Ditto that.. the lube places in my town are all pretty much minimum wage, hire-you-off-the-street places.. one day you are a burger flipper.. one day you are a 'lube tech'.
soundguy
I have to agree with you and many post here ,but at times we are stuck between a rock and a hard place.
Was in Ga pulling a 30ft travel trailer lost a break line without trailer attached,pulled into a prominent auto chain to have it repaired,stood outside of bay while they worked on it.
They replaced the line from the master cyl to the rear tee in three sections instead of making up one solid line,when he went to bleed the brakes he stripped it using an open end wrench,instead of a six sided box wrench, next he attacked it with a pair of water-pump pliers then he broke it off.
Now I need a new wheel cyl. they could not do it because it was nearing closing time and they did not open on Saturday,I asked if anyone was open and he pointed up the street to another repair garage.
I went to the garage and asked if he could do the job and set up to bring the truck in the morning,after removing the drum I noticed that the axle seal was leaking and asked him to replace it, then he starts to remove the differential cover and I asked him why,he says so he can take the axle out I told not to that it was a full floating .
He goes and gets his boss and and we have a discussion on how the axle comes apart to replace the seal he then ask the other mechanics if they ever worked on this type of axle and all he got was a blank look from them.
After another discussion with him he agreed to take it out the way I said,he gets the axle out and the seal and my real estate agent comes over to pick me up to go look at a house,I told the mechanic to put some oil where the seal rides and to assemble it in the reverse order,when I returned he was done the left side and was ready to install the right side without putting oil where the seal rides I asked if he had lubed the left side and he said yes.
Now it's time for the bill, 7 hrs labor @ $70 =$490 parts $140 total $630 for a job that should have taken 3hrs at the most thats in addition to the $150 to replace the brake line at the other place.
Two days goes by and the left rear seal starts leaking,back to the garage you guessed it he did not lube the seal when he did the assembly.
The thing that PMO the most is getting charged $70 an hr for a mechanic and I have to show him how to do the job!
