think. I've always worked for mom and pop type shops. Over ten years as a mechanic. Never ripped off a customer. I find that kind of thing more prevalent in chain shops. I've seen it more than once.
My car was leaking coolant, so I stopped at the dealer where I bought the used car to get it repaired. They said it needed a new radiator, which was very, very expensive. I decided to bring it to my old mechanic, but on the way there my car was running a bit hot because it had leaked more coolant, so I stopped at the first local repair shop I could find. I told the guy at the counter that the dealer said I needed a new radiator, and wanted to know how much it would be. He had a mechanic go to check out my car... A few minutes later I saw the mechanic walk back into the front area and talk to the desk guy - I was thinking it would cost me $500 to get it repaired. But they said the radiator was just fine - but I needed a new hose clamp because the old one had rusted (being here in Chicago where the streets are covered in salt in the winter), and I just needed a new one and come coolant. He said there was plenty of hose available that was in great condition, so he'd just trim the old piece off, put on a new clamp, top off the fluid, and that was it! The cost was $20 to get it fixed! Now I take my car there all the time, and recommend it to everyone - but ironically few people that I've told about the shop actually go there; they still go to the dealer, where they go in for a brake job and walk out with a $4,000 repair bill! Oh well, you can lead a horse to water so to say...
having had my share of bad experiences with independent repair and maintenance shops, I tend to go to the dealer myself.
At least here the dealers work according to protocols set by the brand, and stand to lose their dealership license if the fleece customers.
Independent shops tend to be here today, gone tomorrow, reappear under a new name in the next town over kinda places, often very shady.
My father used to say ‘You can lead a horse to water but a pencil has to be lead’ 🤣
@@jwenting It takes less than 5 minutes to check out an independent shop online with regards to how long it been in business, location, et cetera. Anybody who takes a car to a shop without doing that 1st kind of deserves what they get.
So many places are out to get whatever money they can it's hard to find a trustworthy mechanic. I threw 8k over 3 years at a 2003 subaru because of shady mechanics but it was just unending failures that cost too much and got a lexus. I have yet to spend anything on the lexus outside maintenance in the more then 3 years I've had it, never buying anything other then a lexus or toyota.
Would you share the name/location of the Chicagoland shop you referenced?
I have several customers come in with a “ bad engine” diagnostics from another shop.
It’s ended up being the spark plug wires had cracks in it. And the customer was literally crying when I called and told her her car was ready to go. No engine replacement needed
.
Nice.
Meanwhile the Car Walrus will explain in a 30 min video, why he needs to charge 1300 bucks for changing an alternator.
one thing i see that needs a replacement is ur profile picture, guy
Most of these stories are basically ignorant people expecting the worst without spending 10 seconds to look at their vehicle Google something. The fuel one is legit because the rarity.
@@mihailhidler5400 Please point out on the doll where the bad old wizard touched you.
Went to a local muffler shop after a failed inspection for an exhaust leak. They welded the leak and charged me $40. They got a customer for life.
Lost a caliper bolt on my newer mustang. I was 150 miles from home in a driving rain storm. They scrounged a new bolt stuck it in after having me on a lift for 45 minutes. Les Schuab tire center in Longview Washington Charged me $6 for the bolt. Customer for life.
Same situation.. welded my oem muffler & still kept going . $40 too:)
I took my wife's car in for an oil change today. I was thinking back to a day about 20 years ago when I brought my car into the same shop. The guy came back to the waiting room and told me that my oil sending unit was leaking badly. They aren't a repair shop so that was beyond what they did, but he was concerned about my car. He called a friend who owned a nearby service station (remember those???) and told me his friend could help me right then. I think it cost $50. I'm still grateful!
