Should I say something

[oosik]

I bought my first tractor - brand new - in 1982. Traded it in on my current tractor in 2009. About two months after I traded it in - got a call from the owner. Guess he got my name, phone number out of the owners manual that I gave the dealer.

I was surprised. Had nothing but good news for the new owner. Made a new friend.

 

[rScotty]

Sadly, the guys who do bad stuff don't seem to worry about sleeping soundly. It used to be fairly common for tire shops that wanted to make a little more money to squirt some oil on a shock or two, and point it out to the customer who came in for tires. "Gee, thanks for showing me that- sure, go ahead and replace those bad shocks." Metal filings in the pan doesn't surprise me.

It would surprise me. I grew up in the southern and western part of our country and worked in mechanical shops from Texas to North Dakota. Even owned one for awhile.
I heard those stories about metal in the drain pan and oil on shocks 60 years ago and they were old then. They are nothing more than mechanical folklore.
They are made up stories just like the sideshow at a carnival. In real life I never saw or heard so much as a hint of it really happening

Most mechanics fix things because they like to fix things. And they have more than plenty of work.

So if mechanics don't do that, you have to ask yourself if it really happens.
Also ask why would anyone do that? What would be the possible benefit? The mechanic doesn't make a dime if he replaces your shocks or does your transmission un-necessarily.

Think about it. A lot of those stories just don't make sense.
rScotty

 

[MossRoad]

I had a leaking fuel tank in a 1985 Chevy 1/2 ton truck. Took it to a mechanic. They changed the fuel tank. $400. Great. Drove off and almost didn't make it home. Kept sputtering and coughing, blowing dark smoke. Went right back to mechanic. They said that when they changed the tank it knocked a bunch of crud loose in the fuel lines, and now I need a new carburetor and was going to cost around $700. I asked wouldn't the fuel filter catch that? They said no. I asked can't you rebuild the carburetor? They said no, they don't make rebuild kits for that model carb. At that point, I knew they were scam artists, as I'd rebuilt carbs myself, and there's no way that much crud got past the fuel filter when they changed the gas tank.

So, I drove it across the river to another mechanic and asked him to look at it. He changed the fuel filter, sprayed half a can of gum out in it, and apologized that he had to charge me for the whole can of gum out. Less than $15 total. I drove it for another 10 years.

That's a personal experience.

Got another one from a tire place if you want to hear that one.

 

[jigs_n_fixtures]

It would surprise me. I grew up in the southern and western part of our country and worked in mechanical shops from Texas to North Dakota. Even owned one for awhile.
I heard those stories about metal in the drain pan and oil on shocks 60 years ago and they were old then. They are nothing more than mechanical folklore.
They are made up stories just like the sideshow at a carnival. In real life I never saw or heard so much as a hint of it really happening

Most mechanics fix things because they like to fix things. And they have more than plenty of work.

So if mechanics don't do that, you have to ask yourself if it really happens.
Also ask why would anyone do that? What would be the possible benefit? The mechanic doesn't make a dime if he replaces your shocks or does your transmission un-necessarily.

Think about it. A lot of those stories just don't make sense.
rScotty

I’ve had an oil change shop try to convince me that my transmission needed flushed, by showing me an oily rag with metal flakes on it.

And a tire shop, that one of my employers insisted we take our company trucks to, try to sell me new suspension bushings. 90% of the folks fall for that kind of stuff.

 

[Jstpssng]

It would surprise me. I grew up in the southern and western part of our country and worked in mechanical shops from Texas to North Dakota. Even owned one for awhile.
I heard those stories about metal in the drain pan and oil on shocks 60 years ago and they were old then. They are nothing more than mechanical folklore.
They are made up stories just like the sideshow at a carnival. In real life I never saw or heard so much as a hint of it really happening

Most mechanics fix things because they like to fix things. And they have more than plenty of work.

So if mechanics don't do that, you have to ask yourself if it really happens.
Also ask why would anyone do that? What would be the possible benefit? The mechanic doesn't make a dime if he replaces your shocks or does your transmission un-necessarily.

Think about it. A lot of those stories just don't make sense.
rScotty

He made the price of a set of shocks or a transmission, didn't he?
When I was pumping gas the owner tried to get me to sell a quart of oil whether the car needed it or not. (That job was what made me decide to go to college.)

