Ian and other mechanics what do you think

Would you be pissed if a client leaves a note like this one in his car for you to read ? Would you pay any attention to it ? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dear Technician,

Please bear with my poor English.

I added 2 liter of coolant within the last 6 to 8 month. You will find the recovery tank full because I fill it last week. The black line on it tells me if I lost any coolant.

The level of Potassium and Sodium are within the condemnable limit.Lub oil analysis available, looks to me that the coolant isn't going in the crankcase yet.

However you can see trace of leaks at the rear and at front of the left bank cylinder head at the junction of the lower intake manifold and the cylinder head.

At the front of it it's a mix of oil and coolant, on few occasion I was able to detect using a strong light a very small drop of coolant at the very bottom of the leak path almost on the lower intake manifold.

At the rear of the head it's more likely an oil leak, if you look carefully you will find a small accumulation of oil. If you slid let say a tie wrap like I did under the intake you will get a fair good amount of oil on it.

Dont get me wrong ,with this note I am not trying to tell you what to do, YOU are the professional, I was just trying to share my conclusion. My background is locomotive mechanics, so these little engine are not my specialty !!!

Thanks for your help.

Richard

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Reply to
rick
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In my opinion, the customer has a right to express his concerns and observations. Most of the things in the note are things a service writer should ask, anyway. He didn't ask you to replace your diagnosis with his and it's obvious he didn't just fall off of the turnip truck. What's to get pissed about? H

Reply to
Hairy

Reply to
Shep

Hi Richard...

Not a mechanic, just an old guy who likes cars and occasionally tinkering with them, so I can't speak for mechanics. In my trade though I would have loved to have such a note.

But - and just because you mentioned that english isn't your mother tongue - may I respectfully question your use of the word condemnable ?

Just in case you chose the wrong one of two words that are similar, but have opposite meanings...

condemnable - very bad.

commendable - very good.

recommended - what the experts suggest is the correct or acceptable amount.

Take care.

Ken

Reply to
Ken Weitzel

Ken...condemne in my dialect = b/o, no good, finish, not re-usable

I meant that the last use oil analysis didn't report abnormal level of potassium, sodium or glycol. The oil wasn't condemne and still good to be use, showing normal level of contaminant ;) thats the best I can do ;-) ;-)

Thanks a lot for your input Gents

>
Reply to
rick

I wish when I ran a shop the customers would have been as accomodating

-- CommoDav

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newthread[username]

Brings back memories...

Back when I had a shop (not automotive) we used to insist that customers write a fault description on a tag... primarily hoping to forestall the possibility of not catching intermittents.

The all happily did it. Two choices. They'd all say either "broken" or "ooo". After a while we figured out that ooo meant Out Of Order :)

Ken

Reply to
Ken Weitzel

No, the note sounds good to me. You must be talking about the 3100/3400 v-6 engine? At this point, it wouldn't really matter what a customer said about a coolant leak on these engines, we know what the problems is, or is likely to be. Seen too many of them.

Any additional/good information from the customer is always appreciated. What techs and/or shops don't like is if a customer wants to tell you what part to replace. They may be right, but we have to cover our own ass and do our own diagnosis. If they just want something simple like brake pads replaced, we don't have any problems with that.

Ian

Reply to
shiden_kai

thank god this person who posted this letter here dont work on trucks or buses. we have to write everything down. it helps the mechanic.

Reply to
MichaelPa2004

\

This person works on Locomotives, and yes we have to write everything down too

Reply to
rick

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