Problem?

[Fordtech86]

Why my 2 tractors are 10 years old. All mechanical. Only electric gizmo is the fuel cutoff and that is fine with me. When I bought my new Ford, got the extended factory warranty. Way too much stuff in it that would befuddle me.

I like the battery deal. Stupid is as stupid does.

I also love when they get towed in for a no start after customer installed a battery. Pop the hood to find that apparently that little plastic cap they put over the terminals does not conduct electricity very well You wouldn’t believe how often that happens.

 

[RCW]

Peanuts? Maybe. Not very clear. Tis the season for rodents, they like to get cozy in a warm spot when it gets cold.

Ahhhh….maybe Styrofoam peanuts from mice....?

 

[Fordtech86]

Ahhhh….maybe Styrofoam peanuts from mice....?

Looks like real peanuts to me but picture kind of blurry. Rodents will bring all kind of stuff in. And for some reason they love the taste of wiring insulation too. Can make a mess of a wiring harness overnight.

 

[SidecarFlip]

I also love when they get towed in for a no start after customer installed a battery. Pop the hood to find that apparently that little plastic cap they put over the terminals does not conduct electricity very well You wouldn’t believe how often that happens.

I believe anything today. A good portion of our society is unable to put on their pants the right way...

If it's not 'plug and play' they are lost (my wife included...lol) but then being a female, I give her the benefit of the doubt.

Reminds me of the owner of the outfit I retired from. Leased a new Caddy, the swoopy one with the Corvette motor and drove it until it blew up. He never bothered to lift the hood and check the oil or change it. Went 75K before it puked. Best part was we had a full service heavy truck shop with certified technicians, anyone could have changed the oil if he's just asked.

The wound up putting a new engine in i at the garage because it was on long term lease.

I guess being rich makes you not responsible.

 

[Fordtech86]

I believe anything today. A good portion of our society is unable to put on their pants the right way...

If it's not 'plug and play' they are lost (my wife included...lol) but then being a female, I give her the benefit of the doubt.

Reminds me of the owner of the outfit I retired from. Leased a new Caddy, the swoopy one with the Corvette motor and drove it until it blew up. He never bothered to lift the hood and check the oil or change it. Went 75K before it puked. Best part was we had a full service heavy truck shop with certified technicians, anyone could have changed the oil if he's just asked.

The wound up putting a new engine in i at the garage because it was on long term lease.



I guess being rich makes you not responsible.

See that often too. Then people get mad when you tell them their new car needs a new engine at 40,000 miles. Its amazing that they are still running and some aren’t even making noise. They will come in saying check engine light it on, always related to the variable cam timing. Will be so sludges up that it won’t work. One lady looked at me like I was stupid and tells me it’s a brand new car, you don’t have to change the oil in it.

 

[Jchonline]

Well I tell you I wont use starter fluid ever again. I used it a few times on old lawn mowers 30 years ago.....but will never pick it up again!

 

[RCW]

Had a female co-worker several years ago.

Trailblazer had zero motor oil, locked it up....

I heard her screaming at the service manager..."Where could the oil go?!?!?...It can't just lose it, it's got to go somewhere!!!"

Hubby probably didn't know how to lift the hood...

I stayed out of that one...never said a word....

 

[PHPaul]

I also love when they get towed in for a no start after customer installed a battery. Pop the hood to find that apparently that little plastic cap they put over the terminals does not conduct electricity very well You wouldn’t believe how often that happens.

As much as I'd like to laugh at that...

I put new, high-dollar wipers on my car in the NAPA parking lot in the rain. Fired them up and...WTH? They're worse than the old ones!

I was about to haul them off the car, go back inside and have a few pithy words with the counter man when I noticed the little plastic guards over the rubber blades...

 

[sheepfarmer]

On the other hand, I took my Honda Fit in to get its airbag replaced (free) Thursday, and after a while the service writer came out with $450 worth of urgently recommended service items. Had just had it serviced by a mechanic I trust, so I was a little skeptical. One item was a transmission flush. I said you did that not too long ago. Fit only has about 50k miles on it. Oh he said. Tech thought oil looked a little dirty. Then he looked it up and it was done at 37k. The next item was a Fuel Induction Service. What's that? I say. Well the fuel intake region looked dirty. How did he see that? I ask, thinking that might be kinda far from the airbag. Well he looked in past the butterfly valve. Hmmm. Used to be able to see that under the air filter, if it was an old carburetor, but no idea on this Honda. The printout said that it was overdue for that by mileage, so I am betting he didn't look at it at all. They ought to at least get their story straight. The problem with all that is if you cry wolf often enough, then I'll skip doing something that really needs doing, just because I don't believe a word they say. I politely said I wanted to get home before dark, maybe some other time.

