Why is it that sometimes you tell people things, then they forget everything that you told them?
This lady came in about a week ago with an ‘02 PT Cruiser that was overheating. I recommended a diagnostic, but her son told her that she needed a new thermostat. So, she said she didn’t need us to look at the car because her son knew what he was talking about (apparently so much so that he sent his mother to get the work done instead of doing it himself).
So, we put a new thermostat and gasket in the vehicle and filled it up with coolant, bled the system and let it go. She came in today, and we had a little talk…
Lady: “You put a thermostat in my car last week and it’s still overheating.”
Me: “Hmmm, did we diagnose it?”
Lady: “You didn’t have to, I already knew what was wrong with it.”
Me: “But it’s still overheating?”
Lady: “Yeah, and I’m afraid to drive it home.”
So, I pull up her previous invoice and print it out so we can go over it.
Me: “See, it says here that you declined diagnosis. Maybe that was never the problem.”
Lady: “Well, maybe you put the wrong thermostat in the vehicle. I want you to take it out and check it for me.”
Me: “Well, if I do that, you going to pay to have us remove it, and it’s gonna be pretty difficult to check without a thermometer and a pot of water.”
Lady: “Well, how do you know you put the right on in the car?”
Me: “Well, first the computer cross references the parts for us. Then, when the mechanic removes the old part from the vehicle we visually match them up to be sure that they are the same. Finally, when the part is installed into the vehicle, it usually has such close tolerances that the wrong part won’t fit. (At this point I checked the computer again to show her that the part number was correct for her vehicle.) Ma’am we put the right part in your car.”
Lady: “Well, my son said that the thermostat makes the vehicle overheat.”
Me: “It sure can, but that’s certainly not the only component of your cooling system that can fail.”
Lady: “Well, what else can cause that?”
Me: “A clogged radiator, a bad radiator cap, a bad waterpump, a broken belt if the waterpump runs off a serpentine, any type of coolant leak, a blown head gasket, if too may fins on the radiator are bent over so you get poor or no air over the radiator, a bad fan or fan clutch-”
Lady: “I see. But I thought the thermostat controlled the temperature of the water.”
Me: “No. It controls when the fluid is going to circulate around the engine block. At a certain temperature, the thermostat opens to let cooler coolant flow around the block to cool it off, when it has cooled enough, the thermostat closes to allow the engine to remain at operating temperature.”
Lady: “So, it doesn’t set the temperature?”
Me: “Like the one in your house?”
Lady: “Yeah.”
Me: “No. But, if yu have some time, I can still do a diag on your vehicle and let you know what’s wrong with it.”
Lady: “Let me go call my son.”
This woman leaves talking on the phone, and in a way, I wonder why people have to know so damn much. See, When my parents have a problem with thier cars, they call me. And if i diagnose thier problem, I’ll fix it. IF I CHOOSE NOT TO FIX THIER CARS MYSELF or I don’t know what i’m dealing with, I will take thier car to the shop, pay to have it diagnosed, then pay to have the work done under warranty with the shop’s diag. Seriously people, if you aren’t going to fix it, don’t diag it.
Anywho, she comes back about twenty minutes later and purchases another thermostat and a radiator cap through us. Turns out, while her son was rechecking the car becuase it was still overheating, he lost the radiator cap…but he’s still sure that the problem is the thermostat. This time he’s going to install it. Good for him. A shame she didn’t buy a new gasket. He told her she didn’t need it. I hope she doesn’t…but if I changed my thermostat every month, I’d still buy a new gasket each time.
I know people think that every mechanic is trying to rip them off, but in the end, that’s not true. I won’t sell anyone anything unless they ask for it or unless the mechanic notes why things need to be replaced. I’ll save parts, show my customers what’s wrong, whatever it takes so they know that I’m being honest with them. But when people ask us to do things and refuse to let us determine the problem, they usually end up paying for something they don’t need, then they get mad when it doesn’t fix thier problem.
To you people I say POO! Work on your own car if you know what’s wrong with it. Why am I thinking so hard about this? Because, I had a girl come in asking about the thermostat on an ‘01 Galant.
I told her how much the labor was to replace it (like $68) and she said that she shouldn’t have to pay that much because “It only takes like, five minutes to change it”. I told her that I can get her a thermostat for it and I’d pay her that money if she could change it in that time.
Girl: “Oh, well, I meant that someone who knew what they were doing could change it in five minutes.”
Me: “Well, you sound like you must know how to, I’ll even let you use our tools.”
Girl: “Well, I don’t know how to change it.”
Me: “Trust me, if you did, it’d still take you more than five mintes.”
We helped her get what she needed, and she was on her way, but I’m 99% sure that he boyfriend told her what was wrong with the car and she listened to him. He’s probably not a mechanic.”
Oh well, in the end, my car runs, and, my thermostat works. HAHAHAHA
