Originally Posted By saturnstyl: Originally Posted By Toiyabe66: Originally Posted By saturnstyl: AMG race shop and I'm there.    I wanna hang some hairdryers on the new 6.3 engines.   If only the Renntech stuff wasn't stupid expensive (and under-performing). If its for a Mercedes, it will be exhorbitantly expensive.  However Renntech is not the only game in town. You oughtta see the port sizes on the heads of tha M156 engine.  They are twice as large as the M273!

Now remember, I am not a Mercedes guy. (Note: there are two exceptions to this rule: the 2.3-16 W201s and the W113).

But every part I've but on, be it Brabus, AMG (pre- MB ownership), Lorinser, Carlsson, Kleeman, Renntech, etc... Has been amazingly over-priced compared to anything comparable for any other car. And I mean any other car. Ruf parts are significantly cheaper. Tubi stuff is significantly cheaper.
I know that MB spends a lot of time and effort (or used to, not such a big fan of the newer stuff, but I say that about a lot of things, must be getting old...) optimizing its cars, and as such, its probably harder to extracte power from an exhaust over, say, a Subaru...
But when a full exhaust for a 360 Modena is cheaper than a cat-back for the AMG C32(), I gotta wonder. I couldn't believe how much money this one ass spent on that car. Between the catback, the pulleys, the intake, a brake kit, coil-overs, swaybars, and a reflash, he could have bought I nice used M3 and had a much better track car without making the C32 a rough-riding conflicted toy.

We're starting to get a lot more requests for MB work, so I guess I'll be seeing more. Not really my style (no manual!) but Eddie has more experience with them (used cars at the BMW/Audi dealers) and he's OK with them.

We'll see. Great cars, but I don't see a lot of performance potential for track cars. Street cars? Yes, enormous potential. I'd love to get one of those CL600s and tweak it for a nice daily supercar.

We tried our hand at selling Renntech stuff.  Epic fail.  We didn't make a single sale.  

They are mind numbingly expensive.  

Having driven an older Renntech E60 vs an E55 AMG, I'd say the factory car was the better package overall.  Its hard to improve upon for sure.  That coupled with the very low number of people who want to modify them makes for expensive upgrades.  

The biturbo V12 left a lot on the plate.  Simply reflashing the computer makes massive improvements in power output.  The transmissions are rated to hold 1000nm, which is what the engines were tuned for in the "65" guise.  Yet they will lay down much more if you simply turn up the boost.  The problem at that point becomes the intercoolers.  Apparently that is the weak spot on all the cars that have them, as they are sized to the required power output only.  Even the SLR requires intercooler upgrades if you increase the power output.  

I can say that I drove a standard S600 with the Renntech computer only, and the thing felt faster than a 65.  A lot faster.  It was stupid powerful, as if the stock ones aren't enough....  Yet it kept throwing charge air temperature codes along with the fact it couldn't pass OBDII readiness testing.  I put it back to stock so it could get emissions inspected.  

It is exceedingly rare to see a failed transmission due to breakage of hard parts, the same goes for the engines.  Sure they have their "pattern failures" as does any car, but to have one blow up, lock up, or anything along those lines we might see just 3-5 of them on a bad year.  Right now my neighbor has a 111 engine that broke a timing chain, and since that was so unheard of I had him borrow my compression tester and recheck the thing before he pulled the valve cover and found it.  We also have a 119 engine that the customer drove for quite a long time without a fan belt.  It melted a piston before it quit.  Most of the ones in recent memory were due to hydrolock from driving through deep water, and one of those was a new CLS55 AMG.  It was spun over without the plugs to blow out the water, and it ran fine afterwards!  The insurance man was happy as a pig in shit because he was staring at a $75,000 engine replacement for a $100K car.  MB is incredibly proud of their engines, and the pricing shows it.  

And I think I made 9 hours today.  Another round of shitty cars, brought in by people who can't afford them.  Today's gem: A 175K mile C230 Kompressor, someone has been under the hood of that car that really shouldn't have been.  Its a nightmare.  I am taking the extrodinary step of requesting CLT and compression tests before work is started.  Its been sucking unfiltered air for a while I just get the feeling it might not be worth fixing.  Better safe than sorry.  