Yep, it's amazing how often those oil light switch sending units go bad. I bought an old car once, for mates rates, from a friend of a friend. It had 4 good tyres and my friend knew I wanted some tyres including wheelrims for a trailer I was building. The car cost $50 and was road legal for one more week of valid registration. The engine had such a massive oil leak, the engine oil was SO YUCKY I think the old owner might have just got given old oil from other people's oil changes to top it up ! I towed the car home to my place. Then used one of those spray cans of, spray on, hose off degreaser. I then drove a few kilometres down the road to show a neighbour the bargain car I'd just bought. With the, temporarily semi-clean engine as he was looking under the bonnet, he noticed a drip of oil coming from around the oil warning lamp switch. The normal action of the fan when driving forward was blowing the oil all over the engine. So I went home, and wandered out in the bush out behind the house (rural Australia) and removed an oil lamp sender from an abandoned car body. That fixed the problem. I paid to renew the Registration. I did an oil and filter change (which quickly became filthy again), followed by another one shortly thereafter, and that car then did me for about 9 months of regular use including runs of hundreds of kms into the city and back. A simple AM radio and speaker that was salvaged out of previous rubbish dump cars gave me tunes to listen to. I use to get 37 mpg, Eventually something else on it crapped out and I gave the car onto a friend who gave it onto some Aboriginals she knew. Dunno what they did with it. . That's about the 4th oil sender I've had to replace over the years. Only one went electrically bad, open circuit. The others all started to leak around where the metal outer casing crimps around an inner plastic part.
That was probably Hoovi in his new Mustang.
This
When I was in college I had a computer go out on my car. I had it towed to the shop everybody went to and asked them if they could get it fixed. About 2 hours later the owner called me and told me to come down. He said it was indeed the computer, but he was way to busy to fix it. He gave me the address of where they send compters for rebuild and walked me through how to reinstall it. I had a friend pull it back to my aparment complex and two weeks later I reinstalled the rebuilt computer and it ran fine. The shop charged me $20 to pull out the the computer and the lesson. I never had to go back but word of mouth from me probably sent 20 people to that shop. Being decent does get rewarded.
About 1979, I was on a road trip in a 1969 falcon with an automatic transmission. The reverse gear failed, and the first shop said 300 for a rebuilt trans. One gas stop later, the mechanic asked why we parked funny, and one of my buddies said reverse was blown, and we needed a new transmission. The mechanic looked at the fluid, and drove the car, and said transmission was fine. He said there was a 20 dollar repair, and no charge if it failed. He put a reverse piston seal in, and there was no need to drop the pan. Fix worked, we happily paid the fee, bought him lunch, and finished the trip. Had there been social media we would have praised him to high heaven.
I like some wholesome stories. Wizard has a relaxing way of narrating. Good luck.
Edit: typo on stories, thanks for all the likes.
Yeah, I like his narrative style. And obviously the shitload of knowledge about cars
Many many MANY years ago I remember a little old lady bringing in her 85 Dodge Aries K car with a bad engine knock. We had already given her a special deal on a replacement motor when during the removal of the engine I found that all the torque converter bolts were loose. Luckily we had decided to start disassembling under first so 15 minutes later and a touch of locktite on the bolts and the car was fixed. She was so excited, we only charged her for 1/2 hour of labor.
This happened to a buddy of mine with his turbo lexus. Thought the motor was knocking. So we were 90% of the way in pulling it (separating the trans) and all the converter bolts were loose. That was a you gotta be kidding moment. Still wound up pulling the motor for one with upgrades but that hurt the pride a bit.
These stories evidence one of the reasons to find a good local mechanic and then stick with them if they perform well. With necessary repairs, you win some and you lose some over your guesses about the scale of problems, but at least you know that they'll help you out the best they can and give good advice.
One thing though. Good mechanics tend to be successful and so their business tends to grow ... so, you have to accept that their rates and overheads will generally go up over time ! It's a trade off generally worth accepting, especially as you build up a trusting relationship with them.
Bought a 65 mustang coupe 6cyl automatic from a dealer back in the late 70's. They told me it had a bad transmission and I wound up buying it for $200. Took it to my local AAMCO to have it looked at. They called me an hour later to come pick it up and there would be no charge. What?! Turned out the former owner changed the vacuum modulator and didn't put a pin back in. Car now shifted as it should. I recommended them to everyone after that.
Back in the 70's my dad bought an International Harvester Scout. It developed a transmission leak after many years. The closest shop that worked on them quoted thousands saying they'd have to drop the engine and transmission to do the fix. Soooo... he took it into the city where the IH shop was. They put it on the lift next to all of these large trucks and the guy pulled out a gasket between the engine and transmission, shoved in and seated a new one and charged $25.
