home mechanics .

[theoneandonly]

why ?

tell me you only changed the oil yourself ?

is there a sump bolt crush washer ......under the oil filter ?

are there 2 square rings where there should only be 1 under the oil filter ?

^^^^ the 2 above , help keep your oil pressure warning light on at tick-over.

is there a bloody great big spring , on the rear brake lever ? ( cos your pistons are seizing up on all your calipers)

not tell me about ALL the problems your bike has ? ( i'm going to discover them anyway )

are your tyres not inflated ( if you add the combined pressures , 1 would be nearly correct , the other would be flat )

where did your lock-stops go .....it needs them for the MOT .

do barely half your lights work ?

are there 7 wires going to both your battery connections ?

do your front pads have no makers name on them ( is the maker is ashamed at what he produces )

are you going to cry about your invoice ?

i have known this bike from birth , i PDI'd it , it is 24 this year.

so to all the wannabe , home mechanics , if you don't know what you are doing .....leave it alone , and don't ring me up asking...."how do i do this ? "

 

[The Other PaulG]

why ?

tell me you only changed the oil yourself ?

is there a sump bolt crush washer ......under the oil filter ?

are there 2 square rings where there should only be 1 under the oil filter ?

^^^^ the 2 above , help keep your oil pressure warning light on at tick-over.

is there a bloody great big spring , on the rear brake lever ? ( cos your pistons are seizing up on all your calipers)

not tell me about ALL the problems your bike has ? ( i'm going to discover them anyway )

are your tyres not inflated ( if you add the combined pressures , 1 would be nearly correct , the other would be flat )

where did your lock-stops go .....it needs them for the MOT .

do barely half your lights work ?

are there 7 wires going to both your battery connections ?

do your front pads have no makers name on them ( is the maker is ashamed at what he produces )

are you going to cry about your invoice ?

i have known this bike from birth , i PDI'd it , it is 24 this year.

so to all the wannabe , home mechanics , if you don't know what you are doing .....leave it alone , and don't ring me up asking...."how do i do this ? "

Bad day?

 

[theoneandonly]

if you don't know what you are doing .....get an adult .

 

[theoneandonly]

this weeks job....

Spada 1 , just needs
tyres f+r
MOT
battery
ign system ( cos it cuts out ) ( been to 2 other mechanics first ) owner insists.
and a battery .
according to the owner ,
it's been re-wired , so the wiring is good
ign switch has been checked and is A,OK ( cost £350 + the cutting out problem , not fixed )

actually , on-top of the above
battery fitted has swollen into a ball ...charging problem ?
linked brake is u/s
front brake is seized
half the dash lights don't work
the rotor is dead
haven't even looked in the carbs yet.
it has sat in a garage for ......wait for it .......5 years

my £1k quote went out the window , when he said it had stood for 5 years.

 

[KMD]

Do you not sometimes find yourself thinking that you don’t actually want to take a job on ? This one for instance, sounds like one of those that will take forever to fix and as you become the last person to work on it, then just keeps coming back to you. Some owners are economical with the truth when it comes to explaining what’s been done previously.

 

[theoneandonly]

being am indy , you don't like turning jobs down , but i had allowed all a week for this job , with friday/saturday to service my bike , so my bike gets pushed backwards.
owners are rarely honest about what needs to be done , but a quick 10 min ride usually reveals additional problems , that they had "forgotten about "
being a specialist , you can't say, you can't fix it as you are the "expert" .
and yes i have turned jobs down .

the fact that it has been infront of 2 other mechanics , tells me it is gonna be a problem bike. but he didn't say that 'til it was in the trailer.
it becomes a "skill test".

 

[Pukmeister]

I feel your pain. I couldn't be a vehicle mechanic for a living, I like things to be fitted and working correctly.

I would probably spend so long getting everything working properly I'd never make enough money to cover my time spent. It must be infuriating to just have to let stuff go that really should be fixed.

At least in my current role, reliability is everything so I go the extra mile on every job and the 'customer' (the Taxpayer) pays whatever that costs be it short or long.

How do you 'evidence' what was done for the customer, do you take photos before/after to cover your arse ???

 

[jonnie comet]

The same type of customers make the (genuinely good) plumbing/heating tradesmen wealthy.....

 

[KMD]

A ‘mate’ of mine asked me to look at his Firestorm. It too had been to two mechanics who couldn’t find the fault. The bike would start up on the choke but when warmed up it would run rough. I traced the fault to the slider in one of the carbs, which block off a pathway to richen up the mixture and it had corroded so basically one choke was staying on when the choke lever was released into the off position. Of course this meant tank off, air box too if I recall correctly and various other stuff just to get to the carbs. They came off, stripped out, corrosion removed and all put back together. Ran beautifully again. As it was a ‘mate’ (and I am not a professional mechanic) I only charged him £25. He thought that was too much, because as he said, he’s a professional Diesel Fitter and could’ve done it himself for nowt. He got told what to do with his bike if it ever needed work again.

 

[theoneandonly]

punters occasionally like to complain , i can handle that , if they have a history of complaining constantly ....their labour rate goes up , if i really don't want to work for them , i price them out.
to balance this , i've only ever done it to 4 people in 30 years.

3 Cross Mcs , used to "time " people out , if they didn't want to do the warranty job , they would quote 12 weeks delay in the workshop , so they find other dealers , when your own dealer quotes 12 weeks , you don't go back for service work .

( the longest delay i've worked under was 6 weeks when HGB in Ruislip went down we ( Jack Lilley's) got all their service customers in 1 week , doubling our delay) ,

a previous boss once said , " it takes longer to recover from a smack in the wallet , than a smack in the mouth "

 

[theoneandonly]

i have a reputation of being rude , i have only ever told 1 person to FRO , the price thing works much better .

punters don't understand , how much of themselves , good mechanics put into their work .

 

[GreatScot]

A ‘mate’ of mine asked me to look at his Firestorm. It too had been to two mechanics who couldn’t find the fault. The bike would start up on the choke but when warmed up it would run rough. I traced the fault to the slider in one of the carbs, which block off a pathway to richen up the mixture and it had corroded so basically one choke was staying on when the choke lever was released into the off position. Of course this meant tank off, air box too if I recall correctly and various other stuff just to get to the carbs. They came off, stripped out, corrosion removed and all put back together. Ran beautifully again. As it was a ‘mate’ (and I am not a professional mechanic) I only charged him £25. He thought that was too much, because as he said, he’s a professional Diesel Fitter and could’ve done it himself for nowt. He got told what to do with his bike if it ever needed work again.

And diesel fitters spend most of their working day overhauling carbs.

 

[KMD]

And diesel fitters spend most of their working day overhauling carbs.

Is pretty much what I suggested he do next time