BTW, why a brake kit on an AMG car?  Were the stock brakes not large enough?  

Try that same engine in an SLK 32.  Even MB admitted it was "overpowered".  Those cars are a ton of fun!  349HP in that tiny little roadster.  It gets a little tailhappy sometimes.  

Originally Posted By saturnstyl: BTW, why a brake kit on an AMG car?  Were the stock brakes not large enough?   Try that same engine in an SLK 32.  Even MB admitted it was "overpowered".  Those cars are a ton of fun!  349HP in that tiny little roadster.  It gets a little tailhappy sometimes.

Track days + heavy car + sticky tires = totally inadequate brakes for him. Frankly, I think he's a poser bitch, but hey, whatever he wants.

I don't like SLKs. Not even the AMG C32 (test drove one). Lots of power but:

1) Chassis sucked for hard driving. If they want to build a driver's car, they should focus on bettering the Z4 M Roadster and Boxster S, not the Cadillac XWhatever.
2) MB can't make a manual transmission to save their lives. Considering how good their automatics are (experience from 928s) they still haven't figured out how to make a clutch and shifter interface worthwhile.
And because of that, I understand why they didn't offer it in that car.
But we get to Jeff's ironclad rule #1: If it doesn't have a clutch pedal, I'm going to hate it. That includes Tiptronic, DSG, PSK, and whatever else you want to call automatics, manumatics, automanuals, etc...


And I agree with everything in the post before. And to honor you, I worked on a MB today.

The R170 SLK and C208 CLK are based on the W202 C class.  The R171 and C209 CLK are based on the W203 C class. Now that the new W204 C class is out..... the CLK should be arriving shortly.

The Current generation of manual trannies which can be had here in the states in an SLK and a C class are lightyears away of that rubbery feeling cable shifter shit we had in the past.  I agree 100% they were terrible in every aspect.  No pedal feel, no shifter feel, and just plain sloppy.  The new ones have a very precise feel in comparison.  I think they came out around 2003?  

That C32 was a pretty good car, but MB tends to lean toward every day comfort vs. all out race setups.  I understand this may have changed with the new C class, and driving a Black series CLK would probably certainly change your mind.  That car is nothing short of brutal, and it handles like no other Mercedes short of the SLR.  

Mercedes has always had automatics in the AMG stuff, and since they only offer a manual in the C and SLK models, I don't see this changing.  The new SL63 black series is supposed to have a dual clutch thingy going on.  I haven't driven one, and I've only seen a little information, but from what I understand its the same 7 speed automatic with a wetclutch setup in place of the torque converter.  I hear its quite jerky and rough, yet lightning fast and its supposed to be more efficient.  

The automatics keep getting better and better regarding their shift speeds and manual controls, and personally I find it almost as entertaining to tapshift them when I had the desire to drive like I was in a hurry.

Now I gotta go check your thread to see what MB you worked on.

Today was so-so.  Our Mitsubishi guy is on vacation, so I've been working on a few of them today.  They're really ginormous, steaming piles of shit not so bad cars.

'99 Eclipse (with the Chrysler 420A ) pouring every fluid it can, '07 Outlander with some ABS/ASC problems.  Got a Rodeo after that someone else tuned up and broke the rubber boot on the #6 coil, causing a miss.  Navigator with a power liftgate inop, the forkbolt/detent switch is bad, the module doesn't know where the liftgate is.  Town Car with an A/C not cooling concern, the evaporator is leaking.

Everything's waiting on parts or approvals.

Originally Posted By Quintin: Today was so-so.  Our Mitsubishi guy is on vacation, so I've been working on a few of them today.  They're really ginormous, steaming piles of shit, except for the Evo in its various incarnations. not so bad cars. '99 Eclipse (with the Chrysler 420A ) pouring every fluid it can, '07 Outlander with some ABS/ASC problems.  Got a Rodeo after that someone else tuned up and broke the rubber boot on the #6 coil, causing a miss.  Navigator with a power liftgate inop, the forkbolt/detent switch is bad, the module doesn't know where the liftgate is.  Town Car with an A/C not cooling concern, the evaporator is leaking. Everything's waiting on parts or approvals.

