Save yourselves pain

[Nerdkiller]

There is no debate! If you want to save yourself huge amounts of financial and mental pain do your own work on your car!!! This cannot be emphasized enough.

I purchased a TDI Jetta brand new in 1998. I performed all the maintenance myself and I was accustomed to smooth sailing for 20 years.

I wrecked my Jetta because of a faulty brake job because of a faulty mechanic’s work which almost killed me.

I purchased a beetle tdi to replace the Jetta. Nothing but problems because of bad mechanics.

My advice to all, buy VCDS and OBDELEVEN and fix it yourself. If you do not have the time or tools, understand completely what needs to be fixed and how it should be done and know positively it is done right.

The mechanic expects to be paid, he should also expect to be followed up on.

 

[Mozambiquer]

I agree heartily with that statement!

 

[J_dude]

I agree with almost all of that, except the mental pain part, I can’t say working on my own vehicles has spared me any of that .

 

[Mongler98]

Or..... our trusted tdi mechanics list is a good place to start.
Somone like my sister who is a head chef has no idea how to do much more than an oil change and changing a flat tire.... because of me. Her time and career pay more than enough to take a $5000 car and pay $3 grand a year in service with a mon shade tree mechanic.
Just because you had a bad mechanic like so many out there do.... just saying.
But if you can do or are willing to learn yes definatly agree.
You can get a mechanics education for $2 a day. Just pay the entry fee to a pick and u pull place. Start working and practicing on a who gives an S car.

 

[Lightflyer1]

You can't do everything yourself. You do the things you can and pay for the rest or do without. Sometimes you get taken when you pay. You should at least be able to discuss your car with some knowledge, otherwise you will have issues. Being able to take a quick check after service is good too. Trust bet verify.

 

[Mongler98]

A tip
one of the best strategies for most cars is to take it to a dealership for an oil change.
It does the following...
1: change oil at a price.... but you get
2: a full checkup and report
3: now you can do those costly repairs yourself from the eye of a "pro"
4: have a service history of oil changes and recommended maintenance / care by a shop
all for the cost of an oil change.
it helps sell the car down the road and saves a bunch of time trying to find issues before they become problems.
i know a lot of us (me included) that prefer to do it all yourself as it gives you an eye under the car etc.. but this is a solid strategy. you can even include your oil and filter.
service history and paperwork is HUGE when going to sell the car down the road.

 

[burpod]

A tip
one of the best strategies for most cars is to take it to a dealership for an oil change.
It does the following...
1: change oil at a price.... but you get
2: a full checkup and report
3: now you can do those costly repairs yourself from the eye of a "pro"
4: have a service history of oil changes and recommended maintenance / care by a shop
all for the cost of an oil change.
it helps sell the car down the road and saves a bunch of time trying to find issues before they become problems.
i know a lot of us (me included) that prefer to do it all yourself as it gives you an eye under the car etc.. but this is a solid strategy. you can even include your oil and filter.
service history and paperwork is HUGE when going to sell the car down the road.

rofl... you must be on the crack again

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

Yes, do the work yourself...if you're capable. I've talked to too many customers who have made their cars worse instead of better because of taking on repairs that are beyond their capabilities.

I only do routine maintenance on my cars (fluids and filters, tire rotation, brakes) and leave the rest to my trusted guru. My car has been dead reliable with no catastrophic failures. Lots of do-it-yourselfers can't claim same.

 

[Randomhomelesstdibeetlegu]

My beetle is an example of bad mechanics and cheap owners over the years. Loads of hack crap and neglect prior to making it usable again

 

[Nerdkiller]

Yes, do the work yourself...if you're capable. I've talked to too many customers who have made their cars worse instead of better because of taking on repairs that are beyond their capabilities.

I only do routine maintenance on my cars (fluids and filters, tire rotation, brakes) and leave the rest to my trusted guru. My car has been dead reliable with no catastrophic failures. Lots of do-it-yourselfers can't claim same.

You are extremely lucky!!! You should buy a lottery ticket!!!

I agree with what you say, mechanics are charging 200 dollars per hour because the are “experts”. Experts in robbing people.

The situation is sad. OBDII ports make fixing cars easy. The problem is the mechanics are to dumb to use the computer.

OBDII ports have exposed their scams. The problem is they purposely make OBDII not user friendly. Computers are powerful enough now to diagnose a car.

 

[oilhammer]

So, the OBD port makes it all perfectly easy, you say?

HAHAHAHA!!!!

 

[Mozambiquer]

"OBDII ports make fixing cars easy. The problem is the mechanics are to dumb to use the computer."
This I 100% disagree with...
It's a very common misconception that all you need to do is plug in the scanner and it will tell you what is wrong. I wish that was true. Often it can give us things to test, but it in no ways tells us *what* is wrong. Take for example a p0299 code. What is the problem? Well there is a ton of things that it could be. From a turbo, to a vacuum leak, to a boost leak. I really wish it was that simple to just connect a scan tool and know what is wrong.