Lol a bot copied your comment
Moral: Proper Diagnostics are key to problem solving ...
There's also a recent Hoovie video where he was worried he would have to do the engine out inspection on his Ferrari for leaking cooalnt, but it ended being up something simple with a hose.
Some of the things on the Superbird were really minor too.
When my wife was much younger, she was traveling through a small town who tried to sell her an engine overhaul on a new car. She called her dad, who set her straight. Back in the day, it is amazing how much engine repair was diagnosed from a dip stick not reinserted all the way when checking the oil, "Your engine is out of oil. Lots of damage there."
The Car Wizards has the coolest walk on CZcams! I'd love to see a continuous loop video of him just waddling around on his stubby little legs with Pantera's WALK as the background music. Maybe in the New Year The Car Wizards will grace us with such a video!
Happy Ending, wow, what a great new business model. Usually only works at massage parlors.
Everybody like a happy ending!
In 2006 i hade a 1986 lancia delta, frontwheel drive, 90hp.
Friday afternoon around five o'clock i loose my gear linkage. I limp home in fifth gear and resign to crawling under the car, but i decide to take a chance on a workshop close to home that used to be good before it changed hands. It turned out it had just changed hands again. The mechanic was getting ready to go home, but he took my car in and put it on the lift.
He drillled The old pin in the linkage out and just replaced it with a bent nail. Took 15 minutes, the fix lasted the rest of the cars lifetime. The guy wanted 50 kronor (about 6-7$) I gave him 100. He them wrenched my cars for six years untill he closed down and started working for the Honda dealership. Best mechanic i have ever had.
Great stories Wizard , but my favorite episode is when you gave Hoovie estimate in your office and he lean back in the chair so much, he ended on the floor. The look on your face was priceless.
This is why he has a successful shop, honest and knowledgeable in his skill 👍🙏🏻💪🙌
Finding an honest mechanic is striking gold. The family run shop near has the same philosophy as Wizard, they don't do unnecessary work and stand behind the work they do. But you do pay for the work they do, not the cheapest in town but worth it.
The loud car at 1 minute was Hoovie ripping by in his new Mustang.
I for one enjoy happy endings tremendously!
Don't we all!
Car wizard is the Bob Ross of automotive repair.
appreciate all the good and honest mechanics out there, especially the ones that don't lie to your grandma/mom/wife/gf etc. They get very upset once they find out they've been lied to.
I work a Toyota dealership and this engineer customer came in and said “I want my rack and pinion replaced.”. So the advisor said sure thing and I get it, look at the history, then proceed to ask the advisor why cuz it was just done 2 services ago and it’s not leaking. The advisor said it’s a remanufactured unit and he doesn’t like the way it drives. I said fair enough, slammed a brand new unit in, drove it and heard a wheel bearing growling. So I go the advisor and say wheel bearing is bad might want to tell the customer. The advisor says I should’ve caught it. I rip her a new one, call the customer myself and he says “oooohhh that was my noise, guess I should’ve let you guys look it over instead of guessing and telling you to replace my rack and pinion”. I wish more advisors would talk the customer into letting us look it over. Wizard is on point with that
I visited the main dealer for a new exhaust.
I told them I needed a new exhaust as it was rusted through, they said "wait a minute" and had a look.
Turns out it was made with two layers of thin steel, instead of one thick one. So they told me I didn't need an exhaust, and if I waited, they would cut the outer layer off.
Yeah I did this for a few customers. In germany inspection is pretty strickt so I had to cut it off flush so id doesn't dangle and the muffler is good for a few extra years.
@@Evoksik
It was dragging on the road.
By the time I got round to having it cut off, it had worn/been ripped off anyway......
America needs more honest mechanics like you Mr. Wizard.
You should franchise the Car Wizard shop. Every city needs one
Interesting stories, and also good advice.
The best advice I can give to people that don't know anything about cars is that it's more important to be able to judge a mechanic by talking with him for as long as it takes you to develop a good sense of him and what he's about. And understand, mechanic's that own the shop/business, such as the Wizard does, usually care about their reputation that they've built, so they'll do the work correctly, and at a fair price. And I don't necessarily think that women are as vulnerable as we tend to think. Bear in mind that most mechanics are going to have a wife, a mother, or a sister, that they wouldn't want to be ripped-off so they wouldn't do that to someone else's loved one.