Fixed for you.

Speaking of EVOs, we got our first MR the other day.  The TC-SST trans is pretty neat, but on a car like that I like rowing the gears myself.

It's also $42,000.  For an Evolution.

Originally Posted By Quintin: Speaking of EVOs, we got our first MR the other day.  The TC-SST trans is pretty neat, but on a car like that I like rowing the gears myself. It's also $42,000.  For an Evolution.

I feel the same way.

And I hate DSG, PSK, whatever you want to call it. The wife would have bought a new R32 but for that.

Do you ever see the Impulse RS?
It's the only AWD rally homologation special sold in the US I haven't owned.
I'd buy one in a heartbeat if I could find one.

Actually when I first started at this dealership, there was a customer that had a pristine '91 Impulse RS.  This same guy owns like a '92 Capri, and a Merkur XR4Ti.  Safe to say he has some unusual tastes in cars, but I haven't seen him in five or six years.

Originally Posted By Quintin: Actually when I first started at this dealership, there was a customer that had a pristine '91 Impulse RS.  This same guy owns like a '92 Capri, and a Merkur XR4Ti.  Safe to say he has some unusual tastes in cars, but I haven't seen him in five or six years.

I used to do a lot XR4Ti stuff, including Cosworth YAC engine and Sierra RS500 front-end swaps.

If you ever see that RS, I want it.

Do they drive well?

I never got to work on or drive that RS.  He always brought it in for driveability problems, if that's an indication of anything.

Originally Posted By Quintin: Actually when I first started at this dealership, there was a customer that had a pristine '91 Impulse RS.  This same guy owns like a '92 Capri, and a Merkur XR4Ti.  Safe to say he has some unusual tastes in cars, but I haven't seen him in five or six years.

I've got a regular customer with a XR4Ti.......I hate that car

worst repair yet........92 Toyota MR2 turbo....the coolant tube under the exhuast manifold rotted out from lack of cooling system service........I would rather work on the XR4Ti than deal with that again.

I forgot to check my flag, but I don't think I did very well today.  

Started off replacing a seat frame for a 3rd row seat on a GL450 that wouldn't fold anymore.  

Did a service, got all my upsells for the last two or three days declined, which might be a good thing since most of them were disasters on wheels.  

I had to give up a brake job I upsold, because someone finally bought the SLR.  It is being shipped to LA tomorrow, and they wanted a GPS tracking device installed.  (never mind the fact that most mercedes come with them already from the factory )

So being that the car was carbon fiber, installing it somewhere it might actually get a signal was going to be a real bitch.  I finally stuffed it back behind the instrument cluster, there is a hollow plastic bezel there that should allow a signal through.  I took power and ground from the cluster rather than screwing with the ghey OBDII harness plug they provided.  Too much work and totally unneccesary.  I took the starter lock out harness out of the box and threw it across the shop.  It was "optional" and I simply was not going to deal with it.  I'm not hacking up a half million dollar car any more than absolutely neccesary.  The little blinky lights on the module came on, and that ended my commitment to installing it.  I'm done, and I could not care less if it works or not.  I'm sick of dealing with poor quality aftermarket garbage in applications that just don't make sense.  

That basically ended my career as an SLR tech.  I've got one more floating around in the area that I'll likely never see again.  The first one is in switzerland, and this one will be in california.  I didn't even get to test drive it one last time, it was raining when I finished it.

Today was another so-so day.  More Mitsubishis, got my third brake light and detent/forkbolt switches for the Navigator, it's gone.  Got the evaporator in the Town Car just as I was leaving this evening, just gotta charge it up and drive it tomorrow morning.  Piddly shit recalls and services, same as it ever was.  

Anyone wanna buy a nice Snap-on toolbox full of tools and a Ford IDS/PDS rig?  At this rate, I'll make you a hell of a deal on it.

I'd buy 'em but I have no money.

