Quote:
Originally Posted by Dadhawk
I find the tech qualification discussion amusing. Does no one here ever use an independent garage?
Except for warranty (or recall) type work I always use a local garage. It's a sole proprietorship with the owner and one assistant as the mechanics. Both are "certified master mechanics". They have worked on our Mustang, Volvo C70, Ford Fusion, Suburban, Hondas (car and motorcycle) and if I had the option they would do the work on the FRS for the recall.
Anytime you pull up to their garage you will see the "awaiting service" lot full with every imaginable size and type of vehicles and engines, including a boat or two.
That said, I've never had a bad experience with mechanical work done by a dealership, including some "invasive" warranty work and full car respray on the paint. Maybe I've just been lucky.
|
I have no doubt they will be fine with the task but I still would rather wait for them to get some practice. Have you ever done a job on a car, even using the service manual to the T and not walked away saying, "if I did this job again I would do XYZ"? Here is an example on the FA20, when you repack the timing cover and go to install it there aren't any guiding studs and you have to slap it on in perfect alignment. If you misplace it just the slightest bit and have to slide it around to match the bolt holes you will smear the packing all over the place. In a perfect world you would pull it back off, clean it up (pain in the ass even if it hasn't hardened yet) and reapply. So, after doing my cover I said, "if I have to do this again I will buy 4 3in threaded studs to place at the four corners of the engine so the cover will be forced into alignment before the surfaces make contact". Does the manual say anything about this? Nope. Would a tech who has done the job before know this and have some studs on hand, probably.
Hopefully part of the delay on the full details of the fix are them working on special tools, more detailed instructions and some training material.