Why Is It?

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Actually, Rusty, it has ALWAYS been "a thing." When I was in the Navy we had guys (electronic techs) who were poor at troubleshooting. the knew that this tube or that component had failed, and it was in the neighborhood, so they'd try that again first and hope. There is even a name for it........"easter egging".

In my years selling auto parts it was a thing. 74 to about ?? about a dozen years I guess
 
RustyRatRod said:
You remember when electrical parts of any kind had an absolute NO RETURN policy? No way. No how. Nowhere. No time.
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It's still that way at my store. I told a guy that this morning, when he insisted the condenser for a Delco tractor distributor would work just fine in his Ariens whatever it was. The original one is discontinued, but it doesn't matter because "a condenser's a condenser." It was your money, pal. Now it's mine. You can't have it back.
 
RustyRatRod said:
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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Lmao, those cars are the ones sitting up to their axles in mud surrounded by 10'' of grass with a sign that says Not For Sale Going to restore it...........someday.
 
Mechanicals. At least part genetics! I have cousins, two brothers, at least 4th (or more) generation farm kids. Back when they were kids, the younger one was about 13. He could take a tractor apart and put it back together and usually find and fix what was wrong. His brother, 2 years older, grew up and was 50 and still could not hook up a harrow by himself. The younger had to repeat 2 years in HS, his brother got a degree. One had common sense and the other "book" sense. But..Some people have both in large amounts! Not me!

My dad had tremendous mechanical skills. But after 25 years in the USMC Aviation (mechanic and then officer) and 2 wars, he retired and had no desire to work on anything. Change oil, plugs, and points about it.
You know, 4 speeds are for drag racing, and YOU will KILL yourself!!But.. Never mind the draft. That won't kill ya!

I have friends that I swear were born knowing how to rebuild a carb and make it perfect. I struggle with mechanicals. Struggle but I get it done. I am deslexic. I can see things backwards, and don't even know it.
But I have always had the ability to train a horse, possess the balance, feel, timing, instinct, the ability to get it done and not hurt myself (usually) or the critter....I figure God gave me that ability.

That diagostic pyramid RRR mentioned would be a great tool to have...laminated for the tool box!!
 
Another problem is that “know-it-allism” is rampant in todays society, especially amongst the 20-45 year age group (I’m 46 lol)
 
Cause that’s what mechanics do these days, replace parts. That’s where the money is, so why bother learning diagnostics, they have code readers for that.

Reline a brake shoe? You can do that?
Rewind an armature, how do you do that?
File points? Clean spark plugs?
Rebuild a carburetor? What’s a carburetor?
 
ch1ll said:
Cause that’s what mechanics do these days, replace parts. That’s where the money is, so why bother learning diagnostics, they have code readers for that.

Reline a brake shoe? You can do that?
Rewind an armature, how do you do that?
File points? Clean spark plugs?
Rebuild a carburetor? What’s a carburetor?
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Everything is an assembly or a Module nowadays. Electric fuel pumps were replicable when injection came out in the 80's. Now you replace the whole shootin' match. "module". You'd think labor would be cheap because the job is easier. No, the shops just jacked the rates up. Our Chevy dealer in town is at $225/hr.
 
Is this a weatherly rack?

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Or this-

1729275303470.png
 
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It's all a crap shoot. I worked with my grandfather on my mom's side for years working on the farm equipment. He had a 6 row Gleaner and retired when he was well into his 80's. We welded, machined, wrenched and rewired on that old girl and she made it through without him having to buy a new machine. He spent more time in the field than the neighbor's, but he always said..."what's the hurry? I have the whole winter off other than the hog's and the cattle." My dad was always working on the cars and the houses. He had a 67 Mustang and a factory 4 BBl 289 65 Ford Fairlane wagon. We were always working on something. Wiring, plumbing, carpentry etc. My sister was exposed to the same environment and couldn't pound in a nail or even hook a catfish for that matter and to this day still can't. Now kids know cell phones, computers and video games. The videos of kids who see a rotary phone for the first time generally tells the story.
 
My 1st car was Dart. Kept buying them because I didn't know **** about cars but the basics. If I had say a charging problem I would dig through my parts I saved from junking my Darts and crap shoot fix it. Luckily I learned fast unlike some. I am no expert by far but I can usually hold my own. Not like I haven't done some thing stupid now but not as much. Seems I've also learned a boat load here. It's retaining it all that's hard at my age. lol. Thank God for copy and paste and folders.
 
jeff alder said:
kid sees a rotary phone for the first time - Search Videos
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You know you are an OLD country kid when:
As a kid, you picked up the "phone" and told the "operator" the 4 digit number you are calling. Yea local only. I had never made a long distance call!
Then when the rotary phone came in to existance, you always had to ask the elderly neighbor lady IF she come resume her conversation later. You needed to make a call. IT was called the party line.

Then someone invented color TV and TV dinners. Go figure.
 
Kendog 170 said:
My 1st car was Dart. Kept buying them because I didn't know **** about cars but the basics. If I had say a charging problem I would dig through my parts I saved from junking my Darts and crap shoot fix it. Luckily I learned fast unlike some. I am no expert by far but I can usually hold my own. Not like I haven't done some thing stupid now but not as much. Seems I've also learned a boat load here. It's retaining it all that's hard at my age. lol. Thank God for copy and paste and folders.
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Its not that I don't know that much, but I have just forgot most of what I did know!
 
ProjectBazza said:
That was hilarious, thanks!

I remember my folks had one of those old phones that hung on the wall, had a crank on the side, and you talked into the mouthpiece, and if they would have taken a video of me trying to use it back in, say, 1975 (if it would have worked), I would have probably been just as confused.
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I have my grandpa's from the old original farmhouse in my dining room! LOL
 
the thing that absolutely kills me is when somebody has a problem and they can't, won't or just flat out refuse to do any of the leg work, give any additional information or try something and report back.

everybody wants the easy button these days. fire up the credit card and buy a new one, man.

sometimes money ain't gonna fix it and you gotta rub two brain cells together and make it happen. knowing which end of the wrench to hold helps a little bit too.
 
Righty Tighty said:
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.


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.
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Not knowing how is one thing. Not knowing how and not listening to those who do know how is another. You're a good listener. You actually TAKE advice.
 
ProjectBazza said:
That's really cool! I wish my folks hadn't gotten rid of theirs years back when they finished the basement....
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Yeah it's a nice relic. It's awesome to have the memories associated with my Grandpa Elmer and Grandma Beula using the phone. I have grandma's original clothes iron that she added boiled water to with the walnut handle. My grandfather's cast iron Das hound boot scraper. The original butter churn from the farm and a host of other things that they commonly used on a daily basis
 
The reason is two part.

One is pure ignorance. Not really knowing what or how to check it if you did.

The second is a biproduct of corporatism. I have a friend in who is field service in Simiconductor. They want that machine up and running ASAP. A down machine can cost the company upward of $50k and hour. He is literally not allowed time to trouble shoot the actual issue. Its throw parts at it off a best guess case scenario based on seeing this problem before. Dealerships are the same way. Jobs are book rate so if they can guess and throw the right part at it and it works they move on and make more.
 
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