I have no idea what's going on in the rest of our shop, but I've got a head gasket and radiator on a 96 Sentra that's going to pay 11 and will take about 6. and a 01 Frontier after that to reseal the transfer case and a coolant leak under the intake manifold. That one pays 16 and should take 8-10.

funny thing about the Frontier. The guy has had it in 3 times before about a fluid leak under the trans. We've told him 3 times we need to pull it and reseal it. Always declined. Now, with 135K on the truck he wants it fixed.

Today when they told him he asked, "I'm leaving next week to drive across country on vacation. If I don't use 4wd will it leak less?".

I told the service adviser, "Tell him it will leak the same amount even if he leaves it sitting in his driveway the whole time he's gone".

11 hours today.  Some BS I don't remember.  One four wheel brake job, the first I can recall in I don't know how long....  A seat motor and a belt on another car.  Did a technical conference call, and had lunch with my dad.  
Yesterday I failed a car for inspection because the window tint was too dark.  Today someone reinspected it and passed it.  I'll just wait and see what happens there, but probably nothing as usual.  

The SLR got loaded up and is headed to LA.  You know the "OMFG it has to be ready first thing in the morning!!!!" one.  Yeah.  They picked it up around 4:30 this afternoon.

Remember the car I wanted compression test and CLT tests on?  It left, he didn't buy anything.  It was towed in today because it won't run.    Now he is paying me to diagnose the same shit I told him that was wrong yesterday.....  Good news is that it has 160psi compression on all four holes.  He ought to get out of this for $6-700.  

I finished today with about six.  Waiting on approvals and parts is killing me.  I did the math and have almost a total of 25 hours tied up in cars waiting on approvals or parts.

7 today for me, nothing special.

The used car department had a 04 silverado dead on the lot that would not start. Bad fuel pump. Theybought it but CRIED The truck was a old farm truck that was beat to hell. It had so much mud on top of the pump I had to wash it off just to get to it.

I think I made somewhere around 54 for the week.  Not good, but not as bad as it could have been.  

For a friday, it was surprisingly calm and stress free overall.  I actually enjoyed today.  Overcast and much cooler, steady work but not so much as to be a problem during the morning.  I coasted through the afternoon until we ran out of work and then started on the car with the crank case hoses and such leaking.  I just need my special order part so I can slap it back together.  

The Matco man brought my Smoke Pro today.  Just tinkering with it so far, but I love it!!!  High quality unit, and it makes a lot of smoke very quickly vs. our shitty old machine.  

Finished up today with about 7.  Still waiting on parts for a couple cars, got a couple declined.  It's not looking good for the home team, and we're not even in the slow season yet.

I didn't do anything until 12:30 but I ended up with 10.5 for the day. I have to work tomorrow so mabey it will be good.

Originally Posted By Quintin: All my brothers of the wrench, be you independent techs, dealer guys, owner/operators, how's things going?  Whatcha been up to?   The work load in my hood has fallen off drastically.  It should be the busiest time of the year, with several cars left over from the day before, but we've been running out of work at around 10-11 AM for the past month or so.  Things are looking pretty ugly...and management hired two more technicians, when we don't have the work load to support what we've got. Fortunately at least, with the weather, A/C work has been fairly consistent.  I ain't been doing great, but I've been holding my own...barely.

I'm used to booking 70-80+hrs a week.
last week.........45


business is slow and we have at least three too many techs.

Today I was done by lunch. I can'tkeep standing around waiting for something to happen in the afternoon.

This is the time of year I depend on to get the savings up for the weak winter.

A good Service Consultant, one who really cares about taking care of his techs, will be spending his every waking moment going through Reynolds & Reynolds or ADP, and calling people up.  There's plenty of work out there, and if techs have been documenting the additional needs on the hard card, it's just sitting there in the filing cabinet, waiting for somebody to pick up the phone and turn it into cash.

We just got a new computer system that was supposed to improve productivity.

So far, everything takes twice as long as before. We have to do our paper work twice as well as doing all of our own estimates.

Service advisors were supposed to handle all of the estimates before.