I've always done my own work, but at times what I needed to do required a lift or special tools so I'd have a shop do those jobs. On some of those occasions I was very surprised at how little it cost me. The rest of the times were cost appropriate. Because of these experiences, as I got older and more arthritis set-in, I was comfortable having a shop do more things.
1:00 Hoovie putting break in miles on gt500
What I learned about A/C systems is that a proper leak check takes time. I also learned that some shops will do a quick check, put refrigerant in it, and send you on your way thinking the system has been fixed.
When I was a teen,my buddy had a '75 Monte Carlo that developed a knock.His bought an engine and we started to pull it apart,I removed the inspection cover for the flywheel to remove the bolts and found 2 of the spaces between the 3 holes GM punches through the plate had broken.I replaced the flywheel and no more problems.It was $10 at the salvage yard.
Great job Wizard and Mrs.Wizard
Exactly! Very often customer comes in and says 'this or that is broken, change it'' and very often they are wrong, problem is elsewhere. It becomes a problem for the garage if they believe that customer and change the part he/she wants and it doesn't fix the issue. You can never fully trust a customer on these things because you can't know how much they actually know and understand about cars. I mean you don't go to a doctor and say ''I have a cancer, give me treatments'' and doctor says ''Sure, we'll do that!''.
The Bob Ross of cars. Happy little repairs.
For 40 years I used a Shop in Salina Ks. It was Oards Auto repair. They treated me like you would. Honest and competent. Sadly I retired and moved to Oklahoma in 2019. The first thing I did was ask my brother who he used. Well he had a guy just like Terry Oard. Honest guys like you and Oards have all the business they need and there is reason for that. YOU PRACTICE THE GOLDEN RULE! The best business practice ever.
I had a job similar to The ones your talking about. A lady called me saying her Honda Civic needed a new engine, a different shop did the diag, but she wanted to know if I could do the engine replacement which I told her I could but before I replace it I wanted to check it myself. After checking it out I found the engine was fine, the problem was the timing had jumped a tooth causing the engine to bog down and run like garbage. Apparently the timing belt and water pump had been replaced 2 months prior and whoever did it didn't tighten down the tensioner. I've seen so many jobs like this throughout my career it's not even funny.
My '94 Z28 had this from two shops. It had a terrible miss. First shop wanted to replace the optispark, lugs, wires, and the ignition control modual for $1800. Second shop had it for a day and said optispark, $1400! I took it home, put it on the ramps, crawled under and found a burned wire and a bad plug. Running fine now and never going back to those shops.
My dad had a 1988 Ford Taurus that had a big oil leak. I was a young kid at the time and I found the oil drain plug was loose.
This is my favorite channel. Keep it up Wizard!
I wish more shops had the same morals as you do. A lot of shops here in the UK will pull you for every £. Thanks for the stories and the videos
I mentioned before when my car suddenly made a LOUD grinding noise and coasted to a stop on my way home from having the oil changed in my previous car... I truly thought the transmission had died. But while a few passersby helped pull my car the last mile to my place, I took a few deep breaths and replayed a few observations in my mind, and once the car was safely in my driveway, I decided to follow up on my suspicion, popped the hood, and confirmed one of the two drive axles was now a two-piece axle. Long story short, start to finish, it was only $700 - tow, car rental, and the actual repair bill from the shop 2 doors down from my work (and which has a similar philosophy as Car Wizard regarding costs). Had them save the old axle - except for the spot where it twisted in half, it was in excellent shape for being original and _easily_ good for another 50K+ if not 100K+ miles! The axle had twisted in half because of dirt / moisture buildup inside the vibration damper - and which evidently is a thing on Hondas!
Positive vibes. Nice one Wiz.
