I went to a carb guy a few months ago who had his own shop. I was referred to him from another local shop, since he retired from there. When I pulled up with the car dolly to pick it up, he pulled it out for me and proceeded to tear a$$ down the street in MY rx!?! Is this SOP for most shops to see if the car is running correctly? Is there anything that can be done to limit the engine rpms or performance so this won't happen? He told me my clutch was slipping when he got back. No doubt if he flogged it like that, you know?

This happened on another message board, but?

This newbie came on a Ford message board I frequent, bragging about how he went for a really severe joyride in a customers new Mustang Cobra. Burnouts, donuts, high speed runs etc.
One thing led to another, and the owner found out about it, being a member of said message board. The guy ended up being fired the next time he showed up for work.

This is the kind of thing that really gets me going, and I was really shocked to have it happen right in front of me. ESPECIALLY since the guy KNEW I was there watching. The sad part is anything that could be done to limit the cars performance, would be detrimental to finding out the cars real problem. I don't know, just thinking out loud I guess. Is there anything bolt on, such as rpm limiter that can be installed? It should not affect the way the engine runs, just the speed at which turns. I guess I would have to buy some type of aftermarket ignition or something. Of course any mechanic would know how to override something of that nature.

 

Sounds as if it is not standard operating procedure. I sometimes get old guys coming in with their new Lexus complaining of such things as maybe a leaky window at 95mph. First thing I tell them is you are not suppose to be going 95 mph. I will not risk my own *** to test drive their vehicle. Now, sometimes yes it may be neccessary to 'punch' the accelerator on a test drive. However there is more to it than that. The art of test driving to verify complaint/diagnosis is just that, an art..a skill developed over time. You could get a 6AL (L for limiting) box and set it down low, however he could simply over ride it. The fact you were getting your carb's tuned tells me he wasn't that out of line. However, it was unprofessional of him to do it with you there. He should have verified his work before even telling you the vehicle was ready for pickup.

 

It is not SOP to test drive a customers car in that fashion at anytime. It's not only unprofessional but unsafe and does nothing to instill confidence in the shops quality of work. It is reasonable to take a customers vehicle out on a test drive to ensure that the work performed is satisfactory and that there are no other issues.
As far as it not happening again. Take it to a reputable shop that you know others have had great service. Or better yet, learn how to do it yourself and take that extra money you saved and use it for something good.

 

He was probably trying to impress you with the performance of the car after the work that he did....

 

LOL. This one hits close to home and I'm in trouble now. The last time kgray had his SA here for work, I needed to move the widebody 1st. Of course I left 2 nice black stipes going out the driveway. When I moved his car out, did the same thing.

Funny part is, his friend was filming both times.

 

While there's really nothing you can do to limit the car's performance, they do make GPS units that track and monitor the car's behavior as well, to tell you if someone used it to joyride the hell out of it. I don't know who exactly offers that in their systems, but I'm sure the more popular ones do. You could always consider that, so that you can at least monitor your car and find out if it was known to go over the speed limit and the like.

 

Wow thats messed up. Is it bad if I take a customers carb for a "spirited" test after reworking it?

 

It depends, I think the shop should test it, but at the same time I want to be able to trust the shop not to beat on my car when I bring it in.

 

Here's the thing.

Let's say I rebuild your carb. You pay (probably $500-600) and get your car back. You bring it back a few days later, "OMG WTF it stumbles over 4000rpm! You did a crappy job, how could you charge me that kind of money and let it go in that kind of condition?"

Here are my possible replies:

A) I never drove the car to verify the repair work, since you told me not to drive it
B) I never drove the car over 3000rpm to verify the repair work, since you told me not to
C) I ran it at full power up to redline and it felt fine, let's bring it back in and find out what happened

If it's C, it will probably get rectified for free. If it's A or B, you will be paying for repairs again because of the difficulty involved with trying to diagnose a problem that you aren't allowed to verify exists.

This is SOP any time we do performance work or replace a fuel pump in a car/truck. We have to verify that the vehicle runs acceptably under all conditions we could reasonably accept the owner to subject the car to.

Sometimes this isn't enough... we had one customer who had a HUGE cam and a HUGE carb in a 4-speed GM A-body, complaining about a hesitation. Over 2k when the engine would settle down and run good, it was awesome. It would break the tires loose from a roll in 4th gear, without even needing full throttle! But then he'd come back complaining about how horrible it drove etc. Finally we discovered the problem... he liked to cruise at 1500rpm in top gear and floor it for a couple seconds (where the engine made NO power) then let off (foul plugs) then floor it again etc.! We spent hours trying to diagnose his "problem"... but the point is: We knew that the tune of the carb was SOUND all the way up to 6k, so we saved ourselves MANY MORE hours of head-scratching by being able to jump right to the chase and say, "Hey, this thing runs awesome, what's the problem?"


