Clutch pedal gets sucked to floor on 85 4000s Quattro.

[Brett Dikeman]

Liotta wrote:

>Sounds like I tell Bruce (mechanic) that I probably need a new master
>and slave cylinder---- and to look for the leak?!--  Have I got this
>about right???
>
>  
>
No :-)  Tell Bruce all the symptoms, hand him the keys, and unless it's 
pre-established, tell him what he's authorized to do without speaking to 
you first.

Never diagnose for your mechanic; that's what they are paid to do, and 
often owners, even Audifans people, make assumptions or don't have the 
experience necessary to properly diagnose a problem.  Further, if you 
give them direction in troubleshooting a problem, it changes who is 
responsible for wasted labor and parts.  "We spent 2 hours checking out 
the ____.  It was fine."  Translation: "you just bought 2 hours extra 
labor AND your car took us two extra hours to fix which is one other 
customer we couldn't get out the door today."  I had one mechanic who, 
as soon as he heard "I think..." would cover his ears and go 
"LALALALALALA" (really.  He was great).

More than a few mechanics I've used who consider it their fault if the 
book says 3 hours and it takes them more than that, and have a policy of 
not charging more than book time or underbilling/discounting any time 
over book time.  I can't remember the last time I was charged for a part 
which did not fix the problem.

If you want a parallel- I've found that rarely do employees accurately 
diagnose a problem with their computer in every company I've worked in.  
I listen for symptoms in their description of the problem or ask for 
them, and ignore everything else.

Brett

-- 
"They that give up essential liberty to obtain temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." - Ben Franklin
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