Auto repair questionAsking the right Auto repair question and how to handle the answers you receive. Whether your asking car questions online or interrogating your repair shop, speaking up and getting an answer is important.
The way you process this information will effect not only the ultimate goal of fixing your automobile but the amount of money it costs you to achieve this goal.Online answers to auto repair questions are a good means of obtaining a second opinion. But keep in mind that without the benefit of hands on diagnosis that these answers may not solve all your car problems. Use these answers to guide you in performing additional research. Then use the further researched answers to discuss the diagnostic information with your auto shop on their level of knowledge.
An educated consumer has a better chance of of receiving not only respect from the repair shop but also getting their automobile fixed right the first time. On this page you will find an example of a question that was e mailed to me. You will also find some guidelines to follow when dealing with your shop on diagnosis and repair of car problems. Car repair questionI took the car to the ford shop for this intermittent sputtering and they said it needs a new airflow sensor, that's what the diagnostic said, so what do you think? Should I go with the repair and do you know any places to buy the airflow sensor for good price so I can do it my self? My auto repair adviceI would let the dealer repair the car and have them guarantee that the car will be fixed. This will make sure they are not guessing with your money spent.I would also road test with the dealer representative BEFORE and AFTER the car repair and make them aware that you expect this sputtering problem fixed or you will require a refund of parts and labor.
Well they could not order the part, so I had to order the Mass Air Flow sensor and install it and it did not do anything. Can the mass airflow sensor be affected by my BOMZ cold air intake? This is getting ridiculous money wise. The spark plug wires are new, fuel filter, mass airflow sensor and what else? I bet your suggestion is a mechanic again? I think it is the fuel injectors. No question here that if he followed a diagnostic tree chart in a good quality auto repair manual that he would have saved a lot of time and money.
If you noticed on our back and forth e-mails when a shop or mechanic tells you a specific part is needed for a complicated diagnosis, my recommendation is to let them do the job so you have some recourse if the problem is not fixed. The gentleman from the above e-mail got lost in replacing parts that were not needed. This can happen easily when you are not trained for diagnosis. The gentleman was quite capable of performing his own car maintenance and replacing parts. But you have to be self aware and know when to bailout for some professional auto repair help. This next snippet is from my free guide on how to deal with your
auto repair shop
How To Control Your Auto Repairs
You're in a auto repair shop for a drive ability problem. It seems as if your car has a mind of its own. You step on the gas and the car stalls, sometimes it doesn't. The auto technician is perplexed. He can't go right to the problem. You start by asking the right auto repair question like how much will it cost to fix? The mechanic says I can't give you an exact price. This one is going to be charged on a time and material basis. The technician will now start a diagnostic quest in an effort to locate and isolate the problem. The time will be logged and you will be charged the shop's labor rate per hour. including the cost of any needed materials, until the problem is found. Or until you tell them to stop!
After each hour of labor passes demand a full report of the diagnostic tests that were used and what results were found. Before approving the next hour of diagnosis find out what they plan to do in the next hour and if they are getting close to finding an answer to the problem. Make sure the shop understands you refuse to write them a blank check and that you do not have unlimited funds to spend on diagnosis.
I have seen car owners use this approach so well that the shop gets tired of asking for more money every hour. The shop then actually kicks in some free diagnosis to get to the bottom of the problem and complaint. Another reason the shop will kick in this free labor is because they may know the technician has not been faced with this complaint before and is actually learning new diagnostic skills in the process of working on your vehicle. When the diagnostic time starts piling up you want to make it clear to the shop that you are not interested in paying for the technicians training and will require a straight answer to your auto repair question.
Let me make it clear that not all mechanics are bad. Well see for yourself this next link takes you from
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On the homepage you can see pictures of me so you know who you are visiting with and also discover more answers to automotive questions
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The number one way to protect yourself in this situation is to only approve 1 hour of diagnosis at a time. This puts you in control of the time and money scenario. 
