Originally Posted by Stu @ M Developments

Me too. People need to realise that in a modern workshop we are talking about vehicle technitians, not mechanics. The replacement of parts is the minor part of the job.

Name me one common trade that deals daily with something as diverse and complex as a modern car...

Originally Posted by tee-rex

The thing alot of people don't seem to understand is an MOT means your vehicle has passed the minimum req level which beleive me is very low, if you imagine a scale of 0-100 100 being a new car the MOT currently sits at 30 basically if you have a well maintained car at around 50-70 you will never have a failure.
Also for every rip off story you have i can match them by some truly horrific home servicing where peoples ambitions outweighed their skills

Originally Posted by martysmartie

nowadays with electronics alot of the time you lookup the code and this tells you whats wrong

Originally Posted by botters

you couldnt be further from the truth mate a diagnostic scanner can easily lead you round in circles showing faults that dont exist a proper technician will have the ability to diagnose a sensor by the readings and parameters it is showing to see wether or not there is a fault with it and a lot of knowledge goes int knowing what to look for in the first place

however there are some spanner monkeys that will plug a computer in and say its such and such that needs replacing then upon replacing said part will then say oh its now showing this needs replacing, and all because they dont know how to interpret what a scanner or ossciloscope is telling them.

the knowledge is what you pay a good mechanic or technician for

Originally Posted by botters

you couldnt be further from the truth mate a diagnostic scanner can easily lead you round in circles showing faults that dont exist a proper technician will have the ability to diagnose a sensor by the readings and parameters it is showing to see wether or not there is a fault with it and a lot of knowledge goes int knowing what to look for in the first place

however there are some spanner monkeys that will plug a computer in and say its such and such that needs replacing then upon replacing said part will then say oh its now showing this needs replacing, and all because they dont know how to interpret what a scanner or ossciloscope is telling them.

the knowledge is what you pay a good mechanic or technician for

Originally Posted by jameswrx

I do a lot of work for a large company and you wouldn't believe how main dealers rip them off regarding their fleet. One of the vans went in for an mot, and renault quoted them £1200 for a new speedo head as it was 'playing up' the driver wasn't even aware of this. The company, pulled the van out the dealer, didn't look at it again and put it straight in the local auction! Crazy.

I've also had a couple of run ins with main dealers, I serviced and inspected a 10 plate lwb sprinter (which I've loooked after since it was delivered) and I noted oil leak from sump, company put it into mercedes under warranty. I had a phone call from the hire company I did the work for saying mercedes had rung them saying they need to change rear pads as they were boned! I'd only just inspectd the van and I have free rein to replace what I see fit to make sure it lasts longer than the service intervals. The hire company were ofcoarse wondering why I had missed is, I was sure I wouldn't miss it. Told them to pull it from the dealer and it'd be done FOC if is was the case.. Went down to see it and the pads were exactly as I thought, circa 60% life left on their 3rd service I'd done from new so I knew for a fact they'd be more than fine for me to judge whether or not to change them next time.

The company who were hiring the van hate the local merc dealer, I actually did the other sump change. Merc also told em they needed to spend £2500 on one of their old sprinters and the rear diff had 'broken up'. The guy asked me for a 2nd opinion, the bung in the diff had probably never been out since day 1 ( was still sealed in mud) and the oil inside was free of any debris (let alone chunks of pinion) and i trawled it with a magnet. To say the guy was pi55ed was an understatement.