Why Is It?

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RustyRatRod

RustyRatRod

I was born on a Monday. Not last Monday.
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I always kinda enjoy threads that start out "My car won't run" or some such, then open the thread and they've replaced several things with no progress.....and NO diagnosis. When did that become a thing? Do people just like spending unnecessary money? Maybe they would adopt me? I mean seriously, WHY won't people learn to do some simple diagnostics? I guess it's because they want to fix it in a hurry, but in the end, they spend twice the time and money to finally find the trouble and every now and then you see people actually GIVE UP and sell the thing. When did people start not having any sense?
 
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My guess is many people ( especially our age group ) want the nostalgia of owning a classic car like the one maybe they had or wish they had in high school, but they never learned to work on them back then so now when they break they read forums and throw parts at them. On the flip side there are many of us in this forum and other forums that enjoy the hobby not just to drive our rigs but also in the pleasure of building or at least maintaining them. I think repairs and diagnostics come easily to some while others struggle to just open the hood, lol
 
mopar56 said:
My guess is many people ( especially our age group ) want the nostalgia of owning a classic car like the one maybe they had or wish they had in high school, but they never learned to work on them back then so now when they break they read forums and throw parts at them. On the flip side there are many of us in this forum and other forums that enjoy the hobby not just to drive our rigs but also in the pleasure of building or at least maintaining them. I think repairs and diagnostics come easily to some while others struggle to just open the hood, lol
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I agree. To me, proper diagnosis and repair is FUN. I remember in high school auto shop, there were trouble shooting "trees" that we all learned and memorized. You started at the top and made your way down until you found the trouble.
 
mopar head said:
What`s that?
Went to start up the old Dodge the other day and absolutely nothing, no slow turning, no clicks, nothing.
wiggled a ignition wire that seems to lose connection once in a while, nada. Hmmm.
broke out the test meter, battery- 1.2 volts, battery gave up the ghost.
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Yeah, that'll do it. LOL
 
I was watching a RoadKill (rerun) and getting the guys getting a 57 Chevy on the road after several or so decades. OK so I know it is Hollywood. But they spend 3-4 hours side the road replacing all kinds of parts, where IF they had replaces the fuel sender in the tank first, they would never had any issues! (First thing to always do!!?) OK I admit, then they would have had only a 5 minutes flick instead of an hour flick!!

Years ago. I wanted to replaced old parts with new, when I did a build. Now I figure the old part may well be better than the new!!!!!!

Diagnosis???? Maybe some of my doctors need to learn this, but like my new one admitted, she is not willing to just run up unnecessary bills!!
 
RustyRatRod said:
I agree. To me, proper diagnosis and repair is FUN. I remember in high school auto shop, there were trouble shooting "trees" that we all learned and memorized. You started at the top and made your way down until you found the trouble.
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Well it's fun if it's in your driveway or garage or your friends car , but on the side of the road or when your busy doing something and the wife calls you..." car won't start " and she's out shopping or at work or something, then not so much....
 
Diagnosis is something you have to learn. Most here don't have a clue. Not being mean by say it, just truthful. I'll rephrase that and say many are not knowledgeable. If you don't know how things work or can't figure it out, just throwing random parts at it hopefully will fix the problem. At the dealership or repair shop, you don't have the option to just throw parts at it. The customer won't stand for that.
 
Rick@Laysons said:
....right about the time YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook took over the country...
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37 years in the parts game tells me it's been much longer than that.

Why do people have such difficulty understanding that "cranking/turning" and "firing" are two different things?

"My car won't start."
"Does it crank?"
"No."
"So when you turn the key, absolutely nothing happens under the hood. No noise."
"No, I can hear it trying to crank but it won't."
"So it turns over, but it won't start."
"No, it won't turn over."
:BangHead:
You can't tell 'em to call a shop because "shops are a rip-off" but you've already lost patience trying to explain the difference without calling them stupid. They're clearly working above their knowledge base but hey, they can fix it. They saw this one video.

Had a guy come into one of my stores 20 years ago. He wanted eight heads for a 350 Chevy. Inquiring as to why, he said he wanted to replace all of 'em. "You have four engines?" Nope, just the one but it needs all eight heads. Apparently that's what they call pistons on his planet.
 
