what to look for in a repair shop

[DarkFox1]

well, I'm gonna start calling repair shops and asking them a few questions to determine which would be the best to go to... but I wanted to know what yall thought should be a few things to look out for.

mannerisms, what they know about the car etc. I guess?

I've always dealt with ford and only ford with my vehicles repairs.. and you see what thats gotten me... so I'm trying to move on

thanks in advance

btw I'm going to therealyellowpages.com and searching for "auto repair" in my area and going down the list

 

[jimbo74]

when calling, ask to actually talk to the mechanics...... i work in an automotive repair facility...and the guys that answer the phones are sales guys.... they dont touch the cars..... the grease monkeys like me do... im not saying the sales guys arent smart, but they perspective is sales... they get commission and bonuses for sales.... the labors like me get straight hourly pay and are usually more knowledgeable about what is actually involved with a project

 

[aldive]

I would ask friends and associates who they use and if they are happy with them. Visit the facility,,, is it clean and neat and more important BUSY, Cjecl with the local Better Business Council.

Good luck....

 

[DarkFox1]

i just called 2 places.. one was called "anything" automotive, the ghuy seemed freindly, but whne I asked if they were familiar with the 4r70w, he said no. That turned me off to them. .they said $30 to check my plugs and wires..

he aslo said he suspects that ford has NEVER changed a spark plug, wire, or fuel filter (hes wrong) he did not think 0-60 in 12-14 was unusual, but that 8-10mpg was.

I need a place thats familiar with the tranny.. it could very well be the problem.

another place I called specializes in transmissions, after about 6 rings a guy picked up as if he had ran to the phone, when asked about the 4r70w he kinda chuckled and said "oh yea" he said to bring it down and they'd drive it "for free" and then "put me in the right direction"

I've seen this place's commercials, its a very large prof. looking place, looks clean and organized. I may have them take a look later on.. whattyall think? I dont want to be spending a dime until I either have more than sufficient funds, or can find EXACTLY what is wrong and work towards a repair.

 

[aldive]

Wait till you can aford to have the work ( if needed ) done.

 

[Jason_25]

What you should do is get a diagnosis first. It should cost less than 100 bucks.

 

[DarkFox1]

update

well, I took my truck down to a transmission shop today, and they gave me a free diagnosis in the form of a test drive.

based on the symptoms I gave him, and the way he said it drove (he said it was extremley sluggish,and would be no contest even for the 6 he had on the lot) he said it was not directly a problem with the transmission.

however.. he was almost sure that my cats were very close to clogged up. and recommened that I have it looked at by an exhaust shop.

I will probablly call one later today. yall know where I can look at prices for cats and stuff?

 

[Jason_25]

Cats are a pretty reasonable price. But unfortunately you have 4

try www.truckperformance.com . I know they have them.

It's good to know you're coming along in your quest for acceptable performance though.

 

[Robert]

DarkFox1 - If you have less than 80K miles on it, your catalytic converters are still under warranty. Get the diagnosis at an exhaust shop (as long as its free or fairly inexpensive). If they determine your cats are bad, go back to Ford and have them replace them under warranty. Getting an independant analysis by the exhaust shop will help you in case Ford tries saying your cats are fine. It probably wouldn't hurt to try going back to either the dealer you bought it from if possible or another dealer you haven't been to.

 

[DarkFox1]

1 step ahead of ya.. sorta. .I called an exhaust shop and talked to them about having them looked at, they said it was unlikley.. and "all we can do is a backpressure test" they said it'd cost $30

I also talked to ford, they said it is an 8/80 warranty on the cats BUT if ford determines that my cats are not clogged enough to warrent replacement it will cost $67 for the inspection and the cost of replacing them if I still want it done.. in ohter words.. the warranty is only if ford thinks they are clogged.. wich is probablly 100%.. or "not clogged"

 

[Robert]

No, if your cats are clogged enough to cause a drop in performance or create a measureable pressure drop across it then it should be found to be out of specs and replaced under warranty. If the exhaust shop finds a pressure drop across it, get the measurements in writing and take copies to Ford. Without proof, Ford will probably try and explain your problems as either nothing out of the ordinary or caused by something non-warranty related. You might need the proof to get Ford to give serious consideration to the cats.

 

[DarkFox1]

good idea, I know the guys at the exhaust shop, although the work they did on my exhaust about 2 years ago had a slight leak recently, I still think they do decent work. heh, they're just not much on writing things down.

I do beleive ford would be alittle difficult on this... since I have a cat-back system.. they've blamed my problems on this before.

 

[Crankcase]

One thing that is usually good is a small shop, with two or three people doing the work on cars. Try to find a mechanic that specializes in trannies. If you use an all around mechanic that doesn't specialize in trannies, he will likely screw it up worse.

Just my .02

 

[DarkFox1]

update #2

i did that, I found a small shop that everyone I talk to has told me has reliabile service, I know the names of most of the guys there. the shop did my exhaust back 2 years ago.

they did a backpressure test.. came out "wide open" he said..

they also did a computer diagnostic, no codes, no code history

he says it drives fine to him.. I dont get it.. maybe I'm crazy.

 

[aldive]

Could it be that you are expecting too much?

 

[DarkFox1]

asking too much to get more than 10mpg AND keep up with stock expeditions up hills?

he gave me some documentation about MAF errors.. I'm about to read through

 

[DarkFox1]

thats not the problem.. the symptoms outlined in this says that the truck would be lean at high throttle.. my problem knows no throttle.. its omnipresent.. and it feels like its rich.. not lean, oterhwise it wouldn't smell

 

[aldive]

Have you hooked up an OBD II scanner to your trucj and had a passenger monitor it while driving at various speeds? If not, you might want to do that.

Furtherm have you accurately done a 0 to 60 time? A 1/4 mile run? You need some baseline data to see where you actually are in performance.

Have you ever driven another truck just like yours? How did it compare?

 

[DarkFox1]

never seen anothre truck like mine where I could drive it.

the 0-60 was done with a watch with a stop watch feature on it.. I stopped dead on an empty 55mph road, my friend in the passenger seat hit the swtich when I nailed the gas.. I yelled "STOP" when I hit 60, we did this twice.. 1 run was 14 sec, 1 run was 12.

I do not have an ODB scanner, nor could I afford one.

the nearest track is more than 100 miles away, so I have not had a chance to test for a 1/4 mile.

 

[Alec]

We've determined that something IS wrong with Darkfox's truck. 10mpg and 10+ sec 0-60 is not right.

I'm glad you got the tests done, it starts to narrow stuff down. We'll talk more about it in the chatroom in the next few days.

AS FOR SHOPS, there was one that I used for 2 years for many jobs, including help with my s/c install. I really trusted them. Then all of a sudden they wouldn't honor the warranty on my rebuilt tranny and I was out $1600+. Taking care of it though, just saying sometimes nice people can still screw ya.