…the truth is I love to say I told you so. And I had told him so.
The morning I brought the Jeep to the dysfunctional little shop in the town nearest where I live, the owner practically rolled his eyes when I told him the fuel pressure was low and he’d probably end up replacing the fuel pump. He also insisted that vapor locking is absolutely not a thing with fuel injected engines and therefore … well, nothing.
Spoke to him on the phone today and he again insisted there couldn’t be any fuel pressure-related problem contributing to whatever was causing the Jeep to refuse to restart after a hot soak. No, he hadn’t checked the fuel pressure. He also hadn’t read the codes: I’m not sure he noticed the Check Engine light was even on. I told him, well, at least pull the codes. Maybe that would tell him something.
Later this afternoon he called back, and guess what! The fuel pressure is really low. Geepers.
He’s not very good, but he sure is slow: I visited on Monday and he hadn’t even looked at the Jeep yet, so at least I’m saved the price of a new ignition switch. I brought that button switch Terrapod sent and he agreed to install it. Kills me to pay the freaking moron to do something I’m perfectly capable of doing, but what the hell.
So: New water pump, new fuel pump, new front axle track bar that hopefully will fix the Death Wobble on pavement (which doesn’t bother me because I never take it above 30 mph but Landlady refuses to use it for dump runs), button switch for the starter. Maybe he’ll remember to check the thermostat housing and leaking fuel injectors and replace the positive battery cable like I asked him to but the truth is I’m already up against the money wall so it won’t break my heart if he forgets.
With luck I’ll have it back at the Lair by Friday, when Neighbor D and I are going to town on an unrelated errand.
He’ll probably wire the pushbutton as a kill switch.
(Insert eye rolling emoji here) The thought has occurred to me.
So do you now have a guesstimate?
Yeah. Ouch.
It’s difficult to get my mechanic to do something to my car that he isn’t totally convinced needs doing, and that sometimes is frustrating. After all, I deal with my car for years at a time, but he only see it for minutes or (at the most) hours. So I know my car in ways that he never can.
But still I grin and bear it.
You see, that reluctance to waste your money, (read “screw you”) is also a sign that you are dealing with a basically honest person. And that’s a GOOD thing!
There comes a time in the life of every vehicle when it starts to nickel and dime the owner to the point where the return on investment is greater than simple vehicle replacement. I hope that’s not what is happening here and that in end these issues get sorted out, but you may want to start seriously looking at a plan B.
Why, oh why, would a tech not want to gather sufficient information in order to make a non-bonehead diagnosis? He prefers WAGS? That kind of laziness grinds my gears. Why, yes, I was in field service forever.
He should install the switch for free as payment for Joel educating him.
Hoping the guy is not 10 thumbs and has some knowledge of what he is doing.
Doing it yourself is the only way to know it was done right (or screwed up right) and be able to sleep peacefully at night. Like our old friend Ronnie used to say, trust but verify!
P.S. Be sure to tell the yahoo where you want the push button mounted, exactly, and check behind for wires or pipes seeing he will likely just drill a hole.
OC? Why of course not, just long experience and school of hard knocks.