I've been a mechanic. 40 years ago. I was trained in electronics, A/C, all mechanical stuff at that time. 30 years ago I was a MAC Tool dealer. I've seen a few good shops and I've seen shops I wouldn't let change a tire on my wheelbarrow. I have my own shop at home with a 9000lb lift (I have diesel trucks), three welders, two metal lathes, two mills, more tools than some dealers and factory shop manuals for all of my vehicles. I'm 76 years old and still do all of my own work because I don't know a good shop in my area. And because I can still afford to not pay $200 per hour of after tax money to have someone else who's not competent to diagnose problems charge me for wasted time and throwing parts at problems. But I don't have many problems because my stuff is serviced correctly, something I've learned I can't trust most shops to do.
It's always been that way and probably won't ever change.
I wish the Car Wizard had been near me in the Houston area years ago. I've had a lot of bad experiences with crooked mechanics through the years. But one experience tops them all. Back in 1997 I had a sweet 1974 Plymouth Gold Duster with a 318 V-8 and an A-904 automatic trans. I took it to a trans shop near me and they said they could rebuild the trans and install a shift kit in it for $400. That seemed very reasonable so I left it with them. A couple of days later they said it was ready and my wife dropped off the check and I got a ride over after work and retrieved the keys from the top of the tire because they were closed and started the car. Immediately there was this very loud screeching sound coming from the trans. When I pulled into the plant I worked at the next morning, people 100 yards away in their huge parking lot spun around to see what the noise was. It was that loud. I called them when they opened and they said to drop it by at my lunch time. So I pull in at lunch and the owner comes out to the car while it was still running and had to yell at me to be heard over the screech to say that he didn't hear anything strange. ???? I gave him the keys and told him to check it out anyway. I call a couple of hours later and he said he had it up on the lift and he and several employees still couldn't hear anything while they stood under it. I got off early that day so I could speak to him nose to nose. He saw me get out of the car and I saw him open the shop door and call his people in. I guess I was being stupid because he had his workers there, but I just did not care. When he stuck to his story about it being fine, I quickly closed the distance between us and started screaming at him . Spittle was going on his face and I don't even know exactly what I said, to be honest. The next day he called me up and apologized and told me they found the problem and I could come pick up the car. I don't bluff, but If he had not fixed it I would probably have gotten the shit kicked out of me AND gone to jail. I just could not let it go. Luckily for me, he blinked first.
YES! More shop / customer stories wizard! I could listen to you talk about something as mundane as scheduling or tax law and still be entertained.
That's one thing I've learned with cars. It's pretty rare that something catastrophic happens unless the vehicle is super high mileage or was abused all its life. Usually it's something fairly simple.
My cousin's Nissan Frontier developed a bad misfire, to the point that the truck would barely run at half throttle and would die when trying to idle. (This happened after I replaced the plugs and wires for him a few months prior.) He read about issues with the distributor being common for that truck, and his brother was saying the cats were clogged. I could tell that the timing was off, so I popped the distributor cap off and found a screw laying underneath the rotor. Turns out that Nissan secures the rotor with a screw and it simply worked its way loose over time. I reclocked the rotor, reinstalled the screw, and the truck ran beautifully after putting it back together. Of course, he was relieved that it was such a simple problem, and was preparing to pay a bunch of cash to chase nonexistent problems had he listened to his brother.
On the flip side, I was recently quoted almost $1k for what I thought was an alignment issue on my Buick LeSabre. The mechanic told me that the hubs were bad and the front tires were badly worn. Of course I was skeptical, since I do a lot of DIY maintenance of my cars, so I asked to look at the car myself. That's when I realized they were spot on with the diagnosis. So, two new hubs later, two tires, and an alignment, my car is performing much better.
I had a customer come in with all kinds of warning light on; check engine, traction control, abs, etc lots of codes were showing up. After a quick walk around I noticed that the brake lights were too bright because the customer had recently replace the regular bulbs with cheap LEDs, I put regular bulbs back in and all the warning lights went out and the codes didn't come back. We only charged the customer for the new bulbs and I had the car for only about 15 mins, the customer was super happy and thankful and yes this was at a dealership.
