tedlovesjeeps71 wrote:You hate mechanics but complain about all the difficulties and hassles of working on your vehicle? While I understand that there are a large number of bad "mechanics" out there, none are magicians. Those same problems and issues you dealt with are ones they would have as well. Difference being they can't work at their own pace and cut corners because their work is being paid to be done correctly.candymancan wrote:This is what ive learned owning a ZJ for 7 years and then my Wagoneer for 2 yeara now. THERE ARE ZERO shops who want to work on them they are all afraid of breaking things and liability.
I have yet to find a shop who will do my exhaust manifolds... I even had a hard time to get a shop to do my tint without bitching about the age of my vehicle.
This is one reason i hate mechanics.. Not the only reason but a big reason. They are all pussies.. and th3y have laibility insurance for a reason.. Dont be a mechanic by trade if youre afraid to touch anything thays 10 years or older..
My brake limes are really rusted on the drivers side as well by the frame rail and engine mount.. God knows what they look like where the gas tank is... My temp solution was to coat them in like 3 or 4 coats of rust reformer.
Not looking foward to replacing them... No idea where they eveb sell new ones for this vehicle.. And tbh i dont even feel like touching the Jeep anymore besides drive it.. I work3d non stop on it for 2 years and it burned me out lol... its been like 7 months and im still meh on wanting to work on it. The only good thing about working on it for 2 years before being burned out is i fixed 70% of the rust 90% of the leaks.. and probly 95% of the electrical problems.. Now its pretty much leak free.. new suspension (minus one rear leaf.. i dont wanna drop the tank ....sniff) runs and drives.... Uhg but i still have so mucj more rust to fix... and itll never end...
Is that normal to not wanna work on something that long ?
Good, fast, cheap.... Pick two.
YEP i hate those BEEP.. every shop ive been here they are all crooks and liars and theifs. I have people's well friends cars ive worked on before and they told me stories of how this and that needed replacing. One of my friends insisted i replaced all 4 of her struts and two front wheel bearings and both cv axle shafts on her 2004 Malibu because the mechanic said they were bad and it was causing her noises in the front of her vehicle. I tested it out and they werent bad. But i replaced them anyway because she believed the mechanic. I told her its her tires doing it, after i replaced everything the noise was still there and has still been there for over a year..
She finally got new tires the other day and guess what the noise went away, the best part is the sears she had her tires put on damaged her vehicle by hitting something or someones vehicle in the shop.. amazon had to shell out $800 to her in damages to repair her bumper. The middle eastern tire guys there all denied it and got really nasty with me too when i went there with her and explained that damage was NOT there 2 days prior when i worked on her brakes (she bought the tires on amazon and had sears fix it)
Yea i dont like mechanics or shop helpers or any shop. When i first got my 98 5.9 ZJ 7-8 years ago, i didnt know how to work on cars. I brought it to the dealership to have it looked over and they said the caliper bolts needed repaired on the passenger side.. Paid them xx amount of money to fix it.. a year later i started learning to work on vehicles and when i was changing the brakes.. guess what the caliper bolt wasnt repaired with a helicoil or anything.
My mom when i was a kid her 4.0 grand cherokee the #3 valve spring broke, the shop had it for over a week replaced the radiator, water pump, and all kinds of crap to find out wh ythe engine was shaking violently... Then they brought in a Jeep mechanic and he found the broken spring they fixed it but gave her a almost $2000 bill for replacing all the other crap that didnt need replaced and had nothing to do with the engine and vehicle violently shaking and missfiring.