In the case I mentioned above, the mechanic tried to sell me a tranny, telling me that the overdrive was going, which was a common problem. I went home and called the garage of a Dodge dealership downstate, which supposedly had the best Mopar reputation in the country. What he told was this;

"It's not uncommon to have metal filings on the magnet in the drainplug; that's what it's there for. There had been some problems with the OD in the Caravans but not in the Dakota. If the overdrive was bad you changed the OD unit; not rebuild the entire transmission."

Despite his claims that it was about to fail I put another 100K miles on that truck w/o touching the tranny, including having it serviced; when I sold it, the guy drove it home.

I had a local shop working on my Ranger. I thought that it needed an unusual amount of work. One day I had the rear brakes replaced from the wheel cylinders out to the drums. About 6 weeks later I walked out of the store and the brakes felt funny, so I stomped on them while sitting in the parking lot; and they went to the floor. The RR frame was covered with brake fluid so I thought I must have lost a brake line,as everything else was new. I took it home, pulled the new drum, and discovered that the wheel cylinder had failed... because the shoes were worn down so badly. He had put new drums on but never changed anything else, yet charged me for all new parts. I had just come home from my parent's house the day before, I'm lucky the brakes didn't fail when I was driving through town.

 

[MossRoad]

We had the transmission replaced on that same 1985 pickup with the carb problems I mentioned above. Very happy with the price and service at the tranny shop. Decided to get an oil change shortly thereafter. The guy comes up to me with the transmission dipstick and tells me the fluid looks old, smells burnt, and they recommend I get it flushed for $69. I told him I couldn't afford it today so that they'd finish the oil change and not strip my drain plug (hee hee). When they were all done and I'd paid, as I was driving out, I motioned the guy over to my window and told him about it being basically a new transmission and I'd never be back to their shop, and, I'd tell all my friends. He shrugged his shoulder in indifference.

 

[rScotty]

There's a difference between incompetence, indifference, and dishonesty. But the first two don't make very good folklore.

 

[MossRoad]

There's a difference between incompetence, indifference, and dishonesty. But the first two don't make very good folklore.

Like it or not, there are a lot of dishonest auto repair places out there.

I have a trusted mechanic that lives across the street from me. He has his own commercial shop, and his home shop. If he can repair it at his home, he doesn't charge me for diagnostics or markup on parts. Labor is a bit lower rate as his commercial shop. If he can't do it at home, he takes it to his shop and charges me full rates. But he is honest and does good work.

 

[MossRoad]

Hey, I got another one. My kid's car died on the toll road at the Indiana/Ohio border. I took a car dolly over there and towed her home. My mechanic did not have time to look at it, as she was only going to be home for a few days. Took it to a different local shop. Big shop. Well known in the area. They diagnosed that her air conditioner compressor locked up and killed the car. So they disconnected the clutch and then the car wouldn't start. They said one of the computers died and it would be around $800 to replace. I told them I kinda doubted that diagnostic and asked to speak to the owner. He had them check it again.

Blown fuse. $8.

Car has been running fine for 6 years after that. No air, but no $800 computer, either.

 

[bdhsfz6]

Back story- I recently sold a Kubota (model left out purposly) "as is for parts due to a concern for metal in the transmission". The machine was running well at the moment and looked great even after 22 years of owning it. I sold the machine to company that buys equipment services and resells. I recently saw my old machine being advertized by a local handyman renting the machine and himself out per hour. I felt like contacting him and letting him know there was an issue with metal in the transmission but have friends telling me to butt out. I hate seeing a hard working guy getting screwed. I can only imagine with the equipment shortage the price he could of paid for the machine may have been very high. I am not concerned if the person I sold it to made a great profit as long as they were honest or repaired the issues with the machine. With the market the way it is and the machine running, I could have sold it for more than I paid but I do have a conscience. I did not even want to trade it toward my new kubota so the dealer would not get burned down the line.

Should I inform the new owner of the tractors history or not?

At this point, it's water over the dam. There is nothing you, or the guy that bought the tractor, can do about the problem. Let it go.

In hindsight, I would have traded the tractor and made the dealer aware of the transmission issue. If the dealer has any kind of a reputation, it isn't likely he would have resold the tractor without repairing it first.