Had a shop replace brake lines on a dodge ram 2500. The bill came out to way less than I was expecting. They replaced the rotted lines, with new lines, but spliced them in with compression fittings. I was so pissed. I found out about that when I was driving somewhere and lost braking pressure. That was a scary moment. To have the brakes fixed, and then to have them go out again
I've done my own AC recharge from an empty system. You don't need a mechanic to do a recharge, but I recommend watching several hours of videos and renting a system vacuum pump with the high and low pressure gauges. Adding the correct amount of refrigerant is also a huge deal. You can destroy your pump and rip your serpentine belt off if you add too much.
Thanks for the joyful stories! Love you wizard and family!
This touches on an important point. I'm guessing some/many mechanics don't find people willing to pay for troubleshooting so they just suggest the expensive replacement approach. I'd rather pay a bit for the mechanic to actually look at it and see if it's an easy fix; even if it turns out not to be it's still money well spent.
In the 70’s my grandmother’s neighbor drove a Mercedes from Chicago to Florida. In Tennessee, a part in his carburetor broke and had it towed to a small town service station. The mechanic called around and couldn’t find the part in stock anywhere, it would have to be shipped from Germany for a couple hundred dollars and wait 3 weeks.
The mechanic knew he couldn’t wait for the part and fabricated a replacement part on his lathe, installed it in less than an hour and charged him only $50 for the tow and his time.
He never told me what the part was, but it never needed to be replaced again.
My dad took his car to an AAMCO with a transmission problem. His description was it sounded like a bowling ball was rolling from the engine, down to the length of the car and slamming into the differential. AAMCO diagnosed it and couldn’t find anything wrong with it. Apparently, the items they inspected needed to be adjusted and the reassembly fixed the problem. They didn’t charge anything as their diagnostics were part of their free estimate.
One of the few mechanics who talks well in good precise english and polite at the same time. A treasure to the automotive world.
When I was 17 I worked my summer holidays at a Renault dealership. A guy came in with a puncture. I got the tyre off and the inside carcase was wrecked. He insisted I try to mend the puncture. I had to get my boss in the end as he wouldn't accept the tyre was scrap. He was convinced we just wanted to sell him a tyre.
I love these story videos and really love the "do not buy" videos
Dammit, wizard- as much as I love to pick on you, you’re an honest guy at the bottom of it and the world loves you for it. ❤️👍🏿
If I wasn’t within driving distance from The Car Care Nut, I’d be hiring Car Wizard! You can’t go wrong with both!
Back in the day we had a customer tow their vehicle (I think it was a Ford Escort) in with a no crank no start condition. It turned out that the particular car required that the automatic seatbelt had to be engaged or the car wouldn’t crank. Plugged the seatbelt in and sent the person their way. Suffice it to say, the customer was very very relieved and happy.
Thankfully I have an honest mechanic. Shop said I needed a new fuel pump, $400. I was a young 16yr old at the time and didn’t have it. Had it towed to a shop I’ve heard good things about. Cost me $25 because they found some corroded wires. Been going there ever since, I’m 30yrs old now
Nothing better than some positive vibes from the wiiiiiizard
Many years ago I had a problem with my starter not engaging every time I turned the key. Five starter motor replacements and a new ignition switch did not fix the issue. When I took the car to a different shop, the problem was immediately diagnosed and fixed with a new starter solenoid for 5 dollars! Great video!
Years ago a customer brought a Subaru into my shop thinking he needed a new transmission. I got it up in the air and it turns out he had smashed the pan in a bit on his rather rough dirt driveway and it was restricting the fluid coming into the filter. Pulled the pan and banged out the dent and he was on the road in probably about an hour. Still a good customer.
We had a '99 Dodge Caravan with the 4 speed auto. Went into limp home mode. Being the infamous Chrysler auto, I expected to replace the transmission. It need only a speed sensor. Under $100. 😃. In nine years of ownership that was it's biggest out of pocket repair!
Car Wizard I love the Channel ! Great Technicians are few and far between. Kudos to you.
I understand that many people aren't mechanically inclined, but hell, do they not know how to open the hood and at least check the fluids?
Or find the rats nest?
It's so nice to find a mechanic who will tell you when it's a simple/cheap fix.
I remember a Dealership that the tech came out and told the elderly person they diagnosed the rattle in the car... handed her a golf ball, said it was stuck up under the dash on the passenger side.... no charge. I think the waiting room was in shock, probably the first out of warranty “no charge” we had ever seen.