The service advisors are complaining about 4x the paper work than they had before.

I'm starting to think, with all the extra work forced upon us, we might as well sell the damn jobs too!!

Originally Posted By KirkP: A good Service Consultant, one who really cares about taking care of his techs, will be spending his every waking moment going through Reynolds & Reynolds or ADP, and calling people up.  There's plenty of work out there, and if techs have been documenting the additional needs on the hard card, it's just sitting there in the filing cabinet, waiting for somebody to pick up the phone and turn it into cash.

These lists are supposed to me made and when the client is called to see if they are happy, they are again presented with a "when you wanna fix this shit?" opportunity to make another appointment.  

Whenever they call in the future to make another appointment, the list is again brought out and they are given the "hey you wanna fix your shit now?" speech.  

Last week was as steady as I can recall in recent memory, but still only 54 hours.

Originally Posted By saturnstyl: Originally Posted By KirkP: A good Service Consultant, one who really cares about taking care of his techs, will be spending his every waking moment going through Reynolds & Reynolds or ADP, and calling people up.  There's plenty of work out there, and if techs have been documenting the additional needs on the hard card, it's just sitting there in the filing cabinet, waiting for somebody to pick up the phone and turn it into cash. These lists are supposed to me made and when the client is called to see if they are happy, they are again presented with a "when you wanna fix this shit?" opportunity to make another appointment.   Whenever they call in the future to make another appointment, the list is again brought out and they are given the "hey you wanna fix your shit now?" speech.   Last week was as steady as I can recall in recent memory, but still only 54 hours.

What you're talking about is just the basic mechanics of the job.  What I'm talking about is showing some initiative, manning up, and making cold calls.  I was always aware that my techs had families to support too.

During good times, people tend to think of Consultants as order-takers.  Heck, maybe in good times, they are.

But in bad times, that's when the men are seperated from the boys.

Today is sucking as well. We work 8-1, I'll be lucky to have 5 today.

Originally Posted By KirkP: But in bad times, that's when the men are seperated from the boys.

Our front end is full of "Daddy's little princess" types then.  

My Blazer hates me.  Hasn't been driven in a week, I fire it up to swap cars in the driveway and now the friggin' ABS light is on.  

The thing is cursed.  

Finally, my last Saturday until September. Only 3 of us working today, not much on the schedule, and 5 of those canceled. We had 3 drop in with no appt. But we made the most of it even though we had little enthusiasm after working 5 Saturdays. Combined we did 38 hours today.

Originally Posted By saturnstyl: Originally Posted By KirkP: But in bad times, that's when the men are seperated from the boys. Our front end is full of "Daddy's little princess" types then.

That's what motivated me to move from the line to the front end.  I got tired of seeing a bunch of brokes up front, and figured, heck, I can do better than that.  I was right.

Today was boring.  Nothing exciting, plenty of lulls in what little action there was.  

Around four I pulled a C63 AMG for an oil change.  Yeah, I hate oil changes.  It was also completely unnecessary at only 3,000 miles.  Looking the car over, the rear tires are bald.  Yes, just 3,000 miles.  

I took it for a little road test.  The power in this car is absolutely EXPLOSIVE.  It does not hesitate, or come on gradually or smoothly.  It barks and lunges.  This car is full of win and I want one.  

Today sucked.  Awful.  I don't even wanna talk about it.  Hopefully I can make the difference up tomorrow.

Today was a really good day for me.

It was my regular day off, and I spent it at the range confirming dope and working on positional / barricade shooting for the big Norcal Tactical Bolt Rifle Match.

Originally Posted By Quintin: All my brothers of the wrench, be you independent techs, dealer guys, owner/operators, how's things going?  Whatcha been up to?   The work load in my hood has fallen off drastically.  It should be the busiest time of the year, with several cars left over from the day before, but we've been running out of work at around 10-11 AM for the past month or so.  Things are looking pretty ugly...and management hired two more technicians, when we don't have the work load to support what we've got. Fortunately at least, with the weather, A/C work has been fairly consistent.  I ain't been doing great, but I've been holding my own...barely.

