Thread: Expensive Mechanical

I know what you mean about 'extra wiring'. I have a van that's ex-police and while some care may have been taken when putting all the lights, sirens etc in, it certainly wasn't when it came to removing them! I still have an alarm that I have no key for, that I'm unwilling to remove in case something stops working. It's a long tow to someone, with the necessary diagnostic equipment to fix it. Don't get me started on the price of parts let alone labour charges...

Originally Posted by snowyskiesau

I know what you mean about 'extra wiring'. I have a van that's ex-police and while some care may have been taken when putting all the lights, sirens etc in, it certainly wasn't when it came to removing them! I still have an alarm that I have no key for, that I'm unwilling to remove in case something stops working. It's a long tow to someone, with the necessary diagnostic equipment to fix it. Don't get me started on the price of parts let alone labour charges...

It's a good idea to put some lanolin or fish oil on the bonus holes as they don't do anything to rust proof when installing in Police vehicles or Taxis plus all the swarf drops down and starts rusting. Not sure how many holes would be in a Police van though.....?
A friend of mine runs a workshop and they are now charging $100 an hour for diagnostics on European cars because they have to spend a lot more on diagnostic equipment compared to Asian vehicles.

A story from the mechanic's side. A customer booked his car in to have a motor he supplied put in it. Being cautious types we looked at the motor and refused as it had rusty bores so then he supplied another one and reckoned we should fit it no matter what so we did and he went away happy. A week later he came back whinging and moaning that we had wrecked the motor he supplied and we fitted at his insistance and he wanted us to fix the issues. That is an example of why I got out of the motor trade, customers like that are common and I had had enough.

Originally Posted by Ubernoob

It's a good idea to put some lanolin or fish oil on the bonus holes as they don't do anything to rust proof when installing in Police vehicles or Taxis plus all the swarf drops down and starts rusting. Not sure how many holes would be in a Police van though.....?'

Not too many in the cab but a heap in the back. There's a caravan style 240V inlet at the rear and the wires have just been cut off. From another forum, I understand that ex-ambulances are a nightmare electrically and the recommendation is to rip out the wiring and start from scratch

A friend of mine runs a workshop and they are now charging $100 an hour for diagnostics on European cars because they have to spend a lot more on diagnostic equipment compared to Asian vehicles.

My van is a Mercedes and even if you can get an OBD reader that will work with it, the meaning of the codes is a close kept secret. I believe that the official Mercedes STAR diagnostic tool is only made available to official Benz service centres of which Tassie only has one.
Fortunately, I haven't needed any mechanical work beyond new brakes.

Before you complain do you know exactly what was involved, mechanic's charge minimum $80 hr it would not take long to to clock that up
on A "by the book repair"

Originally Posted by China

Before you complain do you know exactly what was involved, mechanic's charge minimum $80 hr it would not take long to to clock that up
on A "by the book repair"

There wont be a complaint by me China...i accept the verdict
Can't digest it though
11 hours work was spent on it...MM

Spanner twirling is in my dna...probably literally...

I had a leaky fuel tank on a BMW, I never bothered to get a quote after I rang a wrecker in Melb and had a replacement tank delivered for $120. It took about an hour under the car with back wheels on blocks, and far fewer swears than I thought.

Quoted silly money to replace rear shocks on a Renault Clio - bought genuine shocks for about $180 (actually I think it was less, but anyway) from a dealer in Brisbane, drove home and decided it didn't look too difficult. Half an hour later, job done.

Quoted over $2000 for replacement (though upgraded) shocks on my old Golf. Ended up buying Bilsteins (what I wanted) from the good ol US of A, along with PROPER workshop manuals and a few other bits and pieces for about $800 including shipping.

A good mechanic is a good mechanic. But a good workshop manual and a set of spanners is money in my pocket.