The shop i had my tint put on the wagoneer, i paid for ceramic high end tint, they didnt do it right and i had to have them do it again.. Its been a year now the tint is failing and showing factory little white dots in patterns on it. My brothers 2013 whome also had tint done there too is having the same problem.. guess what the tint shop told me when i brought my Jeep in.. they said it was water spots on my wagoneer from the age.. i brought the camaro in and they went silent.. LIARS !!!! THIEVES ... All of them
I brought my wagoneer in to 4 shops who work on Jeep suspensions to have the last leaf spring replaced by the gas tank because i litterally got burned out and tired of working on it after i did the other 3 in a townhouse parking lot on the ground with no lift or power tools but a cutting wheel.. They all said no because of the age of the vehicle.. 2 bolts.. there air compressors could knock off and 4 nuts on the axle for the U bolts. Its bullBEEP !!
No shop will touch the exhaust manifolds on my wagoneer or the 98 grand cherokee.. and i went in when the ZJ was only about 10 years ago to have the exhaust replaced and no one would touch it..
My mom and i bought 8 tires at a shop called Burke Automotive in Burke virginia.. they put the tires on and came back with bills of $1500-2000 to replaced all the tie rods and all that crap on our Jeeps.. im like wtf is this nothing needs replacing.. show me.. and they wouldnt show me and im like because nothing needs fixed !!.. I get my Jeep back and i have a GIANT puncture in my floor board behind the drivers seat.. It was from the lift arm they put it on the floor and not the frame rails.. Then 1 month later my moms tire in the rear blows on the interstate which could have caused and accident or killed her if the accident happened.. The tire shop said it was her fault the tire blew from low air pressure.. Yet it had no nails in it.. I started noticing all 4 of my ZJ's tires needed the air replaced every week.. it would drop down to 20psi all the time.. i brought it into a shop and they had to re-seat the tires and it fixed the problem.. Again BEEP mechanics and terrible shops period could have killed me and my mother or wrecked our vehicles.
Before i knew how to weld i found a rust hole in the front passenger floor board.. about as big as a silver dollar.. due to the A.C leaking its condensation in the vehicle from a clogged drain.. I fixed the drain cut out the hole bought the steel and went to a welding shop and paid them to weld it in.. Guess how they welded that square ? They spot welded two sides and didnt weld the other sides and coated it with rubber undercoating and called it a day.. lol so water can pour in from the other 2 sides of a square.. wtf who welds like that.. i had to fix it with JB weld to fill in the holes.. since i didnt know how to weld at the time.
Dont even get me on the exhaust shops my mom has been too, i had to repair her exhaust again 1 YEAR later after the BEEP welding job done by the shops..
My moms ex boyfriend whos car ive worked on it was a 98 VW Jetta, the clutch went out.. he brought it to "Alex's shop" he replaced the clutch and guess what it burned out in a week they put the clutch on improperly.. I HAD to fix it, and Alex's shop is supposedly the best shop in the area all the other mechanics and shop say to go there when you bring in work they cant do and give him high praises.. yea ive been there and so have my friends and my moms BF he is a crook and a liar and thief as well as a bad mechanic.
I;ve even had state inspectors who will damage your vehicle.. One shop my mom seems to always go to because they are nice, i went there because i needed an inspection.. I watch these people like hawks because of my experiences with shops.. he takes his floor jack and puts it RIGHT on the control arm BRACKET on the axle.. Do you know how many BEEP times ive had to weld new control arm brackets on my friends Jeeps because they jacked or had their control arms jacked to lift the vehicle ? They always bend those little thin brackets arent ment to support the weight of the vehicle.. So i told the guy to stop and jack it on the frame rails please.. Then he puts it on the floor board and i told him again NO that isnt where you put it.. why are you putting it on the floorboard.. He yells out ive been a mechanic for 20 blah blah years i know what im doing. I told him no you clearly do not know what you are doing and also its MY BEEP JEEP if i ask you nicely to jack it up here then please do it. Who the F jacks up there cars on the control arm brackets with a floor jack and if you do you are stupid and just waiting for the bracket to bend sideways..
Im sick of these people !! None of these shops should be in business.. I sware if i had my own shop id be the best shop in town everything would be done properly
2004 4.8LS/Advance Adapter/727/242 D44/AMC20 Serehill tailgate and headlight harnesses 
Ongoing thread-