Overheating KA

[Richard]

I trust that by now something more positive has developed?

[The Duke]

I’ll say nothing negative has happened.

Well as long as you don’t count that the mech never got out of ozzy until yesterday. Which is ultimately good news for him. If a little delayed for us. He is back in work tomorrow. Lickally my girl doesn’t need the car tomorrow.

Also she hates my car. Apparently its to big and to fast. Though she admitted it’s easier to reverse than here. Which I found to. That ka is really trick compared to any car I’ve ever revered. Which for a car the size of an iPad ,and has the viewing angles of a greenhouse, unlock mine with is very wide, has the turning circle of a boat, (because of the updated hpyerstrut suspension ) and it may as well have no rear window, it makes zero sense that its easier to man over.

Anyhow, she had finished with the car,and hers will be back tomorrow pm.

Seems I had more to say than ‘nothing negative’ lol

 

[Richard]

I should share a thought for the mechanic and his health. I hope he has not sacrificed his health for his business. I wish him well.

[Bob Williams]

Richard wrote:

I should share a thought for the mechanic and his health. I hope he has not sacrificed his health for his business. I wish him well.

As an ex-workshop foreman and mech myself, thank you! We spanner-swingers are too often subjected to insults, not good wishes. ? ?

Steve, buy the guy a pint or 3 when he fixes things. Glad it’s all come out OK for you and daughter.

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[Ed P]

Once she is >21 and has a year on her drivers licence, car hire becomes much easier. link

[The Duke]

Yes Ed, we was just stuck.

Bob, the guy is a really nice guy, an ex business partner heaped a shed load of stress on him for a good number of years. Then pissed off abroad with the company money. He has come out the other end now, but it’s no doubt his work hasn’t help with his health.

He is a great honest guy, and far too fair for his own good. He won’t charge people for the time he spends on a car if he can fix it. Or once he refused to take money off me for a fix he done, that wasn’t actually the issue.

He said me misdiagnosed the issue so the error was his. It turned out it was a loose wire.so he was charging me iirc about £10 for something he worked on for about 10 hours.

In the end I made him take the money for the price he paid for the part, but he wouldn’t take anyhing towards his labour costs.

BiL had an Audi A4 years ago, the timing or something went wonky, he had it for about a month, put in hours in research (I’m guessing), many hours testing, but ultimately the fix was going to be more than the car was worth. He wouldn’t take a penny for his efforts.

He is a truly nice guy, just the type con men take advantage of.

Anyhow, in my 15 years visiting the man, I can say he hasn’t done me wrong, and I don’t know anyone that has a bad word to say about him.

Another thing he does, is tell you how to do simple jobs yourself. Hardly good business sense, give the simple jobs are all profit for a mech.

Also he doesn’t gouge you on parts, as more often than not, when he diagnosed the issue, and you book in, he will say pick up x on your way in, as it will speed things up. He uses the CES parts place that he knows I pass on the way to him.

I’d imagine most garages inflate the parts by 10 or 15%, which I think is fair. He doesn’t.

Think I’ve got some type of bromance thing going on! Strange considering he isn’t Zlatan lol. The compleat oppersite to him he is 5 foot with his mums shoes on.

[Bob Williams]

Once I was a little bit like that guy Steve: returned to my home village after leaving the Army, became workshop foreman of the big, independent village garage. I used to frequent the village pubs and the Miner’s Welfare, where people I had grown up with and/or known all my life, made up the custom. After some time of everyone realising that “one of ours” was running the place, I became very popular as a source of advice and was asked to carry out ‘weekend jobs’ for cash. I soon found out who my real mates were: they came to the garage with their motors and asked for no special favours.

I used to play snooker as part of a foursome, my mate and myself playing two more guys. One of the other two was a real mate, still is, was my best man. His partner was an idiot he worked with and was always asking me questions about his knackered old Volvo. It all came to a head after a long day at work when I had cause to sack a mech who was stealing parts. I was trying to play snooker and enjoy the evening, when he asked if I could weld his outer sills at the weekend for cash, to pass MOT. I blew up. Mate and I went to different places for a week, came back to the Welfare and the other two were there. I discovered that the idiot had taken his car to another idiot and had the sills BRAZED, which is ridiculous and would never pass an MOT test.

