I'll show you a recent example.....
I've got several projects going at the same time. Heck, everything I have ever driven from a new car down to a 30 year old wreck has been a project in motion. The Fiero had sheared a timing gear and when that happens everything simply quits. It's not an interferance motor so everything else was fine. The timing gears are a composit that typically last about 100K miles. Well, I just didn't have time to pull everything apart and do that while all my other stuff is going on so I decided to farm out the repair.
I tow the car to a local shop and tell them exactly what to replace, gave them a repair proceedure complete with all part numbers too. They give me an estimate of 3-4 days to do the car. I looked at him and laughed. The reason is that I take every time estimate from a commercial shop, double it... add 2 weeks for various parts screw ups, plus one week for correcting problems that are created during the repair. He insisted about his time frame, so I just shook my head and said " we'll see".
Sure enough, in 4 days I stop by the shop and the car is disassembled. He tells me that the camshaft thrust plate broke upon removal. No big deal, I already told them in the plan to replace it anyway. He says that the local dealer doesn't know how to get the part, they have no number, etc.... I asked him did he bother to read the 10 page packet I gave him? Obviously he didn't and couldn't find it. A quick trip to my office just around the corner and I pull up the part number and call him. He is blown away that I could get it that quickly.
Fast foreward to the next week.........
I stop by again and the car is still apart. He tells me the part that the dealer sent was the wrong part and he had to order it again.
Fast foreward to the next week.........
I stop by the shop again. The car is still apart. He says the dealer sent the part and it is still different. I take a trip back to the office and do a little research. There is a new part that replaces the old one. I print the photos and hand them to him. He recognizes the new part and said that's what the dealer sent him. Well, I calmly explain that this is the correct replacement and to use it.
Fast foreward to the next week......
I stop by the shop and everything is getting buttoned up.
The car will be ready the next day. The next day comes around and I pick up the car right at closing time. I take the car out on the road and immediatly I can tell that something is wrong. It's really lazy and no power. It dawned on me that when I first got the car and was tuning it, the balancer timing line didn't line up properly and I ended up tuning it by ear so to speak. The timing marks were about 45º off. I re-timed it by feel and ear and the car was running great. So I figured that was the problem. Nevermind that I told him on the phone that when he went to time it, the marks would be off and he would have to do it by feel. Evidently that went in one ear and right out the other. So I figure that when I get it home, I'll fix it. Too bad I didn't get home. 2 miles up the road, the temps are climbing, the oil light is flickering on and the car is starting to run even worse. I hear some mechanical noise and I just shut it down......... 
Of course the shop is closed, it is 89º degrees outside and I am wearing a suit. Just for kicks I reach down and grab the distributer and it rotates by hand.... it wasn't locked down. I immediatly fire the car and in 5 seconds re-time it and the throttle response is great. Still noise, so I shut it off. It is then that I notice that 2 lug nuts are missing from the right rear wheel. they are sitting in the trunk.
So I call AAA and have them tow the car back to the shop. My guess is that when the timing gear sheared, they didn't get all the debris. I would have pulled the oil pan and cleaned it out. I doubt they did that. Debris probably made it's way to the oil pump. Due to how much time they had the car, I'll bet they took some last minute short cuts to get the car out of there, get paid so that he could make his payroll. That is the typical week by week pay system.
So needless to say, their repair time took about what I thought, the amount of research and stress was worse than expected, the end result is still a bunch of problems including the a/c is not working either.
This story is real and typical of the crap that caused me at an early age to learn mechanics. It was invaluable when I got the first engine transplant back in my 79 T/A. When I got the car back from the mechanic's, I had to completely go through all the vacuum lines and ignition to get it to run and shift correctly. I don't know what it is about cookie cutter mechanic shops where they don't pay any attention to detail. My god, this fiero was a pig when I picked it up and even that was simply a timing adjustment. That could be overlooked, but the loss of oil pressure and lack of lugnuts in completely due to lack of attention to detail.
This folks, is exactly the reason that you (we) work on cars.
In the 25 years I've been messing with cars, I rarely let anyone else work on them. Whever I do, I am reminded of why I do it myself. I am to the point that I want a tire mounting machine and a balancing machine. I can't even tolerate getting tires put on the car because the rims get scratched. So in short, the way we take care of our cars is not the way the typical shops will. Whenever possible, do your own mechanical work. If you don't know how, get an assembly manual and start leaning. Cars are merely a 3D jigsaw puzzle, some things require specialty tools but even that can be overcome. Most likely even a novice will pay more attention to detail if he is working on his own ride.
Good grief, now I have to wait until next week for the rest of this soap opera to unfold.