 

[Fordtech86]

As much as I'd like to laugh at that...

I put new, high-dollar wipers on my car in the NAPA parking lot in the rain. Fired them up and...WTH? They're worse than the old ones!

I was about to haul them off the car, go back inside and have a few pithy words with the counter man when I noticed the little plastic guards over the rubber blades...

I’m sorry I’ll laugh for you,I always say they will last longer if you leave them guards on!

 

[Fordtech86]

On the other hand, I took my Honda Fit in to get its airbag replaced (free) Thursday, and after a while the service writer came out with $450 worth of urgently recommended service items. Had just had it serviced by a mechanic I trust, so I was a little skeptical. One item was a transmission flush. I said you did that not too long ago. Fit only has about 50k miles on it. Oh he said. Tech thought oil looked a little dirty. Then he looked it up and it was done at 37k. The next item was a Fuel Induction Service. What's that? I say. Well the fuel intake region looked dirty. How did he see that? I ask, thinking that might be kinda far from the airbag. Well he looked in past the butterfly valve. Hmmm. Used to be able to see that under the air filter, if it was an old carburetor, but no idea on this Honda. The printout said that it was overdue for that by mileage, so I am betting he didn't look at it at all. They ought to at least get their story straight. The problem with all that is if you cry wolf often enough, then I'll skip doing something that really needs doing, just because I don't believe a word they say. I politely said I wanted to get home before dark, maybe some other time.

That’s why we get a bad reputation at the dealer, almost all manufactures now don’t even recommend transmission services with the only exception I know of is on the super duty line (and maybe be true for hd trucks from dodge and gm but not sure). On the other hand do I recommend lifetime transmission fluid? No. I believe it’s more of a cost of ownership deal from the manufacturer, they just want the vehicle to make it out of their warranty period. Every 30k miles used to be recommended but now days not really needed, I recommend mine around 100k for my ford and Mazda customers (we are a two brand dealer). The exception being the trucks that are used as trucks. As far as the induction cleaning, I don’t know if your Honda has direct injection or port injection, problem we’ve been seeing lately with direct injection is carbon build up on injectors causing spray problems and lean conditions

 

[sheepfarmer]

Thanks fordtech, appreciate the information. I'll think about the induction cleaning. Description sounds like dry cleaning of whole engine, "combustion chamber" too, and I thought too good to be true. The fuel economy has dropped some since it was new.

 

[RCW]

I***8217;m sorry

I took my first BRAND NEW truck ever, a 1986 Ranger pickup, back to the dealer because it was...oh wait.. you were just born....

 

[Fordtech86]

I took my first BRAND NEW truck ever, a 1986 Ranger pickup, back to the dealer because it was...oh wait.. you were just born....

What happened? My first car was way older then me,had one of them funny looking things on top of the intake. I’ve even had the pleasure of working on them funny looking things. Also had my fun with 6 volt systems, had an owner at a different store with a model A that wanted to stay original, and the 2n that my great grandpa bought new but it’s getting the 12 volt conversion.

 

[Pau7220]

Ahhhh***8230;.maybe Styrofoam peanuts from mice....?

Negative.... They were very real (dark roasted) peanuts . I don't know where they could get that many peanuts from unless a neighbor worked at Texas Roadhouse and went home with their pockets full every night.

 

[RCW]

Negative.... They were very real (dark roasted) peanuts . I don't know where they could get that many peanuts from unless a neighbor worked at Texas Roadhouse and went home with their pockets full every night.

Holy smokes; fordtech correctly thought they looked like peanuts. Didn't figure real popular in PA.....

 

[Fordtech86]

Holy smokes; fordtech correctly thought they looked like peanuts. Didn't figure real popular in PA.....

Them squirrels hit the jackpot

 

[Newlyme]

Many years ago.....

I used to work at a gas station overnight on the weekends. One night I hear this horrible grinding sound then clunk, griiiinnnnd and clunk.....

The guy walks into the station and asks me to come out and look at his car. The passenger side front tire and wheel are missing. He is driving on the brake rotor. The clunk was the flat spot on the rotor! When I told him that the service bays were not open until 8am he got back in the car and left. Griiiinnnnd, clunk, griiiinnnnd, clunk! I could not believe that rotor even turned with that huge flat spot.

When the station owner came in the next day the first thing he wanted was the explanation of the huge U shaped gouge coming in one station entrance and out of the other.

Problem? What problem?