Not this isn't jackassery like that Cobra-driving dipshit. There's a difference between that, and drivability diagnosis.

 

Wasn't it grassroot motorsports magazine that dropped their 3rd gen off @ Big-O tires for a brake fluid flush way back in the day?

Shop guy pegged it in 3rd gear in parking lot, hit a very expensive BMW. Wrecked the 3rd gen.

The call to the customer was "uhhhh.... you need to come down here and look at your car."

 

^^^^

Oh Man

 

lol i have heard of this happenning at a few shops here in my local area lately. one of the bartenders i work with had her 76 camaro in for a tune up and she caught the mechanic tearing *** down the street she loved on a full mile fromt he shop.....dude lost his job for that one. i believe that there is a fine line between testing a car and beating on it cuz its fun....most mechanics will not joyride your **** unless they have to in order to check out high rpm power issues or something similar (like carb adjustments). i myself have usually found it easier to do my own work and learn as i go...it is a little more time consuming and a lot more frustrating at times but in the end i feel like its worth the extra effort in the end ( not to mention i don't have to pay ghastly labor rates)

 

I think the mechanic should ask before getting on it like that. They should explain why, then get your permission to tear *** down the street.

 

well the thing with me is that if scott broke anything, he would be the one i would go to to fix it anyways. btw, i do have vids of that. lol

 

^^ can we see them?

 

yeah, let me get them up.

 

http://media.putfile.com/Scotts-fishtail

 

http://media.putfile.com/My-car-at-scotts

 

AWSOME!!!! trochoid, i bet the nabors hate you, doing buring in your driveway and the 7s runnign and stuff

 

LOL, that's the 1st time I've seen those. Tires bit, rear swung on the wb, damn near hit the house. oops. If it wasn't for the powersteering, I'd be fixing the front end.

 

And, the siding. Damn, good thing I haven't let you play with my replacement tank. After seeing that ordeal, you'd probably figure out a dual tank setup and we'd never hear from you for awhile. Be to busy spending all that extra fuel you wish you had.

BTW, I love your car's exhaust note.

 

as a note, my parents own a motorcycle repair shop, and to make sure something is done right, we will take it throughout the whole rpm range (within reason). and if there is a complaint after they pick it up, we will do exactly as the person said it was messing up, to see the if we can find the problem. some things, especially tuning a carb, you will have to use the entire range that the vehicle could experience.

 

No it's not standard practice.

I've had 3 vehicles that were serviced at the dealership and as a rule of thumb always went back a second or third time. Even for a door panel becoming undone when the door is closed. Dealerships get paid by the job and not customer satisfaction so once the vehicle is out of the bay, the tech gets paid.

Heck I don't even consider bringing it in for an oil change, since they don't even know that disconnecting the sensor at the air box generates a trouble code which needs to be erased.

This isn't Mazda bashing, all 3 were Chryslers... The Mazda gets serviced by me.

 

Dom I will call you on that. Us technicians only get paid by the job if we are on flat rate. If we beat the clock on an eight hour job, we still get paid for eight. Some of us get paid by the hour. However, we always (us good ones who tend to stay around for more than a few years, anyway) test drive to verify the compaint. We has a thing called CSI or customer satisfaction index rating in this field, and the more come-backs we have an an individual pisses off the service manager as well as ruine our lacations CSI. I have worked for three major dealers and have been at my current job for Lexus for four years now. Believe me, it is NOT standard procedure to bring the car back for a second or third time on the same issue. If that is the case I suggest you have your Chrystler serviced elsewhere if that is indeed your case. Maybe I read your post incorrectly. Cheers man and have a good one.

-Ray

 

My thoughts exactly. My point being you can drive a standard transmission car in any rpm in almost any gear without flooring it. I mean it may look and sound odd to shift late on a test drive to reach said rpm, but it is not required to go WOT in my humble opinion. I have to admit it was a little cool to see my car run like that, but it wasn't necessary. I also wished he resolved an issue with the shutter valve, instead of leaving the vacuum line to it unhooked. I hooked it up after noticing it, and the idle would jump hard every 2-3 seconds. I pulled the line off again, and it was the vacuum line that was causing the behavior. Every 2-3 seconds the vacuum would spike, making the shutter valve open/close violently. I mean he did charge me about $100 for the valve? Find out the real cause for something, instead of leaving it unhooked. I would have paid the extra hour or so needed to troubleshoot it.

And once again this site needs SERIOUS help with it's email notification system. I got an email for the 1st response only? I read it and decided to wait for more. No more came??