I Guess I Do Not Understand People And/Or Their Decisions.......

[brino]

Why does my model vehicle require servicing every 6 months or x000kms which ever comes first whilst in another country the exact same model requires its service every 12 months?

Hmmmmm, it must be that the Southern hemisphere turns twice as fast, right?
-brino

 

[Buffalo21]

And another one...
Why does my model vehicle require servicing every 6 months or x000kms which ever comes first whilst in another country the exact same model requires its service every 12 months?
Sounds like B/S to me.

enraged platypus(s) (platypi ?)

 

[savarin]

When we first came here in 87 the common cause of everything was
Tough Aussie conditions mate.
and the cause of the high cost of everything was
Transport mate, its a big country.

 

[savarin]

There are a/holes in every trade or business the same as there are awesome tradies, businesses and people.
The trouble is we tend to only remember the baddies and tar everyone within that sector with the same brush.
I had a plumber acquaintance many years ago who said they all leave the metal shavings in the bottom of the galvanised water tanks as they will rust and cause holes which means work for future plumbers.
He was serious.
In my book a gold plated A/hole

 

[Nogoingback]

Seem a lot of you are blaming the mechanics for the crap the marketing department and unscrupulous a-holes (but I repeat myself) at the front counter do.

I don't see where anyone has specifically blamed mechanics here. At dealerships, and many small independent shops, the mechanics presumably do whatever
is on the work order, or what their boss tells them to do. In really small shops the boss may be the mechanic.
I think the problem is that virtually everyone that owns a car has had, and knows people that have had problems with
auto repair. There are plenty of honest folks in the business, but there is a lot of scope for dishonesty, particularly with people that know nothing about cars. In my experience, the large dealerships can go either way: some are fine and some I wouldn't trust to give me the time of day. Most of the mechanics I've gotten to know were pretty straight shooters.

 

[uncle harry]

I have sharpened files with muriatic (hydrochloric) acid. It basically works by removing metal from the surface at a more or less uniform rate so the radius at the edge of the worn file reduces to zero. It doesn't correct gouges in the file though. and there can be a slight uneveness to the new surface. I expect that electrolytic sharpening would be much the same with the exception that there is no need to replenish the spent acid.

I wonder about electrolytic sharpening as well. I do know about elecropolishing which rounds off sharp edges. It might be possible on a polarity basis.

 

[MikeWi]

I find it funny how we're arguing over who is dishonest, like there aren't dishonest examples both sides of the fence! Just have to find the place where both sides are honest that's all. I've found two so far, and I'm 59 so...

I used to be lead sales at a sears auto center, and I was constantly having to reign back a couple of the "mechanics" (and the quotes are there for a reason) for inflating the work estimates because they got paid based on the work they did. Who knows what they got away with when I wasn't there, but we eventually got rid of them. Then there was the district manager who insisted we all sell chrome sleeved valve stems to our customers using any excuse necessary because we made more money off them. No one has an exclusive license to be a greedy !@#@

 

[ericc]

A good file is a pleasure to use. Some of my friends use Boggs Tool and report good results. I've been meaning to try them out, but every time I have a tired file, some other use comes along. One time, I was working on a one piece hardy tool. I was having a really hard time starting the taper. An expert smith looked over at me and said that I was getting fish lips. That's when the metal folds over the tip and causes a cold shut because it is worked the wrong direction with too gentle of blows. She said it was due to inexperience. I know that the right way to fix this is to cut the lips off or start over. I just kept hammering, and the fish lips got worse. She said that it would crack if I left the cold shut. So I pulled out an old file and a can of borax, and said "time to feed the fish!". With a high carbon bit welded in the split, it worked great. She was not impressed. I just gave another file to a fellow smith to make Viking knives. You can also use them hot when they are not useful for bench work.

 

[housedad]

Who uses a file these days ?

Never ask this of a custom gunsmith. You will get a full dissertation on the history, use, care, and choice of files. They are his bread and butter.

How do I know? I was a gunsmith for a couple of decades...

 

[westerner]

There are plenty of honest folks in the business, but there is a lot of scope for dishonesty, particularly with people that know nothing about cars.

Or furnaces, or A/C units, or roofing, or painting, or boilers, or carpet, or General Contracting, or real estate, or medicine, or dentistry, or any number of services we all need that we have no experience in. Mechanics get a bad rap simply because they are in higher demand and greater contact with the majority of the populace.

I am about to retire from the Mechanic trade, and intend to supplement my retirement income with some more tinkering on the side with customers I have a decades long history with. They would take great exception to the notion that mechanics are dishonest theives.