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

A customer just called who got a MAP code on his '06 Jetta, he bought a MAP sensor (not from us) and it didn't fix the problem. This is a classic case of the OBD reader providing a sympton (low boost) not a diagnosis, and the owner spending money on the wrong part.

 

[Lightflyer1]

and there are good mechanics and bad mechanics no matter what shop you use. Even if you use some due diligence things might not work out well for you. We were lucky to have runonbeer and anut(?) here as trusted tdi mechanics for some time. Their loss has been sad as there is no one else close to town to use any more. Sold the old Beetle and moved up to the new Beetle. Now Dealer does all the servicing just to keep it on record for warranty purposes. Fortunately I have had good service from them so far. But I am pretty up to date on knowledge of the car and the warranty unlike some owners. My experience may not be yours. Having VCDS helps me know before I go what is happening and to understand what repairs I need to authorize or not.

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

Including my son's, we have 4 TDIs with nearly to well over 300K on them. No dealer would go near any of them. I have three excellent gurus that I use for all my work. My '02 hasn't seen a dealer since '04. If it weren't for the gurus, all of these cars would have been replaced. I just hope they keep doing what they're doing for as long as I care to own these cars.

 

[Lightflyer1]

If there was a guru nearby I would use them exclusively. But they aren't here or most places. You are lucky to have three near you! I too used runonbeer here when he was still in business here, for some years. Short of that and the warranty issue, and past good service by my local dealer, I have to chose them over an unknown mechanic. I do what I can or want to do myself then get everything else done for me.

 

[Mozambiquer]

I have customers asking me just to change out brake pads on worn rotors all the time.
I outright refuse jobs like that because as a mechanic your leaving yourself wide open to legal problems down the road.
And it has happened.

Some mechanics don't care, they'll happily slap pads in there, take your money and send you on your way knowing full well that you're going to have an issue sooner or later. Usually that's at the point you can't stop

Yeah, we have had that. We as mechanics are often the ones who put our feet down saying we won't do it...
Right now we have two that have come back to bite us a bit. One basket case 1 ton duramax that was at a different shop for head gaskets. Got towed in with the heads off. Sent the heads to get checked out and then checked the engine out. Found that it had eaten a valve seat at some time and had scoring in cylinder 8 as well as chunks of metal imbedded in the piston face. The recommendation was to put a new engine or rebuild the current one. Customer said, no, just assemble it as it is... they were then mad when it doesn't run smoothly. Trying to blame us for that... well we have photo proof... then they were jumping up and down saying they needed the truck asap. We got it together, but found that the brake rotors in the back were so badly worn that the rotor faces were separated from the drum! Obviously we refused to test drive that.
The customer who needed their truck right away didn't have the money to come get it though, so now its been sitting at our shop for two months.
He thought we would let him use it and he could pay later... nope.
Another similar type one (another duramax... not sure what it is with them...) young kid got it with a bad transmission and called to get a transmission installed. Installed a jasper reman. He also asked for an inspection... all steering and suspension components, all four brakes, the power steering system leaked awfully, the exhaust was broken right at the bottom of the downpipe, etc.
When he got the quote he said fix it, but his grandma who was paying for the transmission said she wasn't paying for it, and he didn't have the money to pay for it... so he said he'd fix that later. Another one we did not test drive on the road, as it was unsafe. He came back a few weeks later complaining that the transmission was slipping. We checked and he had changed the fluid for motor oil and had gotten it hot enough to melt the paint off of the transmission pan! Of course he was sure it had to be covered under warranty...
Some customers are a big pain...

 

[Lightflyer1]

Bad customers are as bad as bad mechanics. Licensed mechanics have to do a full and complete job. If you want to short things then DIY. I am glad I don't work in a customer oriented job any more. I hate dealing with people on stuff like this.

 

[Mozambiquer]

Bad customers are as bad as bad mechanics. Licensed mechanics have to do a full and complete job. If you want to short things then DIY. I am glad I don't work in a customer oriented job any more. I hate dealing with people on stuff like this.

Exactly, though I am also glad that we do not have to be licensed as a mechanic here in Missouri...

 

[Abacus]

I do what work I can myself, and that which I cannot, I sub out to my trusted mechanic about 100 miles away. People said I should look for a closer one but I trusted them and thought the 100 miles was worth the effort. When I'm back in Maine I still trust them completely. To quote a Saturday radio host, "Good mechanics aren't expensive, they're priceless".

Now being here in Arizona I am 3,000 miles from my mechanic and have looked for another but have yet to find one. I thought I found one to use and they did some minor work for me, but when I needed calipers on my daily driver replaced, they were very disappointing and didn't want to do what I wanted (use new and not junk rebuilt cheap calipers). As such not only did they lose that business but all the business from me thereafter. I don't want to replace my own calipers but will before I let someone else charge me $1K for Autozone or Napa remans.