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toolmanmike said:
Diagnosis is something you have to learn. Most here don't have a clue. Not being mean by say it, just truthful. I'll rephrase that and say many are not knowledgeable. If you don't know how things work or can't figure it out, just throwing random parts at it hopefully will fix the problem. At the dealership or repair shop, you don't have the option to just throw parts at it. The customer won't stand for that.
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Yup and working flat rate all my life, I had better be dang good at diagnosis.
 
toolmanmike said:
Diagnosis is something you have to learn. Most here don't have a clue. Not being mean by say it, just truthful. I'll rephrase that and say many are not knowledgeable. If you don't know how things work or can't figure it out, just throwing random parts at it hopefully will fix the problem. At the dealership or repair shop, you don't have the option to just throw parts at it. The customer won't stand for that.
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Sounds like something I (try to) hammer into the heads of our (commercial HVAC) Service Techs: You have to be smarter than the equipment you're working on, and know how it works, before you can begin to figure out what's wrong with it.

Some of our guys "get it". The others, well...There's always The Bench at the Local.
 
I especially like the ones where the person just about flat refuses to undo the change they made...right before it stopped running.
 
YY1 said:
I especially like the ones where the person just about flat refuses to undo the change they made...right before it stopped running.
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Yeah and they keep saying, "No, that's not it". How can they know what it AIN'T when they don't know what it IS?
 
There's 3 of us that also worked at the parts store. Always fun when a hack brings a part back for a refund because it didn't fix the problem. :BangHead: :BangHead: :lol:
 
toolmanmike said:
There's 3 of us that also worked at the parts store. Always fun when a hack brings a part back for a refund because it didn't fix the problem. :BangHead: :BangHead: :lol:
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Make that 4. Worked my way up from "sweeping floors" to managing a NAPA store, and even after I went back to school for HVAC, I kept working at NAPA P/T eves and weekends, as I really enjoyed it!

But that was back when the parts were "good". No way I'd go back there now that I'm getting close to retiring, unless it was for parts delivery.
 
ProjectBazza said:
Make that 4. Worked my way up from "sweeping floors" to managing a NAPA store, and even after I went back to school for HVAC, I kept working at NAPA P/T eves and weekends, as I realy liked it.

But that was back when the parts were "good". No way I'd go back there now that I'm getting close to retiring, unless it was for parts delivery.
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I still miss the parts store but like you say, not any more. Give me a catalog rack and turn me loose.

13312786_1182667441746523_1732023398506313971_n.jpg
 
toolmanmike said:
There's 3 of us that also worked at the parts store. Always fun when a hack brings a part back for a refund because it didn't fix the problem. :BangHead: :BangHead: :lol:
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You remember when electrical parts of any kind had an absolute NO RETURN policy? No way. No how. Nowhere. No time.
 
I'll be the first to say that I suck at automotive diagnostics. I never took auto shop in high school because I was too busy rebelling, and it took me a long time to pull my head outta my ***. But I'm learning now.

mopar56 said:
My guess is many people ( especially our age group ) want the nostalgia of owning a classic car like the one maybe they had or wish they had in high school, but they never learned to work on them back then so now when they break they read forums and throw parts at them. On the flip side there are many of us in this forum and other forums that enjoy the hobby not just to drive our rigs but also in the pleasure of building or at least maintaining them. I think repairs and diagnostics come easily to some while others struggle to just open the hood, lol
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I think I fall somewhere in the middle here. I'm newish to owning older cars, but I sort of enjoy working on them MORE than driving them. Eh, maybe 50/50. But the driving force behind wanting to own a car older than me was to learn the fundamentals and actually have something I can work on without pluggin it into a computer. Since then I've been hooked (and broke, LOL).

*That being said* Just know that not all of the folks here who come for advice are going to look a gift horse in the mouth. What I mean is, I think there are lots of us who find the wisdom in this forum invaluable, and are very grateful for it.

I read the same posts from people asking for advice who end up either completely ignoring it, or dismissing the advice that's offered, and I just shake my head. Like dude, you have no idea how much time and money these folks can be saving you right now.....not to mention the free education.
 
Funny this was brought up.
Recently my 2002 Dodge Ram threw a code 0601 and 1683. E brake light is on as well as ABS light, speedometer inop and obviously engine trouble light. So I googled the code. Dealerships can't help with the FCM repair due to age, so I'm told. Continue researching. Happened upon a recent thread here on FABO from someone looking for help with their car about wiring, new hemi engine, vintage car blah blah blah. However someone else mentioned Hotwire. So, I look up HotWire, email them about my FCM. They can't help me but recommend Soloauto. I emailed them and BINGO, send them the FCM, they will repair any and all problems $275.00. I guess my point is if you're not completely lazy and helpless and the gray matter living inside of your coconut is even remotely functional HELP Yourself and exhaust every avenue.
 
Shotgunning parts is the hallmark of 'I don't know how it works but I need to fix it'.
 
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