He wanted us to MOT it, so I asked him to come to the garage and book it in, which he did. I gave it to one of the lads, who promptly failed it for that and other stuff. The idiot went bananas and took a swing at me, which did not go down at all well for him. ?

Best man had to find another snooker partner, bad news was that he was a better player than the idiot. ? But that was just one time out of many when my good nature was imposed upon. Eventually I just told them all to come to the garage and pay the business, which was what kept me in wages. Many of my new ‘friends’ never bothered me again. Fortunately, one of them was my original SIL, long gone and divorced by my daughter when Gson was a toddler.

I hate people the Yanks call “Freeloaders”, we call ‘fair weather friends’.

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[The Duke]

I’ve long told anyone asking advice to call me on Monday, after 9 when I’ll be working. Very few call. Real friends are different, but I can count them on one hand.

I find it the most polite was to tell someone to f-off. As I’ve found in the past by telling someone to F-off usally end with me having a broken knuckle.

When I was about 21 had a very quick disagreement with someone on Saturday night. Had the slightest of scratches on my middle knuckle, by Tuesday I was in hospital, ended up there 7 or 9 days, and now I have a 5” scare, and that knuckle is in the centre of the back of my hand.

The 5″ scare goes great next to the 4.5″ scare on my index figure I got when I was 15 sword fighting with my best mate. Slept with my hand in a bag all tapped up as I cba going ozzy. Jumped the bus the next day and got shouted at by the nurse. Few weeks later I cba going the doctors to remove the stitches, so I snipped them with my nail clippers. That afternoon I was out playing football. The ball stuck me on the figure, and it exploded line a cooked sausage.

So off the ozzy again! Between the two cuts and the knuckles it isn’t pretty. A silly and fun 7 or 8 years that was. Been very sensible the last 15 or so years.

When younger and going interviews, I’d be very conscious of showing the back of my hands. Now not so much, but if things change and I end up on the interview game, I’ll probably think the same.

 

[Tippon]

The Duke wrote:

Another thing he does, is tell you how to do simple jobs yourself. Hardly good business sense, give the simple jobs are all profit for a mech.

Speaking from a motorbike point of view, that’s one of the best things that a mechanic can do.

My local bike garage did MOTs at a discount for the club I’m in, so I went there for my first ever MOT. Didn’t tell him that I was in the club, as I wanted to get to know him first before taking advantage of the discount (only a fiver anyway). He failed me for having a misaligned headlight, and because I couldn’t get the bike back within seven days, wanted to charge me the full test cost again. The bike’s previous owner’s MOT was still in date, and a few friends said that he seemed to have been harsh, so I took it to my other local garage.

He put it through the MOT and noticed the light. He pointedly put a screwdriver in my hands and said he was just going for a quick toilet break. Wouldn’t it be a shame if someone turned that screw there, no, the one next to it, about half a turn anticlockwise. I turned the screw, and when he came back he said that he couldn’t remember if he’d checked the headlight, and when he did, it was perfect. By the way, can he have his screwdriver back please?

I’ve used him for my bikes and at least half a dozen of my friends bikes now ?

[Bob Williams]

That’s the kind of thing we used to do at my old garage, except that if it was a good customer, I would adjust the headlight/fit a new bulb/any small and quick rectification that would get the car through. The benefit was a pleased customer going home with an MOT ticket and a warm feeling about the garage, to be passed around in the pub. My old village was a community in which everyone knew each other and usually knew everyone in the next village too. Most of those next villagers came to us anyway, as the garage there was owned by a guy who used to rant and rave at people. That meant that it was imperative to try to keep everyone who came to us happy. Didn’t always work, but the idiots were all well known and their pub chat was disregarded.

There are differences between customers though: some are never happy no matter what you do. A certain PC glossy mag calls these “custards” which is a cross between customer and a word ending in – ‘stard‘. I like that.

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[The Duke]

The car is done, ten quid. He checked all the terminals and cleaned them off.

I followed my girl home, just in case, she got out of hers and decided after all she did like mine better.

While I was at the garage I asked him a question regarding a 1992 transit alanator. He dragged me in side, dug through the back got an old Vx one, told me what to do and not to do. Ie trey and swap the vacume pump over, as it always leaks. And explained how the Vx differs slightly to Thr Ford one. I was just after a general answer, but he kept me until I understood.

He has to wait on more results to see if he is ok. So fingers crossed.

[Richard]

Result!

[Author]

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