I've got several projects going at the same time. Heck, everything I have ever driven from a new car down to a 30 year old wreck has been a project in motion. The Fiero had sheared a timing gear and when that happens everything simply quits. It's not an interferance motor so everything else was fine. The timing gears are a composit that typically last about 100K miles. Well, I just didn't have time to pull everything apart and do that while all my other stuff is going on so I decided to farm out the repair.
I tow the car to a local shop and tell them exactly what to replace, gave them a repair proceedure complete with all part numbers too. They give me an estimate of 3-4 days to do the car. I looked at him and laughed. The reason is that I take every time estimate from a commercial shop, double it... add 2 weeks for various parts screw ups, plus one week for correcting problems that are created during the repair. He insisted about his time frame, so I just shook my head and said " we'll see".
Sure enough, in 4 days I stop by the shop and the car is disassembled. He tells me that the camshaft thrust plate broke upon removal. No big deal, I already told them in the plan to replace it anyway. He says that the local dealer doesn't know how to get the part, they have no number, etc.... I asked him did he bother to read the 10 page packet I gave him? Obviously he didn't and couldn't find it. A quick trip to my office just around the corner and I pull up the part number and call him. He is blown away that I could get it that quickly.
Fast foreward to the next week.........
I stop by again and the car is still apart. He tells me the part that the dealer sent was the wrong part and he had to order it again.
Fast foreward to the next week.........
I stop by the shop again. The car is still apart. He says the dealer sent the part and it is still different. I take a trip back to the office and do a little research. There is a new part that replaces the old one. I print the photos and hand them to him. He recognizes the new part and said that's what the dealer sent him. Well, I calmly explain that this is the correct replacement and to use it.
Fast foreward to the next week......
I stop by the shop and everything is getting buttoned up.
The car will be ready the next day. The next day comes around and I pick up the car right at closing time. I take the car out on the road and immediatly I can tell that something is wrong. It's really lazy and no power. It dawned on me that when I first got the car and was tuning it, the balancer timing line didn't line up properly and I ended up tuning it by ear so to speak. The timing marks were about 45º off. I re-timed it by feel and ear and the car was running great. So I figured that was the problem. Nevermind that I told him on the phone that when he went to time it, the marks would be off and he would have to do it by feel. Evidently that went in one ear and right out the other. So I figure that when I get it home, I'll fix it. Too bad I didn't get home. 2 miles up the road, the temps are climbing, the oil light is flickering on and the car is starting to run even worse. I hear some mechanical noise and I just shut it down......... Of course the shop is closed, it is 89º degrees outside and I am wearing a suit. Just for kicks I reach down and grab the distributer and it rotates by hand.... it wasn't locked down. I immediatly fire the car and in 5 seconds re-time it and the throttle response is great. Still noise, so I shut it off. It is then that I notice that 2 lug nuts are missing from the right rear wheel. they are sitting in the trunk.
So I call AAA and have them tow the car back to the shop. My guess is that when the timing gear sheared, they didn't get all the debris. I would have pulled the oil pan and cleaned it out. I doubt they did that. Debris probably made it's way to the oil pump. Due to how much time they had the car, I'll bet they took some last minute short cuts to get the car out of there, get paid so that he could make his payroll. That is the typical week by week pay system.
So needless to say, their repair time took about what I thought, the amount of research and stress was worse than expected, the end result is still a bunch of problems including the a/c is not working either.
This story is real and typical of the crap that caused me at an early age to learn mechanics. It was invaluable when I got the first engine transplant back in my 79 T/A. When I got the car back from the mechanic's, I had to completely go through all the vacuum lines and ignition to get it to run and shift correctly.
I don't know what it is about cookie cutter mechanic shops where they don't pay any attention to detail. My god, this fiero was a pig when I picked it up and even that was simply a timing adjustment. That could be overlooked, but the loss of oil pressure and lack of lugnuts in completely due to lack of attention to detail. This folks, is exactly the reason that you (we) work on cars.
In the 25 years I've been messing with cars, I rarely let anyone else work on them. Whever I do, I am reminded of why I do it myself. I am to the point that I want a tire mounting machine and a balancing machine. I can't even tolerate getting tires put on the car because the rims get scratched. So in short, the way we take care of our cars is not the way the typical shops will. Whenever possible, do your own mechanical work. If you don't know how, get an assembly manual and start leaning. Cars are merely a 3D jigsaw puzzle, some things require specialty tools but even that can be overcome. Most likely even a novice will pay more attention to detail if he is working on his own ride.
Good grief, now I have to wait until next week for the rest of this soap opera to unfold.
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