I blame gas prices, though it picks up every other day here now.

Originally Posted By ar-jedi: ps: how do you pro mechanics feel when folks come in and ask, " i have the bulk of the parts, how much to install"? thanks, ar-jedi

I usually add up my regular rate for the job when average joe comes off the street.  If its a friend I'll cut some slack.

Pretty good day overall.  

I had some jobs get declined, but I stayed busy most of the day and pulled three services and some other decent work.  

I booked out 17, but probably didn't turn but 10 hours of that today.  

I was hoping to make some of the difference from yesterday up today, and I did.  All things considered, I kicked ass today.  We weren't as busy as we should be, but today was steady and I finished the week out okay.  Got a bunch of parts in (finally!), got some cars fixed and down the road, the customers are happy.  Don't have any problem children looming over my head (yet).  Everything's going as planned...for now.

They pulled the rug out from under us today.  80 scheduled hours and we ran out at noon.  

I didn't get anything good.  

Installed an intercooler pump on an SLK 32 AMG, and a few other piddly things.  

My neighbor and I went to lowe's and bought some hardware and ran a nitrogen hose between our bays.  That will be really nice!!!  It looks like shit because we ziptied an old black hose up to the wall and just ran it over two bays, but its not like we didn't give the boss plenty of opportunity.  It was fucking stupid to put outlets in every five bays or so....  now that the cars are coming in for service and need "topped off" it makes it a huge pain in the ass to run a hose over to your bay just to add a little bit to each tire.  

You guys will LOVE this one.

We had Titan come in the shop last week with a blown, electronic locking rear diff. The truck has 70k miles on it so it's out of the power train warranty, and he has no extended service contract.

The rear diffs are made by Dana, and Nissan doesn't sell any service parts for anything in / on the carrier. Only a complete rear axle assembly. Retail price is $2800 (I don't set the price, I just put the parts on).

The guy said no way he's paying that. He finds one at some used parts place in L.A. (we're in norcal near Sacramento) $1500 + $300 to ship it up here. NO warranty on the part or labor from the supplier - or from us of course. Adviser tells cust what it will cost for us to swap over the parts and install it. He tells the adviser he can get it done for only $350 somewhere else. Adviser tells him, "Fine, come get your truck and take it there". Cust, "No, no, that's ok. I'll have you guys do it".

The axle assembly is delivered today. WTF????? It is black. Not painted, BURNED black, as in, the truck it came off burned to the ground black. Everything rubber or plastic on it is melted. I ask if I'm still supposed to put this on. Yes, put it on. Does the customer know? Yes, put it on. Ok.

Have to swap over the park brake shoes and hardware, ABS sensors, Sensors and connectors for the electric locking diff, park brake cable, etc. Drain the fluid out (it is BLACK) and fill with some fresh synth gear oil.

Get it all installed, and before letting down the rack give it one more look over to make sure everything is properly hooked up. Spin the tires to feel for any obvious bearing issues and....huh? Spin one tire and the other one spins the same direction. Not supposed to do that. Until the electric clutch inside locks things together, it's just a regular open diff. Have another guy hold one wheel. Yep, it's locked solid.

I let the foreman and SM know, and figure I'll take for a spin. Maybe the clutches are just stuck from sitting so long. Might get lucky and they'll break loose. Drive off the lot with what ever tire happens to be on the inside when turning scubbing and chirping like crazy. Drive up and down the block a few times. Make a few U turns. Make a few U turns while stomping on the gas. No joy. the thing is solidly locked.

So I write my notes on the RO:
Installed used rear axle assembly supplied by customer, swapping parts from old rear axle assembly to used rear axle assembly as needed. Drained old fluid out of used assembly and filled with fresh synth gear oil. NOTE: Used rear axle assembly supplied by customer has been in a fire.

Road tested vehicle - NG. Rear diff lock is seized up, causing rear tires to scrub severely on turns. Possible damage / breakage may occur to rear diff / axles / drive shaft if driven on pavement, and severe tire wear will occur.

Recommend replace rear axle assembly.