My first ute (Aussie here) suddenly overheated I expected the worst and trailered it to a local mechanic expecting a blown head gasket. He called me the next day and said we need to talk I was 18 and was thinking there goes my savings but when he said go down to the shop and get me 6 beers and we will call it even I nearly fainted! Still using the same shop 15 years later!
The two things a man needs for life are one good barber and one honest mechanic. Everything else will fall into place.
I have to defend my local Lexus dealer. Have been with them for about 6 years. The 1st time they got my business was the day I booked my GX460 in for a timing belt change. I brought the car in and gave them the keys. The tech came out and asked the service manager why it was coming in for a timing belt ? That engine has a timing chain. I was quite prepared for the bill to do the job. they did an oil change and got a new customer. About 6 months ago I took the GX in for it's scheduled oil change. Got a call after the change was done and was told that I had a stripped drain plug. Seeing as I had 5 years of oil changes with them. I was told that they had taken it don themselves to order a new oil pan and all the work would be done at there expense. Not all dealers are after every penny. Some are like you Wizard.
Just patronized my local shop yesterday. Dropped off my eldest's 99 vw cabrio to have new bushings put in the linkage and shift box. While it would have been possible to do it ourselves, it was worth the 417 they charged. They even adjusted the shift cable. Was the price a little high, maybe but it was hourly billed because they didn't have a book rate for the job. Now it's like new and I can find all the gears and it's fun to drive.
You have to have “No Muffler Neuton” on one of the episodes!
I have a local repair shop that's really good and doesn't scam their customers. The only problem is that they're so popular that it sometimes can take a while to get an appointment. I guess they serve the whole industry park next to it, which have more than a thousand employees. And when I worked at that industry park, I just gave them my car in the morning and walk 5 minutes to the office and then when I was leaving for home in the afternoon I pick up my car at the shop. The shop is just next to the big parking house, so almost no hassle at all to get the car fixed. I would use that shop just for the convenience. But they're the best AND cheapest as well in my town.
I have a 2008 MX5 that I bought cheap. A/C didn't work, wasn't a priority. A couple of years later we decided to take it to the Smokies and I wanted to get the A/C working in case of rain. Found a local shop that was highly recommended to test and report. They verified the compressor was good, replaced two bad o-rings and had it blowing cold for about $100. 👍
My story as a shade tree mechanic: one day I noticed a very strong smell of burning plastic while driving my Miata. Alarmed I started to investigate. The smell was strongest against the firewall in the engine bay, about where the ignition coils are. I made sure everything was secured properly and not sitting on the exhaust, etc. This goes on for a few days and I notice the smell gets stronger when I drive the car hard. Further investigation, but this time checking things that get hot the harder you drive the car...
Turns out a plastic bag had melted to the exhaust elbow just as it comes out of the engine bay and under the passenger compartment. lol
Coventry Jaguar San Diego is honest like that. It’s amazing when you discover integrity in this business. I know the lack of is the minority, but it tarnishes expectations.
I stopped by my personal mechanic to thank him for all the years he has worked on my vehicles and for his friendship. Whenever anyone complains they can't find an honest mechanic, I never hesitate to refer him to them. He's never screwed me over. You seem to have assembled a great team in your operations. Best wishes for a safe and prosperous New Year Wizard. Keep those videos with Hoovie coming. Just when I think you both will run out risque innuendos coming. I'm more than once ended up spitting Mountain Dew all over my computer screens LOL. Walk in peace.
Having a mechanic that's good a diagnostics and not a part slapper is a gem.
You are a positive influence to mankind. Don't change.
We all need a Wizard mechanic in our life.
Belated Merry Christmas, and pre-Happy New Year, Mr. and Mrs. Car Wizard!
Yes, Virginia, there are reputable mechanics out there.
Talking about customers for life. When I first started repairing PC'S, a customer bought in his computer, which would not start, and just wanted me to save his files on his hard drive. The repair shop he had taken it to said his computer had totally failed, and he had to buy a new one but they were too busy to try and retrieve his files.
