dturnmire
Bronze Member
I took auto mechanics in high school back in 1968. When I first started driving, cars were much simpler to work on and many of the simpler things such as checking points, adjusting breaks, changing sparkplugs, even being able to gain access to the oil filter made maintaining cars not that big of a problem.
Down through the years things started changing, and auto mechanics changed to "auto technicians" that worked on cars with computers requiring special disgnostic machines along with fuel injection etc. In short, I gave up on even trying to work on my automobile and simply left it up to the experts.
I found a repair shop that had a reputation for being honest and used that one place for years because of so much fraud in the business. I had a new 1988 Subaru Justy and after only a couple of months the "check engine" light came on. My trusting wife drove it down to the dealership to have it checked out and was told that the computer had gone out and that one part was not under warranty so she would have to shelve out $800. She gave me a phone call and I told her to drive off and take it to the trusted mechanic we had been using for years and he told her that if the computer had gone out, it wouldn't even run. He told her to put a piece of tape over the check engine light if it bothered her.
In my carelessness, I didn't have one of the hoses attached securely to the brush cutter of my PT-180 and messed up one of the seals. I took the motor off myself and took it to a local hydraulics shop (before I realized it is under a TWO year warranty) and told the man I needed a seal replaced. I get a phone call back telling me the motor was worn out and the repair could cost $350 though not set in stone. I told him I didn't want to pay for the price of a new motor. He told me he would look at it and see if he could bring the price down. While waiting for him to call me back, I contacted Terry at Power Trac and he said I was being taken for a ride. He told me to simply send it back to Virginia and it would be fixed at no charge.
I also was talking to a man that works in maintainence on forklifts and pallet jacks where I work and he showed me a seal kit and told me the same thing Terry did. I was being taken for a ride. He said he has replaced seals on motors 20 years old with no problems and offered to fix mine for the simple cost of the seal kit.
Meanwhile, the man at the hydraulic shop never called me back.
The next morning I told him I didn't need the work done but he said he had already sent off for the parts and it would require a restock and shipping fee of $108 even though I had not authorized the work.
I talked him into splitting the difference. To make a long story short, I would say to be careful about picking out a place to have work on your equipment.
Down through the years things started changing, and auto mechanics changed to "auto technicians" that worked on cars with computers requiring special disgnostic machines along with fuel injection etc. In short, I gave up on even trying to work on my automobile and simply left it up to the experts.
I found a repair shop that had a reputation for being honest and used that one place for years because of so much fraud in the business. I had a new 1988 Subaru Justy and after only a couple of months the "check engine" light came on. My trusting wife drove it down to the dealership to have it checked out and was told that the computer had gone out and that one part was not under warranty so she would have to shelve out $800. She gave me a phone call and I told her to drive off and take it to the trusted mechanic we had been using for years and he told her that if the computer had gone out, it wouldn't even run. He told her to put a piece of tape over the check engine light if it bothered her.
In my carelessness, I didn't have one of the hoses attached securely to the brush cutter of my PT-180 and messed up one of the seals. I took the motor off myself and took it to a local hydraulics shop (before I realized it is under a TWO year warranty) and told the man I needed a seal replaced. I get a phone call back telling me the motor was worn out and the repair could cost $350 though not set in stone. I told him I didn't want to pay for the price of a new motor. He told me he would look at it and see if he could bring the price down. While waiting for him to call me back, I contacted Terry at Power Trac and he said I was being taken for a ride. He told me to simply send it back to Virginia and it would be fixed at no charge.
I also was talking to a man that works in maintainence on forklifts and pallet jacks where I work and he showed me a seal kit and told me the same thing Terry did. I was being taken for a ride. He said he has replaced seals on motors 20 years old with no problems and offered to fix mine for the simple cost of the seal kit.
Meanwhile, the man at the hydraulic shop never called me back.
The next morning I told him I didn't need the work done but he said he had already sent off for the parts and it would require a restock and shipping fee of $108 even though I had not authorized the work.
I talked him into splitting the difference. To make a long story short, I would say to be careful about picking out a place to have work on your equipment.