I turn in the paper work and wait while the adviser calls the customer. She explains what's wrong. Puts her hand over the phone and turns to me and says, "he says his truck doesn't have a locking rear diff."

I said, "yes it does. That's what the switch on the center console that says 'lock' is for".

She tells the cust what I just said. Pause.....then, "no, but I'll let you talk to the service manager."

I love happy endings

Well i guess im glad to see im not the only one getting about 0 for work.  Im only a small engine mechanic, but still.

Originally Posted By saturnstyl: Today was boring.  Nothing exciting, plenty of lulls in what little action there was.   Around four I pulled a C63 AMG for an oil change.  Yeah, I hate oil changes.  It was also completely unnecessary at only 3,000 miles.  Looking the car over, the rear tires are bald.  Yes, just 3,000 miles.   I took it for a little road test.  The power in this car is absolutely EXPLOSIVE.  It does not hesitate, or come on gradually or smoothly.  It barks and lunges.  This car is full of win and I want one.

I've heard elsewhere that there's a known tire issue with the C63.  You'll see it at the end of this video.  

Damn.  35 miles.  Ouch.

Today was alright I guess. I stayed busy till noon.  The old man came and took me to lunch in the chevelle.  

We ran out of work when I got back, and just as boredom set in I pulled a trailer hitch for an M class.  6 hour job, and its worth it.  That ain't no slap on and go deal.  The rear bumper substructure is replaced and so is a control module.  

I stayed a bit late helping an old timer reflash some software on a new C.  

11 for the day here, tomorrow looks good also. I have 5 cars held over.

9.8 hours today.  Exactly 57 for the week.  

I worked on several bombed out ML320's and sent out laundry lists of repairs they needed.  I made one hour each on them.

PDI on a new C350, I keep falling in love with them before I'm done.

I bought two McFlurries at lunch and watched the guy who made them bite the dust.  I guess he slipped on a cheeseburger or something.  I ended up giving both of them away at work, then made the recipients feel like shit after they ate them with comments like "I can't believe you would do/say that after I gave you a McFlurry."  Its just another method I use to harrass my coworkers.

I'm waiting approval on an SLK with a cam adjuster thats so noisy it sets knock sensor codes.  At least I think thats what is causing them.  I've never seen that monster rear its head before.  

Not real busy, not too slow was the order of the week.  Seems nothing is paying very well on my end.

17.6 for today Don't hate me, it will be slow next week

I went in for a little while today and slapped the wheel bearing assemblies in my blazer.  One hour for each side.  Easy job, they are a bolt on affair, and just as simple as they come.  

Right side wheel speed sensor = 7.8m ohm.
Left side wheel speed sensor = 1K ohm.  

Might as well get them both done so I don't have to spend another saturday morning at work in the near future.  

I found both bearings for $190 shipped.  Napa had them for $317 EACH.  You don't wanna know what Gen. Motors was asking for them.  I think they were trying to make up for that $15.5 billion dollar loss on one sale.  

The ABS light was out before it even rolled out of the shop.  Problem solved.  I simply cannot stand having my personal vehicle broken.  The BOV must be in a constant state of preparedness!

I too went in and worked on my own stuff a little today.  It's kinda funny, I dunno about you guys, but I spend most of my time fixing other people's stuff, while mine is falling apart underneath me.

Changed the oil and filter, rotated tires, and slapped a set of rear brakes on my F150, they were just about metal to metal.  I need to service the trans, clean/grease the driveshaft slip yoke, replace the pinion seal and tune it up next.

Originally Posted By saturnstyl:  You don't wanna know what Gen. Motors was asking for them.  I think they were trying to make up for that $15.5 billion dollar loss on one sale.

Tell me about it, try selling a pair to a customer. The only plus is that if done at a dealer, they get a lifetime warranty that covers parts and labor if/when they go bad. Imagine trying to make the ASM believe that 2 are bad under warranty I told him that if he was SO sure they were good, I would put them on another customers truck in the shop and he could drive it. If they were not bad, I would pay for the repair, if they were bad he had to pay me 10X's the labor. He wasn't so sure of himself then