I was happy to do that, but was surprised how pristine the computer looked inside when I took the side cover off. With the customers permission, I did a quick diagnosis and discovered the on/off switch was faulty. A 5 minute repair (with a second hand switch) and the computer was working again. The customer was blown away.
That was 20 years ago, and I've sold 20+ computers and countless repairs/services for this customer, his family and friends. Once a customer find out that you are a service technician they can trust, you have that customer for life.
I got a story from the shop I took a van to for a brake line replacement. They found a family of mice and 2 mice ran about their shop for 2 hours and they had to chase it out. They still laugh about it to this day. Also never buy gas from speedway ever again. It drops my gas mileage by 50% and last I heard it caused over 10,000 dollars in fuel system to someone’s Jeep which had a diesel in it on nextdoor (the site that connects local residents in your area) and speedway pretty much said sorry, not my problem
I thought a transmission was going out. Turns out a coil was going bad. But it kicked and bucked like the transmission was going bad.
My sister had a similar good luck story. 2015 CRV 2.4 CVT. She called me in a panic, car would start fine, no drive. I pulled up to her house and the first thing I saw were puddles of fluid all over the place where she parked. Got the keys, popped the hood, checked the trans fluid level, completely not visible (no dipstick, just a fill port). Got down, looked at the trans through the wheel well, fluid was everywhere. Put in two a quart of fluid, took it for a test drive and it worked. Told her she would have to go to a trans shop asap to get it looked at as I'm not a trans expert. She took it in, expecting the worst, and lo and behold one of the things bolted to the trans had worked loose, leaking fluid. Tighten it up, refill the trans properly, $275 total bill and the CVT is fine.
"Don't ever tell them what YOU think is wrong with it..." - sage advice from a Maestro/Wizard who knows his shit. 💯
It reminds me when I took my 1999 Toyota Camry to my mechanic Tony. It was just stall out whenever I got to a red light and then I would have to turn the car off and on again. It took about a few days and come to find out it was just the throttle body was dirty. They cleaned out and it was $80. I was expecting a lot more and that made me so happy that it wasn't something expensive.
These 6 stories proves Dave is proper tech and lad with values and ethics, as sadly I can think of many shops and dealerships that would scam customers all $ possible in those scenarios
There is reason OMEGA gets clients for life while some shops and dealerships have issues getting customer back second time
Whenever I had someone say their OBD2 plug is broken the first thing I would ask is does you phone charger work in there? 99% of the time it was just that fuse
I had a transmission problem with a 2003 Ford Windstar. Had it checked at original dealer and they couldn't find the problem. Problem went on for years but was intermittent. Had another dealer look at it after we had moved but couldn't find the problem. Finally I told dealer to replace my transmission after it would keep going into limp mode and blow the coolant lines on the transmission. Everything was fine for a year. It was working great. Then on a very hot day in summer, I drove the vehicle fully loaded with passengers and suitcases. It made it about 60 miles and I noticed the tell-tale signs of problems. Ending up renting a car for the rest of the trip which included travelling from Minnesota to Georgia. Finally a 3rd dealership identified the problem as antifreeze getting into the transmission when the transmission cooler was being used. I had tried for a diagnosis but it took about 10 years before the problem was diagnosed.
Usually you can see it in the fluid and in the coolant.
Love that he says pocket book, filling station, cigar lighter. It's like listening to my grandparents 30 years ago.
a lot of these stories are also good examples of why you should always get a second (or third!) opinion. prices can vary from place to place (and price differences doesn’t always mean someone is trying to scam you)
Thanks Car Wizard! You've restored my faith in engineering!😅
And to top it off you got custard from hoovie on car issue and a fun time out. What a great mechanic appreciation for you wizard
There are honest, competent mechanics around, you just have to find them. My truck would not start, took it to a local place, they could not figure it out, and recommended Ianother shop. I had it towed there. They found the windshield had a lead, and water had corroded the ECU. Instead of putting in a new ECU, they cleaned the corrosion. I asked about the leak, they said I needed to replace the windshield. I asked if they could do that. So they did. Charge for both jobs, about $325. I don’t go to other shops.
Thanks for being honest Car Wizard. Not everyone would so honest. Merry Christmas to you and Mrs Wizard.