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A Short Rant - Printable Version

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A Short Rant - anthonymaher - 11-16-2010

Hello All



I have had my 94 coupe with about 68k miles for about 5 months now, and have replaced the standard items and made a few mods: odometer gear, clutch master/slave cylinders and rubber hydraulic line, DME, thermostat, belts, water pump, airbox mod, and those overpriced sun visor clips.



Now for the (short) rant: As I have been working through these simple fixes, I have been appalled by the amount of fasteners that are missing from the various plastic interior and undercarriage components. Maybe it is because the previous owner was careless but my suspicion is that over the years the local mechanic is just not taking the time to reinstall these parts correctly. All the metal to metal connectors are, so far, tight and torqued. On my car the sloppy work seems to be relegated to the plastic parts. I agree that a Porsche typically uses 8 screws where Honda figures out a way to only use 4, BUT no matter how many fasteners you think might be OK, the bottom line is that the part is designed to use the amount of fasteners that came with the car! As I have gone back and supplemented the missing screws, guess what happened? A lot of the little squeaks and background noises have now gone away--imagine that.



OK, I feel better now. Thanks.

A Short Rant - biotechee - 11-16-2010

Don't feel so bad- on my wife's 2004 Honda Pilot, I know for a fact that the techs at the dealership "forget" to reinstall a fair number of the plastic clips and fasteners that secure many of the plastic panels. Drives me bat-sh!t crazy. The good thing is this only happens when we have a major service which, thankfully, is not often.



Now, after every service appointment, I have to check to make sure all the clips and such are there.



Last year, I took my Jetta (also 2004) in for a service call. Fast forward to last Summer when I did the oil myself and noticed the undercarriage panel was no longer there... It didn't get ripped off from my driving and I didn't remove it! Wasn't happy about that and there was nothing I could do except not go back to that dealer.

A Short Rant - flash - 11-16-2010

that stuff makes me nuts too - i see missing undertrays all the time, and it's because mechanics think it's to much of a pain to reinstall them, and ignorant ones don't realize that they help the cooling



as for all the hardware and such, german cars in general are like that - that is probably why they are all so heavy for their size, but also why they are so solid and quiet

A Short Rant - Darryl - 11-16-2010

Anthony,



I completely agree and you can make the car that much nicer by continuing to do exactly what you're doing. You mentioned both previous owners and mechanics. You are correct on both accounts. The owners don't want to be bothered with spending a small amount on a continuous basis to maintain the car by fixing what's broken or replacing what missing as many times, it doesn't affect the day to day operation and the techs are usually flat rate and don't get paid to make sure all the parts go back in their correct places or they break stuff during the repairs and simply neglect to say anything as any replacement parts may come out of their pocket. Thankfully, there are enthusiastic new owners and forums with guys like us that care. I'm local to you so hopefully we can get together at some point!



- Darryl

A Short Rant - chudson - 11-16-2010

I'll join this rant from a different perspective. I'm on both sides of the equation. I'm anal-retentive about "If it came on the car, I want it BACK on the car" and I'm an import repair shop owner; 40 years in the industry and 33 years self employed. My technicians KNOW I had better NOT walk into my shop and find a splash shield with no car to accompany it and no notification that we accidently left it off. Long before I acquired my car some tech took a saw to my 968s shield so as to create a "flap" to gain easier access to the oil drain plug ......I'm still not happy about finding that.



I even stock the factory fasteners for the cars we service. If a car comes in missing one, it leaves with a new one. Simple as that.



I despise lazy, neglegent people ESPECIALLY when I'm paying them. I told the guy who worked on my bike under warranty "If you're sloppy I'll find it and you won't like it when I do". The first time he was sloppy I pointed it out and reminded him of our previuos conversation. The second time I found him sloppy I pointed it out (again) and told him he had just spent his second and last chance for my business. I told the dealership owner also.



When you take your car in for service tell the service advisor that you want a meticulous technician and that you are going to crawl all over your car when you get it back to insure it is correct, nothing is missing, and to convey that to the technician. No tech wants to be stopped to re-rack a car and install a couple of bolts (that have been lost by then). They'll pay more atention.



If this offends your shop owner or advisor, you're doing business in the wrong place.